Halley (2 page)

Halley dropped down into the nearest rocker. “Daddy built these . . .”

“Halley!” Kate said. “Get up and let the grown folks sit.” She turned back to Orrie Gravitt, who was now examining the washpot next to the porch. “We’ll be keeping the rockers and the wash pot.”

Halley went to the far end of the porch.

The Woodall wagon pulled to a stop and Dimple got out. She moved toward the end of the porch with an unfamiliar swinging gait. Her head was thrown back and her flat chest thrust out.

“Did I remind you of Bootsie Hawkins just then?” Dimple whispered when she sat down.

Halley shook her head. Bootsie had been the best-looking girl in Alpha Springs before she moved to Belton with her mother and sister a few months ago. “Neither of us is ever going to look like her,” Halley said.

Dimple nodded cheerfully. “Either you got it or you ain’t, I reckon. But guess what? I just got word that Lollie Marchman, of all people, got married to Rabbit Burnett. And she ain’t even pretty. Runs too fat around the middle like her daddy, and she’s got them little squinchy eyes and her flat rear end looks like somebody done beat the daylights out of it with a board. But here she is, married, and you and me still looking.”

Halley shrugged. Lately all Dimple studied was boys.

Dimple glanced toward the pasture, spotted Robbie and Garnetta and changed subjects. “Garnetta told me she’s planning on you and me helping her hunt ginseng again this fall like last year and year before last,” she whispered into Halley’s ear. The ginseng hunts and the money they earned from the sale of the roots were big secrets.

Halley shook her head sadly. “I’ll be over in Belton.”

“Well, at least you don’t need the money like I do,” said Dimple, “since you ain’t never spent a penny of yours.”

“It was supposed to be for school,” Halley murmured. Her father had kept
talking
about high school for her, but Halley had known that if she herself could not find the way to pay for a ride to Jasper every day and books for all her classes, she probably would not get to go. So she had saved every penny of the fifty dollars and seventy-five cents she’d earned from two years of Ginseng hunts.

“
My
money went as fast as I got it,” Dimple went on. “Shoes ever’ fall and a new dress for Mama and me. I paid about all the rest on our bill at Gravitt’s Store.”

Halley felt a pang of guilt. The Owenbys owed some money at Gravitt’s too, but Halley had never considered paying it off with her money. Nor had she put anything into the kitchen cash drawer.

More people arrived and swarmed through the house. Some children started banging on the piano.

“I sure am sorry you’re leaving,” Dimple said. “I won’t have nobody to walk with on rolling store day.” The road that went by the Owenby and Woodall places had become so washed out and rutted that the little store built on the back of a truck refused to go that way anymore. Halley didn’t mind too much because she enjoyed the walk to the Freeman House. She and Dimple made it an outing. They usually took a chicken or two to trade for the few things they bought.

“When I met the store last Thursday I seen the picture woman,” Dimple said.

“That woman that’s got a house on a truck sort of like a rolling store?” asked Halley.

Dimple nodded. “Theodora Langford. She was wearing pants and taking pictures of ever’thing and ever’body. Somebody said she took a picture of Miz Wimpy punching down clothes in a wash pot, and Lord knows that sight’s common as dirt.”

Ma Franklin broke into their conversation. “Make yourself useful, girl. Draw some water.”

The piano banging grew louder while Halley drew the water. There was a key to lock the piano lid down, but Halley wasn’t about to give her grandfather any relief. As she set the water on the shelf next to the kitchen door, two boys began arguing over whose turn it was to spin on the piano stool. Halley rejoined Dimple at the end of the porch and a moment later the stool crashed to the floor. One boy let out a howl and several others hooted with laughter.

Dimple snickered. “Serves ’im right!”

Suddenly Halley saw her cousin Frank Earl coming, and she forgot the piano. Her heart lifted. Claude and Clyde had worked out a plan. That’s what Frank Earl was coming to say. Surely it wasn’t too late to cancel any sales Pa Franklin had made.

