Six Miles From Nashville (6 page)

“B
ut I...”

“Come with me to the janitor’s closet and I will show you. It will only take a minute. That way you will know I am telling you the truth and you can get me some help.”

She followed him to the janitor’s closet. He pushed her aside and blocked the door with a mop bucket. She tried to get to the door but he jerked her back by the arm, slamming her to the floor.

She screamed
, but everyone was in the sunroom and no one heard her. She struggled and he hit her hard. She was no match for his fists. He kicked her in the back until she feared it would break.

After the attack,
Betty managed to creep down the hall to her room. She got into the shower and washed with soap and a big scrub brush. She laid down in the shower and let it pound her until the hot water ran out and an orderly found her with ice cold water raining down on her. The nurse turned off the water and covered her with a large white towel. She told Betty to stay put until they got a gurney and took her to an exam room

Soon, she was wrapped in heated blankets and sitting in the doctor’s office.

“You have been assaulted. Who did it?”

Fear stuck the information in her throat. She had the feeling that he would find a way to hurt her again if she told. “I ran into a door.”

“Likely story. You must have found a couple dozen doors to run into.”

She looked at her bare feet.
She wouldn’t say anything.

“I am going to give you some medi
cation. It will help you relax.”

“Okay,” she said weakly.

  Randy avoided her and never talked to her again. She had to leave at the first of the month because her funding had ceased. Finally, she was released and he stayed behind.

She
went back to Bible College and hurried to her mailbox in hopes that Johnny had written to her. There were many letters in the niche marked with a large gold ‘b’. Every letter was for someone else. She choked down the hurt and held her emotions in check. She was afraid the staff were watching her for signs of a relapse.

She saw the choir director and let him know that she was back at school. She
worked hard on the voice lessons even knowing that it was putting hard distance between her mama and her. Betty wanted to see the world. She couldn’t believe that the teacher thought she was that good.

The professors had her watch their little children
to help pay for the lessons and trip. She had her way half paid when she discovered that she was with child. It was close to her sixth month. She had never paid attention to things like that. She wore sweatshirts and baggy pants and no one knew.

She
dialed the phone many times and never connected with her mama and daddy. She didn’t want to hurt them more. Betty couldn’t go home like that.

Betty asked one of her
roommates to help her. They weren’t buddies, but she wasn’t mean. Betty gave her some money to buy post cards while they were on the choir trip. She asked her to address them to her mama and daddy and mail them from the places they stopped as they went around the world. Betty told her she didn’t have to sign them. Since she wasn’t going to be able to go with the choir, Betty counted on her to send the cards to her mama and daddy.

Betty had told the choir teacher she
had to go back home for a family emergency. She lied and said that her daddy was dying and she had to stay. She thought he might give her some of her money back for the trip, but he wouldn’t.

That is when she
left the school and hitchhiked to Springfield. She stayed put until the child was born. The little cafe was on the road to Nashville, so she stopped to work for survival.

I am ashamed of myself. I am ashamed
.

That’s as far as she could let her thoughts
go. There wasn’t anything more. She repented before the Lord, but didn’t feel clean. All she felt was tired.

She finished her lunch and climbed back into the narrow bed. It wasn’t long before she slept hard.

The old waitress, Daisy, knocked on the door and  brought her a hamburger and fries from the kitchen. She sat up and began eating the offering and washed it down with a large Coke.

Miss Sweetie
came up the stairs to see her after the place closed.

“I feel
bad for laying all of that stuff on you,” Betty said.

Sweetie sat in the glider and put her feet up on the gliding footstool. “Boy, I needed to sit. This has been a busy day.”

“I should be helping you,” Betty said.

“No child, you need your rest. Have you decided if you are going to tell me the rest of your story?”

“I’ve been thinking about it all day. I can tell you. Other people have had more difficulty than me. I plan on getting over the bad stuff if at all possible.”

They sat in the little room and
Betty found comfort in the telling of her woes. That night Miss Sweetie and Betty formed a bond that would never be broken.

“I’m all done in. Can I still sleep here tonight?”

“Of course, child. You still have the job when you are well enough.” She got up and swaggered to the door. It was clear that she needed to get in line for a bigger waitress uniform.

Betty almost laughed.
Those white bellbottom uniform pants are tight enough to be hosiery
.

Betty laid back and thought of her
mama and daddy, and her brother over in Viet Nam. She hadn’t heard from him for months. They cried when his number came up in the draft.
It isn’t fair that I got to go to college and he was sent over there.
Word from the army was that he died and that his body lay behind an enemy stronghold and there was no hope to get him home again. Her parents refused to believe that he had been killed. She didn’t know what to think.

They tried to find out more information, but so many soldiers were missing in action and prisoners of war that knowing what happened seemed to be a mystery.

She gazed at the silver bracelet around her wrist and prayed for the soldier whose name was engraved on it. She wondered if he had a sister and mama and daddy that were coming unraveled because they didn’t know where he was.

She
started a song for him and hadn’t finished it because it was so hard to keep believing that he hadn’t died. She fell asleep with the words rolling in her mind.

We Never Had the Chance to Say ‘Goodbye’

There’s a wind sweeping o
’re the prairie,

and it reaches to the wide open sky.

whistling through the tall wild grasses

that have turned from lush to dry.

