The Future Homemakers of America (17 page)

She'd brought an airline spoon to show me.

Crystal was meant to be rolling out the welcome wagon, not messing up my kitchen counters. I wanted everything to look nice for Kath. I'd gotten new covers for the bed and matching drapes, all drip-dry, and scented soap for the shower cabin.

Midnight, Crystal was still up, popping corn. She seemed like she was hanging around, waiting for something. Wasn't till morning I found out what.

I left Kath till ten, figured she needed her sleep. When I tapped on her door she called out, ‘I'm all right, Peg, but do you come in, you better open the door slow.’

She was propped up against the pillows, curlers in her hair, and halfway up the comforter was one of Crystal's goddamned lizards. Kath was looking at the lizard and it was looking right back at her.

‘Come in gentle,’ she said. ‘I'm worried that might turn nasty if you startle it.’

It was Crystal I intended startling, when she got home from school. She had promised me to get all livestock outta her room and into the carport.

‘Elvis!’ she said, when I told her what Kath had woken up to. ‘You better not have hurt him.

Kath said she didn't like putting anybody out of their quarters, not even a lizard, but that was only after she realised Elvis wouldn't bite. She said, ‘Let him stop. He's quite a character now I'm getting used to him.’

So Crystal brought in another lizard, called Presley, too. Give that child an inch. I could see she was relenting a little, though, over Kath sleeping in her room.

Betty drove over next evening, to welcome Kath to Converse and have a powwow about travelling to Gayle's wedding. Soon as all the squealing and hugging was done she said, ‘Peggy, we have a crisis. Ed says it ain't safe to go.’

There was a story about a bunch of black kids riding in white seats on a Greyhound out of Washington DC.

I said, ‘We're not going anywhere near Washington.’

‘Maybe so,’ she said, ‘but Ed says this kinda thing could spread.’

I said, ‘So what are you gonna do? Drive all the way to North Carolina?’ Old heap of junk Betty drove, never would have made it.

Kath said, ‘I don't understand. What's happened?’

Then Crystal pipes up. ‘I can tell you. Blacks don't want to be treated different any more,’ she said ‘They are rising up.’

‘See,’ Betty said. ‘Even Crystal knows about it.’

Kath said, ‘Are they tret different, then?’

I said, ‘Course they are. They got their own schools. Got their own neighbourhoods.’

Betty said, ‘And got their own place on, the bus. Always did. I don't see why folks have to meddle with what don't need fixing.’

Kath said, ‘Well, I don't know about it. They've got them in London now, working on the buses, but I don't know what happens if they just want to ride. And we haven't got any in Lynn.’

I said, ‘Please yourself, Betty. Me and Kath are going on the Greyhound.’

Crystal said, ‘And me.’

I said, ‘You told me you weren't coming. I've fixed for Mrs Kaiser to keep an eye on you.’

‘I changed my mind,’ she said. ‘I want to see an uprising.’

44

Betty dithered the rest of the week. Ed told her if she went she could expect to come home murdered. On the other hand, she had made herself a blue rayon sheath-dress and a pillbox hat out of a Sugar Smacks carton and the remains of the rayon. In the end fashion won the day. Her and Carla turned up at the bus terminal five minutes before departure time.

‘I've labelled Ed's dinners,’ she said. ‘All Sherry has to do is heat them through when he gets home.’

He had gotten a job at last, selling leaf-blowers.

I reckon that trip aged me ten years. The way I'd planned it, we'd take three days getting there. Stop off at Shreveport and Birmingham and find ourselves bed and breakfast. But Betty was worried about money and I didn't want to get her into any more trouble with Ed. We stayed on the bus that first night and she kept folding and re-folding the Woolworth's bags she'd brung for Carla to be sick in, only Carla wasn't getting sick.

We bought water-melon slices at Jackson, Mississippi. Kath had never had it before. She had never seen so many black faces neither.

She said, ‘So they can't sit where we sit. And we can't sit where they sit.’

Betty said, ‘Oh yes, we can. But of course, we wouldn't want to.’ Kath said, ‘I still don't understand it.’

Crystal was sitting next to her. She said, ‘You scared of an uprising, Aunty Kath? I'm not.’ All of a sudden it was ‘Aunty Kath’.

By the time we got to Atlanta I was so crazy for lack of sleep, I was ready to lay my head anyplace, and I did. We got a three-bed family room at the Chattahoochee Club Motel and, even though the sheets smelled a little sour, I went out like a light. Next morning at the terminal there was something going on. Newspaper men running around, with cameras.

