Bombshells (32 page)

Now, Miz Adams is looking between me and Mellie.

“I can do that, Mama. I’m almost finished with my homework, anyway.”

“Would you rather cook or take care of DC while I finish up dinner?”

“I don’t care. Why don’t you rest some while you feed DC?”

Miz Adams smiles. “Okay. Be careful, though.”

“I will, Mama.”

I feel kinda like the Queen of England, sitting in a chair with my foot up. Birdie brings me a glass of ice water and sits next to me at the table, coloring.

Mellie gets over being scared of getting spattered by the hot grease. She’s doin’ a fine job with the chicken.

But soon as Mr. Adams comes through the door, he sees things aren’t right. Mellie’s at the stove and Miz Adams is at the sink, finishing up some dishes. I’m usually putting on my hat and getting ready to leave by now.

Birdie runs up and grabs his hand. “Daddy, you have to take Flossie home, ’cause she hurt her foot so bad, she can’t walk to the bus stop. We had to put ice on it just like on my hand. Do you think she’ll get a cast like me?”

“Hold on a minute, sweet pea.” He glances at his wife and she nods.

“Flossie, do you want me to take you to the hospital?”

“Oh no, Mr. Adams. I’m gonna be fine. I’ll call my doctor when I get home, and he’ll come by the house and check on me.”

“Are you sure? St. Vincent’s hospital is really close by.”

I shake my head. He doesn’t realize that even if he drove me to St. Vincent’s hospital and told them I was his mother, they wouldn’t treat me. They’d send me to the colored hospital downtown. I don’t want to say nothin’, though. These four Adams’ can’t change things.

“If you can give me a ride home, that’ll be just fine. I would’ve called Max, but his truck is in the shop, and he’s been takin’ the bus himself.”

“Daddy, can I go with you?” Birdie tugs on her daddy’s arm.

“Clay, why don’t you take both the girls with you? It’ll get them out of the house for a bit. By the time you get home dinner will be on the table.”

“Fine with me. You girls ready to go?”

Now this is a surprise to me. I think back to this morning and wonder if I put my coffee cup in my kitchen sink like I usually do before I come here. I sure I hope I haven’t left anything laying around, since I’m going to have visitors for at least a few minutes this evenin’.

Friday, October 26, 1962

MELANIE

“Why don’t we go to the park this afternoon?” Steph suggests to Kevin. “I’ll ask Marvin. He’ll probably bring his guitar, if we want him to.”

She’s walking between me and Kevin on the way home from the school bus stop.

He shrugs. “I guess. It’ll be more fun than sitting around Mellie’s house, listening to the baby cry.”

“DC doesn’t cry that much,” I snap at him.

“Really? Seems like he cries all the time to me.”

Steph looks from me to Kevin. “We’ll go to the park, then. I can bring some brownies.” Steph hurries up her driveway. “I’ll be over in a few minutes, and we can go get Marvin.”

“I’ve got to get Mrs. Winston’s mail,” I say.

“I’ll go with you.” Kevin strides up to the double gate on the Winston’s driveway and opens it for me.

I gather the mail from the box and squeeze between Kevin and the gatepost. “You don’t have to. I just put the mail on the table and go straight home.”

He clanks the gate back in place and follows me. “Have you got a key?”

I flip up the corner of the doormat and get the key. The door swings open, and we walk into the Winston’s dim living room. The matching white sofas and the gold trimmed lamps overpower the small room.

Rachel Winston’s house looks like her.

Kevin looks around and walks over to the shelf where two white and gold figurines stand. “Wow, it’s quiet over here.”

“Yep.” I put the mail on the table. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Kevin puts the figurine down and turns toward the hall. “I just want to look around.”

“Steph’s waiting for us.”

“It won’t kill her to wait a minute or two.”

I follow Kevin to the doorway of the Winston’s bedroom. “We should go.” The huge bed is covered with a gold satin spread. Big pillows rest against the white padded headboard. Matching nightstands hug the sides of the bed and long, flowing drapes darken the room and make it look like midnight, even in the middle of the afternoon.

