Stepping to a New Day

  “Can I fix you a drink?” she asked, walking over to the cut-glass decanters sitting on a glass tray on top of a large black piano.

  “No, thank you.”

  “Oh, that’s right. You’re a preacher now. Sorry. Mind if I have one?”

  “No.”

  “I know it’s not noon yet, but what else is there to do in this godforsaken place? We drink, steal each other’s husbands and wives and call it living.” She raised her glass to Paula in salute and downed a shot. Pouring herself another one, she took a seat on one of the chairs. “My condolences on your loss.”

  “Thanks. My condolences to you, too.”

  “Thanks. For all his faults, Tyree was good to me and my son. Not sure how we would’ve survived without him. Have you seen Della?”

  “Yes. Yesterday.”

  Anna Lee sipped and shook her head. “The devil’s handmaiden. If she could’ve figured out a way to kill me and not get caught I’d’ve been dead for thirty years now. We’ve hated each other since high school. Stole Louis from me junior year and I never forgave her.”

  Louis was Della’s first husband. He left her for another woman, or so the story went.

  “Paid her back, though. After graduation, I stole her daddy.” She winked and raised her glass again. “Wasn’t hard. Every woman in town knew Tyree couldn’t keep his pants zipped after his wife died.”

  Paula didn’t want to hear any more. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.”

  “Are we related?”

  She paused. “Yes. You’re my niece.”

  Paula now had the truth but wasn’t sure what to do with it.

  “Pat never told you who your father was?”

  “No.”

  “Your daddy was my brother, Darren.”

  “Is he still alive?”

  “No, honey. He died in prison about fifteen years ago now.”

  “What was he in prison for?”

  “He and some three guys robbed a bank over in Tulsa. One of his buddies shot and killed a guard. He got the chair. Darren got life.”

  Paula thought she was going to be sick.

  “I can’t believe she didn’t tell you. He wasn’t all that bad growing up. Yeah, he was in and out of trouble, but it was petty stuff. Shoplifting. Stealing cars. That kind of thing.”

  A thousand questions ran riot in Paula’s head. “So, did he know she was carrying me when she left town?”

  “Everybody knew, and she didn’t leave town on her own. Tyree took her to Oklahoma City, gave her fifty bucks, put her on a train, and walked away.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “That’s what some families did with unmarried pregnant young women back then. Kicked them out. Now me, I come from a long line of bastards so when Tyree knocked me up my parents didn’t trip. He didn’t either once he found out the baby was a boy. Can you spell hypocrite?”

  Paula was filled with so many conflicting emotions. Her poor mother. “So was my father already in jail when I came to live here?”

  Anna Lee nodded. “Yes. He went in a few years after Tyree put Pat on the train.”

  Paula wondered if her mother knew that and was the reason she kept saying it didn’t matter. Paula was going to have a lot of prayers to offer up later. A lot. “Does Della know the truth about what happened? She told me my mother left here willingly.”

  “We were five years younger than Pat, so I don’t know for sure. Only reason I know what happened was because my uncle was the one who drove them to Oklahoma City.”

  Paula had heard enough. Overwhelmed, she stood.

  Anna Lee said, “I’m glad you got away from here and made something of yourself, Paula. You’re one of the lucky few.”

  “It’s never too late to change your life.”

  She scoffed. “Yeah, right. I barely finished high school. I have no skills to speak of and I’m of a certain age. Go where? Do what? I was born here. I’ll die here. Maybe in my next life.” She drained her glass, got to her feet, and walked over to the piano.

  Paula prayed that she’d somehow find peace in her life. “Thank you, Anna Lee. I’m going to take off. I’ll see you later.”

  Anna Lee waved dismissively and was pouring another drink when Paula walked out the door.

  She sat in the car a moment and replayed the startling revelations. All she could think about was how terrified her mother must have been the day Tyree took her to the train station and walked away. Had she cried and begged him to change his mind? What went through her mind when the train pulled out and she knew she was alone and on her own? Heartbroken, Paula started the engine. Driving back, she could barely see the road for her tears.

