Song of the Road (15 page)

“Leave the high ones. I’ll wash them after we clean the cabins.” Eli had come into the kitchen after hanging the last of the morning wash.

Before Trudy could answer, Dolly came from her bedroom and stood looking around with a frown on her haggard face.

“What’s goin’ on? Who’s been makin’ all that racket?” She looked accusingly at Eli. “It was you. I told ya not to come in the house.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Eli grabbed up the extra bucket and headed for the door.

“Mornin’, Mrs. Finley,” Trudy said cheerfully. “Sorry if we woke you up.”

“What’re ya doin’ here?”

“Helpin’ out a little.”

“I didn’t hire ya on to work here.”

“I did.” Mary Lee came in the door as Eli passed through it. Then, ignoring her mother, she spoke to Trudy. “Will you have time to paint the signs?”

“What signs?” Dolly demanded.

“Signs saying that we serve breakfast.”

“Sure.” Trudy climbed down off the chair. “I’m finished in here except for scrubbing the floor. Eli said that he’d do that tonight.”

“What are ya hatchin’ up?” Dolly demanded, and retied the sash on her old housecoat.

“Like I said, Mama, we’re going to serve breakfast to the people who rent our cabins for the night.”

“What’re ya doin’ that for? For God’s sake! Ya get a wild hair and there ain’t no stoppin’ ya. Ya just bulldoze yore way ahead and don’t say shit to nobody.”

“I’m doing it so that I can pay back the money Daddy borrowed from the bank. The money you spent after he died.”

“Piss on the bank. They got enough money.” Dolly went to the icebox and threw open the door. With it open, she looked around the kitchen. “I don’t like the table over there.” When Mary Lee didn’t answer, she said, “I ain’t hirin’ no stunted runt to work here either.”

Mary Lee’s face reddened with anger. “Go back to your room until you sober up,” she said sharply.

Her mother glared at her with pure hatred in her eyes. “Ya’ve got to be right bossy, girl. No snot-nosed kid is tellin’ me what to do.”

“I’m telling you what
not
to do. Don’t insult my friends.”

“You insult mine. You run off Pearl and . . . Frank.” “They were trash, both of them.”

“You shore did get uppity after you married that Clawson pup.”

“No, Mama. I grew up in a hurry. But that’s got nothing to do with now.”

“Ya come back here and took over —”

“I had to or you’d have lost it. I’m doing all I can to make a living for us and you’re not helping a bit.”

“If yo’re set on givin’ breakfast to renters, I’ll tell Frank. He’s a renter.”

“He’s a leech, a freeloader. I’ll not have him in this house. Only those who rent by the night are entitled to breakfast.” Mary Lee took out a slice of bread, buttered it and spread it with peach preserves.

“How about that jailbird? Ya feedin’ him?”

“Only if he pays extra.”

“Sh . . . it. Frank said he’d be in your drawers quicker than ya could shake a stick. Guess it don’t matter none. Yo’re already knocked up.”

Seething with anger, Mary Lee shoved the plate with the bread in her mother’s hands. Her patience with her was threadbare. She was too angry to feel shame.

“Take this and the tea back to your room and stay there if you can’t keep a civil tongue in your head.” Mary Lee followed her mother to the door of her room. “You haven’t changed your bedding since I’ve been here. Take off the sheet and I’ll bring you some clean ones.”

Dolly gave her daughter a contemptuous look and slammed the door in her face.

With slumping shoulders, Mary Lee went back to the kitchen. “I’m sorry, Trudy. I don’t remember her ever being this mean.”

“Does she stay in that room all day?”

“Some days she does. Sometimes she sits on the porch and waits for that no-good Frank Pierce. She keeps herself clean enough, but her room stinks.”

“When she leaves, go in and take the bedclothes and leave clean ones.”

“She locks the door when she leaves. I may be making a mistake having folks come in here for breakfast. What if she comes out and makes a scene?”

