Chapter 19 – Saturday Revelations
Saturday, July 5, 1969 – 6:30am.
"I remember that party," Lacy says as Josie finishes telling her about Lisa's less-than-happy 13th birthday. "Me, you, an' Lisa were like the only kids there, an' that Joe Namath guy won the Super Bowl."
"Yeah, and Lise, who usually chatters like a magpie, hardly said two words the whole night."
"Was she that upset? Or afraid to spill the beans about Brandon?"
"Oh, she was upset all right, but that never shut her up before. Mainly she was biting her tongue not to tell what happened, under Ma's threat of severe bodily harm."
Lacy laughs. "Poor kid. I kept catchin' her lookin' at me, like she was about to say something, then your mom would walk by or laugh at somethin' someone said, an' she shut up quick."
Josie nods. "Yeah. You were the one she was dyin' to tell more than anyone."
"Me?"
"Of course, you. You know she worships you, right?"
At this Lacy looks embarrassed. "Now you're makin' me blush, an' I never blush."
"Uh-huh," Josie scoffs. "'Cept when you talk about Riley, or that Hawkeye gent we met yesterday, or Marcus the Magnificent..."
"Oh, hush," Lacy scolds, bur she's smiling as she says it.
Meanwhile, in a part of town that would be the wrong side of the tracks if Rebel Creek had tracks, Mary Ramey comes into the living room of her small but well-kept house to find her youngest daughter cross-legged in front of the TV in gym shorts and a pajama top, a bowl ofApple Jacks cradled in her lap.
"Mornin', Ma," Lisa says, barely taking her eyes off George of the Jungle.
"It is that," Mary agrees, ruffling Lisa's hair affectionately. "Barely past sunrise, in fact, but if this was a school day you'd be kickin' and screamin' about getting up at eight."
Lisa shudders at the mere mention of school. "Don't say the s-word. And watch, this is the part where he crashes into the tree."
And sure enough, right then the on-screen, animated hero slams into a tree with enough force to kill a mere mortal.
"Honey, you do know what would happen if a real flesh-and-blood human tried that, don't you?"
Lisa, a bit miffed at having her IQ questioned, takes her time answering.
"Well, sure. It'd take Ursula and Shep days to find him, and by then there'd be only them two things left to bury."
"What two things?" Mary asks, pretty sure she doesn't want to know.
"Flesh and blood," Lacy says, totally deadpan, then returns her attention back to the TV.
Game, set, match.
Mary is sitting at the kitchen table, head down on her arms, when Lisa – always so quiet with her barefoot stealth – puts a hand on her shoulder and scares ten years off her life.
"Worryin' about bills again, Ma?"
"Don't sneak up on me like that. And how do you know I worry about the bills?"
"'Cause I been frettin' some, too, 'specially now that Brandon's comin' home too fucked up to work at the lumberyard anymore."
Mary opens her mouth to protest Lisa's casual use of that particular word, then notices the gleam in her daughter's eyes.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
Lisa grins. "Just wanted to see if you were payin' attention."
"I was, and that was an evil thing to do to your own mother." She sips her coffee. "And shouldn't you be in there watching your shows?"
Lisa shrugs. "George is over, an' Bugs Bunny don't start 'til 7:30."
"I see. But what show is that playing now? I don't recognize the music."
Lisa wrinkles her nose. "Some baby show called Go Go Gophers."
She comes up behind Mary and begins to massage her tense shoulders.
"That feels good," Mary says with a groan of pleasure. "But why'd you leave the TV on if you're not watching?"
"So I can hear when Bugs starts."
"Running that box needlessly wastes electricity," Mary fusses, and Lisa's hands pause on her shoulders.
"Maybe, but so does watchin' Lawrence Welk, so we're even."
As Lisa goes to work on her mother's neck, Mary changes gears.
"If you'd wear the watch your brother gave you last Christmas, you wouldn't need to use the television to tell time."
"I don't have a brother, Ma. Don't have the watch, neither."
Mary arches her brows. "You lost it?"
"I took a hammer to it after that shit on my birthday." She pauses, her voice tinged with regret. "Shoulda sold it instead, since I reckon that hundred bucks you got from Brandon sellin' his stereo didn't stretch real far."
Mary feels herself flinch, a long-held suspicion now confirmed, and once again Lisa's fingers go still.
"What is it, Ma? What'd I say wrong?"
"Nothing," Mary mutters, but she's never been a good liar and Lisa knows her too well.
"Bullshit, Ma. Just say it."
