Casket Case (15 page)

“I don’t think the good Lord liked that comment about the church ladies,” I said.

“I won’t tempt Him anymore,” Jane said. “Dry off. Sit down. I’ve got coffee to take off the wet chill.” I settled into the corner of the love seat with my legs pulled up under me while she poured coffee from a stainless steel thermos into two cups and added cream and three sugars from packets to mine before handing it to me. She plopped down into her recliner, which is her favorite seat. She’s as bad as my daddy about not wanting anyone else to sit in her personal chair.

We sat and sipped coffee a few minutes. “Hey,” I said, “this is regular coffee, not flavored. Since when did you stop buying the good stuff?”

“Since your brother packed up all my kitchen goods.”

“Then how’re you going to cook dinner?”

“I’m not. Frank is taking us out. He’ll be here soon.”

“But where’d you get this coffee?”

“Frank brought it over earlier.”

“He’s not pestering you, is he?”

“No, he’s being really helpful. The only person pestering me is that witch woman Dorcas Lucas. What kind of name is that? Dorcas sounds like that word Odell calls Otis when he’s mad with him.”

“Doofus?”

“Yes, but even that isn’t strong enough for what I think of her.”

“Remember—no cussing any stronger than kindergarten. Just say ‘dalmation, dalmation, dalmation, a hundred and one dalmations’ and you’ll feel just as good as you do when you make all those nasty comments.”

Jane spieled out a string of words considerably worse than kindergarten cussing.

When she’d finished, I asked, “Feel better?”

“Sure do, but you don’t sound so good yourself.”

“Just kinda blue. Don’t even know why. Maybe it’s this weather on my birthday.” I handed her my cup for a refill.

“Well,
I have the perfect birthday gift for you,” Jane said as she handed my refilled cup to me, filled, lightened, and sweetened perfectly.

“What is it? If my birthday present is a cup of coffee, there had better be a cookie to go with it.”

“Frank and I ate all the benne wafers, but as soon as I’m moved, I’m going to try some more recipe experiments. I’m definitely entering the Southern Belle Baking Contest.” She laughed. “Close your eyes now.”

I cheated and kept them open.

Jane pulled a small package wrapped in tissue paper from the pocket of her overalls and held it out to me.

I didn’t waste any time opening it. A beautiful red pendant on a silver chain. “I love it!” I said as I fastened the chain around my neck.

“It’s garnet,” Jane said. I was glad she told me because I’d been thinking it was ruby. In my mind, if it’s red, it’s ruby; if it’s green, it’s emerald; and if it’s bright, shiny, and clear, it’s probably cubic zirconium.

“Garnet will strengthen your aura,” she continued.

I laughed and said, “What’s wrong with my aura?”

“Dalmation if I know. I can’t help it if Mommy taught me all that stuff about gems and minerals. Garnet strengthens your aura. That’s what she always said.”

“What about diamonds?” I asked.

“Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”

“Did your mom tell you that?”

“No, I got it from a movie.”

After many thanks and a sisterly hug, I changed the subject. “Did you say that Lucas woman has been here again today?”

“Yes, she said Mrs. White told her I was moving yesterday, and I told
her
it was raining. I didn’t let her in. Told her my rent’s paid until the end of the month, and if it keeps raining or she keeps harassing me, I’ll stay here until then.”

“I saw Pearl White and George Carter at Blue Crab last night. I told her that Ms. Lucas is rude to you and she should tell her not to come over here unless Pearl is with her. That’s what I said, but I don’t know if she’ll remember. She was knocking back whiskey sours.”

“I don’t know what she drank with her meal, but she had two whiskey sours at our table and acted like she wanted another one, until
Georgie
got her out of there.”

“Pearl doesn’t drink,” Jane said in a serious tone.

“She sure did last night.”

“She’s been a ‘recovering’ alcoholic as long as I’ve known her. She told me about it when I met her. She made a big deal about alcoholics never being ‘cured’ and said she would be ‘recovering’ for the rest of her life. Mrs. White was proud she’d done twenty-four steps, and would never touch alcohol again.”

“Twenty-four steps? I thought those programs were twelve steps.”

“They are. Mrs. White had a relapse and started the whole thing over again. That was before I met her, and I’ve known her since Mommy brought me home from the school and we started going to the Commission for the Blind for special equipment.”

Jane spent her early years in an institution for the blind; she calls it “the school.” I knew that Mrs. Gray, as she was back then before she married Mr. White, had seen to it that the commission supplied Jane with a new brailler when hers broke, as well as the electronic typewriter she used in high school. More recently, Pearl had been the person who arranged for Jane to receive a computer with the special software that reads her e-mail and research aloud to her.

“Well, she sure was belting down whiskey sours last night,” I said. “She looks different, too. She’s dressing all young and flirty.”

“I didn’t realize that, but her voice is different. She’s really wrapped up in this George Carter, isn’t she?”

“Not George. She calls him
Georgie
.” Jane stuck her finger in her mouth and mimed a barf at me when I said that.

“Me, too,” I agreed. “I thought if she simpered out
Georgie
one more time, I’d lose my Crab Benedict all over the table.”

“Thanks for sharing that pleasant image,” Jane said. A pounding sounded over the rain. I jumped up and stomped to the door, ready to give Ms. Lucas a piece of my mind. Not that I usually have any mind to spare, but that’s what I felt like doing.

