Eden Hill (31 page)

Cornelius had done something right but wasn’t sure what. He’d had a steady stream of cars and pickups all morning long, including Mr. Willett and his Buick, several folks from the next town over on their way to the county fair, and Grover, who’d brought a bottle of milk for Suzy. Charlie was busy also, mounting a set of tires and minding the pumps.

He himself had spent the morning on the telephone with the attorney who was representing Zipco franchisees. The lawsuit was in progress, and an agreement was being reached even as they spoke. Zipco did not exist anymore, so he’d need to turn off the sign until he found another company. Yes, he could do whatever he wanted with the price of gasoline and with his station. No, he didn’t have to wear the stupid uniform, which still said
Zipco
on the pocket and the hat. And most importantly, all monies due were deferred for ninety days while it got sorted out. And, by the way, the lawsuit promised a sizable settlement for all former Zipco franchisees including punitive damages, so there was a good chance much of his debt could be erased. Completely.

He was ecstatic. A debt erased! Wasn’t that also the way Reverend Caudill put it on Sunday? Things were definitely looking up.

Mavine was still quiet at lunch, but at least pleasant. She’d spent the morning sewing, she said, and was almost finished.

“What are you making?”

“You know that old dress I wore on the Fourth of July? The blue one?”

“I thought it was new. Didn’t you get that from Willett’s for your birthday dinner?”

“Well, yes, but I just can’t wear it anymore. I’ve cut it up to make a baby blanket for little Suzy. I know, it’s blue and not pink, but it has some touches of lace and it’ll be cute
on her. It’s a small thing, but it’s something. I’m praying we haven’t done anything to really hurt them.”

“Mavine, he’s got plenty of business today. And he was saying yesterday that there are some other things happening that will help his business. I think they’ll be all right.”

“I hope so, Virgil.”

He reached out to hold her hands as he’d done at breakfast, and realized that it was just the two of them at the table. “By the way, where’s Vee?”

“I ungrounded him for a couple of hours to go do something with Frank. Probably a bad idea.”

R
EVEREND
C
AUDILL
hung his freshly cleaned suit on a hook in his office, opened a window, and turned on a fan. Summer had fully arrived in Eden Hill, and the heat and humidity with it. He’d also borrowed two chairs from one of the Sunday school rooms and had them arranged and waiting.

Right at two o’clock, there was a knock. He opened the door to Cornelius and JoAnn, with Suzy sound asleep in Cornelius’s arms.

“Welcome, both of you. Actually, all three of you. Please have a seat.”

“Thank you, Reverend.” Cornelius adjusted himself in
one of the chairs, while JoAnn smiled and took the other. Suzy, still sleeping, now lay peacefully in her mother’s lap.

“So, you say it’s time? To move forward?”

“Reverend, I’ve come to realize that I can’t do it on my own. Never could.” He stroked Suzy’s hair. “I’ve made mistake after mistake and one bad decision after another. God’s been there all along, of course, but I’ve never been willing to admit it. To let go.”

JoAnn nodded. “And I’ve been so hard on him. I want to ask for forgiveness, too, both from Neil and from God. Welby’s taught us the Bible in Sunday school, and we understand that Jesus died to cover our sins. And when you preached your sermon on ‘paid in full,’ well, we both understood. Finally.”

The pastor leaned forward, his elbows on his desk. “Are you ready to affirm your faith in Christ and be baptized into him?”

The couple looked at each other, and Cornelius spoke. “Yes, we are. More than ready.”

“And you do understand that the Christian life is not a guarantee of success, but a promise that the Lord will be with us through the good times and the bad?”

“We’ve talked about it, and we understand.” Suzy had awakened, and JoAnn had taken her bottle from a bag. “We both now believe that Jesus is Lord.”

“Wonderful! I’m so excited . . .” Suzy coughed, and Reverend Caudill sniffed the air. Something wasn’t right. He could hear shouting outside the window, and the fan was pulling black smoke into the room.

Reverend Caudill bolted out of his seat and ran to the window, pulling the curtains back to see what was happening. At the sight, JoAnn screamed, and both men rushed out. The trailer next door was fully engulfed in flames, its pink aluminum exterior rapidly turning black. Windows were breaking from the heat, and the roof was sagging and buckling. It was all a blur.