Hurry, Halley thought, jumping to her feet.
Hurry!
At this very moment Lum Albert was bargaining with Pa Franklin over livestock.

Frank Earl stopped in front of her and seemed to be struck dumb. “Pa couldn’t come,” he said at last. “But him and Clyde sent this.” Fumbling in his pocket, he pulled out a wad of folded bills. “It’s eighteen dollars. Give it to your ma when Old Man Franklin ain’t around, on account if’n he sees it, he’ll take it.”

“Thank you,” said Halley. She stuffed the money into her pocket and waited for him to go on. “And?” she said to encourage him.

Frank Earl cleared his throat and dropped his eyes. “Pa said it’s best for you and your ma to move in with the preacher.”

Halley flew mad. “Best for who? Best for your pa maybe, ’cause then he won’t have to bother with us.”

Frank Earl blushed. “Pa’s going to be mighty busy working our land.” He dropped his voice. “Especially now that him and Clyde are giving up the business. Say they ain’t got the heart for it no more.”

“Too bad they didn’t decide that before my daddy got killed helping them,” Halley said, dropping back down on the porch.

Frank Earl plowed on doggedly. “Pa says you won’t be with Old Man Franklin long. He says Aunt Kate is good-looking enough to get another man.”

Halley leaped to her feet again, fists clenched. Startled, Frank Earl almost fell backwards. “You can just go home if that’s the kind of talk you’re going to be having!”

Frank Earl shuffled about, obviously searching for something to say. Halley took no pity. “If it hadn’t been for Claude and Clyde and their worthless truck, my father would still be living.”

Lum Albert led the mules by the porch and they hee-hawed as though in goodbye. Halley put her head down on her knees. Her eyes burned with all the tears she’d shed in the last two days and all she was holding back. She heard the Gravitts moving the piano out of the house and onto the truck, but did not look.

Suddenly Dimple nudged her and whispered, “Ma and Pa are leaving. Here, this is for you.” She slipped a paper bag into Halley’s hand. “It’s to remember me by. I bought it with the last of my gin . . . I mean, my money from Garnetta.” Dimple gave her a quick hug and was gone.

It wasn’t until the Woodall wagon was out of sight that Halley opened the bag. It was a diary with red binding and a locked clasp. A key on a ribbon dangled from the clasp. Slowly Halley unlocked it. When the book popped open and she lifted the cover, she had another surprise. It wasn’t a diary at all. It was hollow. It was intended as a hiding place for valuables. As if she’d ever have valuables.

Halley locked the book and returned it to the bag. Everyone was loading up to leave now. Halley watched them mournfully until everyone was gone but Garnetta. She and Robbie were sitting in Garnetta’s car, talking.

Halley drifted toward the kitchen where the adults were counting money. After enough was set aside to pay all that was owed, there remained only a small stack of bills and a little change. Kate reached for it but Pa Franklin was faster. He swept it up and pocketed it.

“Feeding young’uns is going to cost plenty,” he said. “Get ever’thing packed, Kate. If’n it ain’t raining, Ralph and Gid will be here day after tomorrow to load up what you got left. I have to get home. I got church matters to take care of.”

2. Moving

“By and by, when the morning comes, when the saints of God are gathering home,” Gid sang from the driver’s seat of the wagon that was taking Halley and Robbie from Alpha Springs to Belton, Georgia. Her uncle had been singing the song over and over during the several hours they’d been riding, and Halley knew why. It was one of the songs Bootsie Hawkins sang. Like every other young man who saw her curvy figure and bouncy red curls, Gid was in love.

“Wish I had Bootsie here to pick on her guitar for me,” Gid called from the front of the wagon. Though Halley could not see him for the household goods piled high between them, she could hear the smile in his voice.

“Bootsie’s broke up with that good-for-nothing she’s been going with,” Gid added. “I got a chance now.” He broke into song again.

“I guess Mama’s already at Pa Franklin’s house,” Robbie said.

