A/N: Hey, everyone...Thanks as always for reading, and I apologize for a whole week going by between chapters. This one got derailed by Ellie Austen, who kinda snuck up on me as another person who will have Lacy's back when she'll need all the support she can get.
And don't worry, MASH fans, Grandpa Sherm and Hawkeye will be back soon for Evelyn's moon-landing party, and then for Lacy's Sweet Sixteen.
Enjoy, and please comment on how the story is progressing. Your feedback is always appreciated!
Chapter 20 – A New Friend And Ally
Saturday, July 5, 1969 – 5:15pm.
By the time Peggy and Ma pull up in the red El Camino a little past five, Lacy is pacing the front porch in flip-flops, a pleated maroon miniskirt, and a matching cropped tee with the sleeves cut off. Her hair, still damp from the shower she'd just taken out of sheer boredom, falls loosely over her shoulders and down her back.
August 4th – and her new truck – can't come fast enough, nor can whenever the hell she'll see Brandon again so she can kick his ass from one end of Rebel Creek to the other.
And right off the end of the damn pier, wheelchair an' all.
"Y'all are late," she says accusingly as she slides into the cab of the truck next to Ma, slips off her flip-flops, and puts her bare feet up on the dash.
"Had to wait for Ruth Ann," Peggy replies, eyeing the glossy black polish on her sister's toes. "She's covering for me tonight so I can join in on whatever devious shit you, Josie, and Lisa are gonna cook up."
Lacy narrows her eyes. "So you can tell Brody?"
"Screw Brody. I broke it off with him."
"Hallelujah," Evelyn mutters, and Peggy raises a brow at her.
"Wait, Ma. All this time I was with Brody, and you never let on you didn't like him?"
Evelyn shrugs. "You're a big girl, more than capable of making her own choices." She grins. "And if his, um, source of income ever got you arrested, I figured you were just as capable of bailing your own butt out of jail, too."
"Ha, ha," Peggy says sarcastically as Evelyn and Lacy slap palms.
The drive across town takes all of five minutes, and when they arrive at the Ramey place there are already six vehicles in the overflowing driveway - four station wagons, Josie's Camaro, and one Ford Ranchero pickup tricked out to rival Lacy's new (and soon-to-be delivered) El Camino - so Peggy parks her El Camino at the curb.
"Whose truck is that?" Lacy wants to know. "An' ain't bridge a four-player game?"
"It is," Evelyn replies, "but Mary has it set up like a small tournament, with two games going at once and the winning teams then playing each other to crown a champion. And that truck belongs to Ellie Austen."
Lacy frowns. "Missy Jo's ma?"
"Her aunt. But don't worry, she's nothing like the evil brat her sister raised, and she's closer to Peggy's age than mine. Y'all should get along fine."
"I like her already," Lacy says, her eyes widening as she notices the sprinkler oscillating water all over Josie's front lawn. "The sprinkler's on!"
And just like that she's out of the truck, ignoring Evelyn's futile "Lacy, no!" and accidentally-on-purpose leaving her flip-flops on the floorboard.
"That girl," Evelyn mutters, watching her youngest daughter dance in the wet grass as the sprinkler drenches her from head to toe.
"We should join her," Peg says wistfully, knowing Evelyn will never even consider such a thing.
"I would, but those society ladies in there would think I'd lost my last marble."
Peggy raises both brows. "Rebel Creek has society ladies?"
"They think they are," Evelyn says, then watches in horror as Peggy kicks off her sandals. "What are you doing?"
"Joining her. As the older sibling, it's up to me not to let Lacy make a fool out of herself alone."
Then she too is gone, leaving Evelyn almost ready to join them.
Almost.
Ten minutes later, with Evelyn having gone inside already, Mary Ramey greets Lacy and Peg at the front door with a pair of large towels.
"Here you go, girls. Dry off the best you can and come on in so you can meet everyone."
"Thank you, Miz Ramey," Lacy says. "We'll be in shortly."
Mary returns to her guests, leaving the door ajar for them.
