Chasing Lilacs (31 page)

“How did you know it was that quilt?”

“It’s laying right over there, sweetie. Any fool could see what it is.”

“Why would I do that? Wrap myself up in it?”

“Samantha, I don’t know why you do most of the things you do. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t imagine what demons you
fight every day in your mind.”

“Another thing I’ve been wondering. Why did you pick now to be so nice to me? To be so concerned about helping me? Are you
afraid Daddy and Mrs. Gray might start liking each other? That she might take Daddy away from you like my mother did? She’s
pretty like Mama, you know.”

More light came into the garage, and I noticed the rain had almost stopped. Daddy would be coming back from Mandeville soon.
I prayed he would hurry. What if he believed her and not me? I tilted my head and looked at her. Her eyelids twitched, tiny
jerky movements.

“Pretty? She’s a floozy, just like your mother.”

My ears pounded in fury. The fact that Mama didn’t love me didn’t make her a floozy.

“What if Daddy fell in love with Mrs. Gray?”

“He’s only helping her out because she’s related to that nasty Slim.”

“He’s not nasty. He’s one of the kindest people I’ve ever known.”

“And it’s all because of your little friendship with him that your daddy’s involved anyway. You running wild all over the
neighborhood, going into strangers’ homes. Heaven only knows what goes on over there. Nothing would surprise me. Not after
that outburst you had yesterday. You were over there with that boy, weren’t you? Doing what?”

“Plowing a garden, like I told you. For Slim, because people at Graham Camp care about each other and stick together.”

“I can tell what a lot of good it did your mother.” Her face had a twisted look. She stepped over to the wall and picked up
a piece of wood, a leftover two-by-four, that’s what Daddy called it. “I’m afraid with this latest escapade you’ve gone too
far.” She jabbed the end of the board toward me.

I jumped sideways and looked out at the driveway.
Hurry up, Daddy.
She stood between me and the garage door. I would have to distract her and make a run for it. That or let her attack me.
She seemed to read my mind.

“Don’t get any ideas, missy. Your daddy needs to find you in here like I did.” She pointed with the wood toward the swaying
robe. “With this.” She swiped through the air like she was swinging an ax. “Go over there and sit down.” She pointed to Mama’s
quilt.

I backed up two steps, not taking my eyes from her. “You know Daddy is not going to believe you.”

“I’ve already talked to him about your throwing your mama’s things in the incinerator. He came home to change clothes last
night before he went to the hospital. I had to tell him, don’t you see? Or else how would he know how sick you are?”

Her voice sounded tinny. I didn’t know whether Daddy would believe me or not, but I had to keep her away from me. She had
a piece of wood as long as a yardstick in her hand. Not something I wanted to get whacked with.

Calm down. Get her to talk about something else. But what?

“I have an idea. Let’s go in the house and wait for Daddy. You can show him the garage later. Besides, I need to go to the
bathroom.”

“You’ll run off if I let you out of here. You’ve proved that time and again.”

Goose bumps covered my arms and legs, whether from fear or the cold, I couldn’t tell. “Fine. Then we’ll wait here. It’s kind
of chilly in here though.” I stepped back and dropped onto Mama’s quilt. I pulled a corner up around my shoulders, wiggled
around, and found another corner. Mama buried her problems in here, waiting, always waiting for a better day. Now I was waiting
for Daddy to get home. Would he believe me or Aunt Vadine?

My stomach churned as I drew the quilt closer. Its soft folds hugged against my bare arms, and I thought I felt Mama’s arms
around me, caressing my shoulders. Sweet, whispery touches. My eyes closed without me willing them to, and a thickness came
to my tongue, filling my mouth, yet allowing me to breathe normally. Heat radiated around me, so close I thought I could touch
it like a real thing. I’m not sure when I knew it wasn’t Mama there with me but something more, bigger than I could imagine,
yet stroking me like a feather. A swelling came in my chest like I’d had before on that long-ago morning in my church pew.
The day I’d given my life to Jesus. And once again, he didn’t call my name, but words appeared in my head, not in my voice
or Mama’s.

Say something about the pearls
.

The words startled me, brought me back to the garage and the hulking figure of Aunt Vadine. She fiddled with the edge of her
nightgown, which seemed to have snagged on the two-by-four she wielded. What did the pearls matter if Aunt Vadine sent me
away and got Daddy anyway?
Please, God, if this is really you, help me be brave.