I think of those who walked here among us

they were called to a land so far away.

When they return there is no welcome chorus,

Only some of us waiting forever and a day.

She awoke sobbing for her sweet brother. It hurt to think he would never return from that awful place. After she wiped her eyes, she sat up in bed and wondered at her predicament.
She was sure that waitress pay was low and only hoped that she would be able to save up some money for her future.

Betty
studied her surroundings. The apartment was cozy in an old fashioned way. The frills and doodads sitting around reminded her of Miss Sweetie. Of course she would have been the one to decorate the place.

Shadows from the trees moved along the stretch of wall beside her bed. She wasn’t afraid anymore. Somehow, living in the apart
ment owned by that sturdy woman made her feel safe.

She moaned as she shifted in the bed. Giving birth had been harder on her body than she had thought. Easing back on the aged pillows helped with the pain.

That coach guy had said that it was only six miles to Nashville. Maybe somehow she could use the voice God had given her to make a living. She figured they always needed backup singers. She played the guitar and piano really well. The obstacles to getting a job there were many, but she didn’t know exactly what they were.

Maybe Miss Sweetie knew something about that. She thought of the woman and regretted that she hadn’t
told the whole truth about her attacker. She was very afraid of him. She didn’t want to tell that he attacked her. She was afraid he would get into real trouble and land in juvenile hall or prison. It wouldn’t do to make him mad. She was sure of that.

She thought about the
baby and placed her palms on each side of her head and pressed hard. “Bless that child, God. He didn’t do anything wrong.” A certain grief fell over her like a blanket. She felt calm, but foggy.
I am still tired...better try to sleep.

Chapter 7

Betty dressed in the uniform Miss Sweetie brought up to her room. She now looked like one of the regular servers. Her long blondish-brown hair hung in a single thick braid down the middle of her back. She didn’t like the little nurse cap thing they pinned on the crown of her head, but she wore it so as not to ruffle any feathers. The white bell bottoms and tunic shirt fit her well.

Miss Sweetie observed the girl and declared her to be strong enough to work. She looked a lot better than the kid that drug herself into the cafe demanding a job last week.

“We are keeping you at the register from noon to closing at eight. You will be taking section one from opening to noon. I think that will be fair for all of us.”

“Boss, section one is the area nobody wants to sit.”

Sweetie bristled and half-hollered, “Just why would anybody want to sit there when there are big windows full of dead flies and other bugs on the sill? Last waitress that had that section never washed the windows or lowered the shades to keep the sun off those sitting there.

“
I think that Betty might know how to draw people to that area if it is really clean and the tables are picked up quick-like between customers. She looks to me to be the kind to keep the coffee or sweet tea flowing, too. I gave up on you ever keeping up with section one, Susan! That’s why you are moved to number four.”

Susan’s eyes widened. She didn’t dare push the matter any further. Her regular customers would just have
to figure out which tables she served. That wouldn’t be a problem. She wouldn’t sass the boss because she really needed the job.

The little bunch finished their coffee and took their posts before the early crowd arrived. It was already five thirty and they would be straggling in any minute.

Betty had learned to tolerate the morning coffee in the days she had stayed at Miss Sweetie’s. The cook made her eggs over easy and medium brown toast. The hash browns were perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. If she didn’t watch it, she would gain back the fifty pounds she had lost since junior high.

She brought her dishes to the cart an
d walked to the pantry to find rags and Windex or something to clean up those windows.
I wish I could get hold of Miss Sweetie’s rings and shine them up.
She couldn’t believe that thought flashed through her mind.

When she stood in front of the windows she almost cried. They looked as coated with...something...grease..as Miss Sweetie’s rings.”

She went back to the kitchen and got a bucket and made up some suds with the harsh soap they ran the dishes through. It didn’t occur to her to protect her soft little hands.

She took one of the chairs from the nearest table and dragged it outside and climbed on top on the seat after plunging the thick rag into the suds. She rubbed both picture windows until they shined on the outside, but she still could hardly see through them.

The bucket was mostly empty so she refilled it and began scrubbing the inside windows. The greasy buildup was wiped off with the soap suds, then she shined them until they sparkled with the Windex. The other waitresses were busy filling coffee cups for truck drivers and farmers who made their daily stop into the little cafe.

“Shoot, now my wife will be able to see if I am in here!”
a jolly round farmer declared.

His friends sitting at the table with him laughed and clapped him on the back.

“Sure nuff. You need to find you another dive to go to.”

Betty took the wet, soapy rag and wiped down the window sills and dumped the dead bugs into the water pail. The place was much improved, but the floors hadn’t been swept or the tables given a good going over.

She was good at cleaning up messes. Her mama always taught her to do a good job and not forget to clean the edges of the table and floor.

At long last the three
booths and four tables she was responsible for were sparkling clean. She went into the small ladies’ room and freshened up. She dashed cool water on her face and scrubbed her stinging hands. The stinging stopped, but they were still red.

Miss Sweetie observed her as she greeted her first customers. The order was somewhat
complicated because the fellows were trying to mix her up. She gave them a wide smile and clipped the five little green tickets on the order wheel.
Those rascals asked for separate checks! They really are giving me a time.