Deep in the Heart of Dixie

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  Dixie left trying to feel reassured. Her head was crowded with thoughts and pictures of Jake while her pocket was filled with money. Looking forward to pay day was a nice change. Pay day with Owen meant his blowing a load of money in a bar and getting drunk. It meant beating day for Mama, and Dixie too if she couldn’t get out of the way or tried to stop him. Once in a while, he might try to make up to Mama the next day by taking her shopping but most of the time she was in too rough of a shape to be seen. The mailman or the paperboy still got an eye-full and set the neighbors to whispering.

  Dixie forced her thoughts back to Jake and the dinner invitation. She hoped he was right, that his family would like her and she would like them. She didn’t see how they could be anything but wonderful if they raised a son like theirs. She knew she was sorely lacking in social graces and upbringing. The thought of facing them thrilled her and terrified her at the same time. How could she, a nobody, live up to someone the likes of Jake Lee Jackson?

  Jake’s dreamy eyes and sweet smile had her head in the clouds when she walked up to her trailer to find Sue Ellen sitting on her steps. She was a riot of red today in another gypsy-like dress and scarf that was wrapped around her head and entwined through a braid. She jumped up and nearly scooped Dixie off the ground with her hug. “Honey, I feel like I’ve been waiting here forever! After a week of babysitting for my mother, who insisted I give her a break after my three weeks away, I thought I would go absolutely crazy if I didn’t get to talk to someone my own age.”

  Dixie couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m glad to see you too, Sue Ellen. Come on inside and we’ll have some sweet tea.” She unlocked the door and opened it to discover her little house looked as cute as could be with new additions. There were hand-me down and home-made crafts, flowers, pillows, throw rugs, pictures added to the walls, and Sue Ellen’s flare for decorating. She could give someone like Martha Stewart competition and that was her plan when she finished her night classes at business school.

  Sue Ellen put an arm around the astonished girl’s waist. “I do hope you don’t mind, honey. I went around the neighborhood all this week to ask for house warming gifts for you and everyone was so happy to oblige. They all love you, simply love you. Slick used his key so I could come in and he even stayed to supervise and make sure I didn’t do anything shady. As if I ever could dream of doing such a thing to sweet, little you! Please don’t be upset. I just wanted to do something nice for you after you were so good to me standing up to that pack of hyenas the other day at Jackson’s General.”

  Dixie’s eyes had filled with tears. She turned and gave Sue Ellen a hug that was strong enough to squeeze the breath out of the larger girl. “Thank you so much, Sue Ellen. No one has ever been so good to me before. Now I know why my mama loved this place so much. Sit down on the sofa and I’ll get us something in a jiff.” A short time later, Dixie returned with sweet tea and cold chicken on salad with bacon, sliced eggs, cheeses and a medley of vegetables. Strawberry shortcake was the dessert.

  Sue Ellen finished every bite and barely restrained herself from licking the plate. “Dixie, honey, you are magic in the kitchen. You ought to open a bakery or write a book of recipes, something like, ‘If You Bake it, They Will Come.’ I need lessons. I’m the kind that burns toast. Where did you learn how to make heaven on earth in the kitchen?”

  Dixie poked her finger in her whip cream and sucked on it while she settled on an answer she was able to share. “My mama taught me before she died. She was the best cook ever. Every night, she’d have me sit at the table in the kitchen, watch her, help her, listen to her talk about her recipes. I’ve heard them so many times I’ve memorized them.” Mama’s cooking and her love were the only bright spots in Dixie’s life. When Dixie came home from school, the smell of a fresh baked treat was waiting for her. Dixie would never forget that home-baked goodness waiting just for her, those lessons, Mama’s patience, or her insistence that a girl needed to know what to do in the kitchen to take care of herself. Had she known Dixie would need those lessons soon? Dixie felt her eyes fill and swallowed hard.

  Sue Ellen put an arm around her new friend. “You miss her something awful, don’t you? What happened? You can tell me, honey. I’m a good listener and I’ve got strong shoulders to lean on. You’ve seen the size of them.”

  Dixie shook her head. “It was all so quick. She had a heart attack. There was no warning. I found her and it was already too late. I couldn’t stay there anymore without Mama. She was the only one I loved and who loved me, unconditionally.”

  Sue Ellen sighed in sympathy. “My mama and I fight like cats and dogs but I‘d be lost without her. I don’t know how you do it, all by yourself. I couldn’t. I’d just be a lump, crying in the corner.”

  Dixie stood up and cleared away their dishes, wiping her eyes with a dish towel at the sink. She filled the sink with hot, soapy water and buried her fingers in the suds. Burying the depression that threatened to rise up wasn’t as easy. “Most of the time, it doesn’t seem so hard, but right now, I don’t want to be alone. Would you like to spend the night?”

  “Oohee, a sleepover! Honey, you don’t have to ask twice.” Sue Ellen picked up her purse and started rummaging. “And that means a make-over! Sit yourself down, sweetheart. Let the expert make magic happen.” She proceeded to do Dixie’s make-up and nails.

  The nail polish was still wet when a knock sounded at the door. “If there’s a girls’ night going on in there, I want in!” Thelma Louise announced before letting herself in. Her arms were filled with a DVD player, movies, popcorn, and ice cream. “I come well-armed. I can smell a sleep over from a mile away!”

  Sue Ellen jumped up and took the burden from the older, African American woman. Once she put everything in its place, she threw her arms around her. “Thelma Lou, I have missed you! I see you kept everything in order while I was at Daddy’s. I wouldn’t have expected otherwise.”

  Thelma winked knowingly. “I sho’ did, child. You know no funny business will happen on my watch. I made sure this little gal here knew she had a neighbor she could count on, too. I hope you don’t mind my inviting myself but I couldn’t help it when I heard you two in here. This DVD player is for you, sweetie. I bought myself one of those blu-ray thingies so I don’t need my old one anymore.”

  Dixie felt her heart growing bigger. Was there no end to the goodness here? She half expected she would wake up and find herself back in that old shack with Owen. “Thank you so much, Thelma! The three channels I get aren’t too exciting. Now I can watch all of my favorites and Mama’s too. Please sit. I’ll get the popcorn popping and we can really make a night of it.”

  Dixie would never forget that first girls’ night she’d ever had. They stuffed themselves until they could barely move, cried during “An Officer and a Gentlemen” and “The Color Purple,” and all fell asleep in the living room. She had finally found a safe haven, a place where she had friends like Mama, friends that could see her, liked her, and wouldn’t go away.