As Lacy uses her towel to wring water from her hair, Josie's calico cat – named Callie, appropriately enough – comes out onto the porch, purring loudly and plopping herself down on Lacy's feet.
"Hey, pretty girl," Lacy croons, tossing the towel aside so she can pick Callie up and hug her to her chest. "Did you miss me?"
The cat meows, then a sandpapery tongue scrapes over Lacy's left nipple, which immediately springs to attention under her wet t-shirt.
"She likes you," Peg says wryly as she vigorously dries her own much-shorter hair.
"Can you tell she's my cat?" Josie says, grinning at Lacy from just inside the front door.
"The little wench takes after you." Lacy hands Callie over to her mistress. "But if she ever does that again I might hafta take her home with me."
"Where she goes, I go," Josie says, giving her friend a smoky look.
And not for the first time, Lacy wonders what it'd be like if she was into girls, too.
Just before six, wit Josie and Lisa still up in their room, and with Ma and Peggy in the kitchen helping Mary put together a snack tray, Lacy faces off with the bridge club members, nice and dry now in an oversized white tee she'd borrowed from Josie, her legs and feet bare as she stands before them.
Gertrude Peabody, alas, is not impressed by what she sees.
"In my day, Miss Wilson, proper young ladies wore brassieres."
"Well, bless their hearts," Lacy says, her eyes alight with the joy of battle. "What'd girls like me wear?"
Before Mrs. Peabody – the high school secretary and wife of the principal - can think of a scathing reply, Ellie Austen comes to Lacy's defense.
"Lay off, Gertrude. This ain't your turf, and back in your day ladies wore petticoats and corsets, too."
Ellie is much younger than the other women, maybe thirty at most, with long brown hair and matching eyes, casually dressed in old jeans and a white blouse that makes it perfectly clear she has nothing on under it.
And she's barefoot, with dark blue polish on her own naked toes.
Lacy grins at her. "I like you, just like Ma said I would."
"I like you, too," Ellie says, returning the grin. "Any girl who can stand up to my witch of a niece is okay by me."
Gertrude is glaring at both of them, but right then Josie and Lisa come racing into the living room and she finds herself outnumbered by barefoot, half-dressed teenagers.
And when Mary, Evelyn, and Peggy enter from the kitchen a moment later, the battle is lost.
Lacy, Josie, Peg, and Lisa sit in a cross-legged semi-circle around the TV, paying no mind to the animated banter of the card-playing women behind them. They watch the first half hour of Roller Derby, then switch channels to check out Kent McCord on the cop show Adam-12.
"That guy is pretty bitchin'," Lisa says, and the others – even Peggy – agree.
"Damn straight!" a voice calls out from one of the card tables, and Lacy looks over to see Ellie grinning at her.
Her and Ma are partners against Gertrude Peabody and Mabel Lane, who has been the secretary at Rebel Creek Elementary since before anyone can remember.
"Don't encourage them," Gertrude says sternly. "As the newest member of our faculty, you will need to set a proper example, not parade around looking more like a teenager than the kids you're supposed to be educating."
Ellie's brown eyes narrow. "So long as I'm within the dress code, how I parade around is no concern of yours."
"Right on, Miss Austen!" Lacy says, then remembers a rumor she'd heard toward the end of last year. "And please, please, please tell me you're gonna teach the new Creative Writing class that's startin' up."
"Yes, ma'am. And since we're friends, you can call me Ellie outside of class."
"That go for us, too?" Josie asks, indicating herself and Lisa.
"It goes for everybody." Ellie smiles warmly at Lacy. "I already know from your mom that you write short stories, which I look forward to reading, but how are you at essays?"
Lacy arches a brow. "I've never written one. Can I still be creative?"
"For sure. Basically how it works is, I assign a topic and you write your opinion on it, which I'm kinda thinking you'll be really good at."
"Damn straight," Lacy replies happily, echoing Ellie's own words, and everyone there except the two school secretaries rewards her with a laugh.