God Ain't Through Yet (29 page)

P
ee Wee greeted me at the door with a clumsy hug. The only reason I hugged him back was because of what Charlotte had told me in the car.

I ran into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face. Then I joined Rhoda in her bedroom where she lay splayed on the bed with an ice pack on her forehead. There was blood all over the front of her pretty yellow dress.

“Rhoda, what happened?” I asked gently, sitting at the foot of the bed in her fairy-tale–like bedroom—a brass bed, pastels and frills everywhere.

She sat up, her back against the headboard. “Jade and Vernie were in their room when the fight started this time. I don't know what they were arguing about, but whatever it was, it pissed Jade off so bad, she chased Vernie out of the room into the hallway with a lamp—that expensive antique gooseneck lamp I bought in Cleveland. He tried to get away. He tried to protect his head with his hands. She grabbed one of his hands and bit the hell out of it. Then she did the same thing to his other hand. She knocked him down and straddled him, beating him about the chest with that lamp.”

“You didn't try to stop her?”

“It happened so fast. Otis, Bully, and I saw the whole thing. We were all yellin' at her to put the lamp down before somebody got hurt. Otis got the lamp away from her. Bully grabbed her off of Vernie, and for a minute it seemed like everything was under control. As soon as we turned to go back into the living room, she grabbed that lamp again and raised it to bash Vernie some more. But he was ready for her this time. He got it away from her and brought it down on her head. She didn't move anymore….”

“So he was just defending himself, right?”

Rhoda gave me a hopeless look.

“Rhoda,” I began slowly and cautiously, “if he was only defending himself, you and Otis and Bully have to do the right thing.”

“What are you gettin' at? My child is the one in the hospital at death's door, not Vernie!” Rhoda snapped.

“But Jade's going to be all right,” I reminded her.

Rhoda's mouth dropped open and she blinked until the anger disappeared from her eyes. In a soft, hesitant voice, she whispered, “Didn't you see all that blood on my floors? She was out cold when they hauled her out of my house on a stretcher!”

“Yes, I saw all of that blood, and she was unconscious because she'd fainted. But her doctor said that she'll be fine if she takes it easy.”

“I just hope we didn't get her to the hospital too late. If she has brain damage, she will never be the same again.”

I had a feeling that Jade was going to come out of this mess with an even worse attitude, but I couldn't say that to Rhoda. “She'll be fine. Dr. Hall is on duty, so she's in good hands.” I paused and cleared my throat. “The police took Vernie to jail.”

“Well, that's just where he should be! The boy did attack her!” Rhoda yelled, giving me an incredulous look.

“Rhoda, honey, she attacked him first. You just told me that yourself,” I said in a gentle voice, patting her shoulder. “What are you and Otis and Bully going to tell the police? Or have you already given them a statement?”

“No,” she mumbled. “Thanks for remindin' me. Even though that's one thing I don't want to even think about.”

“Well, you can't not think about it, Rhoda.” I had pushed the thought of what had happened to me in the restaurant with Jacob to the back of my head. But I could not ignore it. When I did think about it, I recalled the sting of the slap he had delivered to my face. “This has been a long day for me, too. I'll…tell you about it later. I can't think straight right now,” I managed to say through dried, cracked lips. I rubbed the spot where Jacob had slapped me. It stung just as much now as it did when he'd hit me.

“I can't think straight either,” Rhoda moaned, massaging her head. “Please help me get through this.”

 

I never thought that I'd see the day that I would be on my knees praying for Jade. But that's just what I was doing now. Rhoda was on one side of me, Scary Mary was on the other. We were all kneeling and swaying from side to side on the floor in front of Rhoda's bed, hands cupped in prayer with Scary Mary leading. “…and another thing, Lord, don't be too harsh on Vernie. He's limited and weak…. He didn't mean to hurt Jade so bad…didn't know what he was doin'…Amen.” Scary Mary stumbled to rise but fell back to the floor, moaning in pain. “Praise the Lord!” she whispered, shaking her head and waving her arms and cane in the air. “God is good!”

Between breaths and holy references, she reminded us that she'd recently had hip replacement surgery
and
her gallbladder removed. Rhoda grabbed her by one arm and I grabbed her by the other. We all rose at the same time.

“Rhoda, go out yonder to wherever you keep your liquor and pour me a real strong highball,” Scary Mary ordered, wobbling on her cane as she followed Rhoda and me to the living room.

From the mood in the living room, you would have thought that Jade was already dead and that people had come to pay their respects. Lizel and Wyrita, the two attractive young women who practically ran Rhoda's childcare center, were humped over on Rhoda's plush couch, with tears streaming down their faces.

