Dee Dee wanted her mother to contact her. “She’s your half sister, Mother!” But Sookie decided that there was really no point in contacting the poor lady at this late date. It would only mean having to divulge unpleasant information about the woman’s father. Why upset her? She would just let that be. But they did find out that James Brunston had lived to be almost ninety and had died of natural causes. That was all she really needed to know.
Since meeting Fritzi and studying so much about history, Sookie had begun to look at Lenore with different eyes. She began to see how being a female and growing up when she had, with so many restrictions, must have been very frustrating for her. If she had been allowed to go on the stage, she probably would have been a star. And given all of Lenore’s organizational skills and her ambition and drive, had she been a man, she most likely would have been a CEO of some big company. It really was sad to think that if Lenore had been born just a little later and gone into politics, who knows where the woman might have wound up?
Thank heavens, Sookie’s girls could be almost anything they wanted to be. And it made her happy to think that her birth mother and two aunts had helped open doors for the women who came after them. As Carter said, “How cool is that?”
BLUE JAY AWAY
LIFE WAS FINALLY BACK TO NORMAL AGAIN, WITH ONE EXCEPTION. DR. Shapiro was very pleased with Sookie’s progress and said he felt she was well on the way to making a new life for herself, but his practice in Point Clear was not growing. It seemed nobody wanted to see a psychiatrist, and if they did, they certainly didn’t tell anybody about it. And so he and his wife had decided to move back to New York, where seeing a psychiatrist was a status symbol. His only regret in leaving was that he would miss Sookie. He would never have told her, of course, and she was an older lady, but in the past months, he had developed a little crush on her. She was probably the nicest person he had ever met, patient or not.
SOOKIE WAS FEELING BETTER, but she still missed seeing her smaller birds. She hadn’t seen a nuthatch or a chickadee all spring. Day after day, she sat in her greenhouse and watched the blue jays. She studied their feet and the way they landed on the rim, and she began to do sketches of bird feeders and try to figure out the measurements.
She was trying to come up with a better smaller feeder with wire mesh, so just the tiny bird seeds would filter through, with a smaller ledge that curved up just enough for the smaller birds to land.
Walter Dempsey was a handyman they used from time to time, and he could fix almost anything. He had a small carpentry shop where he made all kinds of gadgets. After Sookie had drawn a sketch with what she hoped were the correct measurements, she drove over to his shop and walked in. “Hey, Walter. I have a little drawing of a bird feeder. Do you think you could make this for me?”
He looked at it for a moment, then said, “I think I can do this up for you. When do you need it?”
“As soon as possible.” It wasn’t as if she didn’t like blue jays. She did, but she felt she had to do something or else the little ones would just stop coming altogether.
ONE WEEK LATER, SOOKIE sat in her greenhouse and waited. In about five seconds, a big fat blue jay swooped in and tried to land on the rim of her new bird feeder. He kept fluttering around, trying to balance himself and eat the bird seed at the same time, but eureka! He couldn’t do it, and after about three or four more attempts, he finally gave up and flew away. Soon several more blue jays tried to land, but because the ledge was so narrow, they, too, had a hard time balancing themselves, and they gave up and eventually flew over to the sunflower seed feeder.
It took a while for the little birds to understand, but the next afternoon she received a visit from a tiny titmouse, and as she watched, he was able to perch on the rim and feed. Success! She immediately called Mr. Dempsey and ordered five more bird feeders.
The following Monday morning, Sookie ran into the house and called Mr. Dempsey. “Oh, Walter, we had three more house finches, an indigo bunting, and a chickadee! I just can’t thank you enough.”
“Well, you’re welcome, but it was really your idea. I just followed the plan. I think you may have invented a really useful thing, Mrs. Poole.”
“Really?”
“Yes, ma’am, and you know, Mrs. Poole, I was thinking. Maybe you should get a patent on that design. I figure I could knock out at least twenty of these a week. I talked to Mr. Nadleshaft over at Birds-R-Us and told him about the success you’d been having with your feeder, and he said if I made some more, he’d be happy to try and sell them for us.”
