Page 60 of The Party Line

“I’d rather have another ice cream sandwich,” he said in between bites.

“Okay, then.” I made a mental note to pick up a couple of boxes of ice cream sandwiches when Mama and I went for lunch the next day.

I used to wonder what Aunt Gracie meant when she said she was dog-tired, but I knew now. Never in my life had I felt like I did that evening. Still, I stopped to admire the sky, which was lit up in a whole array of pastel colors by the last rays of sun. Today was almost finished. Tomorrow I could rest up and then Monday, start all over again. Somehow I felt so much better, even with all the stiffness and pain, than I did at the end of a working day in front of a computer. I had pulled weeds, and Connor said I did a good job of not spreading the seeds. The work crew had even talked to me when we all had our afternoon break.

Gina Lou made a motion toward the table. “Chicken stir-fry and sliced pineapple. A woman who works as hard as you did today needs a good hot meal.”

I didn’t have to be asked a second time, even though I was almost too tired to chew. I sat down and loaded up my plate. “I really don’t like to cook. I’m fair at baking, and I make really good pancakes and french toast, but making a meal has always seemed like too much work for just one person. So, how did your first day go? Did you get your things all unpacked?”

“It went great.” She passed the chicken to me.

“Please, help yourself first,” I told her.

She nodded and said, “I peeked in Miz Gracie’s room and got tickled all over again when I saw those red panties. I called Mama and told her that the big secret out here was that Miz Gracie had a wild side. I hope that was all right.”

For a second, a burst of anger shot up from inside me, but then a small voice whispered in my head and told me that whatever the real issue was—if there even was one—wasn’t anyone’s business but Gracie’s. Like Jasper had said, if she had wanted me to know, she would have told me.

“It was just fine for you to tell your mama,” I said. “Aunt Gracie wasn’t ashamed of her decisions. Red was her favorite color, as you can tell by her car. Evidently, she liked silk panties better than the old white cotton ones that grannies wear.”

“Oh. My. Lord!” Gina Lou gasped. “Look at that beautiful sunset. Not even a professional painter could create something that gorgeous. What a way to end my first day here.”

“Well, that was an abrupt change of subject.”

“Sometimes my mind jumps around,” Gina Lou explained. “Ihadto focus on orders and what folks were kin to each other in the café. I didn’t want to offend someone by calling them by someone else’s name. You know small towns. Someone is always mad at someone else for something. But cleaning house and cooking is a natural thing, so I don’t have to concentrate.”

“Think you could focus if you went to college to be a teacher?” I asked.

If she didn’t leave, I could kind of adopt her like Aunt Gracie did me. Only she was a full-grown woman, not a baby, and it would be selfish of me not to let her follow her dreams. After all, the aches and pains in my body were proof that I was following a whim that could become my own dream. Gina Lou deserved to at least have the opportunity to do the same.

“I really do. I got a scholarship and had applied for student loans. Then Daddy got sick and couldn’t work for a few months, so I had to help out the family,” she said with a sad smile. “But Mama says everything happens for a reason.”

“So did Aunt Gracie,” I said. “I hope in five years we look back on this time and find out they were both right.” I covered another yawn and moaned at simply raising my hand.

“If you are too tired to check out the basement, I understand.”

“No, ma’am,” I protested. “We’re going to spend a little while down there, and then I’m going to have an hour-long bath and watch some television in my bedroom until I fall asleep.”

“Maybe you should have that bath before we tackle the basement,” she suggested.

“I’m already stinky and sweaty, so we’ll sort through a few boxes first,” I told her. “And, Gina Lou, you could easily put in your own restaurant. This food is delicious.” I thought about Mama and all those years she sacrificed to raise me. I was beginning to understand what she had drilled into me:Every choice has a consequence.

“Lila, that takes a lot of money,” she said. “And I’m hoping to save up enough money in a year or so to go to college. I really would like to be a teacher.”

Chapter Seventeen

My mind flitted from one memory of Aunt Gracie to another, and among them all, I couldn’t recollect a single bad one. She’d always showered me with love. Maybe all the reminiscences about the good times we had was what kept me from demanding answers from God as to why He took her away from me. I so wanted her to live to be a hundred, or maybe even more. I wanted her to rock my babies like we did the dolls in her bedroom when I was a little girl, and to hear her sing to them.

Among all the other memories, I remembered attending a funeral with Mama and Aunt Gracie when I was about five years old. The preacher had said that we were all born with an expiration date, and Miz Loretta Garrison had found hers and was now in the arms of Jesus. I wondered if the elderly lady with gray hair up there in that white casket with pink roses on the top of it wanted to be hugged up with Jesus forever and ever. Seemed like when there were streets of gold to be wandering up and down, and old friends to catch up with, that she might like for Jesus to let her go so she could go check out the rest of the place.

Afterward, we had gone to a family dinner at the church. The parents of my friends hadn’t brought them to the funeral. We had talked about the funeral the next day at Sunday school, and they’d had dozens of questions that I tried to answer. I told them about the preacher talking about an expiration date, and we all checked to see if we couldfind one somewhere on our bodies. I even looked at the bottom of my feet, but none of us could find anything. I figured that would be a good thing to know if I could find it.

Gina Lou broke into my thoughts. “I’ll clean up while you take your bath.”

“Okay, and thank you.” I wondered if that preacher had been right after all, and if so, then shouldn’t I live my life in a way that brought me happiness? I wasn’t going to die until a date that was written somewhere in the universe or maybe in invisible ink on my birth certificate—seemed only fitting since the birth date was there that my expiration would be on the same paper.

“What are you thinking about?” Gina Lou asked. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Oh, no.” I laid my hand on her arm to reassure her. “You’ve already proven that hiring you was the smartest move I could ever make. What do you say that we go see that basement?”

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