High Spirits [Spirits 03] (16 page)

      
After the band finished that hymn, there was lots of applause from its listeners, and I heard money chunking into the tambourine being offered to the crowd by a pretty girl in a private’s uniform. She smiled shyly at Flossie and me, and I dropped a dime into her tambourine. To my utter astonishment, Flossie, looking nervous, threw a wadded bill into the make-do offering plate. I wasn’t sure, but I think I saw the number five on that bill. The girl must have seen it, too, because she flashed Flossie a lovely and gratified smile before she moved on to collect other offerings.

      
I’d just began to ponder how I was going to get Johnny and Flossie together, when darned if he didn’t appear right smack in front of us.

      
“Hey, Daisy, good to see you.” Johnny’s twinkling baby blues hadn’t missed Flossie. He was a shrewd cookie, and I’m pretty sure he’d taken in her bruises, in spite of the veil.

      
“Johnny, I’m so glad to meet you today. I was actually hoping I would. I want to introduce you to a new friend of mine.” Turning to Flossie, whose cheeks were pink under the black and blue, I said, “Flossie Mosser, please allow me to introduce you to Captain Johnny Buckingham.”

      
Johnny swept his captain’s hat from his head, took the limp hand Flossie extended, and bowed over it. “Very happy to meet you Miss Mosser.”

      
“Pleased to meetcha, too, Mr. Buckingham.”

      
So. The introductions were over. Now what?

      
I said, “Um ...” and ran out of inspiration.

      
Thank God for gentlemen like Johnny. He said, “How’s Billy doing, Daisy? I keep meaning to go up and visit, but my days are kind of full. Still, that’s no excuse. I’ll make a point of visiting him tomorrow.”

      
“That would be nice of you, Johnny. I know he gets lonely.” Although, it must be said, he wasn’t nearly as lonely as he’d been before the advent of Sam Rotondo. At least Sam was good for something, I guess.

      
“You still have that fierce guard dog?” Johnny said with a laugh.

      
“Sure do. Spike will bite the ankles of anyone who tries to sneak into the house.”

      
Flossie turned to me, puzzled. “Their ankles? Why’s he bite their ankles?”

      
“I was joking, although it’s true that Spike would defend us with his dying breath. But he’s really short, you see, so he’d have a hard time reaching higher than anyone’s ankles. You met him, remember?”

      
“Oh. Yeah. I guess I didn’t notice because you were holding him.” For the first time since I couldn’t remember when—since I’d met her?—Flossie smiled.

      
“Say, Daisy, we’re dedicating a new chapel on Sunday, and I’d sure love it if you and your friend and Billy and the rest of your family could come and help us celebrate. The ladies are serving a covered-dish lunch after the service.”

      
Go to the Salvation Army Church for a Sunday service? Would my Methodist God strike me dead if I did that?

      
“Er ...”

      
“It’s only for one Sunday.” Johnny smiled his charming smile.

      
I glanced at Flossie and darned if she wasn’t staring at me with hope on her face. Well, nuts. Daring reproof from my family and condemnation from my church, I said, “Sounds like a good idea, Johnny. I’ll have to ask Billy and Ma and Aunt Vi, but I’m sure they won’t mind. I mean, I’m sure they’d love it.” Oh, brother. I could say the stupidest things sometimes.

      
Good old Johnny laughed out loud. “I think you had it right the first time, Daisy. But if they really wouldn’t mind, I’d love to see you there.” He turned to Flossie. “And you, too, Miss Mosser.”

      
“Gee, thanks,” said Flossie, again flushing around the blue and green bruises on her face.

      
“Here, let me give you a card with our address. We’re really easy to find. We’re right downtown here in Pasadena.”

      
If there was a bad area in Pasadena in those days, and from what I’ve read about other places—New York City springs to mind—there really weren’t, the Salvation Army had plunked itself right down in the middle of it. To me that pointed out the fact that the Salvation Army was a good place for Flossie to start rescuing herself.