Betty said, ‘Somebody famous must be expected. Keep your eyes open, now, girls.’

But it wasn't anything like that. We had just took our seats when they towed in a Greyhound, all burned out. Our driver said it had been took over by blacks in Gainesville, called themselves Freedom Riders, and when they were asked to sit in their intended seats or get off, they had set the bus alight.

He said, ‘Any nigras try to take over my vehicle, they'll get more'n they bargain for.’

I saw Betty's knuckles whiten. ‘I hope you're satisfied,’ she hissed to me. ‘I knew we shouldn't have come. Putting ourselves in mortal danger. Now Carla's gonna be terrified.’

Carla said, ‘I ain't terrified, Mom.

Betty said, ‘Well, you should be.

Crystal winked at Carla. Gave her a stick of Hubba Bubba. It wasa kinda solidarity thing, I guess.

All the way to Wilmington, Betty was braced for Freedom Riders to climb aboard and set us on fire. Kath was just drinking in the passing sights. Couple of times we passed through bad areas she said, ‘Look at that. I thought everywhere'd be spick and span over here. I thought I'd be seeing film stars everywhere.’

I said, ‘You disappointed in America?’

‘Oh no,’ she said. ‘I like it. Everybody gives you the time of day over here, even the darkies.’

I could hear Carla and Crystal talking about the wedding.

Carla said, ‘You allowed to wear your dungarees to the marrying?’

Crystal said, ‘No. I have to wear a dumb dress.’

‘Me too,’ Carla said. ‘It's white organdy. Mom made it.’

Crystal said, ‘I'm never getting married.’

Carla said, ‘Oh, you have to. When you've finished high school, that's what happens next.’

Crystal said, ‘No it isn't, you noodle. Who told you that? Millions of people don't get married. Zillions. Aunty Kath didn't get married, did you?’

I looked to see if Betty was listening. She was.

‘No,’ Kath said. ‘I never married.’ And Betty gave me a knowing smile.

Carla said, ‘Weren't you pretty enough?’

Kath laughed. ‘I don't think I was that bad,’ she said. ‘But I had my brother to look after. First I had my mam, when she got poorly. Then I had my brother, John Pharaoh.’

I opened my mouth and something came out, more a mew than a squeak. I coughed some, to cover it up. My head was spinning. He was her brother. She'd just said so. John Pharaoh was her brother. And Kath had shared a bed with him.

Carla said, ‘And then what?’

‘And then he died,’ Kath said.

I turned and looked outta the window. I didn't want to see Betty's face. I needed time to think, and we were eating up the miles to Wilmington.

Soon as we stepped down off the Greyhound, I was watching for my opportunity. I wanted to take Betty to one side and say, ‘Now, I know what you're thinking, but you're not to make a scene in front of these kids. I'm as stunned as you are, but we have to look at it this way. They were different times. Different country, different customs.’

But I never got to say my piece. Kath was never outta earshot. Betty insisting we even went to the restroom together in case of riot and mayhem. She gave us all a fistful of Kleenex, too.

‘You never know,’ she said, ‘what kinda
element
has been in contact with these seats.’

I looked her right in the eye. Allowed her the opportunity to give me her famous scandalised look. Nothing there. She hadn't even heard what I had heard. Kath had dropped a little bombshell, and nobody even realised. I was on my own with the information. I had time to turn it over in my mind and decide who I was going to share it with first.

45

Camp Lejeune was the biggest facility I ever seen. It stretched along fourteen miles of sand bars and beach, all set up for combat training. There wasn't a thing they didn't have there. Bowling alley. Movie theatre. They even had black marines.

Gayle and Ray came down to the main gate to escort us to the hostess house. She broke into a little run, when she spotted us. Ray come loping along behind. He had a look of Okey about him, gave me a moment of sadness. I think it was the way his ears stuck out.

She still felt like a little bird in my arms. Still had her wispy hair in a pony-tail. ‘Oh, Peggy,’ she said, ‘I'm so happy, I could scream.’

I seen a roughness about her I didn't remember from before. Hard times and heartbreak, I guess.

Crystal was tongue-tied.

Gayle said, ‘Don't I get a kiss, Crystal Dewey? Number of popsicles I stood you!’

Kath had a little speech prepared. She said, ‘I should like to thank you for inviting me. That was a very kind thought.’

