Sullivans Island-Lowcountry 1 (22 page)

These men don’t know nothing about babies but I can deliver

that chile myself iffin I have to, so move over!”

That was the end of that. Off they went, tearing down

Atlantic Avenue, as they raced to Charleston to the hospital. I

said a prayer that they wouldn’t kill themselves before they got

there. Aunt Carol went back inside. The rain was beginning to

fall and I went inside behind her. I made a sandwich and watched

the weather outside the window.

Bored to death, I curled up in my room with my journal and

wrote predictions about the weight and sex of the baby and made

a list of names. I liked Theodore Chalmers Moultrie if it was a boy

and Bettina Helena Rebecca if it was a girl. I loved historic names

for boys and musical names for girls, and my list got longer. Nat-

urally the baby would have to have a saint’s name for baptism. I

liked Michael or Bernadette. I was fully occupied with the busi-

ness of labeling my new sibling and didn’t even hear the phone

ring. My concentration was broken by Aunt Carol’s screaming all

over the house. I ran downstairs and found her on the porch.

“Twins! Uncle Louis just called! Can you believe it?” Aunt

Carol was hugging Maggie.

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“Did you say twins? Oh, my God!” I said, stunned. Twins?

Jesus! I knew she was fat!

“Yes! Oh, glory! Twin girls! Born not ten minutes after they

got to the hospital.Y’all have two, not one but two, new sisters!”

Maggie had this awful look on her face.

“What did Uncle Louis say?” I asked.

“Oh, heavenly days! Let’s go make a pot of coffee! No, let’s

have tea! Oh, goodness, I’m so excited, I don’t know what I

want! Maybe I’ll have a bourbon to celebrate! Yes, that’s it! Now

what would you girls like?”

“A new life,” Maggie muttered, so that only I could hear.

Aunt Carol had left the porch and we followed her, slam-

ming the door for the hell of it. Down the hall to the kitchen in

a row, like a family of ducks, we went.Aunt Carol was so excited

you’d think she’d given birth herself. But she’d never have

babies. She said to everyone on the whole planet that she didn’t

want to wreck her figure.

She helped herself to Daddy’s bourbon and Maggie and I

poured ourselves a Coke. Aunt Carol made a list of people to

call to deliver the news. Maggie wandered out of the room and

I stayed behind because I had a few questions.

“Is Momma okay?”

“Oh, she’s fine! But Louis said she was so surprised she

almost passed out! And he said your father is strutting around

St. Francis Hospital like a rooster!”

“I’ll bet! When are they coming back to the Island?”

“Oh, right away! Uncle Louis and your daddy are bringing

Livvie here right now.The storm is coming. I mean, they can’t pos-

sibly expect me to stay here all night! I have to go feed my dogs and

empty my porch! And your momma’s safe and sound where she is.”

“That’s true. How about Livvie? Did she say anything?”

“Yes! I’ll tell you a secret. She had to pull your momma off

the curb when they got there. Your momma was fixing to

deliver those babies in the gutter! Have you ever heard of such

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a thing? Louis said MC just got out of the car and collapsed on

the curb and started panting like a dog! My word! Your momma

can be so undignified sometimes! But I suppose she couldn’t

help herself. You can ask Livvie all about it when they come

back.They should be here any time now.”

“You know, Aunt Carol, I guess that you wouldn’t under-

stand something like sitting down on the street, since you’ve

never been pregnant like Momma. I would’ve been terrified if I

were her today.”

It was the best retort I could come up with on the spur of

the moment. It wasn’t clearly rude but it made her wonder if I

meant to be rude. I went outside to feel the rain, letting the

door slam. It was a good day for making noise. I wasn’t going to

let Aunt Carol spoil my good humor. Twins! I spun around in

the rain. Good Lord! Pretty soon this family was gonna burst.

How would we all get in one car?

I went back inside.

“Where’s Maggie?” I asked Aunt Carol.

