Making Waves (20 page)

I couldn't help but take advantage of this opportunity to look and see if Tim had really recovered from that accident as well as Donnette claimed. He like to have died, yet he sure looked fine now. Even though his injured arm was hanging there kind of useless, his shoulders and chest were still muscular and tanned. Both of his legs looked the same, though there was some kind of brace on one. He really did look good. Hamilton has let himself get a little flabby lately. He says it's my good cooking, but I've been trying to get him to exercise some. Maybe I should tell him to take a good look at Tim Sullivan if he wants to see what a man's body ought to look like. I'd never seen anyone's but Sonny's, and now Tim's—except for that one other time. But I couldn't let myself think about that, certainly not now.

I stepped a little closer to the door and saw that the two of them were bending over something on the table that Tim was pointing to. Donnette kept her arm around his waist as they leaned together over the table. Now what on earth could it be that had their attention so completely? I tried to get a little closer, and I'll be—I sort of fell against the door and it banged. Donnette looked up startled and saw me standing there. All I could do now was give a little wave to her. She gave Tim a shove and he hobbled off quickly, down the hall. She then straightened up her robe and motioned for me to come in. I was so embarrassed I could die, but there was nothing I could do now but apologize.

“Oh, Donnette, honey,” I began, “I am
so
sorry I interrupted y'all! I was just looking to see if you were in—”

But Donnette, being so sweet and friendly, laughed it off and let me in the door. “No problem—Tim has to go get ready for work anyway. I'm running late; I should have already opened the shop. Come on in.”

Donnette pulled a kitchen chair around for me just as casual as could be. I purposely didn't let my eyes wander over to the table, though I was sure curious to know what they were looking at there.

“I hope I didn't scare Tim off,” I said to her as she handed me a mug of coffee. I hated coffee but took it anyway because I needed something to do with my hands. For some reason I felt kind of uneasy, like she'd caught me spying on them.

“No, Tim's fixing to go to work,” she said as she fixed herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the kitchen counter sipping it.

“Does he like that job at the lumber mill?” I asked politely.

She shrugged. Without any makeup on, she looked about twelve years old, not at all the glamorous girl she usually was.

“It's okay. Just part-time. He does odd jobs there, figures up the bills and invoices and stuff.”

“Donnette, you know Mr. Harris would get Tim a job any time, at the bank or any place.” We'd been through this before.

“I know. I wish to goodness he'd go to Mr. Harris, but he says that it would make him feel like a charity case. I think it hurt him more than he lets on that, even though they paid the bills, Mr. Harris let it be known it wasn't his responsibility to keep supporting him. That really hurt Tim's pride, because last thing he wants is for anyone to feel responsible for him.”

“I know that, but Taylor—” I had to shut up before I could say another word, because suddenly the back bedroom door opened and Tim came into the kitchen, dressed this time. He spoke to me politely and quietly, and asked about Sonny. He's one of the nicest boys I've ever known. It breaks my heart to think about what all he's been through. And to think of where he'd be now, how famous he might be, if it hadn't been for that accident! Life just isn't fair sometimes. I looked away as he kissed Donnette good-bye, then he went out the door. Least he's got her. She's stood by him through it all.

Soon as he was gone, Donnette turned to me, and she looked really awful. So pale and worried.

“I'm glad you came this morning, Ellis,” she said. “I've got to talk to somebody or I'll go crazy.”

“What is it? Is something wrong with Tim?” Lord, maybe he was having a relapse or something. I could tell by her face that it was something bad.

“No, Tim's doing fine. Just fine, really. The doctors are real pleased with his recovery.” Donnette swallowed her coffee nervously. “I want to know what Taylor Dupree is doing back in town!”

Stupid me, I should have known she'd be worried sick over Taylor's return. I would be if it were me. I'd been so wrapped up in my own problems I hadn't thought about how Donnette must be feeling.

