Cold Rock River by Jackie Lee Miles

Author:Jackie Lee Miles
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2015-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

After Annie died, Pa started drinking. It was no wonder he was bad sick with liver and heart problems. My own chest wasn’t feeling too good either. Heart attacks and heartaches, it was hard to tell which was paining me more.

“You ever think back on when we were kids?” I asked Rebecca.

“No,” she said.

“You don’t ever pick out a favorite time and go over it in your mind?”

“Try not to,” she said. “What good would it do?”

“I don’t know if it does any good,” I said. “But I like to do it. Makes me happy. We did have some good times, didn’t we?” Rebecca gripped the wheel tight but didn’t say anything.

“Like that New Year’s when Mama and Pa had that party,” I said. “Remember?”

“You mean the night Louise was sashaying around Pa, hanging all over him?”

“I think everyone was doing a bit of that.”

“You didn’t take a good look,” she said.

“I watched everybody good as you,” I said.

“You didn’t read between the lines,” Rebecca said.

I knew what she was getting at. I hadn’t understood it at the time, but something happened later where it all made sense. Then the pieces fit together like a picture puzzle, one I put out of my mind so I wouldn’t have to believe it really happened. That particular New Year’s night was the only time Mama and Pa ever had a real type party with lots of folks over. We girls were supposed to be in bed. Rebecca and I peeked around the corner from the sleeping porch. Wasn’t long before Clarissa joined us. Pa was dancing with Aunt Louise. She had on a shiny red dress. It was too tight, and her butt wiggled back and forth all the while she danced to the music.

“Lou, you got a face put Jayne Mansfield to shame and a body would too,” Pa said. Me and Clarissa covered our mouths and giggled. The record player was going full blast. The floor boards hummed and tickled our bare toes. We laughed harder.

“Sssshh…be quiet,” Rebecca said.

“Can’t no one can hear anything above all this racket,” I said.

Conway Twitty was singing “It’s Only Make Believe,” Daddy’s favorite. Mine too. Mama was serving steaming hot bowls of vegetable soup, spiced apple rings, and fruit compote. She said the combination brought good luck. I’m not so sure. Or maybe she forgot an ingredient in one of the recipes. It turned out to be a very bad year.

Close to midnight, she started passing around glasses of Mogen David wine.

“Everybody! Git a glass, now,” she said.

Arms, attached to bodies dancing about the room, reached around the others trying to grab one as Mama walked by. They were jelly jars Mama saved once we got the last lick from the bottom. Real pretty jars.

“Charlie,” Mama said. “Git a glass, honey. The New Year will be here and gone.”

Everybody was laughing and hugging on one another. Mama turned the record player off and switched the radio on and dialed up the volume. The announcer was counting down the numbers to the New Year.

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