A Matter of Pride
Jane Gill
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A
Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania
Selection
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Double Edge Press – Smashwords Edition
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4524-1738-7
A Matter of Pride
Copyright © 2010 Jane Gill
Cover Artwork: Original artwork design by Double Edge Press.
Elements contained within the original design included the following images in its composition:
Florida Map © Marcio Silva | Dreamstime.com – a royalty was paid for use of this image.
Mississippi Sunset (car mirror) © Jessica Priemer | Dreamstime.com – a royalty was paid for use of this image.
Original photograph of Turpentine House located at the Barberville Pioneer Settlement © Jane Gill – used with permission.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Double Edge Press, 72 Ellview Road, Scenery Hill, PA 15360
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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For Deb, Teri, and Isabella
“With God all things are possible.”
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A Matter of Pride
Jane Gill
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Acknowledgements
Every writer knows that sometimes we write things and sometimes we write things down. So it has been with this book, which is to me simply, “Luella’s Story.” That is why upon publication of this work, I shout, “To God be the glory,” for it was first His idea.
Let me begin by pointing out that there is a vast difference between encouragement and support. Those who encouraged me, incited me, believed in the vision, and led with their hearts must be mentioned here. My life coach, Rev. Rick Howell, for whom I wish ten thousand blessings. Without his encouragement I surely would never have been open to the possibilities that lay before me. My good friend, LaJuana Pruitt, who traveled the back roads with me, picked guitar, and sang silly songs along the way. My friends, Al and Lynda Wrisley, who believed in me even before I did. My family, Deb, Teri, and John, who dutifully read the rough stuff early on. David Steves, for his infinite patience, encouragement, and for sharing his legal expertise. Dona Lee Gould of Sarasota Fiction Writers who critiqued the manuscript early on and helped me better express my vision. My friends and co-sojourners along this path of life, Phyllis and Bernie Reading, and all the wonderful writers of the Suncoast Writers Guild. And, of course, Larry Parr, my stupendous editor and new friend who reminded me of little things like gerunds and who made me dance and shout, “whoo hoo.” My publisher, Rebecca Melvin, who has the amazing ability to listen to people and read between the lines. All of these friends believed in what I saw and in me. Frankly, that has made all the difference.
Traveling Florida’s roads brought me into contact with wonderful folks who do more than just their job. They deserve to be thanked in print: Genette H. McKnight, VP, Flagler County Abstract Company, Bunnell, FL; Vanessa McKnight Navarette, now of Chicago, IL; Bruce Piatek, Executive Director, FL Agricultural Museum, Palm Coast, FL; Terry Redman and Nancy Edmondson, FL Cooperative Extension, Sarasota, FL; Mark Warren, Extension Agent, University of Florida, Bunnell, FL; and Rev. Lance S. Williams, Saint Lawrence A.M.E. Church, Eatonville, FL.
Fortunately for me, we live in the 21st century. The internet has enabled me to touch hands and hearts with so many people who provided information to support the details of this story. They are: Suzanne Antonetti, St. Lucie County arts and cultural programs; Jeff Cannon, for information on the Freedmen’s Bureau; Sisco Deen and Bill Morgan for information on Florida and Flagler County cemeteries.
Resources for this book include the Flagler County Historical Society; Flagler County Chamber of Commerce; Holden House Museum, Bunnell, FL; Flagler Beach Historical Museum; The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc., Eatonville, FL; Zora Neale Hurston Florida Foundation, Eatonville, FL; Pioneer Settlement for the Creative Arts, Inc., Barberville, FL; St. Petersburg Times.
Publications researched included: Jim Crow Guide – The Way It Was, Stetson Kennedy, FL Atlantic University Press, 1959; The History of Flagler County by John A. Clegg, Hall Publishing Co., 1976; Spirits of Turpentine, Robert S. Blount, FL Agricultural Museum, Inc., 1993; FL Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project 1936-1938; Dust Tracks On A Road, Zora Neale Hurston, J.B. Lippincott, 1942; Zora in Florida, University of Central Florida Press, 1991; Before the Timber was Cut, Gilbert Tucker, Rockledge, FL; Lumbermen and Log Sawyers, Jeffrey A. Drobney, Mercer University Press, 1997, and websites too numerous to mention.
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“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
~ Martin Luther King
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Elijah Stovall
1850-1916
Nathaniel Stovall Mayetta Stovall
1898 – 1965 1903 – 1985
Sebastian Stovall Livinia Stovall
1933 – 2009 1938 – 1976
Luella Stovall Martin Stovall
1963 - 1966 -
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Pearl Jackson
1926 –
Reverend Josiah Parker
1920 -
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Prologue
The late months of summer in Florida are the most dangerous. The air hangs heavy beneath skies that belie the best forecast. Without warning the clouds gather and move in low, the wind picks up, and far-off thunder hums a deep and muffled warning.
When the school bus let Luella and Martin off at the end of their road, the dark clouds were already moving in, heavy and menacing.
“It’s comin’!” Luella said to her brother.
“Yeah,” Martin replied, already taking off at a run. “I bet I can beat'cha.”
Luella knew, with her arms full of school books, there was no way could she beat him, so she didn’t try. She walked as fast as she could. Lightning flashed so close the crack of thunder was right on its heels. She knew it was dangerously close because the hair on her arms stood straight up. By the time she got to the yard, she could see Grammy Mayetta standing with the screen door wide open. Lu pounded up the steps amid the deafening thunder, hail stinging her scalp and back. Martin, already in the house, hadn’t even gotten wet.
“If you weren’t trying to be such a brain with all those books,” he taunted “you coulda’ been here five minutes ago.”
Luella stuck her tongue out at him as she passed him and set her wet books on the kitchen table.
The house was dark inside. Grammy was afraid of storms and whenever one approached, which was daily during the rainy season, she hurried around the house and unplugged everything she could find. She said when she was a child she saw a fireball come right into the house and race around the room, like the devil himself, looking for a way out. She wouldn’t go near the sink or turn any lights on until the storm had passed.
