The Pecan Man(14)

I was a little overwhelmed by the noise at the table at first, but I was soon laughing heartily at the antics of Grace and the twins and the stories that Marcus shared of life at boot camp.

I finally got around to asking Eddie where he’d been for the past few weeks. Seems his daughter had sent him a bus ticket to come to Alabama for a visit. I asked why he didn’t just stay down there, but he offered little in the way of explanation.

“Some things just ain’t meant to be, Miz Beckworth. We’s both better off not bein’ too close.”

“That must be hard for you.”

“Not really,” he replied with a shrug. “We ain’t never had too much in common. This here some good cawnbread dressin’ Miz Blanche. You make this?”

Moves like that didn’t bode well for my prying. I focused on eating my cranberry gelatin.

After dinner Blanche and Patrice cleared the table, Grace and the twins turned on the television set in the living room and the two men and I retired to the porch. Eddie seemed to be anxious to get home, but Blanche was packing him up some leftovers to take with him. Not too much, for it wouldn’t keep without refrigeration, even with the nights turning cooler now.

The three of us rocked in silence for quite a while. I think back to those moments now and I realize just how quickly whole lives can be altered. Sometimes, it’s just a few words here or there that put things in motion and everything you believe about yourself changes. Things you couldn’t have dreamed you’d do are done in the blink of an eye.

If Blanche had packed faster, if Marcus had headed upstairs to finish fixing that leaky faucet, if I had never invited Eldred Mims to Thanksgiving dinner, Skipper Kornegay might still be alive today.



“How’s dat l’il girl doin’?”

The question from Eldred came out of the blue. I half-choked on my tea and sputtered, “Who, Gracie?”

“I felt awful bad ‘bout what happened to her. I didn’t hardly know what to do but bring ‘er on home that day I found ‘er.”

Marcus was leaning forward in his chair with an expression on his face that even I couldn’t read. It was shock, I suppose.

“You found her?” I blurted out. I suppose I should have been able to cover better than I did, but I had never asked Blanche how the child got home that day. I just assumed she had come of her own accord and Blanche had not wanted to speak of any of the details.

“Yeah, I’s the one what found her, cryin’ fo’ her mama like she was. I like to never got to sleep that night f’ worryin’ ‘bout that chile.”

“Found her where?” Marcus found his voice. “What’s he talking about, Miz Beckworth?”

Now it was Eddie’s turn to look shocked. I was equally stunned and I just sat with my mouth half-opened for a minute. I hadn’t been prepared to tell an outright lie and, at that moment, all my upbringing screamed, “Don’t!” Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell if that meant don’t lie or don’t tell. So, with my heart beating that one single word, I said, “Oh, Gracie just had an accident, that’s all.”

“What kind of accident?” Marcus demanded to know.

“I think I done talked outta turn,” Eddie managed. “I thought the family knowed all about it.”

“Blanche didn’t want to worry anyone, is all.” My voice quaked under the strain of lying.

“What happened to Gracie, Miz Beckworth? I thought she just had a bad dream about something.”

“Marcus, you’re gonna have to talk to your Mama about this.”

Eddie stood. “I got to go. I’m sorry, Miz Beckworth. I didn’t mean no harm.”

“Wait, Eddie. Blanche is packing your food.”

“No, I got to go.”

He was off the porch and halfway down the sidewalk when Blanche appeared at the door with a Winn Dixie bag packed with leftovers for Eddie to take with him.

“Where’s he…”

“What happened to Grace, Mama?” Marcus clenched and unclenched his fists with nervous energy.

“Oh, Lord, help me,” was all Blanche could manage before she sunk into the nearest chair and dropped the sack of food to the floor.

It happened so fast, I still wasn’t sure how much damage had been done. I wracked my brain to remember every word that had been said in case Blanche could stick with her dream story without Marcus being certain she was lying. Blanche looked up at me with that very question on her face. How am I going to do this?

Not being privy to the whole discussion, Blanche had no clue how to proceed. I tried to fill in for her, but as is probably already apparent, I’m not altogether quick on my feet.

“Eddie was just asking after Gracie, Blanche. He wanted to know how she was doing after she had that accident and he brought her on home.”

“Oh,” Blanche nodded, “the accident.” She wasn’t particularly convincing if you ask me.

“Gracie just fell over some rocks on her way over to Miz Ora’s house and Eddie was kind enough to bring ‘er on home to us, tha’s all.”

“What rocks?” Marcus wasn’t buying a word of it.

“I don’t know what rocks, Marcus. Just some rocks out in the woods,” Blanche broke out in beads of sweat across her forehead.