The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion (25 page)
Read The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion Online
Authors: Fannie Flagg
“Evidently.”
“Your mother was
Polish
? Born in Pulaski, Wisconsin? Oh, my God!” After she continued to read on, Dee Dee almost yelled, “Father unknown?” Three ladies at the next table turned and looked over at them.
Oh, dear, Sookie knew Dee Dee was not going to like that part. “Honey, please … try and keep your voice down.”
Dee Dee dropped her voice level down to a whisper. “Oh, my God, Mother. That means you are a—you haven’t told anyone about this, have you?”
“No, no. You and your father are the only two people that know. And I wanted to tell you first, before I tell the other children.”
Sookie knew Dee Dee would be upset, but she had no idea how much. Dee Dee had just come completely undone, and so they left
the tea room and made their way to a bar down the street. Dee Dee was on her second drink, still rattled to the bone by the news, when she said, “And Grandmother knew about this all along—and she let us all think we were real Simmonses. My God, Mother, I’m the recording secretary of the Alabama chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy.”
“I know.”
“Why …
why
would she do such a thing?”
“Oh, sweetie, why does she do anything she does? Your father thinks she just wanted us to feel like we really belonged to her.”
“What did she say when you told her you knew?”
“I haven’t told her. And Dee Dee, I’ve given a lot of thought to this, and I don’t think we can ever let her know that we know. I’m afraid it would kill her. Remember, she is eighty-eight years old.”
Dee Dee’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. “But she always said I was her favorite. Why wouldn’t she have at least told me?”
“Sweetheart, I don’t know. But I’m so sorry. I knew you would be upset.”
“Upset? I’m just thinking about staging my own death is all. My life is over. I hope you know that. Why live?”
“Oh now, sweetheart, I think you’re making too much of this. After all, we’re talking about my parents, not yours. You know who your real mother and father are. And don’t forget, you know for sure that you are half a Poole. That’s something, isn’t it?”
Dee Dee sighed. “Oh, the Pooles are all right, I guess. But what about my Simmons family coat of honor? And who are these people anyway—the Jurdabralinskis? Or however you say it. Do you know anything about them?”
“Well, a little … yes.”
“What?”
“Well, I know that they were evidently a very nice family, four girls and a boy, and two of the girls were twins, just like ours. Isn’t that funny?”
“Were they cheese farmers or what?”
“Oh, no … no, honey. The father was a very well-respected businessman.”
“What did he do?”
Sookie knew Dee Dee really wasn’t going to like this, so she soft-pedaled it for a moment. “He was in the automobile business.” She didn’t dare tell her he ran a gas station.
S
HE WAS GOING TO
tell the twins next, but she wanted to wait until Ce Ce had been home from her honeymoon for a while so she could tell them together.
After she told them, they were surprised, but they took it very well. Ce Ce said, “We love you, Mother. We don’t care that you are adopted, do we?”
Le Le shook her head. “No, we don’t care if we’re not really related to Grandmother.”
“No,” said Ce Ce. “We don’t care.”
“Yes, but I know how much you both love Grandmother, so I hope it won’t change how you feel about her.”
“No, not at all,” said Le Le. “She’s still our grandmother, and we will always love her.”
“But you’re our mother, Mother. You’re the one we love the most,” added Ce Ce.
“Yes,” said Le Le, “and we always wondered why you let her push you around so much.”
“You did?”
“Yes,” Le Le said.
“We did,” said Ce Ce. “She was always nice to us, but she pushed you around something awful.”
“And it made us mad, too,” said Le Le.
“It
did
?”
“Yes, it did,” said Ce Ce. And they both nodded in agreement.
S
HE WAITED TO TELL
Carter until the following weekend, when he came home from Atlanta with a guy friend of his. They were going to go deep-sea fishing with Earle and watch the Alabama game. That Sunday, a few hours before he was supposed to leave, she took him in the den and told him. After he got over his initial shock, Carter said, “Wow … Mom. From the look on your face when you said you had
something you wanted to talk to me about, I thought it was really serious, like you and Dad were getting a divorce or something.” Then he looked at her with wide eyes. “Wow … so you were adopted. How about that.”
“I know it’s pretty shocking to find out after all these years that none of us are related to Grandmother. How do you feel about it?”
He sat there for a moment and then said, “Well … I think it’s really kind of great news. Now none of us have to worry about winding up over at Pleasant Hill.”
Sookie was surprised to hear him say that. “Oh, honey. I never knew that ever worried you.”
“Sure it did, Mom. You know I love old Winged Victory to death and always will … but let’s face it. She is as nutty as a fruitcake. I was always afraid that one day, you might wind up just like her.”
Sookie smiled. “Well, honey, it could still happen. And I’ll tell you, if I get any more big shocks like this one, who knows?”
“So,” said Carter, “your real mother worked at an all-girl filling station? How cool is that?” Then he grinned. “Oh, boy, I’ll bet Miss Dee Dee had a flying fit when you told her.”
“Pretty much,” said Sookie. “But you know, honey, your sister really surprised me. She seems to be coming along pretty well.”
I
N THE PAST WEEKS
, all her children had surprised her in some way. She found out things she never knew about them. Dee Dee even called her a few days after her meltdown at Miss Busby’s Pink Tea Room and said, “Mother, I just want you to know that no matter what your background is, I still love you.”