Grammy slammed the front door against the wind and hail. Martin poured himself a glass of milk at the counter. Luella went into the living room where Grammy sat on the couch twisting the corners of her apron in her lap. Her gaze was glued to the window which rattled with each roll of thunder. Luella quietly sat in the chair across from her. “Where’s Mom?” she asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
“Your Daddy had to take her to the hospital,” Grammy said. The hail stopped and Luella heard the rain falling steadily. “She’s pretty bad sick this time. I don’t know when they’ll be back, but probably late,” Grammy added.
“Is Mom gonna’ be okay?” Martin asked, standing in the doorway, his milk in his hand.
“Martin, don’t bring your milk in the living room,” Grammy scolded, but Martin didn’t move from the doorway.
“What happened?” Luella asked.
“You know she hasn’t been herself lately, and your daddy’s been real worried about that cough of hers,” Grammy said. “So he finally managed to get through to her that she had to go back to the doctor. She was fussin’ and sayin’ how she’d be fine. She wanted to change her dress first. Then she just got weak in the knees and fell across the bed. The sweat was just a-pourin’ off her. So he got on the phone to the doctor’s office, and they sent an ambulance out here to take her right to the hospital. Your daddy followed them in the truck.”
“When was this?” Luella asked.
“Just about lunchtime,” Grammy replied. “Your daddy had come in for lunch.”
“Did he call yet?” Martin asked, worry in his voice.
“Not yet,” Grammy said. “But, there’s no need to get all riled up. I’m sure your momma’s gonna be just fine.” She continued as she stood up, “She just needs to be where there’s peace and quiet so she can get some rest, poor thing. I was just worried what with the rain and all…” She didn’t finish her sentence but headed for the kitchen.
“Now, Martin, you get busy on that homework, and Luella, I’m gonna need you in the kitchen. We might as well start workin’ on supper,” she ordered. “Leastwise, that way when your daddy gets back, we’ll have something ready for him.”
“But, Grammy,” Luella protested. “Can’t we call Miss Pearl and see if Jerome can take us in to the hospital to see Momma? Please.”
“Oh, now, stop!” Grammy snapped. “She’s gonna’ be just fine. They’ll probably be home by dark anyway.”
They didn’t come home by dark. It was after nine that night when the phone rang. Grammy snatched it up and just kept saying “Uh huh, uh huh,” into the receiver. Luella knew it was her father calling, and she tried to get Grammy to hand her the phone but Grammy waved her away with a scowl.
“Well,” she said when she hung up. “Your father’s gonna’ stay there with her. He says they got her in an oxygen tent and she’s breathin’ easy now, but he’s gonna’ stay until she’s feelin’ a little stronger.”
Luella felt tears welling up in her eyes. “Oh, now, stop that,” Grammy said. “I told you, she’s gonna’ be just fine. You always expectin’ the worst, Luella! I just don’t’ know how this family is gonna’ survive all these bills though, that’s for sure. Now, go on to bed, both of you.”
Martin dutifully shut the television off and kissed Grammy lightly on the cheek.”G’night Grammy,” he said.
“Good night, child. Don’t forget to say your prayers,” she replied. “You, too, Luella.”
Luella kissed her forehead. “We won’t,” she said.
It was not yet light outside when Luella heard her father’s truck pull into the yard. She lay in bed listening to his footsteps as he walked slowly toward the kitchen. He didn’t turn the kitchen light on, and she knew in her heart that something was dreadfully wrong. She grabbed up her bathrobe and tiptoed into the doorway of the kitchen. Her father sat bent over at the table, his head in his hands. Even in the half-light, he looked exhausted. Luella stood frozen as Grammy pushed past her and shuffled over to him.
“What is it, Sebastian?” Grammy whispered, as if she herself was afraid to speak. Luella’s father raised his head slightly but did not sit up. His shoulders began to shake. He started to speak, but he was blubbering.
“She’s gone,” he finally said. “Oh God, oh God, Momma. My Lovie’s gone.” Once again he buried his head in his hands. Grammy Mayetta stood behind him, both her hands resting gently on his shoulders as his strong back bent beneath his sobs. She looked toward Luella.
“The Lord knows best,” she said. “All these things, the Lord knows best.” Outside, the first orange rays of dawn ushered in a new day.
Luella’s head began to pound. Somewhere, as though outside herself, she heard herself screaming, “No, no, no!” Her knees collapsed beneath her. She crumbled to the floor in the doorway. “The Lord doesn’t know best! No, he doesn’t! He can’t have Momma! I won’t let him take my mother,” she cried…
Chapter One
Lu opened her eyes and looked at the clock: 7:00 a.m. Low thunder rumbled in the distance. She heard the rain begin, turned toward her husband’s warmth and snuggled close.
The ringing telephone startled her. “Good God,” she breathed, reaching for the receiver on the nightstand. She muttered a groggy, “Hello.”
“Luella Sue?” the woman on the other end asked. “I’m so sorry to have to trouble you, honey, especially so early in the mornin’.”
Southern voice. Very Southern, and old, Lu thought. She pushed herself up on one elbow. No one called her Luella any more. Carelessly she waved her brown hair away from her cheek and sat up against the pillow. The soft voice, the quiet drawl rang familiar, but it was far too early and the call too unexpected for her to place who she was speaking with.
“Darlin’, this here is Miz Pearl, and, ah, I’m so sorry, Honey.” She hesitated. “Luella Sue, you got to come home, Chile. Your daddy’s done gone.” Lu remembered now, Miss Pearl, her father’s neighbor. “My son, Jerome?” Miss Pearl continued. “Well, see he went over there early this mornin’ and, uh, well, he found him. Guess he passed in his sleep, nice and peaceful like. I called your brother right away, and he said I should call you. He’s the one what give me your number.”
Wide awake, Lu swung her feet to the floor, her pulse rapid. She cleared her throat and thanked Miss Pearl, whose warm manner she remembered from her childhood. “I’ll call Martin,” Lu assured her as she stood. “We’ll take care of things. Thank you so much for calling. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Lu hung up the phone. “Shit!” she said.
She stared out the window, her hand over her heart as if she could stop the pounding. Cold rain beat against the glass.