Sookie was delighted. She and Walter took her design to a lawyer in town, and they drew up a business agreement for their new company that Sookie named Blue Jay Away. They would split the profits fifty–fifty. Within a month, Sookie and Mr. Dempsey were so busy they could hardly keep up with the orders. In just six months, they hired an assistant and a bookkeeper, and the business grew from there.
A year later, they branched out even more and hired an advertising company. Pretty soon, they had ads running in Southern Living magazine and in all the bird-watcher magazines, featuring a photo of the feeder.
“Tired of all those pesky blue jays eating your smaller birds’ feed? I know I was. But with the Blue Jay Away feeder, finches, titmice, and all my small bird visitors can now feed in peace.”
—Mrs. Earle Poole, Jr.
Point Clear, Alabama
Pretty soon, the company had its own website, www.BlueJayAway.com, and much to their surprise orders started coming in from all over the world. As Sookie said to Earle, “I didn’t even know they had blue jays in China. Did you?”
WHEN THE LOCAL PAPER did an article on her, they referred to her as “Mrs. Earle Poole, Jr., housewife and inventor,” and she couldn’t have been more pleased. Life was so amazing and full of surprises. All of her life, she had thought she was stupid, and now she was an “inventor.”
Not only that, but with the way sales were going, Earle started considering retirement. As the next few years went by, the company pretty much started running itself, and she and Earle had time to enjoy being alone again.
Sookie did have one big scare. One Sunday afternoon, Earle had been on the phone talking to a friend of his, and as she passed by the den, she overheard him say, “Yes, but deep down, I really would like to have another Great Dane.”
Oh, dear God, she thought. Why not a small horse or a cow in the house? Please, dear God, let this just be a passing fancy. She loved Earle, but having one Great Dane was enough for a lifetime.
THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE
BOTH UNCLE BABY AND AUNT LILY HAD DIED AT PLEASANT HILL IN their late eighties, but at ninety-three, Lenore was still going strong. Unfortunately she had outlived Angel, her live-in nurse. After much pleading, she finally agreed to go to Westminster Village, but only temporarily, until Sookie and Earle could find another nurse. However, to Sookie’s surprise, during her last visit, Lenore seemed pretty happy. “I have to say, Sookie, I am enjoying my step-in tub, and the food here is quite adequate, but I could just kill Conchita for up and dying on me.”
A WEEK LATER, SOOKIE had just come in from the store when the phone rang, and when she picked up, she heard a woman’s voice. “Mrs. Poole? This is Molly from Westminster Village, and I’m calling because your mother has just had what the doctor thinks might be a slight stroke, and he thought maybe you should come over.”
When she arrived, she was told that her mother was in the intensive care unit, but that she was to wait before she went in. Dr. Hind-man came out and said, “Mrs. Poole, before you go in, I just want to warn you: She’s still very disoriented, so don’t be surprised if she doesn’t recognize you.” He entered the room before her, walked over to the bed, and indicated for her to follow. Sookie walked over to her bed, and the doctor said, “You have a visitor, Mrs. Simmons. Do you know who this is?”
Lenore opened her eyes and looked up. She smiled, then took Sookie’s hand and said, “Well, of course I do. This is my daughter, Sa
rah Jane, and she’s the best daughter in the whole world, and I love her.”
Sookie looked down at the old woman lying there, so small and helpless, and squeezed her hand and said, “I love you, too, Mother.” And she meant it from the bottom of her heart. Lenore squeezed her hand and dozed off again.
Sookie sat by her bed as Lenore slept, and she didn’t know if her mother could hear her, but as she sat there, she quietly sang to her, “Casey would waltz with a strawberry blonde, and the band played on.…” As Sookie watched Lenore sleep, she was amazed that even now, as old and as helpless as she was, she was still so pretty.
THE DOCTOR CAME BACK a few hours later and told Sookie to go on home and get some rest, and he would call if there were any changes.
