Quilts, Tacos & Tattoos

Hope in a Phone Call

  My car was a hand-me-down from Pa. It had been damaged in a hailstorm and was covered in dents. Pa was more than happy to give it me, he paid it off years ago. But Mom insisted I pay for my first car; so I worked all last summer to scrape together $900 to buy it. I also had to sign a contract saying that I would keep a journal in my glove compartment to track my gas purchases and oil changes. As long as I kept my journal up to date, Pa would cover any additional repairs the car needed and my car insurance. It was a good deal, and I had my own car.

Nana was sitting in a lawn chair in the garage taking a break from working in the garden. She was drinking her famous sweet peach iced tea and wiping her forehead with a thin white dish towel. She kept thin white dish towels folded up in the garage, on the porch, in the kitchen and in the bathroom. They could be used for everything from wiping sweat and windshields, to drying hair and dishes, and sometimes even for waving goodbye.

"You got a phone call this afternoon. He would not leave his name." Nana said as she headed to the kitchen to refresh her tea.

"He?" I asked as I stopped in the middle of the driveway. I was racing through a list of boys I knew who might call me, and I could not think of one who actually would. "Who was it?" I followed her into the house.

"I just told you. He would not leave his name. He just asked if Cricket was home and I told him, 'No'. Then he asked if you were going to the dance, and I asked who it was and he hung up."

"All right. Thanks." I knew I had to hurry to pick up Jimmy Sue on time. "I gotta get ready."

I went looking for my swimsuit in the spare bedroom, all the while wondering who could have called. I did not know many guys. There was Shep, who really liked me, but I was pretty clear with him that I was not interested in anything beyond a friendship. I thought of my secret crush. Was it him? The phone rang again. "I got it," I yelled as I raced to the kitchen to pick up the phone. Nana was already answering the call.

"Hello," said Nana. "Oh. Hi, Sweetie. Here she is." Nana handed me the phone. I knew it was Jimmy Sue.

"Hi, Jimmy Sue," I said. "I know . . . I am on my way. I just have to grab my suit. I'll be there in a jiffy." I scooted back to the bedroom and dug around in the drawers, then yelled to Nana. "Have you seen my suit? I can't find it."

"Look on the line out back. "

I ran through the house to the back yard to find my swimsuit hanging on the line. I grabbed it, stuffed it in my bag, ran down to the boathouse to fetch my favorite beach towel, hurried back through the house, stopped in the kitchen to pour a glass of tea into a red Solo cup tucked into a white Styrofoam cup just like my Pa always did, and went out the door and on my way.

Pa had jumpsuits in every color, including green and white stripes. I guess he liked them because they reminded him of his pilot jumpsuits he wore in the Air Force. Pa was just arriving home when I got to my car and he got out of his truck in a red one looking like a displaced Santa. I chuckled as I scurried past him pecking his cheek and then got into my car.

He looked over his shoulder at me and then followed me to my car, "Did you clean off the dock?"

"No, Pa. Tonight is the Dip n' Dance and Jimmy Sue is waiting for me. I gotta run. Can I do it in the morning?"

"Yep, but I want you up bright and early, Missy. No sleeping till noon crap." He closed my car door.

Then he motioned with his wrist for me to roll down my window, which I did as I rolled my eyes and answered, "Yes sir."

"Have a good time, Sweetie," he said with a smile.

"I'll try." I quickly rolled up the window again to block the dust, still rolling down the driveway that had followed Pa's truck down the road as he arrived home. I backed onto the gravel driveway and headed out. Turning onto the gravel road, I looked back to see Nana standing in the driveway handing Pa a white dish towel to wipe his face and giving me a wave goodbye with hers. I was reminded of how much I loved my grandparents.

Driving up the bumpy road, I thought of how we used to visit from Dallas when Mom had days off from work. Dallas was a long, three-hour drive with lots of cows and cactus along the way. Not much to look at when I was young and easily bored, or when I was older and trying to avoid conversation with Mom. I would spend a lot of time in the car pretending to be asleep, a coping mechanism I developed early on with Mom.

I could always tell we were at Nana and Pa's the second we hit the bumpy road. We have called it, "the bumpy road" as long as I can remember. The feeling of its gravel and potholes was so comforting. "Wake up and put on your shoes. We are on the bumpy road," Mom would call out when we made the turn.

"To the lake house!" we would shout out together and giggle with excitement. All the quiet tension of the road trip would disappear, and we would both be excited - excited to be free. I would be free to roam around and explore, and Mom would spend most of her days sleeping and sewing. I was so happy to be away from our small apartment in a place where I could go outside and swim, fish, climb and swing. I always loved coming to Nana and Pa's lake house.

I turned at Ma and Pa Walker's house and saw them in their garden picking okra. I could tell they wanted me to stop and chat, but I just didn't have time. I considered them my second set of grandparents and they treated me like a granddaughter. I loved to visit their house as a small child and play on the winding staircase that went from the first floor up to the second floor. I thought their stairs were the coolest thing I had ever seen.

I kept my window up and waved at Ma and Pa Walker as I passed. I didn't have a watch, but I knew I would be late if I stopped since I still had to run by the little red house.

One wouldn't know it since we spent all our time at the store and at Nana and Pa's, but Mom and I did have our own house. It was a small house just up the road from Pa and Nana and within shouting distance of Ma and Pa Walker's house. I spent a large part of my time at Nana and Pa's during the day, but Mom and I slept in our house. I guess you could say we ate there, too, but not real meals - more like snacks and cereal. I don't think we ever turned on the oven.

We had a nickname for every house that we lived in. There was the mustard house, the sky house, the mermaid house and the blonde house. The little red house was our 12th house, by far the smallest and the one I liked the least. I'm not even sure it could be called "a house." It just had four rooms. One room made up the living, kitchen and dining area. There was a bathroom and the other two were bedrooms - literally, "bed" rooms - put one bed in a room and it was full. I could lie down and touch the walls on both sides of my bed.

Mom liked to include the sleeping porch out back as a room, but it really was the laundry room that fit a cot when we had company and the weather was nice. It was a rare occasion when nice weather and company happened in our life at the same time.

I darted up the steps and onto the porch, swung the front screen door open and ran in the house straight to the bathroom to grab some of Mom's makeup. I was not allowed to wear makeup until I was a proper sixteen years old. It was one of the many traditions Mom made up, and I had to follow. I could not pierce my ears until eighteen or go on a date 'till seventeen. Even at seventeen, I could not have my own makeup. I could wear her makeup on special occasions. Lip-gloss was the only piece of makeup I could keep in my purse. I dug in the bathroom drawer, put on some pink lipstick, blush and mascara then hurried back to the car. I headed back up the hill, hanging a right at Ma and Pa Walker's house toward Jimmy Sue's.