“Supposively he came back to talk to Mr. Harris about his Aunt Della, who is not able to stay by herself and is too stubborn to move in with the family, or to go to that nice new nursing home in Tuscaloosa. That's all that any of us know, Donnette. Believe me, we all hate him as much as you do.”

Donnette looked down into her cup of coffee, as though the answers were there.

“I've heard that, but I don't believe it. I'm scared, Ellis. I'm scared he'll come around Tim again. I'm afraid that he'll come between us somehow.”

“That's
crazy
, Donnette, and you know it. Tim would never have anything to do with Taylor now, after what happened.”

She nodded, but her face was still grim. “Oh, I know that. A part of me does. But I keep thinking about how close they were, and how much Tim thought of Taylor. He was always much more of an influence on Tim than me. Taylor even chose Tim's scholarship so that they could be together.”

“Yeah, and Taylor almost got him killed, too, Donnette.
You
are his influence now, honey.” I could tell that she was listening carefully to me. People respect my logic. We were silent a minute, then I thought of something.

“Has Tim seen Taylor yet?”

Donnette's face went pale. “God, no! I'm doing all I can to make sure that Tim doesn't find out that Taylor is in town. I like to have broke my neck at the funeral yesterday turning Tim all sorts of ways so he wouldn't see Taylor sitting up there with the Clarks. I can't keep this up forever, though. So see what you can find out for me, Ellis. Find out when he's leaving, going back to school.”

I felt a lot of pride that Donnette needed me to do something for her, after all she'd done for me.

“Of course I will, Donnette. I'm in the perfect position to find out. As a matter of fact, Taylor came over and had supper with us the other night.”

Donnette looked up curiously. “Oh? How did he seem to you?”

“The same as I remembered him, a snob who turns up his nose at all of us. He thinks he's too good for anyone in this town.”

“Except Tim. For some reason I can't imagine, he has never been interested in anyone in this town but Tim. And Cat Jordan.” Donnette looked like she was about to cry, so I hurried to reassure her.

“Listen, Donnette. Listen to me. You put that out of your mind, you hear? I'll talk to Hamilton about it, see if we can't find out something and let you know. For all I know, he just came to take his Aunt Della to the funeral, and he's going back tomorrow.”

I didn't really believe that, though. I believed that Taylor got wind that me and Hamilton wanted Miss Della's house, and he was determined that we weren't going to get it, that's what I believed. He didn't care a hoot about his Aunt Della—he didn't care about anybody but himself!

“Donnette, I need to ask you a favor, too. I hate to even mention it, though, with you so worried about Tim.” I forced myself to sip on the coffee some and glanced over at Donnette to get her reaction. To my relief, she smiled and shook her head.

“Tell you the truth, Ellis, I probably need something to worry about besides Tim. He doesn't like me carrying on over him, reminding him of the accident. He wants to put it behind him now,” she told me.

“Well. If you're sure. You'll probably think I'm overreacting, Donnette, but after all you and me went through to get me where I am today, I am so afraid of anything that might come along and mess it up.”

Donnette pulled up a chair and sat next to me. “Is it Sonny? He hasn't found out....”

“No, it's not that. It's Glenda.”

“Glenda? What on earth?”

Donnette looked so puzzled that I almost enjoyed telling her about what was going on with Glenda and Dink. However, she didn't take my concern seriously.

“Ellis! Surely you don't think that the Clarks are so snooty that they'll hold it against
you
that Glenda is going with Dink! And what's so bad about Dink, anyway?” I forgot that she really liked him. I had to be careful not to offend her.

“Donnette, you know as well as I do that Mr. Harris Clark is almost as fanatically religious as my daddy is. He'd be horrified that a relative of his is going with a divorced man.”

Donnette just shook her head. “That's crazy, Ellis. This is 1985! Nobody is that old-timey anymore. Are they?”