  Calvin showed up that afternoon as promised. “Mama told me you dropped by earlier,” he said when Paula opened the door to let him in.

  “I did.”

  They both took seats and Paula continued, “And I found out that I’m your niece and your cousin.”

  He nodded. “I know. Crazy, right?”

  “That’s a pretty apt way to put it. Did you know?”

  “I did. Figured you did, too.”

  “No. I thought my father was someone she met in California. Della always said my mother left here willingly because she was uppity and thought she was better than everybody else.”

  “I’ve learned that if Della says it’s raining you’d better get up and go look. Sorry for your pain.”

  “Thanks.” She remembered describing Blackbird as a snake pit. Little did she know the snakes in her own family would deliver the most venomous bite.

  “You okay?”

  “Trying to decide. It’s not every day you learn your father was serving life in prison. I’m usually the counselor, not the one in need of counseling. I’ll be fine. Just need time to process it all.” Why had Della lied?

  “How about we ride up to Boley for some dinner. Nice little place there that serves pretty good food. We can talk while we eat.”

  “I’d like that.” She suddenly remembered what she was supposed to ask him. “Did Papa ever mention anything about problems with the plumbing?”

  “What’s it doing?”

  She took him into the kitchen and showed him the weak stream of water.

  “Might be the sump pump needs looking at,” he said. “No telling how old the thing is. I’ll get somebody to check on it.”

  “Any idea how much it might cost?”

  He shrugged. “We’ll cross that road when we get to it.”

  “Okay.”

  On the drive to Boley, she surveyed the passing landscape. “What’s it like in the townships these days?” At one time the state had been home to over fifty all-Black townships. Now only a handful remained.

  “Folks are hanging on. Doing the best they can with what they have. It’s tough, though.”

  “Why did you stay?”

  He shrugged. “This is my home. Mama wouldn’t know how to live anywhere else and probably neither would I.”

  “And your kids. How are they?” He and his wife, Shannon, had been divorced for decades.

  “Families of their own now. My daughter Michelle’s in Oklahoma City. David’s down in San Antonio. Both are doing well. I don’t see them a lot, though.”

  Paula heard the sadness in his voice.

  He asked, “What about you? How’s life?”

  “It’s good. Too scared to complain.” They laughed. She told him about Bernadine and Henry Adams. “She and the town have been a blessing to me.”

  “No sweetheart? Your religion lets you marry, right?”

  “Yes, but there’s no special person in my life. Still waiting on God to send me someone.” She’d never admitted that out loud before. Ask and ye shall receive, the voice in her head said. She smiled inwardly and turned her attention back to the landscape.

  Calvin was right. The food at the little joint in Boley was great. As she ate her collards, sweet potatoes, and catfish, she asked him, “So what did you want to talk to me about?”


  “Tyree’s will.”

  “I wondered if he had one.”

  “Oh yes, and Della’s going to stroke out.”

  “Why?”

  “He didn’t leave her a dime.”

  For some reason Paula didn’t find that surprising. “So is this like a life insurance policy?”

  “No. It’s a stock portfolio worth about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

  Paula’s eyes went wide as plates. “What?”

  He smiled and nodded. “And he left half of it to me and the other half to you.”

  Paula’s fork slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor.

  CHAPTER

  15

  Riley had Clay drop him off bright and early for his first day at work. In fact, he beat Kelly there.

  “Morning,” she said as she unlocked the door. “Thanks for showing up on time.”

  Feeling self-important, he followed her inside. She hit the lights and put down her bag. “You’ll use that station over there,” she said, pointing to a chair and a table.

  “No barber chair?”

  “Did you bring one?” Her frosty eyes held his and when he couldn’t stare her down, he shook his head.

  “Then you’ll use that one. If you work out, Ms. Brown will get us a real one.”

