The Orange Blossom Special (33 page)

Dinah noticed how the words loosened in Charlie's mouth. Sometimes they stuck to his tongue like toast crumbs; other times they came out in gummy misshapen syllables. Occasionally he'd touch his fingers to his Adam's apple to make sure he wasn't speaking too loud. The conversation was difficult and unnatural. She was driving this tank of a car and trying to make herself be heard. He never took his eyes off her, afraid he'd miss something. There had to be a better way. “I have an idea,” said Dinah. “Let's walk around the mall. I promise, after a half an hour, you'll know exactly where you've landed plus what everyone there is wearing. What do you say?”

“Good idea.”

She showed him the seahorse, a dragonlike creature spitting plumes of water into a tiled pool. They looked through the men's clothing stores and had a slice of pizza at Genero's. He'd often dreamed about pizza in Vietnam, he told her. When Dinah thought how this day might go, she'd envisioned them sitting by the lake talking about the war, about his injury, and, of course, about them. Funny how after an hour at the mall, none of it had come up.

Then they went to the bookstore, where the best-selling titles seemed to wink at them from their shelves:
Masters and Johnson Human Sexual Response, The Games People Play, In Cold Blood.
The joke followed them into the record store, where there was a poster for
The Sound of Music;
another for Simon and Garfunkel's “The Sound of Silence.” Was Barry Sadler really singing “The Ballad of the Green Beret” in the background? Dinah remembered a skit she had seen somewhere, maybe on the Jackie Gleason show. For some reason, Alice and Ralph were about to meet Sammy Davis Jr. “Now, Ralph,” Alice said in that whinnying voice of hers. “Remember: Sammy Davis Jr. has a glass eye, so don't stare and don't bring it up.” Ralph is visibly nervous when he is finally introduced to the singer. He shakes his hand and says out the side of his mouth, “Very nice to meet you Mr. Davis. How's your eye?” That's what this felt like.

Thinking about it, Dinah couldn't help laughing out loud. Charlie didn't know why she was laughing, but he started to laugh too. Suddenly, they were both breathing the same air again. They sat down on a bench in front of the spitting seahorse. He told her to imagine that someone was talking to her while she was swimming underwater.

“That's how I hear things now,” he said. “I read lips, I hear sounds, I feel the vibrations of things. It's just hard for me to distinguish words sometimes.”

She watched the effort that it took for him to hear her and to speak back. Life had always been full of struggles for Charlie, and this particular one was just beginning. She told him about Hedda and how she missed Crystal and was hurt by her absence.

He pulled out his wallet and showed her the now-frayed and yellow clipping from the
Gainesville Sun.
It was a picture of her and Eddie taken at the opening of the Orange Blossom Special. He said he'd kept it in an old tin of rolling tobacco. “All the guys had good luck charms. This was mine, I had it in my rucksack the whole time.”

She studied the photograph. “God, was I in a bad mood when that was taken. In fact, this is the first time in a long time that I haven't been in a bad mood.”

He said that he'd felt dead for so long and that being here reminded him how much he liked being alive.

“Time,” she said. “You need time. Remember?”

He was grateful she understood.

They kept talking for nearly an hour. The shopkeepers were beginning to lock their doors, and a nighttime chill crept into the air. I only have one more thing to say,” said Charlie.

“What's that?”

“This seahorse is the most hideous creature I've ever seen.”

W
HEN CHARLIE'S HEARING
was intact, he'd barely noticed Reggie's limp. It was just another of his features, like the mole on his neck. But since he'd come home, each of Reggie's steps sounded like thunder. He could feel the vibration of Reggie's steps humming up his legs from the wooden floor. It made him jumpy and was another reason he chose to stay in his room.

But on the night he came back from the seahorse fountain, Charlie didn't go straight to his room. He went into the kitchen where Ella was grilling pork chops. “My favorite,” he said. “I am so hungry I could eat a horse.”

“There's enough here for Miss Dinah,” said Ella.

“Too late, she's gone. But I'm sure she'll be back.”

It was the longest conversation he'd had with Ella since he'd come home.