Her husband, Zach, awakened by the ringing phone, came around the bed and reached for her. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
She opened the blinds and stared out the dormer window into the rain. “My father’s dead. I’m going to have to go to Florida.” Her voice was flat, emotionless.
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. We’ll go right away,” Zach came up behind her. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders, and she turned to face him.
“No, that’s not necessary,” she replied. “I need to do this by myself.”
“What?” he exclaimed. “You can’t go down to Florida by yourself. Families do these things together.” She held herself stiff in his arms.
“We can’t take the entire family down there,” she said into his shoulder. “Taking Susan and William out of school—it’s not necessary, really.”
“Don’t do this.”
“Do what?” she demanded, stepping back.
“Aw, c’mon, you know.” Zach sighed. “Try to do everything yourself—the kids can miss a little school. We’ll drive down and be back in a few days. You can’t go to your daddy’s funeral by yourself.”
Lu bristled. “Well, he was my father,” she said, turning toward the bathroom, “And it’s my problem. I’ll handle it.”
He followed her. “Hey, this is not open for discussion. We’re going to Florida, all of us, as a family.”
“Don’t you hear me?” she snapped.
“I hear you fine,” he shot back. “But we had this argument years ago when we went down to Disneyworld with the kids. And, baby, I’m too old now to have it again.”
Lu raised an eyebrow. “Right,” she said sarcastically. “You were there. You saw what a wonderful reunion that was.”
“No, Lu, I didn’t see a reunion,” Zach said, softening his voice. “What I saw were two people who could barely look at each other.”
Lu glared at him, remembering how she felt when their visit to her father had been such a disappointment. She had brought photographs of her brick colonial home in Maryland on that trip, hoping to share them with him. She wanted him to be proud of her, of the life she made for herself and her family. Instead of being glad to see her, he never asked about her life. He talked about the crops, about the weather. In their brief visit, there on the porch, they spoke of everything that was nothing, and nothing of what was everything. She never showed him the pictures.
Zach took a breath before continuing, “Just hold on a minute, okay? Suppose you go down there by yourself, huh?” he asked. “What am I supposed to tell the kids? ‘Oh, Mom will be back in a couple of days. She had to go to Florida to bury your grandfather.’ Think about it, Lu.”
She turned away, tears blurring her vision. She walked into the bathroom and slammed the door.
Chapter Two
Once she finished her shower and dressed, she headed downstairs to the kitchen. She heard Zach on the phone with his brother.
Quickly, she grabbed her address book and cell phone from her purse and walked into the dining room. She stared out the window as she waited for the connection to go through to her brother’s number in Atlanta. He answered on the second ring. “Hello, Martin?” she asked. “It’s Lu.” There was silence on the other end of the line. “Your sister, Luella,” she clarified.
“Oh,” Martin said sarcastically. “Yeah, so you callin’ me now that Daddy’s gone, huh?”
Lu held her breath. “Yes, Miss Pearl called me, so I wanted to check with you. We’re making plans to drive down there as soon as we can.”
“You comin’ to Atlanta?” he asked.
“No, I’m going down to Florida, to Daddy’s,” she said. “I’m calling to see what the arrangements are. Have you made any yet?”
She heard her brother exhale loudly. “No, I ain’t,” he said. “You going down now to bury the old man you didn’t want nothin’ to do with? Oh, no, wait a minute. I get it. You goin’ down now to see about what you might get, right?”
“No, Martin,” she said, clenching her teeth. “I’m coming down, with my family, to pay my respects and do what families do. Is that all right with you—or would you rather I didn’t? Is that it?”
She heard a woman’s voice in the background, and then Martin’s tone became more reasonable. He gave her the name of the funeral home in Bunnell and their telephone number, saying that she should call them. He said he already talked to Miss Pearl and arranged for the church.
She thanked him with more warmth than she felt. She took a deep breath and dialed the funeral home.
Zach hung up the house phone when Lu came back into the kitchen. He looked at her purposefully. “We’re clear to go. My brother’s going to handle the shop,” he said. “What’s next?”
“Everything,” she sighed pouring herself a mug of coffee and taking a seat at the counter. She stared deep into the dark granite countertop, cupping her coffee in both hands. “I’m sorry I shut you out,” she said quietly watching the steam rise from the mug. She couldn’t look Zach in the eye just yet.
“I know,” he said. “Me, too. What’s next?”
“Well, we need to get Susan home, first, I suppose,” she said rubbing her temples with her fingertips. “I’m pretty sure there are regular flights from State College to BWI or Dulles. And, somehow, we have to figure out how we’re going to drive a thousand miles in a day. Why don’t you go ahead and call Susan and fill her in. I’m going to have to find the courage to call my boss at home and tell him I’ll be gone all week. I just can’t believe my father died in the middle of the busy season.”
“I’m not sure he had a choice,” Zach muttered.
His comment made her bristle. “I’m sure he didn’t,” she said to let him know she’d heard him. “You know, being a senior auditor isn’t just a job. I’ve worked years at my career. I have responsibilities, not just to the firm, but to my team. Taking off for an entire week right now, regardless of the reason, could cost me the partnership,” she added.
“Okay, okay,” he said, putting an end to her fussing. “Now, what about William?”
“There’s nothing I can do about William until Monday when the high school’s open. I’ll call his counselor and explain,” she answered. “He doesn’t have finals yet.” The silence stretched between them. She knew there was a limit to how much Zach was going to take, so she purposefully reined in her temper.
“Since I’m the bookkeeper in the family,” she said. “I suggest we use one credit card for all this. We need to keep track of all the expenses. Bad enough my brother’s acting like we’re made of money.” She pulled her keys from her purse.
“What’d he say?” Zach asked.
She grimaced and raised her chin. “‘Well,’ he says, ‘just call Serenity Gardens Funeral Home.’ You know, like it was nothing.” She tasted her coffee. It had gone cold. “He’s no dummy,” she continued. “He knew good and well that when I called the funeral home they’d want my credit card number. Well, you can bet I’m going to show him just what all this cost, too.” She set her mug in the sink and turned toward Zach, who sipped his coffee in silence.
“I’m going to the hairdresser and then to the mall.”