“Oh yes, they most assuredly are. My daddy is, and Daddy Clark is too. They really are, Donnette. I ought to know—I was raised with it. I believe that's one of the reasons Daddy Clark accepted me into the family like he did, even though we're poor and not in his class. He knows that we'll never embarrass him with a scandal like this could be, Glenda dropping Bobby Ray like she did and going off with an old divorced man like Dink. He's fifteen years older than her, too! People are going to be talking to beat the band—I just know it. What am I going to do?”

Donnette shook her head again and smiled at me. She leaned over and took both my hands in hers.

“Listen to me, Ellis. We've come too far to let anything mess you up now. Tell you what, I'll talk to Dink, okay? I'll explain to him how you feel, how he needs to keep a low profile with Glenda. Trust me, okay?”

I smiled back at her and nodded. Trusting Donnette had gotten me where I was today, so how could I do any different?

Before Donnette and I started into the shop to do my hair, she stopped by the kitchen table and turned to me. “Oh, Ellis—I forgot! You've got to see the sign that Tim is painting me for my shop.”

So that was what they were looking at on the table before I came in. Donnette had to uncover it to show me. The paint wasn't quite dry since Tim was still working on it. I went over to the table and stared in amazement as she pulled a large piece of plastic off to reveal a big round sign, almost the size of the kitchen table.

The sign was painted white, with black letters in the center saying MAKING WAVES. But the pretty thing about it was the pictures Tim had drawn on it. Why, it was little pictures of the whole town! The stores downtown, and the library, and the school, the football field, the churches—everything, painted all around the border of the sign. Then in the center, on the bottom, was a replica of Donnette's big old house with the sign hanging in front of it. I'd never seen anything like it.

“Donnette, this is absolutely beautiful! You don't mean to tell me that Tim did this!” I said to her.

Donnette was so proud that her face lit up like a lantern. “Yes, he sure did. I can't wait to hang it outside.”

“But—Donnette—this is unbelievable! Has Tim ever done anything like this before? I didn't even know he could draw.”

“Oh, yeah, he sure can. You ought to see some of the pictures he drew when he was a little boy. But once he started playing football, that took up all his time and he quit. Coach Mills wouldn't let him draw anymore then—he had a fit. So this is the first thing he's done in years.”

“Well, it sure beats all I've ever seen! Is there nothing that boy can't do?”

Donnette's eyes widened, and it was like we both realized suddenly that she was still standing there in her skimpy, sheer nightie. And we both started laughing at the same time.

“I ain't going to answer that, Ellis!” Donnette laughed. “Let me get dressed, then we'll do your hair!”

After I left Donnette's, my hair freshly frosted, I decided I'd go out to see about Mama and Daddy before I went home. I didn't really intend to ride by the Zippy Mart on the way out there, but found myself doing so. I wasn't planning on stopping, just riding by to see if Glenda was carrying on with Dinky. Surely they wouldn't be in broad daylight, but you never know about people. If they were, then I'd stop and give them both a piece of my mind. But if not, then maybe I'd wait until I formulated my latest plan and approach Glenda again, try it out on her and see what she thought.

If Glenda was so dead set on having Dink, and working at the Zippy Mart, then maybe I'd have to change my tactics. A plan began to form in my mind as I drove toward the Zippy Mart. Maybe I'd better pretend to be on Glenda's side, talk her into doing like I did and taking a room with a widow-lady in town. Then I could keep an eye on her. Maybe Donnette was right; if I could just keep Glenda and Dink from advertising that they were seeing each other, things would be okay. So I decided to ride by casually and check on them. As it turned out, I was sure glad that I did!

When I rode by the Zippy Mart real slow and looked in, all I saw was Glenda waiting on a couple of fishermen, ringing up purchases for their fishing trip probably. Then I saw Dinky out by the Barber's milk truck, and he and the milkman were stocking up dairy products, milk and butter and sour cream. Nothing much there, so I decided I might as well go out and report to Daddy that I had everything under control, was working on a plan.