“Hush, I’m trying to hear the weather report. Don’t track

water on the floor.”

“Sorry,” I said, thinking,
Bump you.

She was hunched over the radio trying to tune the thing to

a station, but all she was getting was whining and static.

“Where are your brothers?” She looked up with panic on

her face.“I forgot all about them!”

“I wouldn’t know. I’m not in charge here.You are.” It just

slipped out of my mouth.

“Don’t you speak to me like that! Shame on you! You go

and find them, Susan Hamilton, or I’m going to report you to

your father!”

“Fine!” I said, not caring if she did. Daddy wouldn’t beat me

today. He was in a good mood. I breezed by her and went

toward the front porch. Maggie was out there hanging on a

banister. “Where’re the boys?” I asked, letting the door slam

with a huge whack.

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143

“Who cares?” she said.

“Listen, this damn storm is coming and they’re not here. I

haven’t seen them all morning, have you?” She wouldn’t look

up. “Maggie, it goes like this: The boys get killed in the storm

and Daddy has us shot, okay? I think we’d better find them.

Aunt Carol’s threatening to tell Daddy if we don’t and they’re

gonna be back from the hospital pretty soon.”

“I hate this family,” she said.“I’ll go get shoes.Wait here.”

She, too, slammed the door. Boy, without Livvie here it

didn’t take us five minutes to revert back to all our bad habits, I

thought. She reappeared, slammed the door again and we were

on our way.

“Let’s take the bikes, it’s faster,” I said. “I’ll go to the Lock-

harts’ and you check the Brockingtons’, okay?”

After beating on doors and not finding them we decided

they must’ve been at the forts.

“Which one?” I screamed through the rain.

“Battery Thompson. Come on! Let’s hurry!”

We raced against the wind toward Battery Thompson,

which was where the Island kids most liked to play—although it

was forbidden by the police and worrywart mothers. It was built

after the Spanish-American War as part of the coastal defense

system and named for the brave man who defended Breach

Inlet against the British in 1776. (I just love Island history.) The

first thing we usually did when a good storm was brewing was

climb the ramparts to watch the ocean.The Battery Thompson

was the best place on the Island for this because it was the most

secluded. Fort Moultrie was on Middle Street, where Fat Albert,

the Island lawman, could spot you too easily. He was no fun.

Sullivan’s Island, named for Captain Florence O’Sullivan,

had always been a lookout island for Charleston harbor. In the

Dark Ages of the 1670s, he was given the job of firing a cannon

to warn Charleston that enemies were coming by water. The

original settlers had enough to worry about with malaria, star-

vation and hurricanes, without dealing with surprise attacks

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from pirates. So this guy O’Sullivan was picked to settle the Island.

They say he was terrible, awful and just mean as hell and that he

didn’t give a damn what anybody thought about him either.

Wasn’t it just perfect that it was a rabble-rouser with a loaded can-

non that put this island on the map? I was sure he was somehow

related to Big Hank, which would also help explain why my idiot

brothers were still outside when a hurricane was coming. Maggie

and I were soaked to the skin by the time we got there.

Voices traveled across the air, and when we saw the pile of

bicycles, all of them collapsed in a heap on the soft sand, we

knew we’d found them. Dropping our own bicycles, we heard

alarm in the boys’ cries, not playfulness.Without taking a breath,

we ran to the nearest ladder and began to climb up to them.

Battery Thompson, a decommissioned and basically abandoned

fort—like all the others on the Island—was made of poured

cement and the years of salt spray and peeling paint had given it

a spooky personality. Perfect for playing, or for sneaking off to

smoke a stolen cigarette. Or doing something stupid like what

we were about to find.

“Help! Get me out!”

“Jesus! That’s Henry! Maggie, come on!” I threw my hand

out to Maggie, who grabbed it and pulled herself up to the

platform.

“Where are they?”

“I don’t know!” I looked all across the horizon of the fort

and spotted a bunch of boys at the top.“Look! Up there!”