“You’re going shopping?” he asked.
“I’ve got to get my hair relaxed; just look at it. I’m hoping they can squeeze me in, and I have to buy a dark suit for the funeral.” She hurried out the back door. She was already in her Camry when she realized she left her cell on the table. She reached for the door handle and then decided that if she didn’t have it nobody could call and bug her and she could get things done a lot faster. She put the car in gear and backed down the drive.
Chapter Three
Sunday morning dawned bleak and cold, as it often does in northern Maryland in late March.
“I don’t know, I feel like all of this is sort of surreal, you know?” Lu confessed as she handed Zach her suitcase. He quietly hefted it into the back of the Expedition taking his time.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Daddy and I weren’t close—it’s just that I never rehearsed this part,” she sighed. “But still, I mean, I have to go down there and take care of things.”
“Yes, we do,” he responded. “When you talked to your brother yesterday, what did he want to do?”
“Nothing, I think,” she answered. “He saw to it that he left me to call the funeral home. You know, he’s just like Daddy—stubborn. You don’t get too much out of him other than what he thinks you should do,” Lu said. “And then you’re just supposed to say ‘Okay, sure’, you know? Did I tell you I called him back after I talked to the funeral director and all he said was that he didn’t think Daddy owned a suit. So then I had to call the undertaker again and tell them we’d pay for that, too.” She shook her head. “Oh, and I told him we didn’t expect to be there until late tonight or maybe even tomorrow sometime, depending on the roads. He said that he and Elizabeth would be driving down from Atlanta, and they plan on staying at the house.”
Zach fussed with the suitcases in the back of the Expedition. “Uh huh, you told me all that last night,” he muttered. “What about their kids?”
“Yes, of course with their kids,” she added. “I don’t have any problem with them staying there. But I can tell you we’re certainly not staying in that house! I’m surprised it’s still standing.”
“Uh huh,” he mumbled, shifting the suitcases again.
Lu stared at the house. “Where the heck is William?” she asked, looking at her watch.
William came hurrying out the back door with his Game Boy in his hand. “Man! We leaving already?” he complained.
“Not until you go back up to your room and put on a decent shirt,” Lu directed.
“Why?” he protested, looking down at his shirt. “What’s wrong with what I got on? We’re going to be in the car all day.”
“Listen,” Lu started, “what’s wrong is that we are not traveling like a bunch of gypsies! It’s bad enough you wear those home-boy pants everywhere. You are not going to wear a T-shirt on this trip.” William shrugged his shoulders and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“Hey, son,” Zach interrupted, “just do what your mother says. Go on back in the house and put on a Polo shirt. We need to get going if we’re going to meet your sister’s plane on time.”
William turned and trudged slowly back to the house. Zach turned to Lu. “I’m not crazy about the baggy pants look either, but he’s come a long way from last summer, so cut him some slack, huh?”
“Well,” Lu responded, climbing into the passenger seat. “You just don’t travel in T-shirts. You know how that looks? Uh uh,” she said shaking her head. “My son is not going to travel with me and look like somebody from the hood!”
Chapter Four
When they arrived at Dulles, Susan stood waiting on the sidewalk, a small carry-on at her feet. Her long hair was plaited in neat cornrows.
“Susan,” Lu greeted her, raising one eyebrow and then planting a light kiss on her cheek. “What have you done with your hair?”
“I knew you wouldn’t like it,” Susan said. “My roommate, Gwen, spent hours on it last night.”
“Oh, no,” Lu responded. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I just wish you had talked to me about it first, that’s all.”
“Hey, baby girl!” Zach beamed, hugging Susan tightly around her shoulders. “It looks fine!”
“It’s just a lot easier to keep this way,” Susan said. She looked quizzically at her mother. “Mom, did you get your hair straightened? I thought you didn’t like Michelle Obama’s hair? You said you were going to let yours grow out more natural, like your mother used to wear.”
“Well, I changed my mind,” Lu said. “Besides, I’m certainly not going down to Florida all peasy-headed.”
“I brought a dress with me,” Susan said. “I hope you like it.”
“You won’t need it, Susan,” Lu said dismissively as they stepped off the curb and headed for the parking lot. “I bought you a nice pink suit yesterday and shoes, too. You’ll be fine.”
“Oh,” Susan murmured as they approached the truck.
“Buckle up, everybody,” Zach announced, pulling out of the airport parking lot. “This is going to be a long ride.” Once they passed south of Richmond, traffic was lighter and moved along steadily. Although the sun wasn’t shining brightly, the gray clouds appeared to thin out as they headed south.
“We can’t stay past Friday, no matter what,” Lu said, looking up from her Blackberry.
“Are you sending e-mails on a Saturday?” Zach asked.
“Yes. Staffing needs to know I’m gone so they can line someone up for my team. The team needs to develop a plan. I have to let them know they’re going to be without a captain for an entire week.”
Zach nodded toward the Blackberry. “You can’t go to your father’s funeral and sit there e-mailing the whole time, you know.”
“I have no intention of it,” she snapped as she hit the send button on an e-mail. “But, I can’t concentrate on all I’m going to have to do about my father’s business if I’m worried about my job either.”
“Do you have any idea what we’re facing down there as far as your father’s business goes?” Zach asked.
“Not really. But there’s still going to be a lot to do. I’ll have to talk to a realtor and find out what that farm is worth. I looked a little online last night and found out Flagler County is the fastest growing county in Florida! I think it’s worth quite a bit. God knows we could use that.”
“Is that what you were doing up in the middle of the night?” Zach asked.
“Well, yes,” Lu defended herself. “You have to have a handle on these things, I mean, after all, Florida property is always in demand.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” Zach responded.
“So,” Susan leaned forward in her seat. “Mom, what happened to Granddad?”
Zach gave Lu a sideways glance.
Lu turned. “I couldn’t reach anyone at the medical examiner’s office, being the weekend and all. But I’m guessing he had a heart attack. He was 74 or 75, I think, yeah, 74.”
“Yeah,” William spoke up. “He was just old.”
“Well, it’s really not all that old, but he lived a hard life,” Lu added, looking straight ahead. “He worked that farm from the time he was a boy. And working a farm in Florida, in his day, was not easy.”