"Why? So you can hate him more?"
The bitterness in her mother's voice hurts, but Lisa forces herself not to back down.
"I dunno, Ma. But I ain't never gonna hate him less, so you might as well tell me."
"Have a seat and I will."
Lisa plops into a chair across from her and folds her hands on the table. And when Mary finally sighs and confides the truth, her daughter just stares at her, unable to speak.
Then, barefoot and in her pajama top and shorts, she jumps up without a word and runs out the back door.
The phone rings.
"Hello?"
"Evvie, it's Mary. I think Lisa's headed your way, barefoot, half-naked, and in a full-on mad."
"Who's she mad at?"
"Brandon."
"No surprise there. What'd he do this time?"
"I'll let y'all hear it from her."
The phone goes dead.
Lisa sprints the whole way to Lacy's house, arriving sweaty and winded but no less angry, and the sight of Josie's Camaro in the Wilsons' driveway means she didn't just run herself half to death for nothing.
She stands with her hands on her knees to catch her breath, then straightens and pushes damp, tangled hair off her flushed face. Then the front door opens and Lacy's mom is there, smiling at her from the porch.
"Hello, Lisa. You made good time."
"'Lo, Miz Wilson. I reckon Ma called you."
"She sure did. Told me to be on the lookout for an unshod, scantily-clad, and very discombobulated teenager."
Lisa grins in spite of herself. "Knowin' Ma, she likely said 'barefooted, near-naked, and pissed as hell,' but yeah, that's me."
"Well, come on in out of the heat, then. The girls'll be happy to see you, and I might just have a glass of ice-cold lemonade with your name on it."
Lisa's grin widens. "Oh, man! See, this is why I always tell folks you're my favorite mom besides mine."
And Evelyn, touched beyond words, hopes this spunky girl – so much like Lacy – doesn't see the sudden tears in her eyes.
Fifteen minutes later, the five of them – Lacy, Josie, Lisa, Peggy, and Evelyn – sit crowded around the kitchen table, all but Evelyn in various stages of undress, all barefoot, and each with a tall glass of lemonade in front of her.
"Do you all really need me here?" Peg asks, half-asleep and grouchy. "If this is about Brandon like Ma said, then I don't see why my presence is required."
Lisa answers bluntly. "'Cause your dopehead boyfriend is Brandon's only friend, so I figured this concerns you, too."
The older girl wants to argue, but Brody is her dopehead boyfriend, so she simply crosses her arms and says nothing.
"What's this about, Lise?" Josie prods gently, and Lisa turns her glittering blue eyes on Lacy.
"Lace, back when Brandon sold you his stereo, how much did you give him for it?"
"A hundred bucks, like I told y'all before. He wanted it for your mom to help out with bills an' shit."
"Like hell. He told Ma you only gave him fifty, an' kept the rest for himself." Lisa pauses to push back her hair. "Ma almost wouldn't tell me."
At this news Lacy and Josie both jump to their feet, and Evelyn puts a hand to her forehead and swears under her breath.
"That little shit!" Lacy cries. "He practically begged me for that money, said the speakers alone were worth that much, but with him leavin' soon y'all were desperate for cash."
"He was desperate," Josie says scornfully, pacing from one end of the kitchen to the other. "More'n likely him an' Brody spent that other fifty bucks down at Mace's Honky-Tonk."
"They did," Peggy says icily. "Brody invited me to join them, he said Brandon came into some money and they were celebrating."
"Did you go?" Lacy asks, ready to be mad even though Peg couldn't have known where Brandon's windfall came from.
"Hell, no. Last thing I wanted to do was watch those two idiots getting shit-faced. I curled up with a book instead."
Evelyn looks at the clock on the wall above the stove, then at Josie and Lisa. "I should probably get you girls home to your mother, so get your things and let's go."
"What things?" Lacy says, eyeing Josie in her nightgown and Lisa in her pajama top and skimpy shorts, and that gets a much-needed laugh.
"We gotta plan," Josie whispers as they hug goodbye.
"For sure," Lacy whispers back. "Is your mom still hosting bridge tonight?"
"I think so."
"Cool. I'll make Ma fetch me with her."
The phone rings.
"Hello, Brody here."
"It's me, Peggy."
"Hey, babe. How's it hangin'?"
"It's not, 'cause I'm a girl. But whatever. I got two things to say to you."
"Go for it."
"First off, next time you talk to Brandon, tell him he's a big dick. And second, next time you want someone to play with yours, call some other girl. I'm done."
The phone goes dead.
Loudly.