I shiver. Everything about Rachel Winston gives me the creeps. “Come on, Kevin. This isn’t right.”

“You’re afraid of your own shadow.”

“I am not. It’s not right to go rambling through other people’s stuff.”

“I’m not rambling. I’m just looking.” Kevin walks to the nightstand and opens the drawer. He grins at me, points. “This is rambling.” He sucks in a breath, focusing his attention on the contents of the drawer. Like he’s in a trance, he reaches into the drawer and lifts out a magazine. He seems to forget I’m even there as he stares at the cover.

I’m peeved. “Kevin. Let’s go.”

“Cool your jets.” He sticks the magazine inside his notebook.

“Put that back.”

“Aw, Captain Winston won’t mind if I borrow it.” He grins and licks his lips. “I’ll put it back tomorrow and he’ll never even know, unless someone spills the beans.” Kevin grabs my elbow and pushes me toward the door. “I thought you wanted to go.”

Outside, I shake off his hand and slide the key into my pocket. I’m not leaving it under the mat anymore.

Kevin opens the gate. He says, “Look, there’s Steph. You’re not late at all.”

The three of us go to my house, so Kevin and I can drop off our stuff.

“I’ve got a lot of homework,” Kevin says. “I think I’ll go ahead and get to work on it.” He goes to the middle bedroom and closes the door. I hear the lock click. Just as well. I’m so mad at him right now, I don’t even want him around.

“Huh. I guess I won’t bother Marvin,” Steph says. “Are you ready to go?”

“Where are you going?” Birdie asks.

“To the park.”

“Can I go? Please?”

I look at Steph. “I don’t care,” she says. So Steph and I let Birdie and her friends, Mary and Ramona, tag along with us to the park.

We sit on the carousel while the girls play on the monkey bars. Steph pushes at the ground with her foot and sets us to spinning slowly. “Have you thought anymore about getting Kevin to kiss you?”

Anger flares and I feel my face go hot. “Not that again.”

“Well, have you? That’s why I wanted Marvin and Kevin to come with us today. I figured Marvin and I would start kissing and then Kevin would get the idea, then you’d have your kiss.”

“Will you give it a rest?”

Steph drags her foot in the sand, slowing the carousel to a stop. “What’s the matter? Don’t you want to be kissed?”

“I guess so.”

“It sure doesn’t seem like it.”

I jump off the spin-around. “Maybe I want to wait until a boy I really like kisses me. Maybe I want my first kiss to really mean something.”

Steph frowns at me. “Are you saying that Marvin’s kiss doesn’t mean anything?”

“I’m sorry, Steph. It’s just that sometimes you act like you don’t even like him.”

“So, you think I’m cheap and slutty like my sister, huh?”

“No!” Poor Steph is being punished even more than Cherie for what Cherie did. “No. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

She shrugs and stares at the ground.

I wasn’t fair. We made this pact together, and she kept her end of it. I’m not ready to tell Steph the truth, but I have to make it up to her. To make her feel better, I say, “Listen. I did take your advice about Kevin.”

Her eyes light up. It’s that easy to make her happy again. So I keep going.

“Yeah. He went with me to put Mrs. Winston’s mail in her house today, and well…” I can’t bring myself to actually say the lie out loud. I’ll let Steph draw her own conclusion.

“Really? He kissed you?” She moves closer and links her arm with mine.

I nod.

“Wasn’t it nice?” She sounds dreamy. More dreamy than she had the first time she told me Marvin kissed her. It’s obviously become better as she remembers it. That makes me wonder if I’m remembering my kiss with Robert better than it actually was.

She sighs. “Isn’t it the greatest?”

Again, I just nod. If I don’t say the words, I’m not really lying, right? Not technically, anyway. I could truthfully say,
I never said that
. I cross my fingers for good measure.

“Tell me what it was like.” She pulls me back down on the carousel.