“I just can’t picture you growing up on a farm,” Susan said. “Didn’t we go there once? I remember an old house in the country.”
“Yes,” Zach interjected. “We stopped there that time we took you kids to Disneyworld.”
“You always have had a good memory, Susan,” Lu commented dryly, bitter at how disappointed she was that day. She caught a look from Zach and changed her tone. “You know, when we get back home, I’ll have to find those pictures we took on that trip. You were both so little! I remember the ride down seemed to take forever. Remember? Both of them fussing in the back seat, asking over and over: ‘When will we get there?’”
“I wonder how come I don’t remember more of that,” Susan said.
Lu turned toward her. “Oh, I don’t know. Mickey Mouse probably made a bigger impression on a six-year-old than a couple of hours at an old farmhouse.”
“I suppose, but I wish I could have gone down there when I was writing my high school term paper,” she commented.
“Why’s that?” Zach asked as he deftly steered into the passing lane.
“Don’t you remember?” Susan asked. “I did my paper on Zora Neale Hurston.”
“Zora who?” he asked.
“Dad, she was only the most important female black author of the twentieth century,” she said. “During the Depression the government implemented a writers’ project to collect information about the grass roots people of our country. Zora toured all over the south interviewing and recording all kinds of information—black folklore, their heroes and their stories. Without her, all that would have been lost! Oh, and she wrote great stories herself. Oprah even made one into a movie. Anyway, I think I got an A on that paper.”
Lu turned to look at her and out of the corner of her eye caught William rolling his eyes and mouthing ‘I think I got an A’. She smacked his knee to let him know she’d seen him.
“I remember that term paper,” she said with a grin.
“She was born in Eatonville, Florida. It’s supposed to be close to Orlando somewhere,” Susan said brightly. “Will we be anywhere near there? Maybe we could stop and look around. Eatonville was the first black incorporated town in America.”
“Oh, here it comes, Miss College knows everything.” William groaned.
“Yeah,” Susan said, leaning toward him and poking him good-naturedly with her elbow. “When and if you get into college, we’ll see how much you know!”
“Not everybody that knows stuff goes to college,” he shot back. “Jay-Z didn’t go to college and look at him!” He balled his jacket under his head, leaned against the window and closed his eyes.
Susan rolled her eyes. “When we get back home I’m going to see if I still have that term paper,” she mumbled.
“Somehow, Susan, I’ll bet you do.” Lu chuckled.
“Yeah,” William said, opening one eye. “I just wish we were going down to Florida during Bike Week at Daytona, that’s all.”
“Son, I think that would be fun, but I can’t imagine what this road is like during Bike Week,” Zach said.
When they passed the first billboard for South of the Border, Susan sat straight up. “Oh, hey, I remember these! They go on for miles. The little guy with the big sombrero, Pedro. Remember? I’d just learned to read and I read every single one!” she said.
“Well, don’t read ‘em all now!” Zach chided her.
This aroused William’s interest. “Hey, can we stop? Is that where we saw the big snake?”
“Oh, great, you remember the snake but nothing else—typical,” Susan said sarcastically.
“Hey,” he said. “I was like three years old back then. I just remember a big snake that came wriggling out of a bag or something.”
“Oh, man, William, I can’t believe you remember that!” said Zach. “That wasn’t South of the Border. That was when we stopped at Santee, South Carolina, and listened to the park ranger give a nature talk. The look on your face, Lu. Now that was funny!” Zach teased.
“Well, I didn’t think it was so funny!” Lu spoke up. “How’d you have liked it if you were the one leaning up against a counter in the ranger’s office when he, oh, so politely, excused himself, then reached around behind you and yanked a live cottonmouth out of a pillowcase!”
“Is that what happened?” William wanted to know, a smirk flickering across his face.
Zach broke up with laughter. “It sure is. I thought your mom‘d die right there on the spot.” Lu scowled out the window. It wasn’t funny to me, she thought angrily.
Zach reached out and poked Lu’s arm. “Remember, we bought that orange wine at a roadside stand for three dollars thinking we were going to get a treat?”
“Oh, yuck, do I remember? It was awful, and we had so looked forward to a chilled glass once we got the kids to bed.”
“What’s that?” William joked. “You guys were fooling around, drinking no less, when you had little kids? Aha!”
“You know what,” Zach said, “let's stop at South of the Border for old times’ sake. It’ll be fun.”
“Okay, but we’re not buying any wine!” Lu cautioned.
They got some cold drinks at South of the Border, and Zach cajoled everyone into posing next to the oversized figure of Pedro for a family photo. “I guess you could say this place has evolved quite a bit since we were here,” he observed.
“Is that what you call it?” Lu smirked. “You’d think tacky would have to end somewhere.”
“It ended here!” Susan laughed.
They pulled William away from one of the hundred souvenir bins where he was trying out imported “Made in China” Mexican back scratchers.
“Let’s hit the road,” Zach said.
Chapter Five
Monday morning after William finished his second continental breakfast at the hotel, the family piled back into the SUV.
“So, are we gonna’ get to see any alligators?” William asked.
“Probably not,” Lu answered.
“How long is this gonna’ take today, then?” he groaned.
“Not as long as yesterday,” Zach said. “Maybe only four and a half or five hours, tops. Once we get past Jacksonville it will be right down the road.” When they passed the Florida welcome station, Lu remembered the time she and some friends snuck up there for Michael Jackson’s “Destiny” tour. She turned sixteen that year and was anxious for adventure. None of them had tickets for the show, but were hopeful they’d be able to scalp some once they got to the Gator Bowl. The drive up was wickedly exciting and they giggled and joked all the way. Then they’d spent the entire evening walking up and down on the sidewalk outside the concert. The scalpers had sold out. The evening was a complete and total bust. They barely spoke all the way home. Lu was terrified her father would find out. She swore she’d never do it again. After that, she settled for listening to Michael, The Commodores, and Prince on her brother’s boom box.
By early afternoon the family trip was nearly over. Zach took the Bunnell exit slowly. The sky was a predictable Florida bright blue. Here and there, puffy white clouds skiffed their way toward the horizon.
