Family Thang

and walked into the kitchen.

Ida stood next to the sink, beating batter in a bowl with a wooden spoon. A boiling pot covered every eye on the stove. The smell of baked fish drifted from the oven. Sarah Vaughn’s voice emanated from a transistor radio on the refrigerator.

“Momma, can I give you a hand?”

Ida did an about face, giving Ruth Ann her back again. The rhythmic thump thump thump thump from the bowl grew louder.

“Momma, if you need something, or if you need me to do anything, then call me. You know my number, don’t you?” Of course she knew the number… thump thump thump thump thump… “I guess I’ll be going now, Momma. Call me.” …thump thump thump thump thump…

Ruth Ann turned on her high heels and headed for the front door. “I’m outta here,” she said. “Shirley, please move your car!” The screen door slammed before Shirley could respond.

“Ruth Ann, hold up,” Shirley said, catching up with her. “What’s the matter?”

Ruth Ann turned, started to speak… couldn’t.

Shirley embraced her. “It’ll pass, honey,” holding her tight, rubbing her back. “It’ll pass. She’s upset. We’re all upset. I miss Daddy, and I know you do, too.”

Ruth Ann had wanted to rid herself of her family, to get as far away from them as possible… Shirley had caught her off guard. She buried her face between Shirley’s large breasts.

“She ignored me!” Ruth Ann blurted, and started crying. “Sh-sh-she acted like I wasn’t even there.”

Shirley kissed her forehead. “It’s okay, Ruth Ann. It’s okay.” Shirley wiped away Ruth Ann’s tears with her hand, and brought her face close to hers. Looking her straight in the eye, she said, “Ruth Ann, remember this. Whatever happens, no matter what, we’re family.” Bringing her face even closer, their noses almost touching: “I’ll always love you, Ruth Ann. Always.”

Ruth Ann looked away, unable to maintain eye contact. “Thanks, Shirley.” She stepped back. “I better go. Lester is probably hungry.”

“He can’t cook for himself?”

Ruth Ann laughed. “Lester has trouble dialing Dominos. Men, what are they good for?”

“You got that right. I can’t begin to tell you the trouble Eric and I are having.”

Ruth Ann’s shoulder jerked, as if someone had sneaked up and grabbed her. What have I done?

Eric, his name throbbed in her head like a toothache. Why had she betrayed her baby sister? Her only sister. Shirley, sweet Shirley. Fat, loveable, sensitive, puppy-dog eyes, give-you-the-shirt-off-her-back Shirley.

What have I done?

“What?” Shirley said. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I love you, Shirley, I really do. I might not act like I do, but I do. It might not seem like I do… I do! Really. Cross my heart, hope to die. Honest!” Aware she was groveling, but couldn’t stop. “I really do. Always! Till I die. No matter what happens, or what somebody says, remember I love you. No man could come between… I mean, even if a man did come between us, it wouldn’t mean anything. Wouldn’t mean a damn thing!”

“Ruth Ann, relax. I know. Trust me, I know.”

“Huh?” Ruth Ann gasped, heart skipping beats. “You know?”

“Yes, I do.”

Ruth Ann started to kneel, but they were standing on concrete and she was wearing a dress. “Please forgive me, Shirley. I didn’t mean for it to go as far as it did. You gotta believe me!”

Shirley gave her an odd look. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Ruth Ann backed up to the Expedition and leaned on it for support. Woozy and nauseous. She’d almost stepped out on a greased limb. “Lester! I was talking about Lester, Shirley. I let our relationship go too far.”

“Ruth Ann, you’re married to the man.”

“Yes, you’re right. I better get back to him.” She hopped into the Expedition and started looking for the keys.

“In the ignition,” Shirley said.

“Oh, yeah. See ya, Shirley. I love you!” She started the engine.

“Wait a minute! Let me move Darlene’s car out the…” Before she could finish, Ruth Ann drove across the lawn and then sped off down the street, in the wrong direction from her house.

Chapter 9

Robert Earl lay on the couch, a damp towel wrapped around his neck. He’d come home an hour ago, hurting, his ego more bruised than his neck. His weirdo baby brother had actually gotten the better of him, an ex Marine, a real man.

A minute there, on the floor with Leonard’s thumbs pressing his goiter deeper than it was designed to go, he thought it was over. A few seconds more and he would have lost consciousness. Choked to death by a fag! The thought made his neck hurt even more.

Leonard couldn’t confront him man-to-man. No, he had to dive in the air, catch him off guard. If he’d been expecting the move, he would have caught Leonard midair, whirled him around a couple of times, lifted him overhead and body-slammed him.

He adjusted the towel around his neck, a wicked smile under his bushy moustache, the imagined sound of Leonard’s body bouncing on the jail floor echoing in his head.

And where’s Estafay? When he needed her she was nowhere to be found. His neck needed a massage.

As his daddy used to say, “A woman ain’t good…” He couldn’t complete the thought. His daddy never liked Estafay, and hadn’t mind saying so, even to Robert Earl’s face. No one had a better reason than he to kill the rotten, tightwad so-and-so. His daddy had never given Estafay a chance, not once.

An ugly memory played in his mind. He shook his head, trying to recall something more pleasant, but the memory continued...

Honorably discharged from the Marine Corps, he’d returned home with his bride of two weeks, Estafay. His family was sitting on the front porch when he and she got out of the cab.

He strutted up to the porch in his dress blues, Estafay a couple of steps behind, his chest puffed up, head held high, arms swinging six inches to the front and three to the rear, as they’d taught him in boot camp.

He could not have asked for a better day, early April, a light breeze, the afternoon sun hitting his bronze buttons and patent leather shoes just right.

He stopped a few feet short of the porch and said, “Momma, Daddy, Shirley, Ruth Ann, Leonard, I’d like y’all to meet my wife, Estafay. She’s from Oceanside, California.”

Estafay nodded hello.

A long, awkward minute they all stared at Estafay, looking her up and down. And then… his head ached just thinking about it… his daddy shook his head, looked down at the floor and shook his head some more.

“Boy,” his daddy said, “all those beautiful women in California—millions of em! On a beach you can throw a stick in a crowd, knock two centerfolds upside the head. And you come back here with a goddamn orangutan!”

They—Ruth Ann, Shirley, Leonard—burst out laughing; not hee hee and haw haw, but full blown gut-holding laughter. Ruth Ann dropped to all fours, laughing so hard she started coughing and crying.

Robert Earl clutched his fist, unconsciously, as he had done that day, years ago, when his family had laughed in his and Estafay’s face.

He’d wanted to kill his daddy, put his hands around his scrawny throat and choke the life out of him. If Estafay hadn’t whispered in his ear, “Let’s go somewhere else, honey,” he might have done just that.

Estafay practically had to carry him back to the motel, three miles away, holding him up by the arm, urging him onward each step. Tears clouded his vision and he stumbled forward as if he were drunk.

Estafay walked in carrying grocery sacks in each arm, overlooking her ailing husband. He watched her put the sacks on the table and stock groceries.