“Well, thank you, Dee Dee. I appreciate that.”
“After all, it’s not your fault you are not a Simmons. You can’t help it, and you must be as disappointed as I am. So if you need to talk, call me anytime, night or day. I’m here for you … and Mother, I just want you to know that I’ve taken down the Simmons coat of arms.”
“Ah … well, I know how hard that must have been for you.”
“Yes, it was. But I’ve ordered the Poole family coat of arms, and I’ll put it up as soon as it arrives.”
“Oh, how nice. I’m sure your father will be so pleased.”
“And Mother, just so you know … about your people. I’ve looked them up, and the Polish are considered to be extremely intelligent and good-looking people, so you mustn’t feel too bad about yourself, okay?”
“Okay, honey, I’ll try not to, and thanks for the information. I feel better already.”
Poor Dee Dee. At least she was trying to move on, and much faster than Sookie had expected.
S
WEETWATER
, T
EXAS
Billy Boy,
Sorry I haven’t written for a while, but we left Houston and arrived at our new base in Sweetwater and have been kept busy twenty-four hours a day. This is the hottest place I have ever been. If hell is this hot, then I ain’t going. It hasn’t been under a hundred degrees since I’ve been here, and the dust storms are terrible. I have red dust in my hair, teeth, ears, and everywhere the sun doesn’t shine. I don’t know if I’ll ever be clean again. And, oh, have I mentioned the snakes and scorpions and the bugs? It’s so hot, a lot of us gals pulled our cots outside to sleep, but you never know what might crawl in bed with you. These damn snakes even try to get in the planes for a little shade … not happy about that. I make them do a good check on mine—don’t want any snake copilot.
And they don’t make it easy on us girlies. We are doing everything the army way. We train like the big boys, including calisthenics, and we march everywhere … I’m even marching in my sleep. No fun, but we do it. My new pal Willy says it’s just more proof that they will be taking us in the Army Air
Corps for real pretty soon. The grub is pretty good. Had my first hominy grits. Mmmm …
Other than dodging tumbleweeds and spiders and water bugs, I’m just fine. The other girls I have met here are all swell as far as I can tell. We have six girls to a bay. I’m in with Pinks, this real cute little Jewish gal from New York. Her dad runs a big brassiere factory, and we are all sporting new undies, compliments of Mr. Pinksel. I really get a kick out of her and Bea Wallace from Oklahoma, who wears steel-toed cowboy boots and carries a .45 on her hip. What a snazzy-looking dame she is … brunette, about five foot nine with a million-dollar smile and all legs. She is the only one of us who still looks good in these god-awful overalls they gave us. None of them fit worth a damn. The crotch in mine hits me at the knees, but when she walks by, all the guys’ eyes pop out of their heads. And no, you ain’t meeting her, so stop drooling. Anyhoo, she must be loaded. She started flying so she could check out the cattle on her family’s ranch. Her dad was a great pal of Will Rogers, so we call her “Willy” just to razz her. The other three gals in my bay are nice, but kinda not in my league: girls finishing school, rich debutante types, all college grads, one from Vassar and two from Smith, and they sorta have a snooty air about them, always talking about their la-di-da schools.
Anyhoo, the other night, when we were all sitting around chewing the fat, did I pull a good one. Willy and Pinks were in on the joke, and I casually let it drop that I was a recent graduate of the Phillips School for Young Ladies.
One of the Smith gals looked puzzled and was about to say something when Pinks piped up and said, “Oh, Phillips. Why, I heard Phillips was so exclusive it was almost impossible to get in. How did you ever manage to do it?” And I said, “Daddy did have to pull a lot of strings.” Well, that shut them up.
Boy, did the three of us have a big laugh later. Quite a feat for someone who barely made it out of high school, eh?
Fritzi
P.S. I see what you mean about cadets. We have a lot of ninety-day wonder boys flying around Texas now. They just got out of flight school and don’t have near the flight time hours that the gals do, but they still feel superior to us and like to hotdog it and show off in front of the girls, and it’s pretty damn dangerous. Some of the boys have been buzzing the gals, playing fighter pilot and trying to scare them. None of us have been given formation training, and a plane flying that close does scare them. When they complained, their CO said, “Boys will be boys, and some of them may be tempted to fly on your wing and horse around a bit with the gals, but it’s to be expected.” But after a few close calls, he ordered that they were to stay five hundred feet away from us at all times. That rule applies on the ground as well. Our barracks are off-limits to all males. Mrs. Van de Kamp is a nice local lady who acts as a house mother to all the girls here and she makes sure that law is strictly enforced!
S
WEETWATER
, T
EXAS
Dear Billy,
We are training every day now. I saw my first real live Mexican and had my first tamale. Pretty good. I am sending you a ceramic sombrero ashtray and a picture of me in the flying rig. They have issued us men’s flight suits—they look more like zoot suits on us. Took your advice and made friends with the mechanics. Have a swell one by the name of Elroy Leefers who is looking out for me. I miss you, and congrats on your new commission. Guess I’ll have to salute you now.
Fritzi
P.S. The town of Sweetwater gave us gals a barbecue—sure was fun. These Texans are some of the friendliest people I ever met.