My shaking turned into a slight tremor.
Breathe. Stay calm
. My head cleared, and a voice inside told me what I had to do.

“If you send me off, you’ll never see Mama’s pearls again, you know.”

She stepped toward me, hitting the end of the two-by-four on the dirt. “Just another of your hateful little schemes.”

“I could show you where they are.”

She scrunched her eyes up. They darted around the garage and stopped at the metal shelf in the corner, a few feet from where
I sat huddled in Mama’s quilt. I could tell she was trying to decide whether or not to go to the shelf. If she did that, I
could make a dash for the door. Her eyes lit up.

“Hand me that box off the bottom shelf.” She pointed with her finger.

I didn’t move.

“Now.” She poked me with the wood, but the quilt protected me from it. She slashed through the air again, bumping the side
of my head.

Stars danced before my eyes, but still, I didn’t move.

She inched closer and glared at me.

I looked the other way, craning my neck like I’d seen someone in the drive.

She spun around to look, and when she did, I grabbed the box and tucked it inside the quilt. Working under the folds, I lifted
the lid off and reached in until I felt the baby bonnet.

“I have something for you.” I wadded the bonnet in my hand and acted like I was going to pull it out from under the quilt.

Suddenly, she lunged for me and grabbed at the quilt. She
twisted my wrist in her iron-like fingers until I opened my hand. Eyes wide, she flinched back, then flew at me, off balance.
I held the hatbox up like a shield and it connected with her knee. I heard a crack like a stick breaking. The lid flew off,
scattering the contents across the dirt. She screamed a string of curse words and collapsed on top of me.

“You tricked me. Just like your mother did. Taking Joe away from me.” Sour morning breath poured out of her as she tried to
get up. The weight of her on me made it hard to inhale. I straightened my legs and tried to push her off, but she yelled again
and grabbed her lower leg.

“That’s not what Daddy says.”

“She always got what she wanted from the day she was born. All that red hair. Naturally curly. Never mind her face had more
freckles than a speckled chicken. One look at her and no one knew I existed.” Short, raspy breaths huffed from her twisted
mouth.

“You mean Daddy?”

She groaned again and tried to move. “Having your daddy wasn’t enough. Oh no, she had to throw it in my face ever’ chance
she got. Joe this. Joe that.”

My legs grew numb pinned under her weight.

“Well, she can’t have him now, can she? But I will. As soon as we cart you off to that sanatorium and shock your brain a few
times, you won’t be able to stop me. I should have hung you up there instead of your mother’s robe. Put an end to you forever.
No one would have been surprised, you know. Like mother, like daughter.” Her eyes had a strange, empty look.

Like my dream.

I wiggled my legs once more and got out from under her. When I looked up, Cly stood over me, his mouth open, his eyes as big
as golf balls. Aunt Vadine reached out and grabbed my arm, yanking
it out of the socket, it felt like. When I fell on top of her, her hands went around my throat.

Cly kicked her and pulled me away. I landed with a thud on my bottom.

“Sam, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.” My shoulders shook, and I pulled my gown down around my legs. “What are you doing here?”

“Slim.”

My head spun, and I waited for him to tell me what I already knew in my heart.

“Your dad called, said he’d been trying to call you. He asked me to come over.” His lips trembled, and he clamped his eyes
shut. “Slim died this morning.”

I toppled over on the cold dirt of the garage.

C
LY ROLLED HIS JACKET UP
and put it under my head. I told him to go get help. “George and Goldie. Brother Henry. Anybody, just go.”

“I can’t leave you here.”

“I’m fine. Hurry.”

Numb, I looked around. In the corner Aunt Vadine lay curled on her side, moaning but not moving. Mama’s hatbox lay on its
side, with the other bundle of letters and a thin, flat book I’d not noticed before. I raised up and tried to reach them,
but it took too much effort, and I collapsed back onto the dirt floor and waited.

George and Goldie came first, and when I saw them, my heart raced. Behind them the clouds had parted and sunlight lit up the
outside world like a thousand carnival lights, dancing off the trees, the grass, the world of Graham Camp.

