Out of the Easy(80)

“You’ll work it off. Every dime of it. Thankfully, you’re not an ingrate like your mother, even if you don’t wear the watch I gave you.”

I started to lie about the watch. That’s how easy the lies had become. But I stopped myself. I had to tell Willie about her watch and also Forrest Hearne’s watch. She stood next to the bed, still reading the headlines.

“I don’t wear the watch, Willie, because Mother and Cincinnati stole it.”

Willie slowly looked at me over the paper.

I nodded. “They broke into my room and stole the watch and my pistol. And . . . I hadn’t told you about this, but Cokie gave me two thousand dollars out of his gambling winnings so I could go to college. They took that too.”

I wished I hadn’t told her, that I could take it all back. Livid was an understatement. The look on her face defied description. Expressions of fury and pain blazed across her face simultaneously. Her eyes blinked rapidly.

“Willie?”

She reached out for the bed to steady herself and slid down, knocking a vase off the bedside table on the way. Her knees hit the floor.

“Willie!” I ran to grab her. Her eyes were round and protruding, and a stuttering sound came from her windpipe. She reached up and grabbed my shoulder. I screamed for Sadie.

“I’m going to call Dr. Sully. Okay, Willie?”

She motioned to the shuttered window. I understood.

“I won’t let the cop in here, Willie. I promise.” I screamed again for Sadie, this time louder. She came running and threw her hands to her face when she saw Willie.

“I don’t know what happened. She just fell over. Let’s lift her up onto the bed. Hurry, Sadie, I have to call Dr. Sully.”

Willie’s body was too heavy. We couldn’t lift her by ourselves. Evangeline peered around the bedroom door.

“Evangeline, help us!” I shrieked. She shook her head and backed away in fear.

I wanted to beat her. “You selfish witch. Get over here and help us, or I swear I will shoot you myself. Now!”

Evangeline obeyed. She took Willie’s feet, and together the three of us were able to lift her onto the bed.

“Prop her head up,” I told Sadie. “She’s barely breathing.” I ran to the hall phone. Sweety was on the landing. Evangeline pushed by her, ran up the stairs, and slammed her door.

“Jo, what is it?” asked Sweety.

“It’s Willie. I’m calling Dr. Sully. Lock all the doors. There’s a cop outside in a black car.”

I sat with Willie, propped up between the pillows. She was sweating and got sick over the side of the bed.

“The vultures will come. Don’t let them in,” she wheezed.

“Stop it, Willie. You’re going to be okay. Do you hear me?”

“Don’t let them in. Never let them in,” she breathed.

Willie was indestructible, steel tough. Seeing her like this terrified me.

She had helped me, protected me for so much of my life, and I was useless, unable to do anything for her. I held her in my arms. Her tremors calmed. She laid her head on my chest. I hummed “Buttons and Bows” and stroked her hair. The strewn newspapers on the floor and the untouched coffee tray at the foot of her bed stared at me, commanding me to do something more.

Willie gripped my hand. “Salted peanuts,” she whispered.

Dr. Sully finally arrived and ran into the room. I looked up, tears streaming down my face.

It was too late.





FIFTY-FIVE


Cokie sat in the parlor, his face buried in his cap. His sobs pulled with a pain so deep and sorrowful it scared me. Sadie knelt at his feet with her hand on his knees. He looked up as I left Willie’s room with Dr. Sully. His body quaked with sadness as he spoke.

“Is she really gone, Jo?”

I nodded. “Do you want to see her?”

“No,” he protested through his tears. “I don’t want to see no dead body. Willie ain’t in there. She put her walkin’ shoes on. She gone to see the Lord.”

“Perhaps we can step into the kitchen,” said Dr. Sully. “There are arrangements that have to be made.”

We gathered in the kitchen, everyone except Evangeline. She wouldn’t speak to anyone or open her door. Dora was inconsolable, wailing facedown on the kitchen table while Sweety rubbed her back.

“Word’s gonna get out,” said Sweety. “I think it’s best we be organized. Willie would want that.”

“Yes, she would,” said Dr. Sully, whose face registered complete shock. “Jo, I assume you have Willie’s papers?”

“Papers? No, she never mentioned anything,” I said.

“Well, I know she has an attorney,” said Dr. Sully. “I’ll check with him. In the meantime, you’d best write a death notice and make funeral arrangements.”

Dora sat up, her makeup from the night prior melted across her wet face. “It has to be somethin’ special. Willie Woodley’s gotta go out in style. She’d want that. If I have to, I’ll turn tricks in the street to pay for it.” She sobbed, pulling tissue after tissue out of her bosom.

“Now, Dora, Willie wouldn’t want you in the street,” reprimanded Cokie.

“Willie always said the Laudumiey funeral home was nice. We should have it there,” said Sweety.