Faith, Hope, and Ivy June (13 page)

I wish I’d saved up more money for this trip, though, because when we got to the admissions desk, I saw that I had enough to get in, but riding was extra. Mr. Combs bought the ticket for my ride. I’m eating their food, using their tickets, wearing Catherine’s clothes, taking their money…. Seems like they’re doing all the giving and me the taking. Doesn’t make me feel good. Must be the way Daddy feels most of the time, taking help from Papaw.

But I did learn to ride a horse, and if Sam Feeley ever rides up to our place again with a message sent on his ham radio, I’m going to pester him for a ride!

Ivy June Mosley

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

March 21

Tomorrow Ivy June goes back to Thunder Creek. A week later, Mrs. Fields will drive me to Hazard, and somebody from Ivy June’s school will meet us there and drive me the rest of the way. Rosemary hasn’t said one more word against Ivy June and the exchange program. I’m waiting….

We’ve done a lot this week. We took her to Mary Todd Lincoln’s house and Old Kentucky Chocolates. Saw the state capital and the Lexington History Museum. There was a concert of John Jacob Niles’s songs at the university, and Ivy June liked that a lot because she knew some of the songs.

She liked the Kentucky Horse Park best, though. I knew she would. But she wanted to pay for her own ticket and then found she didn’t have enough left for a ride-it was twenty-two dollars, I think. Dad ‘immediately paid for her, but we knew she was embarrassed. He and Mom. were talking about it, and he said he ought to have made it clear her first day here that we would pay for anything we took her to. But Mom said then the Mosleys might feel they have to pay for every place they take me when I’m in Thunder Creek, and maybe they cant afford it.

The main thing is, Ivy June finally got to ride a horse-a long ride too. We rode all around the park, and I could see how excited she was.

Mackenzie’s back from Cincinnati and has been since Wednesday but she just now called me and said we had to talk. I told her I knew what it was about. She said if I already knew, why didn’t I tell her before about Andy calling me? And I said because she was my very best friend in the whole world, and I was afraid she’d be hurt if she found out.

What if it was the other way around? I asked. What if I was the one who liked Andy best, but he kept calling her? So we talked, and she said she’d already guessed that Andy was calling me before Ivy June blurted it out. What she was really upset about was that maybe I was telling Ivy June all
my secrets–about boyfriends and stuff–and I told her that wasn’t true.

I’m sorry to see Ivy June go, though. And maybe a little scared about what it will be like living in Thunder Creek. If there’s anybody as rude to me as Rosemary’s been to her, well …

I wonder what she’s writing in her journal about my family. Wonder what she’ll tell her mom. What she’ll tell her class. We’re supposed to write down all the ways we’re different and all the ways we’re the same. I’m guessing the second list will be longer, but who knows?

Catherine Combs

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Ivy June laid out the clothes she would wear for the drive back to Thunder Creek the next morning and put the rest in her suitcase. She carefully placed the playbill from
Oklahoma!
in last. She was going to keep that forever.

She knew what was coming, because Catherine was sitting expectantly on the other bed, hands in her lap. And when the suitcase closed with a snap, Catherine said, “Okay. Now. The secret.”

Ivy June, still in her pajamas, sat down across from her, pulling a corner of the spread over her legs for comfort. “All right,” she said, “and no one in the whole world knows it except you, not even Shirl.”

Catherine waited.

Ivy June took a deep breath. “Remember that mine accident I told about in class?”

Catherine nodded. “Where the men were trapped and it was all night before they were rescued?”

“Yes. Well, not everybody was alive.”

Catherine’s eyes grew wide.

“We just knew there was a cave-in. We didn’t know if rock had fallen on anybody, whether the miners were trapped or dead. We waited and waited to hear if the rescuers had found anybody, and finally they sent up word that at least some of the men were still alive. But they wouldn’t give out any names.”

“That must have been awful!” said Catherine.

Ivy June nodded and steeled herself to continue: “This was last year, only a month after I’d gone to live with Mammaw and Papaw, and I was really liking it there. We all had the worry about the mine and what could happen—that’s just the way we live in Thunder Creek—but this time, for me, the worry was something fierce. I prayed to God that if anybody had to die, it wouldn’t be Papaw. I knew there were other men in there who were loved by their families, though, same as I loved my grandfather. So then I figured Luke Weller’s daddy would be missed the least, because I knew he got ugly when he was drinking, and Luke told me he drank a lot on Saturday nights. So I prayed to God that if he had to take somebody, he’d take George Weller.”