That night, they called with the news that her mother was gone.
THE NEXT MORNING, LENORE’S lawyer knocked on the door and said, “Mrs. Poole, I’m so sorry about your loss, but your mother said I was to deliver this to you in person within twenty-four hours of her passing.” She opened the envelope, and inside was a letter.
Sookie,
Not that I am planning on going anywhere anytime soon, but just in case, I thought this might be helpful.
OBIT
LENORE SIMMONS KRACKENBERRY
Born January 20, 1917, Selma, Alabama
Passed (Date and time to be filled in), Point Clear, Alabama
She was the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. William
Jenkins Simmons of Selma.
Grieving survivors include: (to be filled in).
She was a member of (list clubs, organizations, etc.). She is to be remembered for her devotion to family, her innate Southern charm, and for her high degree of integrity in all of her volunteer tasks.
Memorials would be appreciated. Please send to:
Point Clear Soldier’s Rest Cemetery Care Fund
Point Clear, Alabama
MEMORIAL FAMILY AND FRIENDS RECEPTION:
SITE CHOICES
1. Grand Ballroom, Grand Hotel
2. Lakewood Country Club (in the big room)
Day: Saturday or Sunday, 3 P.M. to 5 P.M.
• Food and beverages: Coffee, iced tea, a light punch, finger sandwiches, assorted sweets, cheese straws, nuts, etc. (Mrs. Busby has the list.)
• Seasonal, tasteful flowers at each table.
• Greeters to arrive at 2:30 for assignments from Mrs. Poole.
• Greeters are to be stationed at entry doors and/or lobby and stairs area.
• A simple white lapel flower should be worn by each greeter.
• Guestbook(s) to be placed in the room, NOT entry area.
• I do not want people just running by and signing the book—only serious mourners.
• Greeters are to move about and mingle with the guests.
Sookie, don’t bother with the church service. Rev. George already has all of his instructions. You will busy enough with out-of-town guests, arranging special parking, etc.
Mother
At three o’clock that afternoon, the phone rang, and it was a man from the local monument company. “Mrs. Poole, I have instructions to deliver the headstone. Where would you like it placed?”
“What?”
“Your mother ordered a headstone … and it’s pretty large.”
“How large?”
The man told her that Lenore had ordered a five-foot white marble statue of a weeping angel for her gravestone and said, “to bill her in care of you.”
“My God, when did she do this?”
“Oh, about ten years ago now, although she came in every so often and made changes. She was quite specific. It had to be carved out of Alabama marble only and had to have absolutely no flaws.”
Sookie nodded. Of course. That was Lenore. Gone for good, but still calling the shots. Sookie thought, “Well, okay, old gal. Why change now?” As usual, Lenore got her way in the end, just as it should be.
SOOKIE WAS AMAZED AT all the flowers and tributes that were paid to her mother at the funeral. So many people said such lovely things about her. But the one that meant the most to her was sweet old Netta, who took her hand and said, “She was a lot of trouble, but it’s going to be a dull old world without her.”
It was a beautiful service, just as Lenore had wished. Of course, it all cost more than they thought it would. The weeping angel statue was so large, they had to buy two full cemetery plots. As Sookie stood at the graveside, she had many mixed feelings, but she realized the woman they were now lowering in the ground would always be a huge part of her life. Whom the heart first loves does not know or care if they are related by blood. The fact was that her mother—the only mother she had ever known—was dead. That impossible woman had driven her crazy and caused her much heartbreak, and yet, despite it all, she would miss her every day for the rest of her life.
Lenore Simmons Krackenberry
1917–2010
A true daughter of the South, gone home.