“Ah!” Zach said as he pulled into the hotel lot. “This is why everybody comes to Florida. It’s warm, the sun is shinin’ and the sky is clear. You gotta love it.”
Chapter Six
The Holiday Inn Express was just down the road from Bunnell and not far from the farm. As soon as she laid out her toiletries and hung up their clothes for the funeral, Lu dialed her father’s house.
“Hey,” she said when her brother answered. “We’re finally here.”
“Good,” Martin said. “I’m figurin’ we can meet for dinner about six.”
“That’s fine. Just tell me where to meet you and how to get there,” she said.
As they drove down Route 100 they passed a stone greeting on the roadside, 'Welcome to Bunnell, Crossroads of Flagler County'. Lu sniffed to herself, Yeah, she thought, some crossroads. In the back of her mind her conscience was telling her that life was full of crossroads. She decided to ignore it.
“Did you know on the Flagler County website, the seal has a potato on it?” Susan said.
“A potato?” William sniffed.
“Yes, a potato,” Lu answered smugly. “Most northerners think Florida’s all theme parks, but it’s a huge agricultural state. My father and just about everybody around here raised Irish potatoes.”
“Irish?” Susan asked.
“Right,” Lu said. “They’re the potatoes most used for potato chips.” She suddenly felt good having come to the defense of the county, of the farm, herself as a child, and Martin. One of her earliest memories was the day he came home from the hospital.
She spent the morning scurrying back and forth between the kitchen and the front door. Momma was coming home from the hospital today. She was bringing home Luella's new baby brother. Grammy scrubbed Luella’s face and hands almost raw. She clipped her fingernails short as she lectured her about not touching the baby around his face or head. She twisted her hair into little pigtails all over her head, and fastened each with a tiny colored barrette. Grammy didn’t do it as nice as Momma did. Momma would hum a little tune and then put her finger under Luella’s chin and tell her how pretty she looked. Grammy just told her to sit still, but none of that mattered now. Miss Pearl came over right after breakfast and now held Luella on her lap, hugging her tightly as she chuckled over Luella’s excitement.
“Now, that new little brother of yours is going to be sleeping a lot, Luella, honey,” she cautioned. “You’re gonna have to be quiet sometimes so as you don’t wake him up.”
“I know, I know.” Luella whined. At three years of age she didn’t quite understand everything she’d been told about having a new baby around, but a baby was a baby and she could hardly wait to see it.
She wriggled out of Miss Pearl’s lap and stood with her tiny hands and her nose pressed against the screen door. She stared down the road that led to her house. At last she saw Daddy’s truck slowly rumbling and bumping into the yard.
“Momma, Momma,” she squealed, slamming open the door and running onto the porch closely followed by Miss Pearl and Grammy. The truck pulled up next to the house, and Daddy got out, crossing quickly around front to help Momma. Luella started to scamper out into the yard, but Grammy had her hands on Luella’s shoulders.
“Now, wait, child. Don’t go runnin’ up and knockin’ your momma over,” she cautioned. “Let her get on into the house.”
Luella dutifully muttered,”Yes’m.”
Momma, held steady by Daddy’s strong arm, stepped up onto the porch and carefully bent over to show Luella the tiny bundle she held in her arms.
“Oh, my goodness, oh, what a blessin’,” Miss Pearl exclaimed almost in a whisper. “Lookit there, Luella,” she said, her warm hand gently rubbing Luella’s back. “Your very own baby brother. My, my, ain’t he somethin’?” she crooned. “And lookit here, Martin, this here’s your big sister, Luella.” Luella stared at him. The baby scrunched his face up, tiny fingers pawing his cheek as he peeped open one eye.
“He sees me,” she squealed. The baby jumped, both of his eyes flew open and he began to wail. Everyone chuckled. Daddy reached down, picked Luella up and planted a kiss on her cheek. That was a day Luella treasured. Surrounded by those who loved her, welcoming home her very own baby. The world was a wonderful place.
As the days passed, Luella spent most of her time following Momma around. She cradled her doll in her arms, and whatever Momma did with baby Martin, Luella mimicked. Her baby doll and Martin always napped at the same time, and Momma gave her scraps of fabric to make pretend diapers.Martin was a good baby. Grammy said he was a lot better than Luella had been. Luella, she said, had the colic and kept everybody awake night after night until she turned three months old. Momma said that just meant that Luella was smart and she wanted to be awake for everything. Grammy frowned and said how she hoped Martin didn’t get the colic.
Martin was soon crawling around the house and trying to put everything into his mouth. Luella gave herself the job of keeping an eye on him and making sure she hollered when he tried to eat anything he wasn’t supposed to. Grammy Mayetta took to clucking her tongue from time to time and cautioning Luella not to be “little Miss Boss.”
In no time at all Martin was walking and talking. He stubbornly took to wanting to be his own boss, and Luella’s self-appointed babysitting job lost some of its appeal.
Chapter Seven
“Turn here,” Lu instructed. “This is Airport Road.”
“What was the name of the place again?” Zach asked as he made the turn.
“Highjackers,” she said.
Lu struggled to hold her emotions at bay. She’d been nervous ever since she talked to Martin on the phone. She found herself chatting nonstop to Zach and the kids about nothing. She hoped if she did all the talking they wouldn’t ask her the question she couldn’t answer. How had she let so many years go by—and why?
They quickly reached the end of the road which was at the edge of the small airfield. Before them was a one-story, fluorescent green cinderblock building. It was trimmed with an equally garish orange and sat next to the airfield fence. The windows were open, and diners were visible through the screens. When she entered the restaurant and saw diners seated in wooden booths, their meals before them in plastic baskets, Lu was glad she hadn’t dressed for dinner. Model airplanes swayed from open beams in the ceiling, the ceiling fans spinning only at half-pace. A seperate dining area on the left boasted a big flat-screen TV high on the wall. Thankfully, it was on mute. The walls were decorated with Miami Dolphin logos, shirts, and pennants proclaiming “Fans for Fins.”