Catherine said nothing, so Ivy June barreled on.

“And then—when the missing men were found and only one was dead—Mr. Weller—I didn’t know whether to thank Jesus or ask him to forgive me. And now that I’ve seen what a misery it’s been for Luke’s big family—they can hardly get by—the worry’s been worse. One of Luke’s sisters is on drugs and a brother’s in jail. It might be that because of my selfishness, God’s going to teach me a lesson, and the next person he takes will be Papaw.”

“No!” Catherine said. “You can’t believe God would do that, Ivy June!”

“He made it be George Weller, didn’t he?”

“Luke’s father could have died before you ever prayed that prayer!”

“We don’t know that. Maybe it happened after I prayed,” Ivy June argued, hoping all the while that Catherine was right.

“You’re not that powerful, Ivy June! Just because you pray for something doesn’t make it happen!”

“When Grandmommy was sick with the flu last year and I prayed for her, she got better!” Ivy June insisted. “Don’t you believe in God, Cat?”

“Yes, but I don’t believe he does every little thing people ask him to do. That’s like … like magical thinking. That even though God already knew who was going to die, you could make him change his mind. And I certainly don’t believe he kills people just to teach somebody a lesson!”

Ivy June didn’t know whether to be relieved or skeptical. She nervously traced one finger over the weave in the bedspread. “After Papaw was rescued and Mammaw told him how much I’d cried, the next time he went in the mine he brought me out a little rock. Told me to hold it in my hand next time I worried, see how hard it was. Said to remember that he’s as strong and solid as that rock.”

Ivy June hunched her shoulders and was quiet for a minute. Then, “I keep praying for Papaw to live so he can retire from the mine and breathe mountain air, not coal dust. But other people have prayed for their fathers and grandfathers too, and some of those men didn’t make it. Papaw’s been in the mine now longer than anybody else, so chances are—”

Catherine interrupted. “Chances are he’s careful and he’s going to come out just fine!”

“Unless God wants to make me pay …”

“If God wants to make you pay, he’ll let you fall off a ladder and break your neck, Ivy June, but he won’t kill your grandfather!” Catherine said firmly. Then she added, “But in case you’re worrying about me telling your secret, I’m not going to tell anyone else what you told me.”

“Then you’re a better friend than I’ve been to you,” said Ivy June.

“Hey, we’re only halfway through the exchange program,” Catherine said. “You may hate me when it’s over.” And then she added, “Don’t forget to pack your pajamas.” That made them both laugh.

The following day, Ivy June said goodbye to Peter and Claire and Mr. and Mrs. Combs and Catherine. Everyone hugged her, and Flora took pictures of them together on the wide front porch. Then Mrs. Fields came by in her green car, with
Buckner Academy for Girls
in silver on the driver’s door, and Ivy June climbed inside.

It was Daddy who met her at the library in Hazard, not Papaw. He was parked outside the building, and walked over to get her suitcase.

“Mrs. Fields, this is my daddy,” Ivy June said, having learned from Catherine that you always introduce the woman first, unless the man is somebody very old or very famous.

“How do,” her father said, and shook the hand of the tall woman, who had removed her sunglasses and was smiling at him.

“We so enjoyed having your daughter with us at Buckner,” Mrs. Fields said.

“I ’spect she enjoyed herself some too,” Mr. Mosley answered.

“Oh, I did,” said Ivy June. “And Catherine’s really nice.”

“You’ll see her again in a week,” Mrs. Fields said. “Goodbye, dear. I hope Catherine’s visit with you will go as well as yours with us. It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Mosley.”

“Same here.”

Ivy June’s father carried the old yellow suitcase to the pickup truck and heaved it over the side. Ivy June climbed into the passenger seat and pulled the door closed.

Mr. Mosley started the engine.

They rode almost a block before any more words were spoken. Ivy June wanted so much to ask why Papaw hadn’t come to pick her up, and cast sideways glances at her daddy to see if there was worry on his face. There didn’t appear to be, however, and she knew if she asked about Papaw, it would show her disappointment that it had been Daddy waiting for her instead of him.

She also wanted to see if her daddy would start the conversation, wondering if it was always going to be she who said the first words, consciously comparing him now to Catherine’s father. What would Catherine think of this quiet man who had never worn a suit in his life? Who had never praised her that she could remember, and who got so little praise himself? Who thought so little of himself, probably, for having to depend on his father to support the family.

Ivy June wondered how it could be that she and her daddy had so few things to say to each other. Was it because she was living at Papaw’s now, or had it always been like this?