  “What about clippers?”

  “They’re in the drawer.”

  At one time he’d owned a collection of expensive barber tools but sold them to a pawnshop when he and Cletus went on the lam after Morton Prell’s death. He was pretty sure she’d gotten substandard ones but when he opened the drawer and saw the quality of the scissors and clippers neatly laid out on a barber towel, she must’ve seen his surprise.

  “I do know what I’m doing, Mr. Curry.”

  He didn’t want to admit it but apparently she did.

  She continued, “Aprons are there. Put the dirty ones in the hamper beneath that table.”

  He looked to where she pointed.

  “Your broom and wastebasket are behind you.”

  He swiveled.

  “Questions?” she asked.

  “Lunch?”

  “Half an hour. And for now you’ll work part-time. Tuesday nine to three. Thursdays nine to three. Saturdays same time. If your clientele picks up we’ll add more hours.”

  Riley wasn’t pleased. He’d been counting on a forty-hour week but kept that to himself. “Tips?”

  “What you get you keep. Everything else you bring to me and I’ll put it in the safe.”

  “Which is where?”

  “You don’t need to know.”

  He growled silently. He didn’t like her. At all.

  “Here comes your first customer. Have a good shift.”

  Clay walked in and she called out in a cheery voice Riley didn’t know she possessed, “Morning, Mr. Dobbs.”

  “Morning, Kelly. How are the twins?”

  “Giving the day care people over at the school fits, but they’re well.”

  He took a seat in the chair and Riley thanked him for coming in.

  Clay’s response, “You can’t pay me what you owe me if you don’t make any money.”

  Riley growled silently for the second time.

  “Oh, and Mal said to tell you he’ll be by later,” Clay added.

  He sighed. It was going to be a long first day on the job.

  But it turned into a fruitful one as word of his services spread. He cut Mal’s hair and then the doctor married to the singer—he didn’t remember their names. Sheriff Donovan stopped in along with a couple of his deputies. Two construction workers came in on their lunch hour followed by a Mexican guy who introduced himself as Luis Acosta, the town’s fire chief—which was news to Riley because he didn’t even know Henry Adams had a fire department. He decided maybe working for Kelly and Ms. Brown wasn’t going to be so bad after all. Not only did he make a wallet full of tips, he saw his customers as potential supporters if and when he decided to make a run for mayor.

  By quitting time at three he felt pretty good, and then Clay showed up.

  “Bing’s back,” he told Riley. “You and Cletus can stay tonight but you need to be out by noon tomorrow. Meet me at the rec when you’re through here.”

  Wearing the mocking smile Riley had grown to hate, Clay strolled out.

  Riley was stunned. He knew Bing was due back and that he’d have to move out eventually, but by noon tomorrow? Where was he going to stay? More importantly, if he couldn’t rely on Clay’s help anymore, how would he get to work?

  “What’s the matter?” Kelly asked from across the room.

  Riley didn’t want to tell her but he knew he had to. “Clay’s kicking me out and I need a place to stay.”

  “Starting when?”

  “Tomorrow at noon.”

  “You’re going to need a way to work, too, now?”

  Angry and grim he gave her a terse nod. “Probably.”

  “You made the shop a decent piece of change today and I want you to stay on. You can’t live with me but I can swing by and pick you up as long as it’s not too far from town.”

  Riley stared.

  She shrugged. “I’m a businesswoman, Mr. Curry. No more, no less.” That said, she resumed sweeping up the hair near her station.

  When his shift ended, instead of meeting Clay at the rec, Riley walked down to the Power Plant to see Bernadine Brown instead.

  Inside, he knocked on her partially opened door.

  She looked up. “What can I do for you, Riley?”

  “I need a key to the door of Eustacia’s place.”

  “Why?”

  “Me and Cletus are going to move in.”

  She studied him for a long moment. “You know there are no appliances or utilities.”