Lu looked into the dining room. A black family was seated at a wooden table in the far corner. A middle-aged man in a denim shirt, wearing a Highjackers baseball cap pushed his chair back and motioned to her. He had her father’s face, not her brother’s. She saw he was at a table with a woman in a white ruffled blouse and three young girls in multi-colored T-shirts. Her stomach tightened involuntarily, but she managed to flash a broad smile in greeting.
“Oh, my gosh,” she said as she led her family to his table. “Oh, my, I can’t believe it.” She hugged his neck, and Martin awkwardly patted her shoulder.
His wife Elizabeth took Lu’s hand in greeting, it was soft and warm. She proudly introduced her daughters. She first put her arm around her fourteen-year-old. “This here’s Shanice,” she said. She touched the middle child on her shoulder, “and this is our Jasmine. She just turned twelve.”
“Yeah,” Martin teasingly pointed a finger. “And that little one there, she’s the trouble-maker already, and she’s only eight, huh, Ashanti?”
Little Ashanti bowed her head, trying to hide a tiny grin. Lu could see she was used to her father’s teasing. Her hair was carefully braided in tight little rows anchored by colorful barrettes and Lu immediately saw a family resemblance. Ashanti had Lu’s mother’s dimple and bore such a strong resemblance to her that Lu couldn’t take it all in at once. She pulled her eyes away from the child and looked to Martin.
“Where does the time go?” she asked. Without giving him time to respond she began to introduce Zach and her own children.
“This is our eldest, Susan,” she said. “She’s just finishing her first year of college.” Susan graciously put her hand out to shake first her uncle’s hand, and then her Aunt Elizabeth’s. Lu put her hand on William’s shoulder. “And our son, William, will graduate high school next year.”
Zach stuck his hand out to Martin. “How you doin’?” he asked. “That makes me the old man.” He winked toward the girls which got a giggle from them, especially Ashanti.
The introductions over, Lu quickly sat down, hoping no one could see her knees knocking. “It seems like I just got a Christmas picture of these girls of yours on Santa’s lap and now, just look at them! They’re almost grown, for heaven’s sake.” She addressed Elizabeth, afraid that Martin would recognize that she was babbling. She picked up a paper napkin and began to toy with its edges, but her own silence was too much for her to bear. She could hardly take her eyes off little Ashanti. “Do you know you look just like your Grandma Lovie?” she asked.
“Yes’m,” Ashanti replied politely.
“You even have her dimple,” Lu assured her.
“I know,” said Ashanti shyly, leaning close to her father.
“Until just now,” Elizabeth said, “I didn’t realize Ashanti looked so much like you, Luella.”
Martin leaned back and looked at Lu. He furrowed his brow and then lifted Ashanti’s face with a touch on her chin. “Yeah,” he said in mock seriousness. “That’s too bad, Ashanti, that’s too bad.” Then he laughed out loud at his own joke. Little Ashanti lowered her eyes, obviously hurt. Lu detected a slight tremor of the table and guessed that Elizabeth had given Martin a quick kick in the shin. She liked that.
“So,” Elizabeth said, addressing Susan, “finishing your first year of college, huh? What are you majoring in?”
“Uh,” Susan said. Lu noticed the hesitation and was about to chime in when Susan spoke up. “Mostly this first year I’ve been working on the basic degree requirements. All the boring stuff.”
“She thinks she’s going to win a ‘Poolitzer’ writing some big novel someday,” William interjected.
Susan pursed her lips. “Just ignore him,” she said, turning her attention to her young cousins. “See, this is what happens when you have a brother. He thinks he’s a jock, but he just likes to show off.”
The girls giggled, staring more at William than Susan. Amused, Lu guessed they were thinking William was a pretty cute cousin.
Elizabeth covered Shanice’s hand with her own. “I’m working on these girls all the time about college,” she said in a velvet tone. Shanice and Jasmine nodded their heads and rolled their eyes at each other, indicating their mom did work on them all the time. Despite their teenaged self-consciousness, Lu found them charming.
When they finished their meal and the dishes were removed, Lu turned her attention back to Ashanti, asking her the routine questions about her favorite subjects in school. Although at first the little girl appeared to have an outgoing personality, Lu noticed she looked to her father before answering, as if she sought his approval.
Martin interrupted Lu’s attempted exchange with his daughter. “Hey,” he said, “we’ve had a long day. How about we get down to some brass tacks.” His abruptness brought immediate silence to the table. Elizabeth directed her attention to the handle of her coffee cup. “Miss Pearl arranged the service,” he continued, “so we don’t need to do anything but show up tomorrow morning. The ladies at the church are goin’ to provide a lunch afterwards and that’s pretty much it,” he announced.
“Oh, how nice,” Lu responded. “Miss Pearl is so good to do all that.”
“Yeah, well, it’s what they do for everybody,” Martin commented. “But, we gotta figure out the rest of this. I mean the farm and all.”
“Of course,” Lu said. “Have you got any ideas about selling it? I’m sure it’s worth quite a bit. I mean, I don’t know about you, but with putting two kids through college we’re going to need all the help we can get.”
Martin looked hard at her. “Well, it’s good land, that’s for sure,” he said, “but my farmin’ days is long over with.”
His remark caught her off guard. “Oh, did you want to keep it?” she asked, stunned.
“Now, don’t go listenin’ to him. He’s pullin’ your leg, is all.” Elizabeth reached over and lightly tapped Martin’s hand. “You stop that, Martin,” she scolded. “You know you don’t mean it.”
“Naw,” he said, correcting himself. “A man can’t make no livin’ down here these days runnin’ a farm—no matter what Daddy wanted. The fella that’s been leasing most of the land this last couple of years ain’t had such good luck either. So I don’t expect he’d be able to buy it even if he wanted to. ‘Sides, truth is there’s hardly any farms left, what with all the developers that’s moved in.”
“Daddy was leasing out the farm?” Lu asked.
“Most of it,” Martin said. “He wasn’t able to keep farming all that anymore. He kept two acres next to Miss Pearl’s property, and he and Jerome worked that as a truck patch mostly.”
“Oh,” Lu said, not knowing what else to say. “Of course, I haven’t seen much here yet, but I think real estate is always booming in Florida.”
