Authors: Donna Mabry
When Donna was fifteen and going to Southeastern
High in the tenth grade, she came to my house one
afternoon carrying a bag of clothes and stayed.
Nothing was said about her reason for leaving her
mother’s place.
I was curious, but she seemed unharmed, so I
didn’t press her about it. We were all happier when she
was in the house. Donna spent her whole life going
back and forth, so it didn’t seem strange to any of us
that a girl so young had always come and gone as she
pleased and no one asked why, where she was going,
or when she would be back.
Shortly after that, Evelyn left Junior, filed for
divorce, and moved into an apartment a few blocks
east of our home. I wondered if Donna leaving was
connected to Evelyn’s divorce. Donna didn’t talk
about it, and I didn’t ask.
An old friend of the Mayse family took over
babysitting Nancy. With Junior out of the picture,
Donna went to see her little sister more often. She
brought her to our house, and the Foley’s were happy
to have Nancy back to visit.
In 1956 Betty Sue was pregnant again and safely into
her sixth month, farther than she’d ever been able to
carry her other babies. She and Ellis were at our house
one Saturday for lunch. Donna and the men sat at the
table in the kitchen, and Betty Sue and I were cooking
dinner, a big pot of pork neck bones, white cornbread
that we fried in a cast iron pan, Irish potatoes, and
string beans. George took Betty Sue’s hand. “How’s
my girl feeling today? Are you all right?”
Betty Sue put a plate in front of him, then kissed
her father’s forehead. “I’m fine, Dad. I feel really
good.”
Ellis picked up his fork and took a bite. “She’s
going to have to be more careful this time,” he said,
“or she’ll mess it up again.”
You could have heard a pin drop. Betty Sue got
a look on her face that reminded me of Grandma Foley
and Bessie, and it made my stomach flop over. She
whispered, “Ellis?”
He looked up at her. She doubled up her fist and
hit him square between the eyes. His chair fell over
backward. He lay there in a stupor, his body still sitting
in the fallen chair.
Betty Sue landed a kick to his side. She had her
leg back to give him another one when I ran over and
pulled her away.
Ellis staggered to his feet without help, picked up
his chair, and sat back down at the table.
When George finished his sandwich, he stood to
leave. “You all right, Ellis?”
“I guess so, but I think I’m going to have two
black eyes.”
“Looks like it. Come on out to the porch. I want
to tell you something.”
Ellis held onto the back of the chair to steady
himself. He got his balance and followed George out
the door. Betty Sue sat and ate as if nothing had
happened.
When we went to bed that night, Donna asked
me about what her grandpa wanted to tell Ellis. I told
her about George’s mother, Bessie’s sometimes hottempered behavior, and how Betty Sue acted like
them.
Ellis was able to talk his boss into giving Paul a chance
to work with him. Ellis said he could cover for Paul
and keep his attention on the job.
He went to work with Ellis Monday morning. I
made him a special lunch with his favorite food, a
bologna sandwich and chocolate chip cookies. I said
an extra prayer as he left that he would be able to stay
with the job. When Paul came home that night, I could
tell by the look on his face he wasn’t happy. I patted
him on the back. “How did it go, Paul? Can you do the
work?”
He twisted up his face like he smelled a skunk.
“I can do it, but it sure isn’t easy. All I do, all day long
is pick up a car bumper and hold it against a big brush
that spins around and polishes it. It makes my arms
hurt.”
“It’s because your muscles aren’t used to it. Once
you’ve been there a few weeks you won’t even notice.
Let me get some of that Absorbine, Jr. that Gene uses
and rub it on your arms. It’ll make the soreness go
away.”
He nodded. I got the bottle and rubbed the
ointment up and down both his arms from the shoulder
to the wrist. It was the most I had touched him since
he was a child.
I woke him the next morning and made his
lunch, holding my breath to see if he would go to work
the second day. I breathed a sigh of relief when he
came downstairs dressed, ate his breakfast, and ran to
catch Ellis so they could walk together.
For the rest of the week, I rubbed the ointment
on his arms every night. Every morning, I didn’t relax
until he went to work.
On Friday afternoon of the second week, he
drew his first pay. He didn’t come home at the regular
time. At first, I didn’t worry. I figured he stopped with
Ellis at Betty Sue’s house for a while and would be
home for dinner.
Betty Sue was due in four more weeks and she’d
put on a lot of weight and waddled more than walked.
