C A T C H 22 |BWWM|

Ch. 39 • I Want My Best Friend Back

Jackson, MS. June 1944
Sunday 7:09 am

Paislee

The clock on my nightstand clicked ever so quietly as I laid in my bed. I bet I looked lifeless with my eyes staring at my ceiling tiredly and my arm lazily over my forehead. It wasn't the time of morning that bothered me, but the day that I had dreaded for so long was becoming a reality.

Using all my strength, I got up from my bed and sat down in front of my vanity. My hair looked a mess from the night before when I failed to remember to wrap it, and my eyes had a soft shadow underneath them from no sleep.

"Robert and Deen. . ." I mumbled to myself while rubbing over my face.

Unbeknownst to my parents, who thought I was only coming to send Robert off, I had more plans running through my head in order to see Deen. It would be tricky and nearly impossible knowing that there would be hundreds of men at the train station. But still, I made it a mission and the least I could do was try.

Sheila and I had talked on the phone the night before, even though all she did was cry majority of the time. I consoled her the best I could, telling her words of hope so that maybe the thought of Deen dying wouldn't haunt my mind. So naturally, since my parents were friends with Robert's and Sheila was my best friend, we all had to show our faces. Sad or not.

"Hey, Lee, you awake?" I heard daddy say from outside my door.

"Yes, sir. I'm getting ready right now," I responded.

And so I sprayed my favorite scent of perfume onto my neck and wrist, slipped on a baby-blue dress and headband into my hair. If you didn't know any better, I looked like a young housewife ready send her husband off with two small children in her arms.

When I walked outside my room, Mama was the first to look at my face. Past my physical smile and inside my eyes. I cleared my throat and started to charge for the bathroom quickly, but she called my name and I couldn't ignore her.

"Yes, mama?" I turned slowly to her and rose my eyebrows.

"You okay? You look a little blue, sweet pea," Mama said.

"Well I mean I'm losing two—one important person."

"Two?"

I scolded myself mentally and bit my lip. "One. The tiredness is getting to my head."

She chuckled and turned, snatching the silk scarf from her head. "You and Sheila talked last night, correct?"

"Yes, we did. It was pitiful." I opened the medicine cabinet inside the bathroom and pulled out a face moisturizer and dotted it on my cheeks.

"How long have Robert and her been together? A year or two?" Mama asked with a bite in her voice. She thought Sheila was being too emotional over something as simple as a 'boyfriend'.

I peaked my head out of the bathroom. "No, mama. They've been together since they were fourteen and fifteen. That's four years."

"Oh."

I rolled my eyes and started out of the bathroom. The twins were running down the stairs oblivious to the gloomy day that it would be. Before joining my sisters and dad downstairs, I took a deep breath and plastered a smile onto my face.

This morning would be one to be remembered.

° ° °
The train station was a mind-spiraling mix of people coming from all over to send their loved ones away. Mothers crying, wife's consoling crying toddlers on their hips, and dads patting sons on the back.