“If she doesn’t get up until ten or eleven they’ll be gone by then.” Trudy slipped an arm around Mary Lee. “Don’t borrow trouble. Come on out and tell me what you want on the signs.”

While Trudy was painting the signs, Mary Lee confided, “As soon as the cabins are cleaned, I’m going to bake a cake. Today is Jake’s birthday and he’s never had a birthday cake.”

“Fun.” Trudy looked up with a broad smile. “I like Jake. When will you give it to him?”

“Tonight. After supper. Can you come back out?”

“Hummm . . . we’ll see.”

“I wish I had candles to go on the cake.”

“We’ve got candles. I don’t know if there’s enough. How old will he be?”

“Twenty-six. There’ll only be me and Eli at the party unless you can come.”

“It would have to be after the supper rush at the diner is over. But then it’ll be dark when I go back home. Mama’s had trouble with a couple of hell-raisers, and she doesn’t want me out after dark by myself.”

“If Jake doesn’t offer to take you home, Eli and I will walk with you.”

“I won’t mind asking Jake to take me.”

“Does that mean you’ll come?”

“It’ll be after eight and I’ll bring the candles.”

“This will be his first birthday party. I’m going to give Eli a dime to go uptown and get a red bandanna handkerchief for a present.”

“Why are you doing this for Jake?”

“Because he went out on a limb to help me when Frank was about to run off my renters.”

“Is that the only reason?” Trudy teased. “He’s awfully good-looking. Has he been flirting with you?”

“Oh, Trudy. You’ve always had a gigantic imagination. In my present state he’d as soon flirt with a hedgehog. He’s been nice and I want to pay him back, that’s all.” And to change the subject, she said, “Did I tell you that Ocie Clawson came out yesterday?”

“What did he want?”

“He wanted to know if I was carrying Bobby’s baby. He said, in not so many words, that sorry as Bobby was, my baby was a Clawson and he wanted a hand in raising it.”

“He can’t take the baby away from you.”

“He could have me declared an unfit mother and, as next of kin, take it. Oh, Lord. I don’t think I could bear it.”

Voicing her fear to Trudy made it more real in her mind. The thought had been hiding there since Ocie’s visit. Should he try that, she would hide herself and her baby away in one of the little villages in the mountains that Jake had talked about.

“I suppose he could get someone to trump up charges like he did when Jake was accused of stealing his cattle.”

“Sometimes I wonder why I don’t take what little money I have and leave here.”

“Leave your daddy’s court for Dolly to run into the ground? I think not.”

“I get awfully discouraged.”

Trudy finished the last sign and stood it up against the washhouse to dry and turned to her friend.

“Now you listen to me, Mary Lee Finley Clawson. You’ve put up with a lot up to now, and you can put up with this. That baby you’re carryin’ can’t help it that it’s a Clawson. It’s gonna depend on its mama to take care of it and see that it has a start in life. Now, buck up. Get in there and bake a cake for Jake. I’m goin’ back to the diner, but I’ll be here for the birthday party.”

Mary Lee stared at the small girl with the short, bowed legs and wondered how she could be so upbeat all the time. Feeling something like shame for whining, she went to Trudy and hugged her.

After the cake was iced with fluffy white icing made from sugar syrup and egg whites, Mary Lee had Eli take it out to the washhouse in case her mother came out of her room. Eli returned grinning from ear to ear.

“I set a box over it to keep off the flies.”

“Good idea. I’ve got some green tissue paper we can use to wrap the bandanna in. I wish we had some ribbon.”

“Use one of your hair ribbons, then ask for it back.”

“Oh, shoot, Eli. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“You can always tie it with a twine. He won’t care. I got to go. I’m making my present.”

“What are you making?”

“It’s a surprise . . .”

“It should be a surprise to Jake, but not to me.”

“I’m not exactly makin’ it. I’m fixin’ it.” Eli’s eyes danced with excitement.

“All right, then, I guess I can wait. When is your birthday, Eli?”

“The last day in October.”

