Mattie's Call

Dear Reader:

Stacy Campbell spent summers in Georgia listening to stories told by older relatives on the porch. With her fourth novel, she makes the reader feel they are sitting next to her as she spins this Southern, heartwarming tale of family values.

Mattie Benson, a mother of three, walks away from a nursing home and a Mattie's Call is issued. Her estranged adult children, Gabrielle, Alice and Joshua, are forced to make amends while they search for their missing mom, whom they had abandoned. Once she is considered deceased, they discover she has left specific requests in her will that each must follow before they are allowed any inheritance. We watch how the siblings comply with her requests and manage to reconnect with each other.

It's all about family and bonding; about ensuring you treasure each moment with your parents and loved ones. The book is filled with messages that will open one's eyes about being appreciative of relatives while they are alive. Stacy keeps us turning pages with the many twists and offers us food for thought until the very end.

Her third novel,
Wouldn't Change a Thing
, deals with mental illness, another topic that is often swept under the rug among families.

As always, thanks for supporting the authors of Strebor Books. We always try to bring you groundbreaking, innovative stories that will entertain and enlighten. I can be located at
www.facebook.com/AuthorZane
or reached via email at
[email protected]
.

Blessings,

Publisher

Strebor Books

www.simonandschuster.com

This book is dedicated to my wonderful friends at a local nursing home. They asked me not to name the facility or give their names, but they asked me to tell my readers if you have a living parent or parents and you're not getting along, repair the broken relationships, spend time together, and tie up all your loose ends before it's too late.

1

“M
y children are a waste of tears and stretch marks!” “Ms. Mattie, you don't mean that.” “Karen, you heard me and I mean every word.” Mattie eyed her watch for the ninth time. “Gigi knows today is Emma's memorial service. Bad enough they put me in this place. The least she could do is pick me up on time. I don't want to walk in late.”

Karen readjusted Mattie's hat, tilting it to the left the way she liked. “Give me her number. I'll try again.”

Mattie gave Karen her phone. “Be my guest. You'll need pixie dust and unicorns to make her answer.”

Karen scrolled through the contacts and found the number. She dialed, listening to a song that played forever. When prompted she said, “Ms. Gabrielle, this is Karen Ball, Ms. Mattie's CNA from Grand Oak Acres. Please call your mother ASAP. She's waiting for you to take her to Ms. Emma's funeral.”

She waited for Karen to end the call. “She's not calling back.”

“We don't know that.” Karen shifted the conversation. “You look good in your black tweed suit, Ms. Mattie. Spiffy as all get-out!”

“Hand me my gloves from the top drawer.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

Mattie smoothed out her suit. It was a gift from Emma after they finally made a pact to get along. They bonded over the realization their children had put them out to pasture, deciding they were ancient as eight-tracks and pagers. She placed the gloves on her lap.

“These were the last pair of gloves my husband, Daniel, bought me before he passed. Feel the lining.”

Karen felt the rabbit fur and handed them back to Mattie. “Those are nice. And expensive, I bet.”

“Daniel bought most of my clothes. He said we represented each other and should look good. He felt the same way about the children. Appearance mattered to him, and he believed the first impression people had of you stuck. He'd be so ashamed of how our children are acting.” Mattie gazed out the window, sighed, and fidgeted with her watch again.

“Do you want me to call Joshua?”

“He doesn't get off work 'til four.”

“How about Alice?”

“Jim Jones won't let her come pick me up.”

“Jim Jones?”

“That's what I call my bossy, controlling son-in-law. You remember the Jonestown, Guyana, massacre? The preacher who conned all the folks out of money and property. They moved to—” Mattie paused. “Karen, how old are you?”

“Twenty-four.”

“You never heard about Jonestown?”

“No ma'am.”

“What's the thing you all do for information?” Mattie snapped her fingers in rapid clicks. “Google. Google him.”

Mattie's phone trilled. She had insisted Karen set her alarm and ringtone to the old phone tune. Mattie's connection to her past depended on nostalgia, and the ring tone reminded her of the phone that rang in their Colonial when the kids were younger. Karen held the phone to her ear, but Mattie pushed her hand away.

