Part 9 (1/2)
”Early would endorse the checks as quick as they came, I believe. Mama, Early doesn't make a lot of money, but we get by. I don't have all the dresses I want, and there are times I don't have two dollars in my purse.”
”I did not raise my little girl to live like that!”
”Then send us some money, Mama.”
”I've been thinking,” said Mary-Love.
”What?”
”I've been thinking we all ought to have a little vacation. Ought to go somewhere. We haven't been on a trip in a long time.”
”If you want to spend a little money on me that way, that's all right, too. Where do you want us to go? And who is us?”
”Us is you and Miriam and me.”
”Not Early?”
”Early's gor 3 be working, I would suppose.”
”Maybe not,” said Sister, hoping to annoy her mother.
”I was thinking of going to Chicago in the summer.”
”What for?”
”It's been preying on my mind-I would like to see the sights of Chicago before I die.”
CHAPTER 38.
Nectar
Sister knew that her husband had work contracted for the entire summer of 1936. Out of mischief, she said nothing of this to her mother until Mary-Love had consented to pay Early's way to Chicago. The day after Sister returned to Chattanooga, she called her mother and said, ”Mama, Early cain't go with us after all. He's got a job with the Tennessee Valley Authority down around Sheffield, so I'm gone be free all summer. Anytime you want to go to Chicago is fine with me.”
”Oh, Sister, I'm so happy!”
”So listen, you go on and make reservations, get a bunch of train tickets, and why don't you see if there's anybody else who'll go with us?”
”Who else would we want, darling?”
”Oh, James, maybe-and Danjo. Since you're going to take Miriam,” Sister added, ”maybe you should invite Frances too-”
”Sister, I will do no such thing! I cain't afford to 115.
take the whole world. If Frances came along, I'd have to pay for everything for her, Oscar and Elinor cain't afford it. Besides, Frances might get sick again, and then we'd have to cancel the whole trip. I guess it's all right if Danjo comes-he's a sweet enough child and James will pay for him. It might be nice to have James, too, as long as we could hire on an extra baggage car on the way back for all that stuff he's bound to buy.”
James agreed to go, but wanted to bring along not only Danjo but Queenie, and Queenie's children, too. Mary-Love grumbled at this, but ultimately acceded with enough bad grace to make James feel guilty for having pressed the matter. Mary-Love's difficulty was not with Queenie herself, but with Malcolm and Lucille. Mary-Love took some comfort in predicting, at least three times every day, that the entire trip would be ruined by that misbehaving pair. Frances was pointedly left out of all these plans. James offered to subsidize Frances's ticket and expenses, and said to Oscar and Elinor, ”Lord, y'all, I'm gone have Danjo and Malcolm and Lucille to take care of, one more is not gone make a bit of difference. I'm just gone put 'em all on different-colored leashes...”
Oscar was hesitant to accept his uncle's offer. ”Mama is taking Miriam, Mama ought to take Frances, too,” he said. ”Besides, James, you are paying for a whole raft of people to go up there. You're gone spend a fortune before you get halfway to Chicago.”
”I don't mind one bit,” James said. This was to be the first great family outing since the onset of the Depression, and James wanted it to include as many Caskeys as possible.
Oscar remained reluctant to let his daughter go, but Elinor finally interceded. She pointed out that for Frances to be left so conspicuously behind would be harder for the child to bear than all the slights and shabby treatment that she was certain to receive 116.
from Mary-Love and Miriam during the trip. After having being so long cooped up in the house, a total change would probably do the child a great deal of good. Frances was fourteen and her mother thought that she ought to see a little of the world.
So the party for the trip was set at ten: Mary-Love, Sister, Miriam, James, Danjo, Frances, Queenie, Malcolm, Lucille, and Ivey Sapp. Ivey was being taken along to act as shepherdess or beast-of-burden, as needed. Hotel rooms were secured, tickets on the L&N were bought at the Atmore station, quant.i.ties of cash in brand-new bills were obtained from the recently reestablished Perdido bank, wardrobes were augmented in Mobile and Montgomery, new luggage was purchased, insurance was taken out, cameras were loaded with film, and letters were sent off to friends whose homes were en route. The flurry of activity astonished Perdido. The Caskeys might have been setting out on an expedition to the South Pole, for all the planning that was going into this trip. They were to leave early on the morning of the first of July, arrive late the following night in Chicago, remain there ten days, and return to Perdido by way of St. Louis and New Orleans, with five days in each city.
By the end of June the children were frantic with excitement. Sometimes even cautious Frances and diffident Danjo had to be quelled. Sister spent several weeks in Perdido and a.s.sisted her mother in the preparations, which would have been a great burden to Mary-Love had Sister not been there to help, and to provide stimulating argument on every point.
The day before the party was to leave, Mary-Love announced that she intended to pay a visit to the big house next door to inspect the clothes and other necessities that had been packed for Frances. To Sister, she said, ”I don't intend to allow Elinor's daughter to embarra.s.s us with her paltry wardrobe.”
”Well, Mama,” Sister pointed out in reply, ”even 117.
if Elinor has packed Frances a suitcase full of rags, there's not enough time now to do anything about it.”
Mary-Love went next door anyway, for the first time in more than five years, since her ineffectual plea for Elinor's intercession between her and her son.
”Miss Mary-Love, how are you?” said Elinor at the door, with no more surprise than if her mother-in-law had visited her the day before.
”I am just about driven into the ground, Elinor.”
”Getting everybody ready, I suppose.”
”That's right. In fact, I just dropped by to make sure that Frances was all set.”
”I am packing her suitcases this very minute. I imagine that tonight I'll have to hit her over the head with a hammer to get her to go to sleep.”
”All the children are excited,” replied Mary-Love.
”Come on upstairs,” said Elinor, ”and see what I've packed for her. See if you can think of anything I've forgotten.”
”Why, I'd be happy to do that,” said Mary-Love, though she wondered how it was that Elinor was making her inspection trip so easy. As she followed her daughter-in-law into the house, Mary-Love peered into the darkened front parlor and remarked, ”Looks like you have been changing things around.”
”A little,” replied Elinor. ”Miss Mary-Love, it is burning hot outside. Let me get you some nectar.”
”Oh, Elinor, I am so glad you suggested that! Last week I had a gla.s.s of your nectar from Manda Turk, and it was the best stuff I've ever tasted. Who gathers your blackberries for you?”
”I send Luvadia and Frances. Go on upstairs and I'll fix us both some. I'm a little thirsty too. Frances's room is right next to the sleeping porch. The suitcases are open on her bed.”
”Where is Frances?”
118.
”James drove her and Danjo out to Lake Pinchona. Frances loves to feed that alligator!”
”Frances is gone fall in one day and get eaten up,” Mary-Love said calmly, as she mounted the stairs.