A Longer Fall (Gunnie Rose #2)(38)

“Good,” Millie said from the bottom of her heart.

I stepped away from the swinging door so I wouldn’t get hit in the face as Jerry and Eli entered. The kitchen seemed real crowded all of a sudden.

“Now, Willa May. Tell me what happened,” Jerry said. He was good at firm-but-nice.

“Miss Evvie pinched me for the hundredth time,” Willa May said. “It hurt. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t think at all. I slapped her.”

“Willa May, what do you imagine will happen now?”

Willa May had quit crying, if she ever had been. She did not seem curious about Eli and me. “I think I better not go back to Mr. Norman’s,” she said. “I think he’ll do something bad to me if I do, even if I cry and repent and say I’ll try again. I’m the third person he’s hired to stay with his mama. The others found good reasons to quit. I think Mr. Norman hired me because I was the only one who showed up to apply. I think he and Miss Carolyn Ann figured I had to stay because I wouldn’t find work anywhere if I left another job. So I think I’m done in Sally, ’specially since Carolyn Ann was a Ballard before she married. She musta told me that five times a day.”

“Do you have a plan?” Millie said.

“I thought about it,” Willa May said. “A few times. Since Miss Evvie started pinching me. And she bit me once, hard enough to bleed.” Willa May was clearly angry when she thought about this. I was willing to bet this was a face Norman and Carolyn Ann Moultry had never seen.

“So what can we do to help?” Jerry said.

“You two are nice people,” Willa May said. “I don’t want to drag you into my trouble. Before Mr. Norman starts looking for me, I’m going to go home, grab my clothes, and head off to my cousin’s house in Arkansas. My brother will take me to the state line, at least. Maybe farther. Then I’ll decide what to do next.”

The girl sounded calm and sure.

“Here’s what we’ll do,” Jerry said. “You get in the back seat of my car, crouch down low, and I’ll run you home. At least no one will see you on the street.”

Willa May stared at him for a long moment. “No, sir. I appreciate you thinking of it, but I can get home without anyone seeing me. Or at least, anyone noticing me. Everyone knows your car: white people, black people. Someone will say you were out driving. It might get back to Mr. Norman. He’ll have it in for you. He’s already suspicious.”

“I thought as much,” Jerry said. He was trying not to be worried, but he was.

“Let me loan you a dress,” Millie said. “That uniform stands out.”

This offer really hit Willa May like a brick. Her mouth fell open. “All right,” she said, very slowly, as if she expected Millie to snatch back her offer.

“Come on,” Millie said, and off they went to look in Millie’s closet.

Jerry turned to us. He waited for us to say something.

“I knew they didn’t ask us over because we’re fun,” I said to Eli.

He laughed, and Jerry looked mortified.

“You know why I’m here in Sally?” Eli asked our host.

I was interested in hearing the answer, since I didn’t know myself.

“I’ve heard you’re here to help change things,” Jerry said.

“That’s a good way to put it. Did you put up some of the money?”

“I don’t really have enough spare money to make much of a difference,” Jerry said. “We gave what cash we could.”

Millie and Willa May came back in the kitchen. Willa May was wearing a dark blue skirt and a brown-and-blue patterned blouse. Better than the light gray uniform, if you wanted to blend in with the shadows.

Jerry did not look happy, though I didn’t know why. But he didn’t object, and with an awkward hug, Willa May thanked Millie and slipped out the back door.

Millie said, “What?” the minute the door closed behind her.

“Lots of people have seen you wearing that blouse,” Jerry said. “If she gets stopped, people are going to know who helped her.”

“I haven’t worn it in three months,” Millie said. “I’ll say I gave it to her when I cleaned out my closet last spring.”

Jerry didn’t look like he thought that would erase all doubt, but he shook his head and pushed away the worry. Millie went into the kitchen, and I hoped we were about to have some chess pie.

“So now you know way more about us than we know about you,” Jerry said to Eli and me. “You know if you talk about this to anybody here, we’ll get run out of town. Maybe not right away, but people will stop coming to me with their ills, and Millie and I will have to move. Our families are here.”

“I don’t know why you’d even imagine we’d tell anyone,” Eli said.

“It’s not like we’re so popular,” I said, and I had to laugh a little. “Especially after the Nellie incident.”

“Fool girl,” Jerry said, and he almost smiled. The air in the room lightened up a little.

“Let’s just carry on as we were,” I suggested. “Best thing is to look normal. Be normal.”

We all had pie. Millie and I washed the dishes while Eli and Jerry finished their drinks. After that, Eli and I took our leave.