      
“Thanks,” said Flossie, tucking the card into her handbag.

      
“Thank
you
, and I hope to see the both of you—and Billy, Daisy—on Sunday.” He gave us a wave with his cornet and went back to his fellow band members.

      
We watched as the band marched down the street where they paused on another corner and started playing “Onward Christian Soldiers,” which, I guess, was their theme song. I’d suggested we sing that hymn in church one time the year before, and the choir director nearly had a fit, although I don’t know why. I like the tune, and the words are positively stirring.

      
Lunch at the vegetarian restaurant wasn’t half bad. They fixed us sandwiches with some sort of filling made with creamed cheese mixed with chopped walnuts and olives, and it was quite tasty. I thought I’d tell Aunt Vi about it. She’d probably scoff, but I decided I’d maybe just pop into the restaurant again one of these days.

      
Flossie and I parted after lunch, and I made my way back to Nash’s, picked up the Chevrolet, and drove home.

* * * * *

      
You’d have thought I’d suggested we all go to the top of Mount Wilson and fling ourselves off when I asked Billy if we might attend the Salvation Army church on Sunday.

      
“The Salvation Army?” Billy squinted at me, and I detected suspicion in his expression.

      
“Yes. You suggested I introduce Flossie to Johnny Buckingham, and I did. You ought to be happy.”

      
“Yeah, I suppose so. But why do we need to go to the church?”

      
“Johnny asked us. He said they’re dedicating a new chapel or something, and Sunday’s a special service. They’re serving lunch afterwards, prepared by the Salvation Army ladies.”

      
“Oh, yeah?”

      
I definitely detected a sneer that time. My heart plummeted, and I braced myself. “Yeah. What’s the matter, Billy? Johnny asked specifically after you, and he said he’d be coming to visit you.”

      
“Hmm.”

      
Ma walked into the house just then, so I decided to try her. “Say, Ma, I ran into Johnny Buckingham today, and—”

      
“Oh, how is the poor boy?” Ma removed her hat, and I’m sorry to say she looked really tired.

      
“He’s all right. Very happy now that he’s off the bottle and into the Army.”

      
Ma sighed and sank into an armchair. “Yes, I’ve heard the Salvation Army does wonders for people who have gone astray.”

      
Gone astray. I liked that wording. It sounded so much better than
succumbed to sin
or
fell into degradation
and some of the other expressions I’ve heard. The way Ma said it, it sounded as if Johnny had merely taken a wrong turning in the road of life and managed to find his way back onto the right one.

      
“Absolutely,” I said stoutly, thanking my Maker for my family. As bad as things were for me, they could have been
so
much worse if I didn’t have my wonderful family around me.

      
Ma shook her head. “He and Paul used to be such cut-ups. It’s such a shame about Paul. I don’t think your aunt Vi will ever fully recover from that blow.”

      
“I can’t imagine how anyone could recover from losing a child,” I said, beginning to feel a trifle melancholy, what with Billy scowling at me from behind and Ma sagging wearily in front of me. Giving myself an internal smack and a short lecture, I forged onward. “Say, Ma, Johnny asked if we’d mind going to the Salvation Army church this coming Sunday. They’re dedicating a new chapel—at least I think it’s a new chapel—and he asked us especially.”

      
“He asked us?” Ma looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face. My mother isn’t awfully imaginative, which can be good and can be bad. On the one hand, she can’t think of a lot of alternatives to various problems and situations. On the other hand, she’s easily led by someone who
does
have a good imagination.

      
I had one, and it struck then. “Yes. I think he misses Paul, too, and would like Paul’s family to be there at the dedication. You know, I really think Johnny considers the Salvation Army as the organization that saved his sanity, if not his life.”

      
That might have been laying it on pretty thick, but Ma’s wasn’t a suspicious nature.

      
Billy’s, however, was. I heard him snort softly and prayed he wouldn’t start a nasty row in front of my mother. I should have known better. Billy loved my family almost as much as he’d loved his own until they all died.

