“Now what am I supposed to do?” Annie wailed.
“I'll tell you what you're going to do, young lady. You're going to pull up your socks and do what you're supposed to do. Go get your mother and bring her here.”
“Elmo! What are you doing here?” Annie and Jane squealed in unison.
“Came for the grand opening! Damn plane got stuck in Roanoke and had to wait for six hours. Could have walked here in that time. Blow your nose. I hate a sniffling woman.”
“Did you close the store?”
“Hell no, I didn't close the store. I sold the damn thing.”
“You sold the drugstore?” Jane and Annie said in amazement. “You love that store. You said you would never sell it.”
“I did say that. I happen to love you girls more. I missed you. Got twice as much as the store was worth, too. I'm moving here to keep my eye on you two. Seems like I arrived at just the right moment.”
“We were going to call you tonight, Elmo. Everyone liked your mother's sandwiches. We sold out.”
“Knew you would. Let's sit down here and palaver. My daddy used to say that. Never had the occasion to use that word until now. The way I see it is we're faced with a crisis. I'm good in a crisis. Real good. I worked behind the counter at the store for years. Filled prescriptions, sold toothpaste, cleaned the place at the end of the day. I think I can serve coffee and sandwiches while you go for your mama. You look into that place your brother mentioned. If she don't care for it, she can move in with me when I get my place. I'm just itching to spend that money I got from the sale of the store. Is this all getting through to you, Annie?”
“Yes. Elmo, Mom doesn't know any of us. She lives in her own little world. She wanders off and can't remember her name or where she belongs. She needs constant care. This is all so wonderful of you, but I can't let you do it.”
“Don't have much else to do now, do I?”
“Well . . . are you sure, Elmo?”
“Child, I am sure. I wouldn't be here otherwise. I missed you two girls so much I couldn't wait to make my plane reservation. I'm here. That says it all. I'm sleeping on your couch tonight until I can find my own place.”
Annie blew her nose again. “You're right, Elmo, that says it all.”
“This is a classy little store. Not the best neighborhood, but maybe the rest of the shopkeepers will update a little. Good crowd today, eh?”
“Jane sold eighty-five hand-painted postcards and two eight-by-tens. She sat right there and painted them for the customers. They loved it. How are things back in Boston? Did they ever find the money those guys took off with?”
“No. They must have been in my store six or seven times. Insurance people, cops, detectives, lawyers, and even a private detective. Did they ever call you? When I told them you were talking to me and buying aspirin they asked for your address and phone number. Jane's, too. Don't know why. Told them all we heard was a backfire that turned out to be a gunshot. The trail is stone cold. They're never going to find that money. The third guy is probably sunning himself on some South Sea island. Newspapers are saying the boy in jail is going to get twenty years. Pity.”
“Yes it is. You were right, Elmo, when you said open near a campus, and you won't go wrong.”
“Maybe we need to think about expanding. This is a big state.”
“Elmo, I just opened. Today could be a fluke. Business will taper off in the summer when the students leave.”
“Summer school, tourists, regulars. Might see a slight dip, but it's only two and a half months out of the year. My store was always down in summer but it evened out in the fall. You take the good with the bad and work with it. You don't stock heavy during that time. We'll work it out. You girls did real well. What'd it cost you?”
“Rent's three hundred. It cost us seventy-five to get the floor in shape. It's heart of pine. If we keep up with it, we should be able to save it, heavy traffic and all. Jane rented a sewing machine and made the awning and the curtains. She did the murals and painted the tables and chairs. That all came to a hundred. Ten bucks to rent the sewing machine. We stripped and varnished the counter ourselves. That was another twenty dollars. We're leasing a refrigerator. We can't cook here, so we're just going to serve sandwiches and maybe brownies one day a week. It's all we can handle. We do need to buy wholesale, though.”
“You certainly do. Do you think we could go out to dinner, ladies? I haven't eaten all day, and my mouth is watering for some of those fat Southern shrimp I hear so much about. It will be my treat. We can talk about your mother and business over a nice glass of wine.”