“We’ll have a party for you.” She tilted her head and gave him a bright smile before she sobered. “If you’re still here, Eli; you should be in school. When my baby grows up I want him to be able to say that his Uncle Eli is a teacher, a lawyer, a banker —”

“Whoa, now. You’ll not want me hangin’ around . . .
that
long.” There was a nervous hesitation in his voice.

“I want you as long as you want to stay. I’ve always wanted a brother, and you fit the bill perfectly.” The smile on Mary Lee’s face wavered.

“You’ll marry . . . someday —”

“I doubt that. But if I do, if he doesn’t want you, he doesn’t get me.”

“Well . . .” The boy’s lips quivered. “I’d better get my present ready.” He hurried out the door, and Mary Lee wiped the tear that leaked from the corner of her eye.

It was late when Jake drove in. All the cabins were rented but one. Mary Lee was beginning to worry that for the first time in a week they would have a vacancy. Then a roadster came in and stopped. A woman was nestled close to the driver. The man kissed her before he got out. He was middle-aged and starting to bald. His face was slightly flushed, and he was hastily pushing his shirt down in the waist of his britches when Mary Lee met him on the porch.

“Do you have a vacancy?”

“Yes. Would you like to see it?”

“No.” He dug into his pocket for his wallet. “How much?” Without hesitation Mary Lee said, “Two dollars.”

He pulled two dollar bills from his wallet.

“I’ll need your name for the record.”

“George Swanson. Dallas, Texas.”

“Here’s the key to number five. We ask that you be out by ten in the morning.”

He took the key and hurried back to the car. The woman sat the entire time with her back to the door. Mary Lee only saw bleached blond hair and wondered if they would stay the entire night or just an hour or two. He hadn’t batted an eye when she asked for two dollars. He was probably cheating on his wife. She wished she’d asked three dollars.

It was almost dark when Trudy returned. She was out of breath when she stepped up onto the back porch.

“I had to stay a little later than usual,” she explained. She waved an envelope. “Mama sent Jake a little present. Where’s the cake? I brought the candles.”

“The cake is out in the washhouse. We can bring it in. Mama just went uptown with Frank.”

“My, you look pretty. You even put a bow in your hair.”

“It’s a party. Want one in yours?”

“Naw. I’m afraid I’d outshine you.”

“Trudy! You’ve not changed a bit.”

“Open the door,” Eli called. “I saw Mrs. Finley leave.”

He set a box on the table, and they all peered in at the cake.

“Put the candles on, Trudy. We can’t light them until we get down there. Have you got matches, Eli?”

“Right here.” He patted his shirt pocket. “I’ve got to go get my present.”

“Hurry, then — we don’t want to take the chance that Jake’ll decide to go someplace.”

With Eli carrying the box with the cake, they walked behind the cabins to number six. The door was open when they reached it. Jake, shirtless and barefoot, lay on the bed listening to the radio. He jumped up and grabbed his shirt when he heard Mary Lee’s call.

“Anybody home?”

“Yeah.”

“May we come in?”

As soon as they were crowded into the small room, Mary Lee and Trudy began to sing:
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Jake, happy birthday to you.”

Jake was speechless. Finally he managed to say, “Well, now. What’s all this?”

Eli held the box while Mary Lee lifted out the cake and set it on the bureau. Her eyes were shining, her lips smiling when she looked at him. Jake felt as if his heart would gallop right out of his chest.

Trudy placed the plates and forks beside the cake.

“Eli, light the candles,” Mary Lee said. Then to Jake, “Think of a wish. If you blow out the candles with one puff it’ll come true.”

“That’s not quite right,” Trudy said. “If you blow them all out with one puff you get a birthday kiss . . . from everyone. Even Eli.”

“I like that idea. But they’re too pretty to blow out.” Jake’s blood was pounding his eardrums, and he wasn’t sure if he had spoken loudly enough for them to hear him. His eyes swept over the faces smiling at him over the burning candles, and he knew that he would remember this moment forever.