“Been there for hours!” Halley answered. Kate and her parents had ridden in the truck with Ralph. The hogs and chickens were in the back of the truck, along with some of the farm equipment Pa Franklin had decided to keep.

Halley had another pang of sadness. From the moment she got on the wagon, she had longed to tell Gid to stop, to take her back home and leave her. But it was no longer their home, she kept reminding herself. It now belonged to the Gravitts. Bud Gravitt would probably have a sharecropper moved into the place by next month. In a few weeks Halley’s friends would forget her. Dimple would get a new best friend, her last year’s teacher, Miss Henry, would be lending books to another promising student, and life in Alpha Springs would go on as if Halley had never lived there.

As they jolted along the curving mountain roads, Halley nursed her anger at her mother for accepting this total change in their life without a fight. All Kate did was pray. Even Robbie seemed to have given in to the move once Garnetta had assured him she would visit. This, too, seemed like a betrayal. Young though he was, Robbie should have some loyalty.

Gid pulled the wagon off the road one more time to let an oncoming car pass. The closer they came to Belton, the more traffic they met. The Franklins only lived in the next county, but it could have been another state, so different it was from Alpha Springs. The soil did not have the red color Halley was accustomed to. The land was flatter and less rocky. There were more houses, too.

She saw more and more of Pa Franklin’s Jesus messages along the way. Crosses and signs marked every crossroad and many trees in between. “Where will you spend eternity?” they asked. “John 3:16,” they said. His favorite seemed to be, “Are you ready for the Rapture?”

Halley and Robbie sat on the back of the wagon, leaning against the box containing the few books Halley owned. Buck lay between them, sound asleep. Sometimes he snored.

“Don’t you reckon Pa Franklin will let me keep Buck?” Robbie whispered as though to keep the dog from hearing. It was at least the fifth time he’d asked, and every time he whispered.

Halley couldn’t give him false hope, and, besides, she wasn’t feeling very good toward him right now. “I don’t know,” she said. “But Pa Franklin told you to leave the dog. That’s the last thing he said before he got in the truck to leave.”

“I tried, but Buck wouldn’t stay. He followed us. You seen ’im.”

“
Saw
him,” Halley corrected.

“Saw ’im. And I didn’t let him get in the wagon until we turned on County Road Eight, and I seen—I mean,
saw
—he wouldn’t go back. Pa Franklin wouldn’t take ’im back to Alpha Springs, would he?”

Halley softened. She couldn’t tell Robbie that their grandfather might do worse. Instead, she said, “Well, let’s worry about that when the time comes.”

The trouble was, the time had almost come. They were riding on pavement now, instead of dirt. Presently Halley smelled the oil and lint of the Belton Mills. Then came mill buildings themselves and the roar and clank of machinery. How could people bear working in such a place day after day, she wondered.

It was dangerous, too. Even in Alpha Springs, they heard about mill workers losing their hearing, women getting terrible injuries when their hair caught in the machinery, and men losing fingers or even entire hands.

They passed the mill village, where dozens of identical houses lined narrow side streets. They were far nicer than the Owenby house, but they were so crowded together. Children were played in the streets because the yards were so tiny.

“Over there to the left is the high school, Halley,” called Gid from the front of the wagon. “That’s where you’ll be going to school in a few weeks.”

Halley looked at the two story brick building and felt utter dismay. It was so big and so grand. At that moment, two town girls walked by. They were dressed in city clothes and their hair was curled. As though they felt her gaze, the two girls looked at Halley and then at the wagon. They laughed.

Robbie waved and hollered, “Hey!” The girls laughed again.

Halley felt her face burn. She would have to go to school with girls like this every day. Most of them would look down their noses at her. But if she wanted an education, she had to learn to bear it.

“Only a few miles more and we’ll be home,” Gid called from the front.

“
You’ll
be home,” Halley muttered. “
I
won’t.”

“I’m stopping at Shropshire’s Store to get me some hair tonic. You young’uns stay with the wagon.”

He didn’t have to tell Halley twice. She didn’t want to risk running into any more girls like those she’d just seen. She’d have to face them soon enough.