  “I do, but Clay wants me out tomorrow and I need a place to stay so I can keep my job. Kelly said I can ride in with her on the days I work.”

  “That’s nice of her. Your first day must have gone well.”

  He nodded and waited.

  She finally opened a drawer and pulled out a key ring. There was one key on it. She handed it to him.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  He exited and a very thoughtful-looking Bernadine watched him go.

  * * *

  Eli and his dad were watching for his grandparents to enter baggage claim at the Hays airport. Eli had been allowed to leave school early to make the ride and the other students were left in the hands of Ms. Marie. He wasn’t sure how this visit was going to go but his dad looked kind of tense, so Eli hoped the weekend wouldn’t be a disaster. When they finally appeared, his grandfather Jack Sr. waved and his grandmother Stella smiled and blew a kiss. Hugs were shared and after the luggage was retrieved they made the walk to the parking lot to the car.

  Stella said, “Goodness, Eli, you get taller every time I see you.”

  Jack Sr. cracked, “Goodness, Stella. You say that every time you see him.”

  She playfully hit him on the arm. “Quiet, you.” She turned to her son. “So, Jack. How are things in my favorite small town?”

  “Hopping as usual. Now that weather’s better, Trent and his crew are going to be building up a storm. We should have a new swimming pool by the Fourth of July.”

  “That sounds exciting.”

  Eli agreed. He couldn’t wait to dive off the high board. He wondered if Wyatt knew how to swim.

  The luggage was put in the bed of the truck and everyone piled in.

  Jack Sr., riding shotgun, said, “I still can’t get used to you driving a truck, son.”

  Jack smiled. “It’s the ride of choice out here because of the winter weather.”

  Stella asked, “And how’s Rocky?”

  Jack steered them off the airport property. “She’s doing well. She’s looking forward to seeing you two again.” They’d last visited at Thanksgiving.

  “Looking forward to seeing her again, too.”

  Eli met his dad??
?s eyes in the mirror.

  She must have seen their look because she said, “I know you think I don’t approve of her but I do. Especially now that I’ve rebooted myself.”

  Eli wondered what that meant.

  Jack Sr. chuckled softly. “Oh, here we go.”

  Eli’s dad grinned and asked, “And that means what, Mom?”

  “You know how much I love Oprah.”

  “Yes, I do,” he replied, sounding amused.

  “Well, she talks a lot about embracing the inner you, so I’ve been doing that. I’m meditating and given up being judgmental and temperamental. I’ve even taken up yoga. I’m learning to embrace my inner Stella.”

  “And how is that working for you, Dad?” Eli’s dad asked.

  “Pretty damn well. I no longer want to bury her in the backyard five days a week.”

  She cut him a look. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “You are better, lovey.”

  “Thank you. I’ve been trying to get him to go to yoga class too, but so far nothing.”

  “I don’t look good in a leotard.”

  As the truck filled with laughter Eli thought the weekend might not be so disastrous after all.

  Eli’s dad said, “Well, since you’re brand-new, Mom, you should know that Rocky and I are getting married.”

  Silence.

  Jack Sr. cracked, “Embrace your inner Stella. Take a deep cleansing breath.”

  She leaned forward and playfully popped him on the back of his head. “Stop. That’s great news, Jack. It really is.”

  Eli’s dad asked him, “Is your grandmother’s nose growing?”

  Eli laughed. “Doesn’t look like it.”

  Stella countered, “I was just taken by surprise.”

  “Whatever you say, Mom.”

  Eli wanted to ask her how could she not want his dad to be with someone as awesome as Rocky, but being the kid he knew his job was to sit and keep his mouth shut, and besides, his grandmother was speaking again.

  “Your dad and I have good news, too. We’re in the process of selling the house so we can move to Henry Adams.”

  Eli blinked as his dad asked, “Really?”

  “Did you think I was kidding at Thanksgiving when I told you how much I loved the town?” she asked.