Last Chance Beauty Queen (15 page)

“Uh, Dash, you didn’t just put me in horse poop, did you?” She lifted up her skirts.

“Uh-oh, did I? I’m sorry. We got a lot of that stuff around here, you know.”

“You did this on purpose.”

“I didn’t. But you know, this situation provides you with a real opportunity to trash that old dress. You let the skirt get soiled, you might have a good excuse for taking the dress off.” His crooked smile made an appearance. “That would make you feel better, wouldn’t it? You could dress in a shirt buttoned up to here.” He gestured to his neck.

“You’re obnoxious.”

“I know.”

“My shoes are ruined.”

“Aw, poor baby. And they were such sensible shoes, too.”

“Dash, you come right here and get me out of this pile of manure.”

Dash followed orders. He snatched her up so fast that her pumps were left behind, mired forever in the muck. He threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Caroline got a head-jarring, upside-down view of the
world as Dash strode across the corral and into the parking lot beside the stable. When they reached the blacktop, he stopped and returned her to her bare feet.

“I’m going to murder you,” she said as she put her hands on her tulle-swathed hips.

“I’m not worried. But you need to play like you’re all hot and bothered by me. Otherwise Bubba will never get the message.” He turned and headed toward his car, which was parked in the shade of a big oak tree.

Caroline trailed after him. “What about my shoes?”

Dash looked over his shoulder. “Honey, those shoes are toast. A country girl like you should be okay in bare feet. Besides, think of the great stories we could tell everyone about how you lost them.” He kept walking, but she heard the laughter in his voice.

She minced her way after him, feeling every pebble under her soles. Those pebbles reminded her that she
had
traveled a long way from home. There had been a time when no one could
make
her wear shoes.

Life had been so much simpler then.

“Dash. This is crazy.”

He turned around. “Yeah, it is, kind of. But you gotta admit it’s also brilliant.”

She stood there on her suddenly liberated feet and thought things through. It was much easier to think on solid ground. The genius of Dash’s plan began to creep up on her.

“I hate to admit it, but this might work. I only wish it hadn’t involved my being lassoed off a float. That was incredibly embarrassing, actually.”

“You’re looking at this all wrong. I didn’t embarrass you today. I made you a legend. Name one other Watermelon
Queen who broke two hearts twelve years apart while wearing the same darn dress. They’re going to be talking about this for years.”

“Right. That’s what I’m worried about. And besides, I’m not really going to break your heart, because I think Hettie already beat me to it.”

His smile cooled just a little. Caroline had touched Dash’s sore spot.

“All the better, because you won’t do any more damage than has already been done,” he said, then opened the car door. “Get in, honey, let’s go have us some fun at the barbecue.”

E
very year, right after the watermelon parade, folks had a big barbecue out at the river. Granddaddy always helped cook the pigs, and all the ladies in the county brought cakes and pies and put them on long tables and the kids could pick whatever they wanted.

The eating was pretty fun, but as far as Haley was concerned, the best part of the barbecue was swimming in the river. Her folks didn’t have a regular membership to the country club, and they weren’t one of the rich folks families who had summerhouses down here either. So this was the only time she got to swim in the river. The rest of the time, she had to make do with the public swimming pool.

But this year, Haley was so worried about her angel problem that she didn’t feel like swimming. So she sat with Granddaddy for a while, watching him carve up the pigs. And then she went off to play by herself on the swings near the baby swimming area.

The playground wasn’t that far from the parking lot,
so she had a good viewpoint to watch people come and go. A big black car came up the drive, and Mayor Bob and Miz Bray got out with some other people Haley didn’t know. They all went up to the picnic pavilion built on the lawn.

Then along came Dash Randall in his big red car, with Aunt Rocky sitting right beside him in the middle of the seat.

Suddenly the angel took note and stopped whimpering. And then she did the strangest thing. She drifted away from the playground and hovered right over Aunt Rocky as she and Dash headed up to the pavilion to join the other grown-ups who were gathering there for the barbecue.

For once, Haley was left all by her lonesome. Haley waited for the angel to come back, but she was gone. It was really kind of weird. Haley thought maybe the angel might decide to move in with Aunt Rocky. That would be good if it happened.

