Playing by the Rules: A Novel (22 page)

“I know you do.” Louise maintained her composure so her words wouldn’t snap. “Since we were having fun, I just thought you might like company.”

“No thank you,” Ruby Rose repeated. “I can walk on my own. I’m used to it,” she responded flatly. Ruby Rose looked at Elvira and said, “Thanks, Elvira. See you in a couple days.” Then she turned to Louise and added, “Good night.”

On her way back to the cottage, Ruby Rose discovered a smooth rock in the middle of the road and started kicking it like she was playing soccer. She kicked it once pretending it was Louise, then kicked it again imagining it was Jeremiah. Finally she just launched it like a rocket with her foot into a cluster of black-eyed Susans and purple foxgloves along the side of the road. The last thing she wanted was for Louise to walk her home and then try to come inside when it was her turn to spend time with Jeremiah.

Jeremiah had dinner waiting on the table.

“How was your lesson today?” He put the pot of lima beans back on the stove.

“Fine.” She put her books on the kitchen table next to her plate.

“That’s no place for books.”

“I need a desk.”

“Okay. We’ll get one.” Jeremiah saw that his sister had an attitude and he eyed her suspiciously. “How’s everything going with Medford?”

“Fine.” Ruby Rose sat down at the table in front of a plate of food, but was too filled with cookies to eat. Then she had an idea. “Medford thinks he found his mama today.”

“He does? Who is she?”

“She owns Do Drop In Stay As Long As You Like apothecary and coffee shop on the other side of town.”

“That’s close to Jefferson County, isn’t it?”

“Yep.”

“Does he know for sure that’s her?”

“We’re going to ask her tomorrow. Then when he finds out she’s his mama, he’ll ask Louise to marry him.” She looked at her brother’s face for a reaction, but she got nothing, so she added, “What do you think about that?”

“I think that’s up to Louise.”

“Do you want to marry her?”

“No. I don’t want to marry her.”

“Then why are you messin’ around with her?”

“Ruby Rose, you know our plan is to head up north.”

“But I like it here.”

“But we got cops on our trail and we can’t stay. We can’t wait for another school year to come and go. We’ve got to leave sometime after the Annual County Fair.” Jeremiah started pacing. “So far we’ve been lucky, and I don’t want our luck to run out anytime soon. Plus, I’m scared someone will start talking to the wrong person about there being this great healer in town, and the next thing I know I’ll have Outsiders lined up at my door, or worse, Jefferson County Sheriff Beaureguard Taylor, knocking.” Jeremiah caught himself making a reference to Outsiders as if he wasn’t one him
self. He had been in Lemon City for almost six months now and was surprised by his own comment.

“But
we’re
Outsiders,” Ruby Rose reminded him.

“That’s exactly why we’ve got to go.” Jeremiah sat down at the table so he could be at Ruby Rose’s level. “I know it’s spring and we haven’t been doing a lot of things together and I’m sorry about that. Don’t take it personally. That’s because they’re looking for a man with a young girl that fit our description and it’s probably safer for us if we do things apart, at least for now. I know it’s hard, but it won’t last forever. The more time we put between us and Miss Molly Esther Reynolds and the more space we put between us and Mattoxville, the better off we’ll be.”

Ruby Rose didn’t like it when Jeremiah talked of leaving Lemon City. She liked it there.

That night Ruby Rose tossed and turned. She wanted Medford to find his mama, but in a way, she hoped he didn’t so that everything could stay the same. Lately, she felt she was getting along fine without her brother, but now she had a new fear and was concerned about losing a friend.

In the morning, Ruby Rose heard the horn blow outside and ran to the pickup truck to greet it.

It took fifteen minutes to get from one side of town to the other. When they arrived at Do Drop In Stay As Long As You Like, Medford put a nickel in the parking meter and they walked in.

It was crowded for a Thursday morning, but there were two stools left empty at the counter that appeared to be waiting for Medford and Ruby Rose. Scanning the coffee shop, Medford recognized a few faces, shook hands, and said hello. He and Ruby Rose sat at the counter, and when the waitress came over they ordered breakfast. When she left, Medford leaned back to check out
the rear section of the store that must have been the new addition Chester had referred to. As he peered around the coffee shop and glanced down as many aisles in the apothecary section as he could, he was trying to spot someone who looked like she might be named Earthalee.

“What are you gonna say?” asked Ruby Rose, drinking her orange juice.

“I’m gonna ask for Earthalee.”

“Then what are you gonna say? You gonna ask her if she’s your mama?”