Timmy saw me and Maggie and called out to us, waving his

arms. “Hurry! We need help! Henry’s stuck!” His voice cracked

as he screamed.

When we reached his side seconds later, we saw the feet of

our baby brother sticking out of an air shaft. He was screaming

at the top of his lungs.

“Get me out! My head! My head! Do something!”

“Henry! It’s Susan, Maggie’s here too. Don’t worry, we’ll

have you out in a minute. Hang on, honey, it’s all right.” I spun

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on my heels to face the boys and starting cussing at them.“What

the hell happened here? Just what the hell happened?”

“We told him there was pirate’s treasure in there and it

would take somebody real small to get in and get it!” This expla-

nation came from the boy we all loved to hate. Stuart had white

skin and thousands of brown freckles. He was allergic to every-

thing, a chronic nose picker, a liar and an all-around trouble-

maker. On top of that, he picked on little kids.

“Stuart Brockington, looking at your ugly face is enough to

make me puke,” I said. “When I get my little brother out of

here, if he has one scratch on him, I’m gonna wipe the streets of

this Island with your sorry ass. Do you hear me? Now get your

good-for-nothing behind on your stupid bike and get some

help! Move! Go get some help!”

I screamed so loud that I frightened Henry, who started

wailing. Stuart jumped down from the fort and raced to his bike

followed by two other boys.

“Timmy! How could you let this happen? If Daddy finds

out, he’s gonna kill every one of us!” Maggie said, unnerved by

the magnitude of the storm and the situation.

“Henry? It’s Maggie. I’m gonna pull on your feet a little and

you see if you can push yourself out, okay?”

“I can’t move! I’m stuck! I can’t!” Henry was blubbering

now. “Help! Get me out of here!”

“I’m going to get Mr. Struthers,” I said. “That stupid Stuart

won’t have a clue what to do.”

“I’ll come with you,” Timmy answered. “Maggie, stay with

Henry and try to calm him down.”

“Henry!” I called,“listen to me! This ain’t the first time this

has happened, I’m sure. Just hang on and I’ll be back in ten min-

utes with Mr. Struthers!”

“Okay,” he whimpered.

We got to our bicycles and raced toward the volunteer fire

department, where Marvin Struthers had his office. He was the

town mayor, fire chief and Little League coach. The oddest

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thing about him was that he always wore sandals—except to

church. No decent man wore sandals, our momma always said.

She thought they were immodest or something. I just thought

they were disgusting. Hairy feet. Nasty.

The wind was blowing harder and the palmetto trees bent

over double. Fortunately, the wind was behind us. Timmy and

I dropped our bikes in front of the town hall, and ran for

Mr. Mayor, Coach Struthers. When we swung open the door,

Mrs. Smith, this old lady with a big nasty wart on her chin, who

has been his secretary for the last million years, was putting on

her coat. She smelled like peppermint.

“What do you children want now? Y’all should be in your

home with your parents! Storm’s coming!”

“Yes’m. We know, but we kind of have an emergency here

and need Coach Struthers. Is he here?”

“What’s the matter? Maybe I can help.”

I tried to be polite, because she was old and all.

“Yes’m,” I said.“We don’t have much time. Our little brother

has his head stuck in an air vent over to the Battery Thompson,

and we couldn’t pull him out, and our daddy is gonna blister our

behinds if he finds out.”

She looked up.“Are y’all Hank Hamilton’s children?”

“Yes’m.”

“Mr. Marvin! Hurry! It’s an emergency!”

The sound of a toilet flushing came to our attention. In a

split second, Mr. Marvin came running out of the bathroom,

trying to zip up his pants. He was a big man, taller than Daddy

and twice of him in the gut department.

“What’s the matter, Lois?” Then he turned around to see

us.“Oh, the Hamilton children, I should’ve known.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.We weren’t any worse than any

of the other Island children, there were just a lot of us and we