Finally Reverend Ellis and Pastor Mike from the Methodist Church each gave a blessing. And after that, everyone started in to eating.

Haley got up and helped herself to some barbecue and a piece of Miss Carpenter’s peach cobbler. Then she found a place on the back step of the pavilion where she could eat it. It was nice to be alone.

The angel was still hovering over Aunt Rocky, like maybe she needed some protection or something. Haley sure hoped the angel didn’t break anything today. That would be bad.

So Haley kept half an eye on the angel and another half on Reverend Ellis, who had taken his plate over to
Miz Bray’s summer place after he’d said the blessing. Miz Bray was one of the rich and important people who actually had a house down here.

Uncle Tulane was talking about buying a house here at the river so she and Lizzy could swim. That would be pretty cool.

Haley licked the sticky cobbler off her fingers, put her paper plate and napkin in the trash, and then headed on over to Miz Bray’s house. She stepped up and knocked on the frame of the screen door.

“I declare, is that Haley Rhodes?” Miz Bray came out of the house onto the porch wiping her hands on a checkered dishtowel. She opened the screen door and looked down at Haley.

Haley suddenly wished she hadn’t knocked. Her legs started shaking. She was scareder of Miz Bray than just about anyone else in the whole wide world.

“Uh, yes’m, it’s me. I was wondering…” Haley stepped a little to one side and peered around Miz Bray. “Uh, I was…” She twisted her fingers together as words and breath failed her. The barbecue she’d just eaten sat in her stomach like a big lump. “Uh, I was—”

“Well, speak up, child. I don’t have all day. The preacher is here and—”

“Can I talk to him?” Haley said really fast on one breath.

Miz Bray gave her a really mean look. “You want to speak to the preacher? Now?”

“Yes’m.”

“About what?”

“Well, I—”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake, let the child in.” This came from Reverend Ellis himself.

Haley let go of a deep breath as Miz Bray opened the door a little wider and stepped back. Haley edged her way through the narrow opening. She came forward until she was standing in front of the preacher.

He smiled at her, and a little of her fear eased. The preacher was easy to talk to. He had big hands like Uncle Tulane, and a deep soft voice that put her at ease.

“So what brings you here, darlin’?”

She clasped her hands behind her back and tried not to fidget. She knew that fidgeting wasn’t allowed anywhere near the preacher or the church.

“Well, um…”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake, girl, spit it out. Reverend Ellis doesn’t have all day, you know.” Miz Bray lowered her fat body into a rocking chair beside the preacher. It looked like Miz Bray aimed to hear what Haley had to say. Haley didn’t really like the idea, but this was an emergency situation.

“Um, see, it’s about the angel.”

Miz Bray made a rude noise. The preacher held up his hand to hush up Miz Bray. That was good.

“What about the angel?” he asked.

“She’s starting to do things.”

“Do things? What kind of things? Miracles?”

Haley shook her head. “No, not miracles, but she did smite those bad men that time down at the golf course. I know nobody believes that, but it’s the God’s honest truth.”

“Young lady, don’t you use that kind of language in
my house.” Miz Bray had leaned forward in her seat and was giving Haley her mean look.

“Lillian, maybe you could leave us here on the porch for a minute and go inside,” the preacher said. He turned and gave Miz Lillian a really scary look of his own.

Miz Bray got up and went into the house. The preacher leaned forward in his rocking chair. “So what’s the angel doing?”

“She’s breaking things.”

“What things?”

“Well, this morning she broke the bed Aunt Rocky was sleeping in on account of the fact that Aunt Rocky didn’t want to get up.” The preacher gazed down at Haley with the same look on his face that grown-ups always got when she started talking about the angel.

He took a deep breath. “Now Haley, we both know that angels don’t come to earth to break things.”

“No, sir. I know that. But she did it just the same. And the angels broke Golfing for God, too. So I reckon that sometimes, if there’s a good reason, an angel might break something.”

“Haley, you know angels had nothing to do with what happened at Golfing for God, don’t you? It was a thunderstorm.”