Still, I can’t share the only kiss I’ve ever known. I just can’t. So I invent one. “He just put his lips on mine. They were kind of wet and warm. Maybe a little hard.”

“But wasn’t it nice? Didn’t it make you feel special?”

Memories of Robert’s kiss spread warmth through me and over me, like it feels to sink into a warm bubble bath.

“Hellfire, Mellie. You’re blushing.” She slaps me on the back. “I’d say you’ve really been kissed.”

BIRDIE

When the news is over, I decide to stay out of everybody’s way. In my bedroom, I play with my dolls on my bed. I pretend like they are all in the hospital. And maybe they don’t have any parents anymore. Mellie is on her bed reading a big book.

“Mellie, where do babies live when they don’t have a Mommy or Daddy?”

“An orphanage. If you don’t have a Mommy or Daddy, you are an orphan.”

“Oh. Orphan.” That’s a funny word. I whisper it over and over, while I’m covering up my baby dolls. I don’t want to ’gravate Mellie. There’s enough ’gravation in our house tonight.

Mrs. Mayfield is talking loud to Brooke, and Brooke is being sassy. Mama would spank me for talking to her like that. I look at Mellie to see if she hears. She’s frowning, so I think she does.

After we turn out the lights, I listen to the sounds of our crowded house. Brooke and Mrs. Mayfield are still talking, but quieter now. In the living room, a record is playing real low. Kevin’s not very happy that we got his bed on the living room sofa ready so early. He’d said he doesn’t go to bed until eleven at his house. I wonder how late eleven o’clock is. I turn to face Mellie’s bed. “Mellie, are you asleep"?”

“No.”

“How late is eleven o’clock?”

“Remember when Aunt Lola came to visit, and we’d all been sleeping on the couch? That was after eleven o’clock. Eleven o’clock is late. Are you thinking about what Kevin said about his bedtime?”

“Yeah.” I think about all the changes as I lay in my bed. I can’t seem to keep my legs still. The sheets make a crinkly noise every time I move. The jets just keep blasting by over our house. We don’t run into the living room when the jets fly over anymore. I do cover up my ears, though. I don’t like the sound at all.

I still have all my babies on my bed. I was surprised Mama didn’t make me put them away like she usually does. Mellie has her rabbit, Heidi, hugged to her chest now. I can tell she’s trying to go to sleep. Sometimes I’m afraid to fall asleep. I have bad dreams. I think Mellie has bad dreams, too, but we don’t talk about them.

I lick my chapped lips because they are burning. Mama put Vaseline on them after she kissed me goodnight and that made them feel better for a little while. Then my mouth felt sticky and the Vaseline tastes so yucky. I wiped it off with my sheet. Now my lips are burning again.

Mama says it’s a nervous habit I have, licking my lips, but I can’t stop doing it. She tells me to stop all the time, though.

I close my eyes and try to fall asleep. I hear Mrs. Mayfield cough. Brooke sneezes and blows her nose. DC cries, and I hear Mama speaking softly to him. Melanie flops over in her bed and huffs out a breath. The refrigerator door opens with that sucking sound. Kevin’s getting a drink, probably.

“Mellie? Are you asleep?”

“No.”

“Can I get in your bed?”

She’s quiet for a few minutes. She’s going to tell me no.

“Sure. Come on.”

I’m surprised and happy. I jump up and skip to her bed. I snuggle up against her. “Can I hold Heidi, too?”

“Okay.”

Mellie moves the stuffed toy so that Heidi rests between us. I take one of her rabbit ears and rub it back and forth over my hurting mouth.

“Do you think Kevin will eat all of our bread?” I ask.

“Why would he eat all of the bread?”

“In that movie we saw about the people who were hiding in the attic to be safe from the bad guys who wanted to take them away, the mean man ate all the bread and everyone got mad at him. I don’t want Kevin to be selfish and eat all the bread.”

Mellie is quiet.

“Are you talking about
The Diary of Anne Frank
? The girl had dark hair and she was upstairs with her mom and dad and some other people. And a boy?”