“I don't want to talk to Gigi. Tell her I said hurry up!”

Karen sat on Emma's bed. “Ms. Gabrielle, are you near?” She nodded and smiled as Gabrielle spoke. “I'll bring her to the lobby in fifteen minutes. See you soon.”

Mattie frowned. “What's her excuse today?”

“She got caught up at the mall. She said she was getting you a Christmas gift.”

“I'll believe it when I see it.”

Karen wanted to lighten Mattie's mood. She made the mistake of calling Gabrielle “Gigi” once and was told to never address her by the pet name her father gave her. Her presence stirred too many negative emotions in Mattie, and she never knew how to handle the matter. Karen heard eggshells cracking at the mention or sight of Gabrielle. “I'll get your coat so we can move up front.”

Mattie stood. “I can get my own coat. I'm not an invalid, you know.”

Used to her Gabrielle-induced snappy tone, she placated her with, “You've got so many pretty coats, I wanted to make sure we picked the best one.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere with me. Especially these days.”

A pall of sadness covered Mattie's face. She plopped down on Emma's bed, missing her friend more each day. Since her roommate's death, she hoped Watford or Amelia—Emma's son and daughter—would call to say there'd been a mistake. She wanted them to say paramedics had resuscitated Emma and she would come back to Grand Oak. Her children left her clothes and personal items at the nursing home, insisting they'd pick them up after the service. Mattie eyed the photo of the two of them at the Gullah Festival. They stood between two female stilt walkers, faces painted, clutching dangling beads, and smiling for Joshua. He'd taken the day off to drive them to Beaufort for the festivities. She blinked back tears staring at Emma; the face painting was Emma's idea.

“Ms. Mattie, the wool coat matches your outfit—” The trail of tears made Karen drop Mattie's coat on a chair. She sat next to her, rubbing her shoulders. “Don't cry. It's going to be okay. Ms. Emma's in a better place now.”

“And where is that? Playing harps and eating grapes in heaven?”

Karen embraced Mattie tighter. “I didn't mean anything bad by what I said.”

Mattie's bunched shoulders relaxed. “I'm sorry for snapping. You young folk don't know what it's like to lose your family members one by one, or have family that doesn't see about you. I see your daddy dropping lunch off for you sometimes when I'm sitting in the lobby.”

“He is a good dad to me and my brother.”

“You can count the number of times on half a hand Emma's children came to see about her. Mine aren't much better. Sometimes I feel like they have only my last name.”

“What does that mean?”

“My grandmother used to say after some families became adults, the only thing they had in common were their last names. Divided, not fellowshipping, not seeing after one another.”

“How morbid.”

“I know. I never believed it either until my kids…” Her voice trailed off and she took Karen's right hand in hers. “Promise me you'll stay as close to your brother as you can. Your parents too.”

“I'll try. We take trips and spend time together. The only reason I'm working here is because I realized being a CNA isn't enough to have the kind of life I want. I'm back in school now. This helps me pay tuition.”

“Good. If I could convince my other daughter, Alice, to go back to school, I'd be on cloud nine.”

“What's stopping her?”

“Jim Jones.”

Mattie and Karen doubled over in a fit of giggles.

“Is your son-in-law
that
bad?”

“After Alice married Beryl, she was chained to suburbia. The child I raised died at the reception. Sure, Beryl is a big-time businessman, but she handed herself over to him on a silver platter in the name of Jesus. I've never seen two people go through so many religions. First they were Christians, then Catholics. After that, they've been everything in between. The last time we talked, they were into some long-name faith I can't pronounce. I don't know who she is anymore, and neither does she. Humph, every religion though, he's the leader.”

Karen, guilty that she'd spun up Mattie, said, “Your son seems nice. He's older, but he's so good-looking.”

“He is. Always was a loner, though. Handsome as all get-out. You can hear panties dropping when he walks in a room. Gigi is my smartest child, but Josh is the most determined one. He's an aeronautical engineer and a runaway groom. Been engaged more times than I can count.”

“They are some characters. Ms. Gabrielle is the most exciting one of all of them.”