At dinner, the four of them sipped a musky Cabernet. As his mother and Reggie fussed over the wine, Charlie winked at Ella. Ella rolled her eyes, as if to say, “Here we go again.” Afterward, Charlie asked if maybe they could have one of their chats.

“It's about time,” she said.

They sat on Ella's bed the way they always did. Charlie ran his fingers over the reassuring lumpiness of her cotton bedspread. When he leaned back against the wall, his legs didn't touch the floor. He dangled them back and forth, and a warm feeling came over him. Was it possible that he was the same person as the little boy who used to sit on this bed and talk about everything under the sun? Not much had changed in here except the books. How many times had he imagined this room and tried to put himself back in it?

“It sure was lonesome around here without you,” said Ella.

“It sure was lonesome where I was, too.”

They didn't talk about everything on this night, but they did become old friends again. Once, she stroked his hair and said he'd gone away a young boy and come back with the face of a man. He moved her chin so that he could look directly at her face.

“Everyone thinks it will be easier for me if they talk louder,” he said. “It doesn't help. I just need to see their faces and for them to speak clearly.” He told her that the sound of Reggie walking made him realize how painful each step must be for him.

“No need to worry about Reggie, he's doing fine, thank you.”

“The Orange Blossom's been quite a success.”

“To think that people in this town drink enough liquor to make Reggie Sykes a rich man is beyond my comprehension.” That brought to mind Reverend Potts and the conversation they'd had only weeks earlier. Charlie stared at Ella's down-turned mouth as she told him about her troubles. Then he said, “I know what trouble looks like.”

“Honey, I'm afraid we all do.”

“No, I mean I can really see it.” His voice got louder. “It has a color and a shape and a certain smell even. I can tell it's coming before it shows up.” He folded his arms across his chest. “It's not anything I choose to know.”

Ella caught his eye. Was there something of the old Charlie, or was she just hoping?

“How was your visit with Dinah?” she asked, hoping to see a smile on his face.

“You and she are the only people I can bear being around.”

“What about Crystal?”

The smile vanished. “I need to see her soon. I'm thinking I'll go to Atlanta this weekend.”

“Why don't you take Dinah with you?”

“You read my mind.”

T
ALKING ON THE
phone wasn't possible anymore, so Ella called Dinah to ask if she would meet Charlie tomorrow at four by the seahorse.

“I won't beat around the bush,” said Charlie as they sat beside the fountain. “I'm driving to Atlanta this weekend to see Crystal. I'd like you to come with me.”

This invitation was fraught for so many reasons, and Charlie and Crystal were just two of them.

“Let me think about it,” she said. “I'll call Ella tomorrow.”

It was Hedda who convinced Dinah to go to Atlanta. “You told me about the car rides you and your parents used to take in Car-bondale, and how much you enjoyed them,” she said. “Atlanta is six and a half hours away from here. It could be fun.”

Dinah's father had loved Broadway musicals. Often the three of them would try to sing the entire score of
Pajama Game
, or
Guys and Dolls
, in one car trip. She could still hear his warbling falsetto as he reached for the high notes in “Younger Than Springtime.” Tessie never stopped listening to musicals, and after dinner some nights, they would trail off into “Oklahoma” or “On the Street Where You Live” as Tessie washed the dishes and Dinah dried. Maybe six and a half
hours in the car with Charlie would be fun. And even at the risk of being snubbed by her, Dinah was eager to see Crystal.

“Tell him yes, I'll go,” said Dinah when she called Ella the next night. “If it's okay with him, I'll borrow my mother's DeSoto.” She secretly hoped that somehow he would know all the words to
Carousel.

That night, Ella called Crystal. “Charlie sure would like to see you. We were thinking that maybe, this weekend, he could drive up and visit with you.”

Crystal answered in what Dinah used to call her sorority voice.

“Why, sure I am dying to see Charlie. Just last night I was bragging to my friends about how my uppity older brother turned down the Purple Heart. Tell him I have more than enough room here if he doesn't mind having some of my friends around who just happen to be the cutest girls in Atlanta.”