“It’s not as simple as that.” Medford scratched the space between his neck and chin. “I’m just gonna have a conversation with the woman.” The truth was, he hadn’t figured that part out yet. All he knew was that he had to be tactful. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”

After a while, the waitress came back with their food.

“Excuse me,” Medford said to the woman. “Is Earthalee Tis-dale here today?”

“She’s upstairs in the office and doesn’t come down until noon.”

Medford looked at his watch, which indicated ten-thirty. “I’m not usually on this side of town, and I believe her to be an old friend of my dad’s and I’d like to say hello. Would it be possible for her to come downstairs?”

“I’ll ask if she’s available.” The waitress left carrying a half-filled pot of coffee.

“Are you ready for this?” asked Ruby Rose

“Right on, little sistah.” Medford pointed a Black Power fist to the air and made his arm shake on purpose. “I’m not nervous.” He and Ruby Rose laughed.

Earthalee Tisdale was a big, tall, brown-skinned woman in her early to mid-sixties who looked strong enough to lift the kind of
lumber needed to build a house if she had to. Attempting to be inconspicuous, Medford glanced her up and down for any sign of resemblance. Her height, weight, and muscular build were familiar and her hands were big. Her face was stern and her eyes were narrow and he could tell they liked to get straight to the point; she was a woman who had no time for tomfoolery, who didn’t take any nonsense. Despite her rigid appearance of sixty-something years, she was still beautiful and looked like she could spread on charm like butter melting between two slabs of warm toast.

“What can I do for y’all today?” Earthalee asked in a drawl that was even Southern for Lemon City. She started wiping the counter with a damp cloth even though it was already clean.

“Good morning,” said Medford, trying to swallow a forkful of grits. “My name is Medford Attaway, and this here is Ruby Rose Wilkes.”

Medford and Earthalee shook hands.

“Nice to meet y’all.” Earthalee showed off a smile that displayed sturdy teeth that looked as strong as stainless steel.

“Do you know a Chester Goody at the Child Welfare Bureau in town?” Medford asked.

“I know Chester, but I don’t know nothing about him and child welfare. According to my memory, he could hardly take care of himself.” Earthalee let out a hearty laugh that started somewhere in the middle of her stomach and circulated throughout her body to make it rumble and shake.

Medford and Ruby Rose exchanged glances.

“Umm,” said Medford, not sure where to go from there.

“Chester said he went to high school with you,” piped up Ruby Rose.

“Yes, he did,” admitted Earthalee. “What’s this all about, anyway? Been a long time since I was in high school and almost as long since I last seen Chester.”

“Ma’am, this is kind of awkward for me, and I don’t know quite how to put this,” stumbled Medford. “But does the name Medford Attaway mean anything to you?” Medford could see Earthalee thinking. “I was adopted, and I was wondering if you might remember anything about it.”

“Oh…I see… uh-huh. So you’re Clement’s boy. You’re that baby that showed up on his doorstep. I recall when that happened. At first, we were all shocked and stunned by the incident, but we all recovered quickly and things just got back to normal. Just another day, just another baby being brought into the world.” Earthalee lifted Medford’s chin to examine him more closely. “My, my. Look how nice you turned out. All good-looking and I bet you’re smart too.” Earthalee nodded her head in approval. “Clement did a good job with you. Didn’t think he had it in him with his drinking an’ all. Nobody knew how that story was gonna turn out, but it looks like he fooled every single one of us. Looks like he did alright.”

“Are you his mama?” Ruby Rose blurted out, getting impatient.

Earthalee raised her damp cloth and shook it in front of Ruby Rose’s face. “No, I ain’t this boy’s mama, young lady. Who do you think you are asking me a question like that?” she snapped.

“She didn’t mean any harm, Miss Tisdale,” defended Medford.

“I ain’t nobody’s mama,” confirmed Earthalee. “I rebuilt this apothecary and built this coffee shop from the ground up. I ain’t got time to be nobody’s mama.”

“That’s what Chester Goody says,” replied Medford.

“What does Chester know? He’s just a spurned lover. Been torn up about us breaking up for over forty years. That’s almost half a century, man still hasn’t gotten over it. He just hangs onto stuff worse than old gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe,” said Earthalee as she walked behind the counter. “If that’s what you
came over here to talk to me about, you’re just wasting your time.” She made her way back up the stairs, climbing each step as if it were part of a military drill.

Medford paid the check, and he and Ruby Rose took to the street.