“Yeah,” Martin responded. “I think the sooner we can get all this done and over with, the better. The way the banks are tanking, who knows what’s gonna happen?”
“You got a good point there,” Zach said.
“Then let’s try to see a realtor on Wednesday and get some idea of what the land is worth,” Lu said. She didn’t want to offer what she learned from the internet about property values just yet.
“I’m goin’ back home right after the service tomorrow,” Martin replied, draining his coffee cup. “It’s a long haul back up to Atlanta. I ain’t got time to hang around down here to see no realtor.” He nodded toward his wife. “Elizabeth and me, we gotta get back to work.”
His announcement hung over the table. Elizabeth and the girls were dead silent, although Elizabeth offered a weak smile in confirmation.
Zach seized the opportunity. “Where you workin’ up in Atlanta?” he asked.
“I got a good job,” Martin said. “Work for UPS.”
“UPS is a good company,” Zach affirmed.
“Yeah, well I been there awhile now,” Martin said. “I’m in line for head mechanic pretty soon.” Lu’s eyes were drawn to the grease stains on his cuticles.
“That’s pretty much what I do.” Zach grinned. “Air conditioning and the like.”
Elizabeth started to say something, but Lu interrupted. “Well, actually,” she said, “Zach and his brother own the business.” When she saw the smile leave Zach’s face, she knew immediately what she’d done. She quickly went back to talking about the farm. “So, Martin, if you’re leaving right after the service, does that mean you’re not going to be able to stay and help me?”
“No, not if we’re going to keep our jobs.” He looked at his wife. “We pulled the kids out of school for this—they gotta get back, too.” He leaned back in his chair and smirked. “Besides, I figure, hey, you the college girl. Can’t you just go out to the house and figure out what to do? I don’t know nothin’ about all this stuff.” He reached up and adjusted his baseball cap.
Lu immediately tensed. The server brought the check, and Zach pulled out his credit card. Martin nodded toward the waitress, calling her over. Lu expected he was going to pay his family’s share of the bill. Instead, he gave the girl a wink, grabbed her hand and put a folded $10 bill into it. “Thanks, Martin,” she said, hurrying off with Zach’s credit card.
Lu had to bite her tongue. Finally, she said, “Well, if you can’t stay, you can’t stay.” She knew her comment was condescending, but she didn’t care. She laid her napkin on the table. “I thought we’d be doing this together. I’ll do what I can while I’m here. I’ll have to call you. I can’t just make decisions on my own.” She was about to stand up when Martin leaned his forearms on the table and looked intently at her.
“No, you ain’t makin’ no decisions on your own,” he directed. “You call me once you find out about things, is all.” He leaned back and adjusted his cap once more. “I ain’t hard to deal with.”
Not much, Lu thought. Determined not to give him the satisfaction of seeing her frustration, she took a breath and forced a smile. “Before you leave, why don’t you go through the house,” she said, “You know, pick out whatever you want—pictures, or tools. You should take them with you.”
He glanced at his wife but didn’t answer right away, so she continued, “Or, if you can’t take them right now, just box them up and put your name on them, and I’ll send them to you before I leave. I can only stay a few days myself.”
Martin leaned forward in his chair again. “Yeah, yeah, that sounds good,” he said with an air of decisiveness. “There’s some stuff I want, like you said, tools. And, the truck. It’s a classic.” He patted Ashanti’s head. “We sure had a lot of fun in that old turquoise truck. Ford introduced the super cab in 1974. Your Grandpa was so proud! We went everywhere in that truck. I’m lookin’ forward to some real good times in that.”
That summer was the best. Daddy had a really fine crop, and prices were up. When he went into town that morning he said he’d be back late, but he’d bring a surprise. Luella and Martin waited hours and hours, wondering what kind of surprise they would get. By midafternoon they were bored with waiting and Momma and Grammy Mayetta were tired of trying to guess what the surprise would be. Luella pushed the old porch glider back and forth and back and forth, wishing she had something to do. Martin, out under the old pine tree, pumped away on the swing, trying to see how high he could go. It was almost suppertime when Luella looked down the road and saw a strange truck coming toward the house. It was bright turquoise and hardly made a sound. Dust devils spun behind it. She ran inside to tell her mother that someone was coming, then she heard Martin yell, “It’s Daddy, it’s Daddy!”
Grammy Mayetta and Momma came rushing out on the porch, wiping their hands on their aprons. Daddy pulled the truck up in front of the house and loudly blew the horn twice, making everyone jump. Martin ran up to the truck as Daddy stepped out. His smile was as big as the sky.
“Look here!” he yelled. “Lovie, just come and look here!”
Everyone gathered around Daddy to see. It was the first new truck he ever bought.
“Oh, it’s just so fine,” Grammy and Momma said in unison, and laughed and hugged Daddy. Martin and Luella clamored inside at Daddy’s urging. The new truck smelled odd, not a bad smell at all, but something they had never smelled before. They wrinkled their noses and sniffed the new smell in again and again. It was delicious.
“Watch your dirty feet in there!” Daddy scolded with a laugh. “Don’t go messin’ up our new truck the minute I get it home!
“Now,” he continued, “I think we need to go on a picnic down to the creek!”
They eagerly clamored out. “Can we, Momma? Can we?” they begged.
“Oh,” Daddy said suddenly. “I almost forgot.” He reached into the bed of the truck and with some effort hauled out a large grey plastic case which he held out toward their mother.
She put her hands up to her face. “Oh, no, oh, my!” she squealed. She started to take it from his hands, but he cautioned her not to. “This here is heavy,” he said as he carried it inside.
Luella and her brother ran into the house behind everyone. Daddy put the case on the kitchen table and unclasped the cover. There stood a brand-new sewing machine. “Thought it high time you had somethin’ better than that old pedal one!”
Momma was so excited she sat right down and began to marvel over all the buttons and dials on the front. Daddy opened a small plastic box and showed her more dials. “The guy at Monkey Wards said this here machine will do just about anything you want to do,” he said holding out the box. Momma stood up and put her arms around his neck, mumbling something about him being a crazy man.