      
Lordy, that sounds terrible, even though it’s true. His folks were both done in by the huge influenza epidemic that ravaged the country—I guess it ravaged the entire world—a few years earlier. At any rate, he’d never do anything on purpose to distress my mother or father. Therefore, that soft snort was the only indication of his less-than-rapturous approval of the Salvation Army idea.

      
“Oh, my,” said Ma. “If that isn’t the sweetest thing. He truly is a special young man, isn’t he?”

      
“Yes, indeedy,” I said, bracing myself for Billy’s next sardonic snort. Again, I underestimated my husband. He said nothing at all.

      
“I’m sure Vi will be pleased.” Ma struggled to rise.

      
Naturally, I felt guilty. Those days, I
always
felt guilty, even when I had no real reason to, which I didn’t then. Shoot, my main purpose in herding all of us to the Salvation Army was to save the skin, if not the soul, of a poor, abused woman named Florence Mosser. I didn’t see how even Billy could object to that, especially since he’d suggested it in the first place.

      
I found out how he could object when we both retired to our room to get ready for supper.

      
“It’s Johnny, isn’t it?”

      
I’d removed my suit and was hanging it in the wardrobe. Looking over my shoulder, I discovered Billy sitting in his chair, looking unhappy. “I beg your pardon?”

      
“It’s Johnny, isn’t it?”

      
His repeating the question didn’t enlighten me any more the second time. Grabbing my good old once-green housedress and sliding it over my head, I said, “What’s Johnny?”

      
“You’re seeing Johnny Buckingham, aren’t you?”

      
“I saw him today. I introduced him to Flossie. Is that what you—” My mouth dropped open and the words fell out of it, unspoken. If words had weight, they’d have clanked on the floor. “Wait a minute. Billy Majesty, are you accusing me of stepping out with Johnny Buckingham? Johnny
Buckingham?
” I couldn’t believe he meant that. I stared at him, and incredulous doesn’t begin to describe what I was feeling.

      
Billy had rolled his chair over to the window and was looking out into our backyard. The orange trees were bare, and the grass was brown, and the scene was as wintry as my soul at that moment. “I can’t blame you, Daisy. You know I think you deserve a whole man.”

      
Suddenly I felt almost too exhausted to support my weight—which wasn’t a whole lot, in spite of Aunt Vi’s delicious meals. Suppressing a mad urge to climb into bed and burrow under the covers and hide there for the rest of my life, I instead sat on the bed and stared at my husband. The husband I loved. The husband who frustrated me more than any human being ought to frustrate another human being, but whom I couldn’t fault because of his own tremendous sufferings.

      
“Billy Majesty, are you crazy?”

      
He turned and gave me a sad smile. It was all I could do not to burst into tears. “I don’t blame you, Daisy. I’m only kind of surprised at Johnny.”

      
“You’re surprised at
Johnny
?” I whispered.

      
“Yeah. Kind of.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Although I can’t really blame the guy. You’re real pretty, Daisy.”

      
“What about
me?
”

      
He lifted another eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

      
“You’re telling me that you find it difficult to believe that Johnny Buckingham might have an affair with a married lady. But you wouldn’t find it hard to believe that
I
might have an affair with another man?”

      
Billy shook his head, looking about as miserable as I felt. “I didn’t mean that, Daisy.”

      
I stood again and, hands on hips, I stared at my poor husband, whom I pitied and loved and resented all at the same time. “That’s what it sounded like to me.”

      
Another weary head shake. “Let’s just skip it.”

      
“Skip it? After you accuse me of running around with another man?”

      
“Aw, hell, Daisy.”

      
“Don’t you ‘Aw, hell, Daisy’ me, Billy Majesty. For your information, you’re the only man I’ve ever loved. You’re the only man I ever
will
love. And I’d never,
ever
cheat on you.”

      
“I guess I know that.”

      
“You
guess
?”