“We accept, don't we, Jane?”
“I love you, Elmo Richardson,” Jane said, wrapping her arms around the old man.
“Me too,” Annie said.
Everything was going to be just fine now. Or was it just wishful thinking on her part? A chill ran up Annie's spine when she recalled Elmo's words about all the people who had questioned him. Would those same people think it suspicious that he sold out right after the robbery and moved here to be with Jane and her? Probably. Elmo would put them in their place lickety-split. Thank you, God, for sending Elmo. I wish I knew why You're being so good to me after what I did.
“Lock the door, Annie.”
“Okay. It does look pretty, doesn't it?”
“Just like my postcards,” Jane laughed.
“And I have the two prettiest girls in town going out to dinner with me. Who could want more?” Elmo said.
Who indeed?
Annie thought.
CHAPTER THREE
“Dr. Mitchum, are you sure Mom is up to the trip?”
“Annie, your mother is right as rain. The bites have healed nicely. She had no adverse effects from the drugs. The raccoon was tested, and it wasn't rabid. She was lucky. Tall Pines is a wonderful nursing home. I don't think your mother will be taking any more naps in a woodshed anytime soon. It was a freak accident.”
“That's just the point. Mom shouldn't have been allowed to wander off. However, I understand what you're saying. She used to do a lot of gardening, and we did have a toolshed where she kept all her potting tools and such. Maybe she thought she was back home. This is just a guess on my part, but she might have thought the raccoon was our old cat Flossie.”
“Sometimes there's a little spark, Annie. Not often. Your mother can be quite vibrant at times. I've taken care of everything with Tall Pines. Norma is free to go whenever you're ready. I'm truly sorry this happened.”
“Me too, Dr. Mitchum. In a way it is probably a good thing. I'll be able to visit more often and take her on outings. Guess I'll say good-bye. Thanks for taking such good care of Mom.”
Annie was almost to the door when the kindly doctor called her name. “Annie, always be kind to your mother. Even though she's in her own little world, she has feelings and anxiousness. Lately she's been crying a lot. We don't know why. I just wanted you to know that.” Annie nodded.
Annie pasted a tired smile on her face when she rounded the corner to enter the visitor's lounge. Her mother was pacing, a nurse's aide alongside her.
“Ready, Mom?”
Norma Clark looked around, a confused look on her face. “Are you speaking to me, child?”
“Yes. I'm Annie. We're going to go for a ride.”
“I don't think so. Not today. I'd just like to go home.”
“Okay, then let's go home.”
“That's very kind of you. What did you say your name was?”
“Anna Daisy Clark,” Annie said with a catch in her voice.
“That's a very pretty name. Were you named after a flower? I used to have daisies in my garden. I planted them myself.”
“I know. I used to pick them for you.”
“My goodness, I don't remember that.”
“Careful now. The car is right over there. Do you want to sit in the front or the back?”
“It's a short ride, so it doesn't matter.”
“Mom, it's a long ride. Six hours or so. Front or back? There's a pillow in the back.”
“That's just like your father. He always thought I needed a pillow. How did you get here, Annie?”
“Mom, you know me?” Annie asked incredulously.
“Of course I know you. Anna Daisy Clark. Sometimes I used to call you Lazy Daisy when you didn't clean your room.”
“Oh, Mom,” Annie said tearfully. “This is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. Tom is going to be so happy when I tell him.”
“Who's Tom?” Norma asked as she climbed into the backseat.
Annie's clenched fist hit the side of the door with such force, pain ricocheted up and down her arm.
This must be one of the little sparks Dr. Mitchum was talking about,
she thought as she settled herself behind the wheel.
A spark is good. I'll settle for a spark once in a while. Thank you, God, for that one. I promise not to be greedy.