All the grownups said this, even Aunt Jane who was at Golfing for God with Haley the day the angels broke stuff. But just ’cause Jane hadn’t seen the angels, didn’t mean they hadn’t come when Haley needed them the most.

“I know you think I’m fibbing,” Haley said, “but that’s the problem, see.”

“No, I don’t see.”

“Well, the angel does things, and then I get in trouble for them. But I get in worse trouble if I tell the truth. So I have to lie.”

“What do you mean you have to lie?”

“Well, like this morning, the angel broke the bed, but I told Granny that I broke it. That was a fib, and I’m really worried about that. Do you think Jesus will mind if I lie in order to avoid getting punished?”

The preacher blinked down at her for a few long uncomfortable moments. “Haley, I know for certain that Jesus expects us to tell the truth, even when it means we get punished for it. However, Jesus will forgive us for our lies, just so long as we put our faith in Him. That’s not permission to lie with impunity, but it’s something to keep in mind. Nevertheless, I think it’s time for you to start telling the truth.”

Haley nodded her head even though she had no idea what the word “impunity” meant. Or for that matter, anything the preacher had just said. He seemed to indicate that Jesus would forgive her lies, which was something of a relief. But his tone said that he was as tired of her angel stories as everyone else.

She tried to keep a knot from forming in her throat. “I was afraid of that,” she said, her voice shaking.

“Sweetie, an angel that breaks things can’t be an angel. Do you think maybe this is something you made up to get attention?” The preacher gave her a little squeeze on her shoulder. His words were soft and kind and not scary at all. Haley had a feeling he was trying to be helpful, but he was like every other grown-up. He didn’t believe in the angel to begin with.

“No, that’s not right. The angel is real, and she’s the one who broke the bed. I just told Granny that it was me because I didn’t want Granny to ground me.”

“You mean your granny was going to ground you if you told her the angel did it?”

“Yes, sir. So I lied. I told her that I did it. But I didn’t do it. Honest. And it’s worse than that. Daddy makes me go to see Dr. Newsome two times a week, and I know that the only way I’m going to get out of going to see her is to fib about the angel. You know, tell her that the angel isn’t there. But the angel is there. And she wants to get back to Heaven in the worst way, but I don’t know how to get her there.”

The minister looked down at her out of his bright blue eyes. Haley didn’t feel any better now that she’d explained her problem, though. In fact, she had this feeling she’d made a really big mistake.

Before the minister could say anything else, Miz Bray came out of the house, where she had been listening, even though the preacher had told her not to. “Young lady,” Miz Bray said, stepping on to the porch and standing over Haley, her finger pointing. “This nonsense has got to stop. Either you’re lying or you need to be put away someplace where they keep crazy people. Is that what you want? To be a crazy person like your granddaddy?”

“Now Lillian—” the minister started.

“You get out of here right this minute and stop wasting Reverend Ellis’s time. You and your granddaddy may think this is funny, but it’s not.”

“Lillian, I think you had better…”

Haley didn’t wait to hear what the preacher had to say.
It didn’t matter anyway. The preacher didn’t believe her, any more than Granny did. And if no one believed her, then she would have to be crazy.

And she didn’t want to be crazy. Although being like Granddaddy didn’t seem such a bad thing. It had never occurred to her until right this minute that seeing angels was a pretty big burden.

She turned and ran for the door, just as her throat closed up and tears filled her eyes. She ran from Miz Bray’s house, down the hill toward the barbecue area.

Since the cooking was done, Granddaddy was resting in a lawn chair talking with old Mr. Jessup when she found him.

Granddaddy saw her coming even before she got there. He stood up, and she ran right into his legs and hugged him. Granddaddy’s arms came around her. He pulled her up into his lap and sat the both of them down in the lawn chair. “Now, little gal, what’s the matter?”

She let go of a sob onto the soft fabric of Granddaddy’s T-shirt just as the preacher showed up.

“Is she all right?” the preacher asked.

Granddaddy squeezed Haley’s shoulders a little tighter. “What in the Sam Hill did you do to her to make her cry like this?”

“It wasn’t me. Lillian said a few unchristian things. Haley came to ask me some questions about her angel. Apparently the angel is quite destructive.”