Cornelius saw Virgil Osgood dash across the street carrying a fire extinguisher. He called to Charlie and handed him something, then rushed over to the side of the burning trailer. It dawned on Cornelius that while he was watching his home go up in flames, his neighbor had enough presence of mind to shut off the bottled gas and the electricity. And risked his life in the process.

He heard a rumbling noise and looked to see Charlie driving Virgil’s wrecker straight at the trailer. Charlie rammed the disintegrating trailer and pushed it off the blocks away from the propane tanks. True to JoAnn’s fears, it slid down the hill and into the creek.

Cornelius watched the unfolding scene in disbelief. Their home was a total loss, though the service station seemed undamaged. But even if the mobile home was destroyed, he still realized how lucky they were. If this had happened at night, when they were asleep, they could have all been killed. Thankfully nobody was hurt, and the bottled gas tanks hadn’t exploded. At least he could be grateful for that.

Home, sweet home, was gone, and everything in it. The ashes of their mobile home had now combined with the remnants of the feed store, and the mess that was Cornelius’s life. How could he have ever thought otherwise?

And he’d just decided to become a Christian. As Reverend Caudill had said, there were no guarantees. He was looking at the proof of that.

As Cornelius saw it, he had two choices. They could sleep on the floor of the garage tonight, or in his ’53 Chevy.

Or he could leave Eden Hill, let JoAnn go home to live with her mother, and never return.

Mavine had returned to her laundry after Virgil went back to work. The Maytag was chugging away and her new dryer rumbling when Vee came tearing onto the back porch, shouting something about a fire. They both hurried to the front, where they could hear engines, excited voices, and crumpling metal. The view was limited by the maple trees in their front yard, but it wasn’t coming from Osgood’s. Whatever was happening was across the street, behind the Zipco station. Mavine turned off the washer, and they both went down the hill.

A large crowd had gathered. She could see Virgil and Charlie furiously working on the Alexanders’ trailer. Cornelius was darting toward the burning mobile home, carrying a bucket of water. Reverend Caudill and a couple of other men, customers perhaps, were running a hose from
the tap behind the garage and were spraying water on what was left, which wasn’t much.

JoAnn stood at a distance, looking at the activity but not watching. Anna Belle had appeared and was holding Suzy and her bottle. Neither JoAnn nor her baby were crying. The woman was just staring numbly toward the smoldering mess in the creek, now mostly smoke and steam.

Never in her life had Mavine felt such compassion. She had a lovely house; JoAnn had so little
 
—and now, nothing. There was only one thing she could do.

“JoAnn?” Mavine approached the young mother and spoke a few words in her ear, discreetly but loud enough to be heard over the hubbub.

JoAnn responded with tears, but also the beginning of a smile. She threw her arms around Mavine, buried her head in Mavine’s shoulder, and seemed unable to let go.

Mavine turned to her son. “Vee? Remember how much you enjoy ‘camping out’ in our living room?”

Cornelius stood with an empty bucket, staring at a stinking pile of pink and black scrap that once was his home. Reverend Caudill, covered in soot and grime, had his arm around his shoulders and was saying comforting things into his ear. He saw JoAnn talking to Mavine, saw his wife embrace the older woman, and wondered what to do next.

One thing he knew for sure. He was tired of fighting.

Mavine’s invitation to the Alexanders to stay in the upstairs bedroom was not something Virgil had expected, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise either. He was also delighted, and glad she’d thought of it. She’d been unhappy with herself over her role in their grand reopening, that much he understood. At church on Sunday, she’d chatted with JoAnn, almost as if they were old friends. And she’d positively fawned over little Suzy. Somehow, somewhere, she’d made a connection.

Everybody had pitched in. The Methodist church had a clothes closet, and Bob Jenkins found some things that would fit. Grover brought over a bag of groceries, which also included two cans of formula. “All we had left,” he’d said. Willie Johnson came by with some home-grown tomatoes and a paper bag full of string beans. Reverend Caudill helped them get situated upstairs at the Osgoods’ home, and someone had brought a little pink bassinet. Vee’s bed would be small for the couple, but at least Suzy would have a comfortable place to sleep.

Virgil had closed Osgood’s for the afternoon to help with the cleanup across the street. He and Cornelius had discovered a bond that went well beyond smallmouth bass and Patsy Cline. Now, more than anything else, he wanted to help the Alexanders. And love them.

Welby had been right all along. But then again, he usually was.