“Charlie is planning on bringing Dinah Lockhart. He hopes you won't mind.”

Crystal's voice lost its bounce. “I haven't seen Dinah in years,” she said. “We haven't even spoken on the phone.”

“Between us, I think Charlie likes her company,” said Ella. “He's been having a pretty bad time.”

Crystal didn't answer. It was her tough luck, she thought, to have her brother, now half deaf, come visit with her once best friend who had kept it secret that she was dating him. “It's them against me again,” she said out loud. “How can I say no?”

“I know she'll be happy to see you,” said Ella. “It'll be fine, you'll see.”

“I guess so,” Crystal sighed. “He can stay in the guest room, she can stay in the fold-out in the living room.”

“That's good,” said Ella. “They should be there by late Saturday night. Thank you, Miss Crystal.”

C
AROUSEL
NEVER HAPPENED
on the car trip. They spent most of the time talking about Crystal and how peculiar it was to pretend they were one big happy family again after so long. “It'll be awkward at first,” said Charlie. “She'll remember how betrayed she felt by both of us. Then she'll realize how happy she is to see me, her thinner, deafer brother. And who knows, she might even be glad that he brought along his sneaky little friend as well.”

“That certainly is a comfort,” said Dinah, leaning over to his side of the car and sticking her face into his. “Thank you for the reassurance.” They spent the six-and-a-half-hour car ride getting to know each other again. Tessie was right: talking was never their problem.

They arrived in Atlanta at about six on Saturday night. The front light was on, but the house was dark inside. “Maybe she left,” said Dinah. “No, she's there,” said Charlie. “She's just doesn't want to be caught watching us.”

Sure enough, the moment they rang the bell, Crystal appeared and opened the door just a crack. All they could see was her face: cute as ever, just a little heavier.

“Hi Charlie, hi Dinah,” she said in her most unsorority voice. “C'mon in.” She opened the door slowly. Sister and brother smiled shyly before falling into an awkward hug. Then the two girls locked eyes.

“Your hair looks good in a flip,” said Dinah.

“Yeah, it's very ‘That Girl,'” said Crystal.

“But without the bangs, thank God.”

“I know, I hate the way bangs cut your face in half.”

They were still standing at the door, Charlie with both bags in his hands.

“Whatever you're talking about, could you please do it later?” he asked. “These are heavy.”

“Oh silly me, come in,” said Crystal grabbing one of Charlie's bags.

Dinah looked around the little house. There was a braided rug with blues and yellows and a touch of orange on the living-room floor. The couch was covered in a green and maroon paisley fabric and the kitchen table and chairs looked to be mix-and-match flea-market furniture. Chianti bottles covered with dried wax sat on win-dowsills, and there was a Lava lamp on a wooden coffee table that was painted raspberry. Crystal's decorating taste was decidedly different from her mother's. Nothing matched; there was no concept décor. The only things that looked familiar were the dozens of pictures of Huddie all over the house. “Guess your mom's decorator is busy on another job,” said Dinah.

Crystal had to laugh. She'd hoped the jealousy she'd felt about Dinah and her brother would be gone, but still something tugged at her when she saw them together. Crystal was emphatic about where they were going to sleep. As she hoisted Charlie's suitcase onto the bed in the guestroom, she commented on how much it weighed. “You planning to stay a couple of months?” she asked.

“We'll stay as long as you'll have us.”

That night, they sat around Crystal's kitchen table eating Chinese food from a nearby restaurant. They talked about what they'd been doing for the last couple of years, each of them realizing how they'd missed the others.

“Why on earth would you go to business school? You're such a good writer?” asked Crystal.

“Mmm, it's hard to explain,” said Dinah.

“And who's Hedda?”

That was another thing Dinah wasn't ready to explain yet.

Crystal told her about her work at the advertising agency, and how she loved all of it: working with the clients, coming up with the
concepts, putting together the catchy slogans and phrases. “I believe I have found my life's work,” she said in typical Crystal hyperbole. “This is what I was meant to do.”

They gossiped about Tessie and the baby, and Victoria and Reggie.