Annie chattered nonstop for the first half of the trip. It wasn't until they stopped for coffee and gas that she withdrew the last piece of the metal lock from the money bag in her purse while her mother was using the rest room. She'd hacked it to pieces back in Charleston and now she was leaving a piece of it wherever she stopped. This last piece she planned on throwing out the window in the first rural area she came to. She'd burned the canvas bag the night she'd left. In the middle of the night she'd scattered the ashes all along Rutledge Street.
Norma Clark tapped Annie's arm. “Young lady, we're never going to get home if you stand there staring off into space. What is it you do besides driving ladies home?”
Annie felt her throat tighten up. “I have a coffee shop. I sort of, kind of, robbed a bank, Mom.”
“Mercy, child. Whatever did you do that for? Are you poor?”
“Dirt-poor. I thought I did it for you. That's probably a lie because I used two hundred dollars of it for a rent deposit. I'm going to put that back, though. You know what, Mom, it all just closed in on me. There it was, right in front of me. I took it. It's a really long story. I have all this money now and I'm not sure what I should do. Then the call came about you from Tom. It was almost like it was meant to be. I know it wasn't, but that's how it felt,” Annie babbled. “Then Elmo came, and he offered to help. He sold his store to come here with Jane and me. He needs someone, too. Everyone needs someone, Mom.”
“Young lady, why do you keep calling me Mom. Do I remind you of your mother?”
The knot in Annie's throat grew in size as she struggled with the words. “You . . . you look just like her. She was always so pretty, just like you. She made the best peanut butter cookies. Her tulips were the prettiest ones on the street. Especially the purple ones.”
“I remember those. I ordered the bulbs from Holland. They were so beautiful. Your father wouldn't let me pick them. He used to count them when he came up the walkway. Why isn't your father here? Is his arthritis bothering him again?”
Another little spark. “I love you, Mom. God, how did this happen?”
“Goodness, Annie, watch where you're driving before you kill us both. Are we about home now?”
“Soon,” Annie said tearfully. “Do you love me, Mom?”
“Goodness sakes, child, I don't even know you. I'm sure when I get to know you better I'll love you.”
Annie drove in silence, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Annie felt soft pats on her shoulder. “Now, now, it will all work out. Don't cry. If I could just remember what it was I said to make you cry, I would apologize.”
“Don't worry about it. I'm not crying anymore. Now I'm mad. Your son Tom is a shit. And you know what else? His wife Mona is an even bigger shit. Right now I don't like either one of them. You know, Mom, I never complained. Not once. I worked my ass off, I really did. Tom got everything handed to him. You'd think he'd want to help or at least offer. Is it because I'm a daughter, and he's a son? That's why I did what I did. I'm not a thief. Well, I am, but I wasn't before. I turned into a liar, too. Are you ashamed of me, Mom?”
Norma Clark clamped her lips shut, then opened them. “I won't tell a soul about your secrets.”
Annie took her eyes off the road long enough to turn around and say, “If you do, I'll go to jail. They'll lock me up and throw away the key.”
Norma Clark's shoulders stiffened. “That's what they do to me. They lock me in my room. It's the same thing as jail. People steal my clothes and my shoes. I never tell. I don't want to get punished.”
Annie's foot hit the brake as she steered the car to the side of the road. There was outrage in her voice when she said, “Did they punish you?”
“Yes. They didn't let me go out among the flowers. They even tied Grace in her chair. I untied her,” Norma said defiantly. “We didn't get any dinner. They always slapped Grace because she wouldn't listen.”
“Oh, God,” Annie said.
“I used to pray that my daughter would come and get me. She never did.”
Annie let the tears flow. “When we get home you can write to Grace,” she managed to say.
“Grace is dead,” Norma said flatly.
Was this real? Did her mother know what she was talking about? Was this all some figment of her imagination? “Oh, God, oh, God,” Annie wailed.
“It's too late to cry,” Norma said.
“When did Grace die, Mom?”
“A long time ago. Maybe it was yesterday. Sometimes I can't remember. Don't tell anyone.”