Gayle said, ‘Hey, you're the guest of honour. We don't know anybody ever had a English to their wedding. That right, Ray?’

‘Yes, ma'am,’ he said. That was about all I ever heard him say, excepting his marriage vows.

I said, ‘Lois here yet?’

Gayle said, ‘She's late. Her dress wasn't ready.’

Me and Lois had talked dresses. I'd called her up, see what she was gonna wear. ‘Something that has not yet seen the light of Benny Gold's machine room,’ she said. ‘My cousin Irene can get it at cost. I'm thinking of a matador-cape collar. How about you?

’I said, ‘I don't know. I'm outta touch.’

‘I know what you mean,’ she said. ‘You live up here long enough, you start wearing men's socks. Next thing is, you think they look okay.’

It was something to be back inside a perimeter fence, hearing men marching in those heavy boots, and the Big Voice barking out.

We were in issue bunks. Ray Flagg was only a E-4 corporal, so we didn't get any fancy accommodations. Crystal and Carla took a top bunk together, Crystal having decided Carla wasn't so bad for seven, nor for a Gillis brat. Betty and Kath took a pair together. Started shaking out their wedding outfits and making themselves at home. Looked like I was left with Lois. I slung my stuff on the top half. I didn't want her tossing and turning all night two feet above my head.

Five o'clock, a bugle sounded Retreat.

Betty said, ‘Oh, Peg! Don't that take you back? Happy days.’

I said, ‘Happy? Are you nuts?’

‘They
were
happy,’ she said. ‘Least, we had the air force looking after us. Least, we didn't have to punch in every morning or lose the roof over our heads. I'd go back. Give me the chance, I'd go back in a heartbeat.’

We had just given up on Lois and decided to take the girls into Jacksonville for hamburgers when we heard her car horn. Five years since I'd seen her, but it was like yesterday. Her hair was still big and red, and her mouth too. She was wearing white pants and a harlequin shirt, tucked in, and ballerina shoes.

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Let the fun begin. Where's the bar?’

She picked Gayle up off her feet and swung her round. ‘You happy, kid?’ she said. Betty was hailing her outta the dormitory window. ‘That you up there, Gillis?’ she yelled. ‘Get your junk on your bunk. Gear inspection in five minutes!’

I was watching to see how she was with Kath. Last time they'd met, Lo had had a eel spear digging into her belly.

‘Kirk,’ she said, ‘you get out of that car. Come and meet a real English lady.’

Kirk was still small for his age. Carla towered over him. He was screwing up his face about having to meet a bunch of people, hanging back, pulling on Lo's shirt.

‘Quit that!’ she said. ‘Now, offer Kath your hand and say howdy-doo. She's come all the way from England to take a look at you.’

Kath and Kirk shook hands. ‘Nice to meet you,’ Kath said. ‘I see you've got another copper-knob in the family, then, Lois?’

Lois said, ‘How are you, Kath? I'm real glad to see you again.’ She said it nice, like she meant it.

We took her dress in to hang it, keep the big cape collar in shape. It was kinda aquamarine.

I said, ‘Kirk's a little gentleman.’

‘Ha!’ she said. ‘He's still full of Dramamine. You wait.’

I knew he'd been in a couple of different schools. He had been asked to leave because he got unruly.

Lois said, ‘I couldn't come without him. He's too much of a handful for Herb's mom, and Herb couldn't get time off. I've threatened him, though. He better behave. I haven't come all this way to have to drag him outta the chapel, miss Gayle's big moment. You met the bridegroom yet?’

I said, ‘Yes. He's young; he's in shape.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ she said.

So we spent Gayle's wedding eve at Snead's Ferry, drinking Dr Pepper and eating Krystalburgers.

I said to Gayle, ‘How about your friends from the camp? They coming along?’

‘I didn't really make any yet,’ she said. ‘I guess it's because I'm older.’

Betty said, ‘And, honey, they probably heard you were an officer's wife. You know what enlisted can be like.’

‘Nothing wrong with enlisted,’ Gayle said. ‘Matter of fact, they're my kind. I'd sooner be with them than the types you get at the OWC. Arranging their flowers. Looking down their noses at you.’

Lois said, ‘And how is dear Audrey?’

Audrey was at Truxton Ferrers in Oxfordshire, England, Lance now flying a big desk for Strategic Air Command. They had sent Gayle and Ray a beautiful Wedgwood-blue Jasperware table lighter. Real elegant.

Gayle said, ‘I didn't mean Audrey.’