LENORE’S LEGACY
POINT CLEAR, ALABAMA
A FEW WEEKS AFTER THE FUNERAL, SOOKIE WALKED OVER TO THE house to start the process of cleaning out all her mother’s things. When she unlocked the front door and walked in, the faint fragrance of her mother’s perfume was still lingering in the air. She half-expected to hear Lenore’s voice calling out from another room at any second, but it was eerily quiet. As she made her way back to the kitchen and looked around, it was so strange to see all the small things left behind—little objects that once would have meant nothing, but now seemed so important. She looked at the notepad on the wall and saw her mother’s handwriting. “Tell Sookie I need more coffee.” The sight of the handwritten note made her realize what a cruel trick death really was. One moment, a person is here, alive and talking, and the next, presto, she’s vanished into thin air. Death was still the great mystery, the question that no one can really answer. She wandered around the house and wound up in the dining room. She opened the large mahogany breakfront drawer, and there it was: all that silver … just waiting.
She sighed and walked into the kitchen and came back with a rag, her mother’s white cotton gloves, and the silver polish and sat down at the dining room table. What else could she do? She could almost hear Lenore’s voice as she polished: “Remember, Sookie, nothing says more about a family than good silver and real pearls. The rest is just fluff.” It was such a big house, but Lenore had filled every room. Now without Lenore, she felt so small, but she kept polishing.
That afternoon, Sookie picked up the phone. “Dee Dee, it’s Mother calling. Honey, I’ve been cleaning a few things out, and I wondered if you would like to have Grandmother’s silver?”
“The Francis the First?”
“Yes.”
There was a pause, then she said, “No, not really. It would be kind of useless to me, and I’d never use it. Unless, of course, you’d let me sell it and buy something else, and I know you won’t let me do that.”
“No, Grandmother was insistent that it be handed down to someone in the family.”
“Why don’t you ask the twins? Maybe they want it.”
“I can’t. I promised her that I would never split it up, and I can’t give it all to just one of them.”
“That’s true, and you know Carter doesn’t want it.”
“No. Anyhow, I was thinking that if you really don’t want it, would you mind very much if I offered it to Buck and Bunny?”
“No, not at all. I think that’s a great idea. Knowing Bunny, she’d love to have it.”
Sookie was not a real Simmons, nor were any of her children, and so by rights, Buck and Bunny were the ones it should go to. Besides, Bunny was now the most Southern person she knew. In the past few years, she had developed more of a Southern accent than Sookie had.
A week later, Sookie packed the car and drove up to North Carolina. Bunny, as expected, was over the moon. “Oh, Sookie, you just don’t know how happy I am to have it, and, of course, you can always borrow it anytime, but
I can’t tell you how much I’ve always loved it,” she said, caressing the large soup ladle. “I think it was one of the reasons I first fell in love with Buck. I had never met anyone whose mother had a complete set of Francis the First. And now that it’s ours, I feel like a real Simmons at last.” Bunny gasped when she realized what she had said. “Oh, Sookie, I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean … well, of course, you are a real Simmons. Oh, I could just kill myself for saying that.”
Sookie shrugged it off. “Oh, Bunny, don’t worry about it. Believe me, I’m so happy you have it.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes, and all I ask is that you promise me one thing.”
“Oh, of course, anything. Anything at all.”
“Promise me you won’t break up the set.”
Bunny suddenly recoiled in horror. “Break up the set? Break up the set? I would never ever think of doing a thing like that! Why, it would be a total sacrilege. I would sooner starve to death than break up a complete set of Francis the First.” Sookie laughed and walked over and hugged her.
As Sookie was driving home, she smiled. She didn’t know how it happened, but a little part of Winged Victory must have latched on to Bunny and was hanging on for dear life. Sookie had done the right thing. The Simmons torch and all that damn silverware had been officially passed on, and she suddenly felt about twenty pounds lighter.
On Sookie’s first morning home from North Carolina, she was out in her garden working and looked over and saw a beautiful bright blue dragonfly with silver wings flittering all around in her flowers. That had to be a sign. If Lenore had come back to say hello, it would be just like her to be a bright blue dragonfly. Lenore was a spring, and blue was one of her colors.
A few weeks later, Sookie picked up the phone and heard Dee Dee almost screaming with excitement. “Mother! Are you sitting down?”
“No, but I will—”