By the way Earthalee had turned on them, Medford wasn’t completely convinced she was innocent of the charge. Her overreaction to the question made him even more suspicious. He understood the fact that a mother who gave away her baby forty-four years ago might deny the unthinkable had occurred and be unprepared to make a confession. The memory was probably as painful for her as it was for him. Besides, springing news on someone like that and taking her by surprise didn’t seem to be a good thing. Putting people on the spot appeared to be a recurring habit with him lately, and he’d have to get better at handling confrontation. Whatever he was doing wasn’t working. It wasn’t getting him the results he needed. His goal wasn’t to make people recoil and retreat.

As soon as he’d regrouped, Medford thought he’d revisit Chester Goody and ask to go through his files to see if he could make any sense of the pieces and put them all together. He’d also inquire about Earthalee’s first husband, Horace. Although Horace was dead, maybe there were clues that connected him to Medford’s past. Ignoring any possibility would be negligence on his part. Perhaps he’d have a chat with Earthalee’s new husband, Profitt, as well.

“What are we gonna do now?” Ruby Rose asked, craning her neck to look out the back window as if she was half-expecting Earthalee to come out of nowhere and chase them down the road like a German shepherd coming after trespassers long after they had gone.

“I’m gonna take you to piano lessons,” Medford responded. As
much as he appreciated Ruby Rose’s company, he would be glad to be by himself so he could think.

“No,” she said. “I mean about Earthalee.”

“I’m gonna look into her background a bit more, check out the story and try to figure things out.”

“I’m sorry about shouting out the question about her being your mama,” apologized Ruby Rose.

“No sweat. Next time just let me do all the talking.”

Medford let Ruby Rose out in front of the church. They waved good-bye and he drove off, thinking about Earthalee Tisdale, trying to understand how she got the nickname Dizzy-Tizzy because, like Chester said, the woman was nobody’s fool.

Sadie was inside the sanctuary, pouring all her emotion into singing and playing “Blessed Assurance” on the piano. When she saw Ruby Rose coming toward her, she changed her tune to something more cheery: “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

After they exchanged pleasantries, Ruby Rose sat down on the bench next to Sadie and warmed up her fingers over the keys, playing scales. Then, reading the sheet music, she played the melody for “When the Saints Go Marching In” while Sadie looked on. When Ruby Rose got the hang of it, Sadie stood up to give her more room to play the entire song, this time adding her left hand and foot pedals. In an effort to be perfect, Ruby Rose stopped whenever she made a mistake and started from the beginning. Overall, she thought she sounded pretty good, and by the contentment on Sadie’s face she could tell she was getting better.

“Have you been practicing at Ernestine’s house too?”

“No, Ma’am. I’ve just been practicing here a few days a week.”

“Is that right? I guess you’re what they call ‘a natural.’ ” Sadie smiled, looking at the ceiling. “I hear you when I’m upstairs working in the office, and you sound just like an angel.” She paused.
“Okay. Let’s try it again. Slow down the tempo this time.” Sadie clapped her hands to help Ruby Rose keep the rhythm. But it was when Sadie started singing in her high-pitched signature style that was a cross between opera and gospel and amounted to a howling sound that Ruby Rose got all mixed up.

“Miss Sadie,” Ruby Rose said as she continued playing.

“Yes, darlin’.” Sadie didn’t like being interrupted.

“I don’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything, Miss Sadie, but I think I can play better when you don’t sing.”

“Okay, darlin’. No trouble at all.”

When Sadie stopped singing she was sitting so close to Ruby Rose that Ruby Rose could feel the old lady’s breath hitting against her face, creating a different kind of annoyance.

“Just play it one more time, dear. Then we’ll practice the song you’re going to perform in the recital.”

Ruby Rose found herself in a tug of war with Sadie over which song to play in the recital that would take place the weekend after the Annual County Fair. Ruby Rose wanted to play a song from the radio, but Sadie wanted her to play a gospel tune. If Ruby Rose wanted to play “You’ve Got a Friend” by James Taylor, Sadie would strongly recommend she play “Go Tell It On the Mountain.” If Ruby Rose wanted to play “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers, Sadie would encourage her to play “If You See My Savior.” After a while, Ruby Rose talked her way out of performing gospel music, saying other students were already playing it and she could make the recital more interesting by adding variety. She clinched the argument by convincing Sadie that modern music would be a good way to attract young people to the church. Although Miss Sadie looked at her with a squinty eye, after thinking about it, she saw Ruby Rose’s point of view and let her have her way.