One Mississippi by Mark Childress

Author:Mark Childress [CHILDRESS, MARK]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: FIC000000
ISBN: 9780316015356
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2007-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

ITTA BENA WAS large enough to have billboards announcing its attractions in advance: Dairy Queen, Itta Bena Ford, State Farm, Skinner Furniture. I pointed out a billboard for the Leflore Motor Court. “That’s where we’re staying tonight.” A silhouette woman in a bathing cap was performing an unlikely dive into a painted swimming pool. The Leflore promised Fine AAA Accommodations, In-Room Telephones, TV, Private Bath, and Electric Heat.

“Oh boy, electric heat,” said Tim. “Do you suppose they have parking for horseless carriages?”

I theorized that “electric heat” implied no A/C. “And that means we’ll probably die.”

“We gonna be roommates, Durwood?”

“Why not? If we get a choice about it.” I hadn’t spent that many nights away from home. I was interested in all aspects of checking into a motel, sleeping in a strange bed, unwrapping the little pink soap.

“I really don’t care,” Tim said, “as long as they don’t put me in with Eddie.” He raised one eyebrow.

I glanced out the window. “Look, we’re here.”

Tim said, “Itty bitty Itta Bena,” a thing that was surely said by many people coming to that town for the first time. We rolled down a street with two blocks of stores on one side. Itta Bena was a plain place, straight lines and blocky buildings, not one bit of decoration on anything.

The Leflore Motor Court was a horizontal strip of rooms with a glassed-in office at one end. The room doors were painted the exact livid green of the algae blooming in the swimming pool.

“All right, kids, shut up and listen up,” Eddie called from the front of the bus. “I’ll stand by the steps and hand you your room key as you get off. Each room has two beds, two kids to each room, except for me and Miz Passworth and the chaperones.”

“Y’all all sleepin’ together, Eddie?” called Ted Herring.

“Very funny,” said Eddie. “Now, if you don’t like your roommate, it’s up to you to find somebody to switch with. Do not, I repeat, do NOT come moaning to me about it. Wait — wait —” He had to skip the rest of his welcome speech because the girls mobbed him, snatching keys and hurrying off. They’d been whining for miles about how bad they needed to pee.

As the last ones off the bus, Tim and I were assigned the farthest room from the office, Room 130. The Frick and Frack suite. All down the rank of rooms, kids hollered, ran, and slammed doors. The heavyset manager glowered from the office door, rousing himself to an occasional bark — “Slow down!” “No running!” “You break that, mister, you’ve bought it!”

When I got to our room Tim was flipping lights on and off, flushing the toilet, running brownish water in the tub. The room smelled of knotty pine and scratchy blankets. There were two saggy beds, not quite doubles. The TV was an old black-and-white Westinghouse set that received one station, sort of, and the telephone was a kind I hadn’t seen in years, a heavy black grandma model with a thick cloth-wrapped cord, like the cord for an electric iron.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.