Gid pulled to a stop at a brick building with a tall front. Several young women and two young men were out next to the gas pumps.

Gid jumped down from the wagon and paused in the shade of a nearby oak. Slicking back his hair with a comb, he dusted his brogans on the back of his legs in a way that reminded Halley of Dimple primping to meet a crowd. Then he tucked his shirt down into his overalls. His thin body looked lost in the baggy clothes. He dug in his pockets and frowned at the coins he brought out. Shrugging, he returned them to his pocket, and then swaggered toward the group.

“Gid is here, girls!” he called. “Your prayers are answered.”

“Don’t sound like an answered prayer to me,” drawled one of the young men. The girls giggled in the same way the two town girls had. Halley decided she didn’t like them.

“More like punishment, I’d say,” the other young man added. “You girls been bad?”

More giggles.

Gid played along with the teasing. “I see right now I’m gonna have to mark all you girls off my list for the Saturday night dance in favor of this other young lady I got in mind.”

At that moment a car pulled up. “Bootsie!” one of the girls squealed.

It was Bootsie, all right, and the young man beside her had to be her boyfriend, Stan Duncan. Gid’s face sagged with disappointment.

“Hey, Gid!” Bootsie called. “How you doing, you good-looking thing?”

Gid did not answer. Turning on his heel, he headed into the store.

Bootsie watched him for a moment and then she got out of the car slowly. Though she wasn’t obviously made up and her dress wasn’t overly tight, somehow her curves, her blazing hair, and her generous bosom defeated any attempt to tone them down. Her full lips and sparkling green eyes made face paint unnecessary. The girls at the gas pump looked at her in envy while the young men squared their shoulders and slicked their hair.

Bootsie spotted Halley and waved. “Hey!” she called, hurrying over to the wagon. She was smoking a cigarette, Halley noticed, and her nails were painted bright red. Bootsie gave Halley and Robbie each a one arm hug. Then she petted Buck. “Pretty dog.”

“He’s smart, too,” Robbie said.

“I bet.” Bootsie cast an eye at all the furniture and boxes on the wagon. “Moving?”

Halley nodded. “We’ve got to live with Pa Franklin. He thinks we can’t live in our house without a man.”

“I know how that story goes,” Bootsie replied. “People
talk
. That’s why Mama decided to move us over here.” She dropped the cigarette and ground it out with her foot. “I was real sorry about your father, Halley. He was a good man.”

Halley nodded and blinked away tears.

“I wanted to go to the funeral real bad after word got out,” Bootsie went on. “But Stan wouldn’t take me, and it was too late to find another ride. Fact is, I had a big fight with Stan over that.”

So that’s what the break-up was about, Halley thought. At least Bootsie’s heart was in the right place.

“Wasn’t until today that I give ’im a chance to explain. Turns out, Stan was just too broke up about it. Stan’s real tender-hearted, and funerals just break his heart. I felt like a worm when he explained. I never thought of that.” She could not meet Halley’s eyes.

Halley was embarrassed. It was an obvious lie. Stan had never laid eyes on her father. She struggled to find a response and finally said, “I understand.”

“Well, anyway, I guess my wedding is on again,” Bootsie said.

“You’re marrying Stan?”

Bootsie nodded. “But don’t tell nobody. Stan wants to keep it a big secret for right now. He goes to college and wants to wait ’til he finishes out this year. Oh, Halley, I sure am glad I’m not marrying an old man like Elsie did.”

“Elsie’s married?” Halley hadn’t heard this.

“Uh-huh. Her husband, Tom Belcher, is older than
Mama
. He works for the railroad. I think Elsie just married him so we could have a man in the house and be respectable. Elsie and Mama both work at the mill, and I’m about to hire on myself.”

“You dread it?” Halley had to ask.

Bootsie shrugged. “I druther work there than slave from daylight to dark in the field. Course I guess I’ll quit once I’m married. Stan’s pa is the mill manager, and I guess Stan will work for him somehow.”