I snatched the door open ready to snarl, but there was no lady there. No gentleman either. Just my brother Frank, holding a dark green garbage bag over his head.

“You gals ready?” he asked. “If you are, I won’t track any more of this rain into the house.”

“Where are we going?” I asked as I pulled my raincoat and slicker on. Jane wrapped herself in a hooded cape, and we followed Frank out and down the steps.

“Be careful,” Frank cautioned. “These steps are slippery as snail snot.”

I elbowed him and said, “Don’t say that.”

Frank was driving the Jeep, so I climbed into the back while Jane sat up front with him. Though Jane couldn’t see the way my brother looked at her, I was certain she could feel the vibes.

“Is the electricity back on at Daddy’s?” I almost yelled, trying to be heard over the slapping of the windshield wipers and swish-splash of the rain.

“No. Some power company men came by. Said it’s not just a transformer. Whole substation’s out. Won’t be back on before tomorrow.”

“Did Daddy buy the generator?”

“Yeah, but it’s not really big enough to do much except keep the refrigerator and freezers on.” He pulled over to the side of the road.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. I hadn’t felt the Jeep do anything that would indicate a flat tire or mechanical problem.

Frank laughed. Jane giggled. “Unfasten your seat belt and turn around so your back is to me,” Frank said. When I turned, he wrapped a cloth scarf around my face and tied it in the back.

“What’s this all about?” I demanded.

“It’s your birthday,” Frank said.

“That’s no reason to blindfold me unless we’re playing ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey,’ and I don’t like it,” I complained, but I didn’t pull the cloth away from my eyes.

“Don’t fuss now, Callie. I spend my whole life like that,” Jane said.

“Jane Baker, it won’t do you any good to try for sympathy from me. You do more than most sighted people.”

“Yes, and you have two eyes that work but you don’t bother to look. I ‘see’ more than you do.”

“Just lean back and relax,” Frank said as he pulled the Jeep back onto the road. “It won’t be long.” I’m sure I had a big silly grin on my face beneath my blindfold. I tried to guess where we were going by the turns but didn’t have any luck. I wondered if Frank and Jane were taking me somewhere really nice, like Andre’s, but not being able to see, it wasn’t long before I couldn’t even tell what part of town we were in.

When Frank parked the Jeep, he said, “Now don’t move the blindfold or you won’t get any dinner.” He managed to guide me on one side and Jane on the other. Across pavement, up a few stairs, and about ten steps on what I assumed was a large wooden porch.

Where were we?

It
should have been the surprise of the century, but when Frank opened the door, I knew where we were.

“Amazing Grace” sounded.

I snatched the cloth from my eyes. “You brought me to
work
?”

Jane giggled. “Yes.”

Odell came out of Slumber Room A, pulled the door closed behind him, and growled at Frank, “It took you long enough to get her here.”

“You told me I didn’t have to work today,” I mumbled.

“Well, you do, so come on in here,” Odell said and turned back toward the door he’d just closed.

I opened the door. The room was dark. I flipped the light switch, and the overhead lights flooded the room. No, there was no shout of “Surprise!” Instead, the crowd of people standing in there yelled, “Happy birthday, Callie!”

My face couldn’t have looked more shocked than most of theirs did. The room was full of friends, relatives, and some people I didn’t even know, all staring at me. But there was one person there whose presence absolutely stunned me.

My daddy. He stood in front of everyone else.

He came over, hugged me, and said the words I’d never before heard from him. “Happy birthday, Callie.” Then, with his arm around my shoulders, he turned to face everyone.

“I want to tell you something before this party gets started,” Daddy said. “When I was fourteen years old, I drove my uncle to see a friend of his.” He grinned. “And, yeah, back then it was legal to get your driver’s license at fourteen in South Carolina. We were setting on the porch, me and my uncle and his friend, when a girl came out on the porch with a tray full of glasses of iced tea. That girl was the prettiest female I’d ever seen and I ain’t seen a better-looking woman since then.

“I married her, and we had five sons. When she birthed our only girl, she died, and I’ve mourned my wife every June twenty-second since then. My grief on that anniversary day of her ma’s death kept me from ever telling Calamine here happy birthday, but this past year, I been realizing how lucky I am that my sweet wife left me a little girl.”

Daddy coughed and cleared his throat. I couldn’t tell if it was his sinuses or emotion when he continued, “Calamine’s not a child anymore, and it’s time I celebrated her birthday, but this storm ruined my plans for a fish fry and catfish stew over at the house, and Calamine’s bosses, Otis and Odell, offered to move the party here since they don’t have any dead bodies right now.”

I couldn’t see Otis or Odell, but I bet they cringed when Daddy said “dead bodies.”

He continued, “I want to say happy birthday to Calamine and thank-you to the Middletons. Now, let’s celebrate!” Daddy kissed me on the cheek and motioned toward three big washtubs filled with ice. Two of them had beers; the other was full of soft drinks. I thought he’d finished talking, but he added, “And I notice that tonight she’s got brown hair again, just like her mama did, except her ma didn’t have hers striped red.”

That’s when I realized what had made everyone look so surprised when I turned on the lights—my newest hair color.