Annie felt light-headed. “I won't tell anyone about Grace if you don't tell anyone I took the money.”
Norma's head bobbed up and down. “That sounds fine to me. Should we shake hands?”
“Why the hell not,” Annie muttered as she extended her hand. Norma pumped it vigorously. “How did Grace die, Mom?”
“They punished her and she died. Billie said we have to mind our p's and q's or the same thing will happen to us. I mind my p's and q's,” Norma said primly.
Annie turned around and took a deep breath. “I don't think we should talk about this anymore. Let's talk about something nice.” She made a mental note to find out who Billie was.
“This certainly is the long way home. Did you take a wrong turn, young lady?”
“More than one. Why don't you take a nap on that nice pillow. I'll wake you when we get home. Mom, do you remember that frilly flowered dress, the one with the purple and pink flowers? You had a sun hat with a big purple ribbon on it that you used to wear in the garden.”
“I told you, young woman, they steal all my things.”
“I'm going to buy you one just like it,” Annie said. “No one is ever going to steal your things again. I promise.”
When Annie looked in the rearview mirror she saw that her mother was sound asleep. “Goddamm it, I will not cry. I absolutely will not cry. I am so sorry, Mom. I did the best I could. Even Tom did the best he could at the time. I thought we were on top of things. I really did. From now on you are going to be safe and happy. I don't care what that makes me.” To make her point, Annie leaned her head out the window and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Do you hear me? I don't give a good goddamn what that makes me. I don't care if I go to jail. I don't care if I fry in hell. So there, damn it!”
Norma Clark slept deeply and soundly during her daughter's tirade.
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Annie woke while it was still dark outside. It was her day to open the shop for the early-morning coffee trade. She was bone tired, but, as she put it, it was a good kind of tired. Elmo had arranged for Norma to be looked after by two women until there was an opening at the Westbury Center. He had been delighted when he described the facility, saying each resident had his or her own apartment with a small walled garden. Security, he went on to say, was high-tech with a twenty-four-hour monitoring system. The part he liked best, he said, was that patients with Norma's condition wore a decorative bracelet that allowed the orderlies to know where they were at all times. The grounds contained a pool, a hot tub, a small petting zoo, a tennis court, as well as a basketball court. A community room with a fully stocked library, a sixty-inch television, and a stereo system rounded out the amenities. The bottom line, Elmo said, was, “It's not as expensive as you might think. With Norma's social security and the part of your father's pension that reverted to her, you and Tom only have to pay two thousand dollars a month. That's just six hundred more than what you were paying in Raleigh. With things going the way they are, I think you can handle it, Annie.”
“I can't count on Tom, Elmo. Tom said Mona refuses to pay another nickel. He's got three kids, and he's already holding down a part-time job at night. For now, I have to pay the whole thing.”
“You've made a pretty penny since opening day. This is just a guess on my part, but I think you're going to have to hire a few part-timers. The two nights we stayed open till nine were very profitable. However, I'm the first to admit that five in the morning till ten at night isn't a pace anybody can keep up with. When you own your own business, you're married to it. I'm the living proof. When you're dealing with a cash business, you need honest people working for you. Like you and Jane when you worked for me. I lost money over the years with help that thought my money was theirs. Among the three of us, we'll work something out.”
“I hope so, Elmo, because I'm starting to get nervous. I never expected anything even half as successful as this. This is just short of phenomenal.”
“I know, Annie. If you opened other stores on other campuses like this one, they'd be just as successful. When this one is truly off the ground, you might want to think about it. You started this one on a shoestring, and look what happened. If you need an investor, I'm yours for the taking.”
“Elmo, I can't even think about that yet.”
“You have to think about it, Annie. We've sold out every single day we've been open. Would you listen to me. I sound like I'm part of this.”
“You are!” Jane and Annie said in unison.
“You get up when we do,” Annie went on. “You make coffee, boil milk, make sandwiches just like we do. That makes you a one-third partner.”