She still felt like working as much as she could, and
she was with me, cooking the evening meal for the
boarders. When they finished eating, she helped clean
up and wash the dishes. By that time, it was almost
seven o’clock. Every evening she worked with me,
Betty Sue made up two dinner plates to carry home for
her and her husband.
At nine o’clock, Betty Sue was back at my
house, worried sick. “Did Paul come home yet?” she
asked.
“Neither one of them is there, Mom. Do you
think something happened?”
George sat on the sofa, watching
Gunsmoke.
He
didn’t take his eyes off the screen and said, “They
probably stopped for a beer. It’s payday, the first one
for Paul. They’re just celebrating. They’ll be home
when they’ve had enough. Let them have a little fun.”
My heart sank as I realized the truth of what he
said. It might not be a big deal to George, but our
daughter was almost ready to deliver and shouldn’t be
worried over anything. The last thing I wanted was for
Paul to start acting like his older brother, Bud, who’d
gotten drunk at every opportunity. Why couldn’t my
other boys be more like Gene?
When Paul went to work every day for two
weeks in a row I thought maybe there was hope for
him. Now, that hope was draining out of me.
I put my arm around Betty Sue’s shoulder and
walked her to the door. “You just go home and rest.
Don’t worry about them, they’re grown men. They can
take care of themselves.” I walked with Betty Sue
down the block to her house, and saw to it that she
made it safely inside.
With so many boarders coming and going, my
front door was left unlocked. It was shortly after
midnight when there came a knock at my bedroom
door. I kept it locked when I went to bed, so I got up
and asked who was there.
“It’s me, Mom,” said Betty Sue. I could tell she
was crying. I unlocked the door, and Betty Sue came
in and sat on the edge of the bed, “He’s still not home,
Mom. I can’t stand it. What if he’s hurt somewhere?”
I sat next to her and put her head on my shoulder.
“What will I do if he’s dead? What will happen to me
and the baby?”
“He’s all right. I’ll go get your father and make
him go find Ellis and bring him home.”
I went to the basement to George’s corner. He
had a little bedroom set up there, with a chest of
drawers, a table with a checkerboard, and a bed. He
was sound asleep, snoring. I shook his shoulder.
“Wake up, George. I want you to go find Ellis for Betty
Sue. She’s all upset, and she shouldn’t be worried.
What if something happened to this baby? It would kill
her.”
“What’s the matter with the two of you? He’s
fine. He’ll be home when he’s through drinking. Just
leave him alone.”
“I said, get up and go find him.”
Awake now, George looked at me. “And I said
no! Now, leave me alone!” He rolled over and put his
back to me.
I wanted to smack him, but I knew it wouldn’t
do any good. I went back to my room, where Betty Sue
sat on the edge of the bed.
“He won’t get up. Why don’t you sleep here with
me? Ellis will be home in the morning.”
Betty Sue set her jaw in a way I knew to mean
she was determined. “If Dad won’t go look for him,
I’ll go myself. There’s only two or three bars between
here and the plant. He’s probably in one of them.” She
turned to leave.
“Wait,” I said, “I’ll go with you. I won’t have
you out by yourself at this time of night.” I put on a
housedress and a sweater and slipped on my shoes. As
the two of us left, I put my arm on Betty Sue’s, not just
to keep her close, but to slow her down. I didn’t want
her to tire herself any more than I could help.
We walked the long city block to Jefferson
Avenue and stopped in the first bar we came to. It was
the first time in my life I’d been inside a bar, and as far
as I knew, the first time for my daughter. The light was
dim. Most of the men sitting at the bar looked like
they’d come from work and wore jeans. There were
only a few women, and each sat with a man in the
booths that lived the wall. I hated the smell of beer and
it was almost overpowering. I felt uneasy, knowing I
was in a place where I didn’t belong. I said a silent
prayer asking God to get us out of there.
Betty Sue took her wallet out of her purse and
held up a picture of Ellis. “Has he been in here tonight?
He might be with a tall, dark-haired man.”
The bartender looked quickly at the picture and
nodded. “Sure, they were here. They got loud, so I
threw them out about two hours ago.”
“Did you notice which way they went?”
He shrugged. “Try down the street at Smitty’s
place. Maybe they’re in there.”
Betty Sue and I went down the street to Smitty’s.
The bartender told her Paul and Ellis had been there
and gone.
We crossed Jefferson and went up St. Jean, to the
last bar in the neighborhood. Looking in through the
window, we could see Ellis and Paul sitting on the end
of the bar next to the front door, laughing and drinking
big mugs of beer.