Just like before when Mama swallowed the pills and Mr. Johnson caught fire, our friends and neighbors ran from every direction
and swallowed me up with hugs and questions. Cly stood beside me and told them he saw Aunt Vadine trying to strangle me. Goldie
brought a bag of ice for the goose egg on my head. When Norm MacLemore and George loaded Aunt Vadine into George’s Buick,
she raised up and called me
despicable
and
vile
and some other words that burned my ears. Cly put his jacket around me and took me into the house.

The next thing I knew, Daddy came and swooped me into his arms. Someone outside had told him part of the story. He wanted
to know the rest, but I made him tell me about Slim first.

“He had a big day yesterday seeing everyone, said it was the best day of his life. We talked until the wee small hours. He
finally went to sleep, a grin on his face, and he… he just didn’t wake up.” Daddy’s forehead wrinkled, and sags drooped around
his mouth. He drew me close to his chest. “It happened around six this morning. I’d stepped out for a cup of coffee, and when
I came back, he was gone. It ain’t fair, Sis, that’s what. Just getting his life back on track with his girls… his grandkids.”

My chest felt heavy, not like when Aunt Vadine lay on top of me, but something inside swelling up. I wanted to scream and
cry, but nothing came out. I looked at Cly sitting in Daddy’s chair, his hands folded. A tear ran down his cheek. I held out
my hand to him, and he came, the three of us holding onto one another. Then a thought flashed through my head.

“Tuwana. She’ll need me. Slim was her grandpa. I have to get cleaned up—”

Daddy held up his hand. “Not until you tell me what happened. Every single detail.”

The words tumbled out, bits and pieces of what I could remember, but I didn’t know if any of it made sense. Daddy’s face turned
purple, and he stomped across the front room, telling me how sorry he was, that he would make sure Aunt Vadine never saw me
again. Cly told him what he saw and heard, which made Daddy madder than ever.

“How the devil did she do all that? It rained all night.”

I shrugged. “She acted so nice, fixing me supper and then hot chocolate before I went to bed. She said she wanted to change,
and I believed her.”

Daddy’s eyes squinted, then got fiery again. He stormed into
my bedroom and came out with Aunt Vadine’s purse. He dumped it on the floor and pulled up a brown pill bottle. “Bingo.” He
read the label. “Chloral hydrate. Take one capsule at bedtime.” He looked at me. “I’d say your dear aunt slipped you a Mickey.
Knocked you out cold. Which she had already done when I got home from work, and she told me some tale about you and the incinerator.”

I cringed. It wasn’t a tale, and I didn’t know what to say to Daddy about that. Later I could tell him about Mama and the
letters.

He stuffed everything back in her bag, including the pill bottle. “One thing about Vadine. She was no lightweight. My guess
is as soon as I left last night, she dragged you out there, maybe wrapped in the quilt. There’s an awful mess on the back
porch, mud everywhere, trailing all through the house. Then she made that rigging in the garage. No doubt she intended to
blame you, make it look like you’d gone nuts or something. Goldie said she found Scarlett tied up in the doghouse. Not even
your pooch could help you.” He buried his head in his hands. “That blasted woman. I’ll take care of everything, Sis. You can
bet she won’t be messing with you anymore.”

Cly had an anxious look on his face. “Uh… I need to get going. Doob said church starts at eleven.”

Daddy looked sideways at him.

Cly cleared his throat. “Somebody named Dunkin’ Don’s doing a revival.”

“He used to be a pro-basketball player, Daddy.” I motioned Cly to the door. “Go. You don’t want to miss that. And say a prayer
for Mrs. Gray and Tuwana’s family.”

“I already did. For you too.” His face pinked up as he stared at the floor.

“Good for you.” Daddy clapped Cly on the shoulder. “Best if
we all did more praying.” He held the door for Cly. “Sis, I need to take a nap if I’m gonna be worth my salt at the plant
this evening. I’ll call and check on Aunt Vadine while you take a bath. I’ll make sure they keep her in the hospital until
I can make some arrangements.” I could tell he meant business.

From head to toe, I felt like I’d been run over. In a way I had. I been dragged from my bed to the garage, not to mention
being hit in the head and having Aunt Vadine land on top of me. I poured a double dose of lilac bubble bath into the bathtub
and soaked until my skin wrinkled. When I came out, Daddy snored from his bed. I slipped out and ran over to Tuwana’s.