Lowcountry Summe by Dorothea Benton Frank

Author:Dorothea Benton Frank [Frank, Dorothea Benton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Family Life, Fiction, Psychological, Domestic Fiction, General, Sagas, Contemporary Women, South Carolina, Psychological Fiction, Families, Mothers - Death, Plantation Life, Death, Mothers, Plantation Life - South Carolina
ISBN: 9780062020734
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-06-14T05:00:00+00:00

15

The Unforeseen

THE HURRAH BROKE UP AROUND six o’clock when all the graduates were obliged to return to their homes for supper and other, smaller family parties. All over Walterboro, marinated chicken and rib eyes sizzled on smoky grills, steaming casseroles were being pulled from hot ovens, prewashed salads were tossed, and celebratory sheet cakes, personalized with congratulations by the nice lady in the bakery at Wal-Mart, were being admired. I sighed in agreement with misty-eyed parents all around Colleton County, recounting the day and saying how nice was that Wimbley barbecue, wasn’t it nice? While they talked about Tall Pines and what they thought of all of us and all we had, they silently struggled to sort out the confusing emotions that came with their child taking another next step toward leaving the nest the same way we did. Family members hugged each other, mothers and fathers expressing their worries in whispers about how their children would fare at universities farther away than a day’s drive. What if Mary got sick? What if Johnny needed something? And what about those children not headed to college but to Iraq or Afghanistan? It made me quake with fear to think of Eric in uniform. I could already see the nightmares that would wake me up every night, drenched in sweat. No matter how hard I tried, I would be unable to erase the image of my only boy seriously injured. No, no. We were lucky, blessed beyond reason, to have our two and soon three children just under an hour away at the University of South Carolina. I was grateful to God and everything holy for that peace of mind. Every mother and father knows these things are true.

Matthew was on duty that night, so he left a little early, and the Wonder Boys, who collected a few phone numbers from some of the pretty girls, had been paid and gone on their way. Eric was outside cleaning the grill with Trip and Mr. Jenkins and putting all the foam noodles in the shed, placing the lounge chairs back where they belonged.

Rusty and I were still in the kitchen washing dishes and putting everything back in its place while Amelia and Belle dried what seemed like dozens of forks, knives, and spoons. Millie gathered up all the sopping-wet pool towels, wrung them out, and had the washing machine humming the soothing music of white noise as she folded another warm and sweet-smelling load right from the dryer.

Linnie was upstairs sleeping off the pot after hell rained all over her in the form of a very stern lecture from her father. I overheard it all from the hall outside her bedroom.

“Drugs are not okay, no way, no how!” he said. “I don’t care if it’s just pot and not meth or something worse. If you want the keys to your car back, you’d better turn yourself around immediately. No more sass! Do you hear me?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

She sure sounded sarcastic to me.

“And I expect you to apologize to Rusty for what you said.

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