“Bootsie,” called Stan. “I got our cold drinks. Let’s go.”

“Just a minute, hon,” she called. Then she said to Halley, “When I get to be a full hand at the mill, I’ll speak for you a job. See you around.” Moments later Bootsie was in the car with Stan, and they sped off.

“You going to work in the mill?” Robbie asked.

Halley shuddered. “I hope not,” was all she could say. Her world had changed so much in only a few days that nothing seemed sure anymore.

Soon Gid returned. His face was long and gloomy. He tossed them each a peppermint stick, and then paused to look at Buck. “Surprised Pa let you bring that dog. Pa’s dog, Goliath, don’t take to strange dogs on the place.”

Robbie flinched and grabbed Buck in a tight hold. When the wagon was moving again, he whispered, “Old Goliath better not fool with my dog.”

“I told you we should give Buck to Garnetta or the Woodalls,” Halley said. Why hadn’t she been more firm?

“Nobody’s taking my dog,” Robbie said. “Nobody.”

There was no point in arguing. They would just have to live with whatever happened now.

They crossed over the railroad tracks and Gid called back, “There’s a hobo jungle down there to the right. They say that woman picture-taker’s been down there with her camera, but y’all stay away. I think most of the tramps are just hungry, broke men looking for work, but it don’t hurt to be careful.”

The wagon rolled on, and they soon left the noise and smells of the mill behind. The pavement ended and the houses scattered into farmland once more. Pa Franklin’s Jesus signs became more and more frequent. Robbie finished off his candy stick and then began on Halley’s.

“Your school house, Robbie,” Gid called from the front, and Halley and Robbie saw a one-room building off to the left.

A little later Gid called, “The colored school.” This building, on the right side of the road, seemed to tilt to one side. “That road just beyond it goes to the Gowder place. They’re colored folks. Make pottery—real good pottery.”

Past the Gowder road and on a bit came the cut-off to Pa Franklin’s house. It had two Jesus messages on either side. They turned and rolled between Pa Franklin’s apple orchard and his corn field. They came to the pasture, and Halley glimpsed the pond at the lower end. A number of willow trees circled the water, along with patches of blackberry brambles. The wall of dirt which dammed it on the downhill side had grass and sumac growing on it. A worn cow path traced its center. Something else to warn Robbie about.

Turning from the pond, she looked at the house that was to be her home whether she liked it or not. A gray, unpainted house–much like the Owenby house–it had an open dogtrot hallway down the center. On either side of that hallway were two large rooms that opened into each other. The hallway ended on the front and back at large porches. The back porch had a fifth room, called the far room, on one end. This room would now belong to Halley, Robbie, and their mother.

Pa Franklin and Ralph waited on the front porch. Ralph was a younger version of his father in appearance but he had a much milder disposition. He never raised his voice. With them was the largest dog Halley had ever seen. He broke into a volley of barking that made Buck crawl between a mattress and a dresser.

Pa Franklin silenced the dog with one brisk order. “Hush!”

The dog obeyed, but remained alert, his twitching nose directed toward the wagon. Fur was raised on the back of his neck.

“You took your time,” Pa Franklin said to Gid. “Ralph has been needing to get home, and he can’t until he helps you unload.” Quietly, Goliath eased off the porch while Pa Franklin’s attention was diverted.

The old man turned to Halley. “You, girl,” he began, but the order was cut short when Goliath suddenly lunged at the wagon with bared fangs and furious growls. Robbie jumped up, grabbed Buck, and backed into the tight space the dog had found.

“Here, Golly!” Pa Franklin ordered. “Here!”

Reluctantly, the dog obeyed. When he was lying on the porch, Pa Franklin turned on Halley and Robbie. “What’s that mutt doing here? You disobeyed. Didn’t I tell you to leave that dog at your house?”

“I did leave him,” Robbie protested, “but he followed us.”

“That’s right,” Halley hurriedly agreed. “Robbie didn’t let Buck on the wagon for several miles.”