We opened the door and went inside. Paul caught
sight of me and was so surprised, he had to grab the
bar to keep from falling off his chair. Betty Sue walked
up to Ellis and punched him right on the nose. There
was a loud cracking noise, his head jerked back, and
blood spurted out. He grabbed his nose with both
hands and shouted, “Lord Almighty, woman! What’s
wrong with you? You broke my nose!”
“I’ve been worried sick that you were hurt or
something, and the whole time you’ve been drinking.”
She pulled back her arm and landed another
punch on the same spot. This time, Ellis fell off the
barstool and rolled around on the floor. Blood ran
between his fingers.
“Stop it!” Paul hollered. As far as I knew, he’d
never had a single bottle of beer in his life. When he
jumped up, everything he drank that day must have
gone right to his head. He passed out in a heap on the
floor.
I looked down at the two of them, Paul out like
a stone, Ellis howling, holding his nose, and bleeding
while he rocked back and forth. “Lord, help,” I said
aloud.
Betty Sue wasn’t finished. She kicked Ellis hard
in the stomach. He rolled up in a tight ball.
“Get home, right now,” Betty Sue growled at
him. Then she looked at the bartender and shook her
finger at him. “You give him one more drink tonight,
and you’ll have to answer to me.”
He held his hands up in front of him. “Lady, he
won’t get anything else here,” he said.
Betty Sue wheeled around, kicked Ellis again,
grabbed me by the arm, and barged out of the bar,
almost dragging me behind her.
Betty Sue sobbed all the way home. I could feel
her tremble and knew it wasn’t from sorrow, but from
her being so mad and relieved that Ellis was all right.
I held my tongue, knowing that anything I had to
say would only make the situation worse. I sat with
Betty Sue at her place until Ellis and Paul staggered in.
Ellis stood there, blood all over his shirt and pants,
weaving back and forth, hanging his head.
“Go on to bed,” Betty Sue ordered. The fire in
her eyes sparked. Obediently, Ellis made his way down
the hall, reeling from one wall to the other, and into the
bedroom. I heard a loud creak as he plopped on the
bed. Paul leaned against the door frame.
I looked at him in disgust. “You aren’t coming in
my house drunk. Find yourself somewhere else to
sleep.”
“Paul can sleep here, on the sofa,” Betty Sue
said.
She started toward the bedroom, but I was afraid
of what she might do to Ellis if I let her go in there. I
took hold of her arm. She still shook with anger.
I tugged at her. “Come with me and sleep at
home.” Betty Sue had told me that sometimes, Ellis
had terrible nightmares. “You don’t need a drunk
rolling around on you with that baby almost ready to
be born. I was thinking about the Foley women and
was afraid Betty Sue might kill Ellis in his sleep.
Betty Sue took a deep breath and nodded. I could
see her make an effort to pull herself together. She
went to her room and returned a minute later with her
things in a paper bag. Paul was already snoring on the
sofa.
By the time we got to bed, it was two o’clock in
the morning. I lay there next to her, wide awake. I
hadn’t been worrying about the baby when I asked
Betty Sue to come home with me for the night. In all
the years we’d been married, George had never laid a
hand on me in anger, had never even spanked one of
his children. He’d seldom even raised his voice. It was
a curious thing, the streak of violence that ran through
the women in this family. I wondered about George’s
father and his disappearing like he did. Had he come
home drunk one too many times?
Paul didn’t come back from Betty Sue’s until
after noon the next day. His eyes were red and swollen,
and I could tell he was hung over. We were eating
when he came in, and Gene just looked at him and
shook his head.
I asked, “Did you get your paycheck cashed?”
He mumbled something and looked at the floor.
“Well?” I asked.
“I got it cashed at the bar.”
“How much did you make?”
“I made fifty-five dollars, take-home.”
Gene piped up. “You ought to give Mom twenty
dollars to pay your room and board. That’s fair.”
Paul looked at him like that made him mad. “I
don’t have it.”
“What do you mean, you don’t have it?”
“I spent it last night.”
Gene stood. “You mean you spent your whole
paycheck? You worked a five days in a row for the first
time in your life, and you spent it all in a bar?”
Paul stuck out his chin. “It was my money. I can
spend it on anything I want.”
Gene’s face turned red, and I saw him doubling
up his fist. I stepped between them, “Paul will have
another check coming. Now that he’s got a regular job
he can pay his way. He won’t go drinking every week.
Will you, Paul?”
Paul gave Gene an ugly look. “No.”
The next week he came home with his check. I
walked down to the grocery store with him where he
cashed it and handed me twenty dollars. Monday, he
quit his job.