In the Face of the Sun by Denny S. Bryce

Author:Denny S. Bryce [Bryce, Denny S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

FRANKIE

Saturday, June 1, 1968

Route 66

Later that morning Daisy is still asleep when I rise at ten. Silent as a mouse, I dress in a shapeless shift, a navy-blue cotton number with contrasting white cuffs and collar, and then I slip out of the room. When I reach the lobby, I ask the desk clerk where I can find a phone booth.

“There’s one on the sidewalk, right outside. You can see it from here.” He gives me a strange look like I’m stupid, but I don’t want to make this telephone call too close to the motel. Too much of a risk I might be seen by Daisy or Tobey. Well, mostly Tobey, since Daisy was out cold when I left the room. None of which I intend to explain to this old man.

“I misspoke,” I say to the withered desk clerk, a different man from the one working in the middle of the night, when we arrived. Judging from the wrinkles on his skin, he’s checked in a million guests over a thousand years. “The next nearest phone booth is what I’m looking for.”

“Outside the Piggly Wiggly, half a block down the street.”

As I exit the Peacock Inn, I feel like the grocery store chain is following me. One little lie to Jackson about Piggly Wiggly, and another Piggly Wiggly appears just before I learn if Jackson is coming after me or not.

I step into the booth, all glass, and I feel like I’m standing in the picture window of a department store on Michigan Avenue. I close the door behind me and scrounge in my purse for some change. There’s no reason for Jackson to be at Tamika’s apartment this early, so I think my call isn’t too risky, but my fingers tremble, nonetheless. I dial the operator to make a collect call.

“Will you accept the charges from Francine Saunders?” the operator says when Tamika picks up the phone.

“Yes. Yes.” No time passes before she drills me with a flurry of questions. “What in the world is going on? Jackson scared the shit out of me. Twice. Robbie had to spend the night with a club in his hand because of that fool husband of yours. What in the hell is wrong with him?”

This is a question I have asked the universe on several occasions.

“Tamika, slow down. I only have a few minutes.”

“Then I’ll talk fast because I need to tell you some things.” She takes a deep, slow breath. “Your husband came here last night around eight o’clock. Drunk on his ass, raging about a phone call from a hospital claiming his insurance card was used by his wife. You were in an accident. Not hurt badly, but you and your mother left before you signed some paperwork. They called him at his job to tell him, which sounds like some shit to me. A woman has no privacy.”

“Christ.”

“I’m not done.” She sounded angry. “Now he knows you got hurt. Knew you were with Aunt Daisy, and he went to the hospital to sign those papers.

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