Several people from the neighborhood were huddled by the window, mumbling, speaking in hushed tones, and shaking their heads. Since Jade had verbally trashed so many of them, I knew they were present more because of curiosity than concern.

I had my share of problems, but Rhoda had enough for an army. And most of them were centered around Jade. Despite all she had done to Vernie—and me and countless others—some of the people present were now talking about her like she was a cherub. Even Pee Wee.

“I just hope that child is goin' to be good as new,” he muttered, giving Rhoda a concerned look. Over the years, Pee Wee had replaced the two older brothers that Rhoda had lost. One had died at the hands of an out-of-control cop, and her other brother had come back from Vietnam with so many mental setbacks, he was as good as dead. He was a permanent resident at an asylum in Louisiana near Rhoda's parents. I totally understood Pee Wee and Rhoda's allegiance to one another. He sat in an easy chair near the door. Charlotte, who was asleep, lay in his lap with her head on his chest.

“Jade's gwine to be fine! Devils don't go down easy. Look at me!” Scary Mary blurted with an animated look on her face.

Bully and Otis managed to chuckle; everybody else remained stoic. I moved closer to Pee Wee, mainly so I could rearrange Charlotte on his lap. The way she was positioned, with her head turned too far to one side, she was bound to have a sore neck the next day.

“Now ain't that nice,” Scary Mary commented, looking from me to Pee Wee with her head tilted so far to one side that her floppy red wig shifted. “I'm so happy to see y'all gettin' along so nice.” She sniffed and gave me a mysterious look. “Annette, ain't this a whole lot better than you sittin' in your house prostrate with grief over Pee Wee takin' off with that woman?”

I heard several snickers. Every head in the room turned to look at me as I leaned in front of Pee Wee with my legs about to buckle. Scary Mary had caught me off guard with her comments.

I cleared my throat and stood up straight. “I wouldn't say that I was prostrate with grief,” I quickly clarified. “I've moved on with my life.” My last sentence made everybody uneasy. The noncommittal expression on Pee Wee's face disappeared. “By the way, when do you plan to come by the house and remove the rest of your stuff?” I asked him.

He looked shocked, and a split second later he looked disappointed. “Uh, I'll talk to you about that later,” he told me.

S
cary Mary was the kind of person who made herself right at home, no matter whose home she was in. As old and “sickly” as she claimed to be, she hobbled in and out of Rhoda's living room like a young squirrel with a tray of drinks each time. She fussed at people for spilling alcohol on Rhoda's nice fluffy carpets, and she even volunteered to cook up a few snacks. People were drinking like fish, but only a few were interested in eating anything. That didn't stop Scary Mary from throwing together some cheese and crackers, and some other finger foods, and passing the trays around with such a relish that you would have thought we were at a block party.

I tried my best not to look at Pee Wee across the room, because it seemed like every time I looked in his direction, he was looking in mine. At one point, he looked like a lost puppy. His face was long, his eyes drooping, and his lips looked so tight I was surprised he was able to open them wide enough to shove in the cheese and crackers he kept snatching off the tray every time Scary Mary got close enough.

When Pee Wee ended up standing next to me, he suddenly remembered “a previous engagement,” so he decided to leave. I knew that his leaving had a lot to do with what I'd said about him coming to get the rest of his belongings.

“It sure was good to see you, Annette. You are lookin' well,” he told me, his eyes darting from side to side like a condemned man.

I had no idea why he felt so uncomfortable in my presence, especially this late in the game. There was nothing else he could do or say to upset me that he hadn't already done or said. Even though I still felt some pain and anger, I was also well on the road to recovery. But he was clearly agitated as he stumbled toward the door, almost walking into the wall to keep from looking me in the eye.

“I'd better be on my way,” I told Rhoda about ten minutes after his departure.

“Is everything all right?” she asked.

“Not really. And to tell you the truth, Rhoda, I don't think that things will ever be ‘all right' for me again.”

When I got home, Pee Wee's car was parked in my driveway. He was in the driver's seat, looking like he didn't have a friend in the world. I had not expected to see him, and I was not happy to see him on my turf. As far as I was concerned, he had no right to show up unannounced. He had given up that right when he moved in with a woman he thought he'd be happier with.

By the time I parked my car, he had jumped out of his and run over to mine to open my door. “I…I just wanted to make sure you got home all right,” he said, following me to my front porch doorsteps.

“You didn't have to do that. You don't have to do anything for me. I can take care of myself,” I told him in a firm tone of voice. I already had the key to my front door in my hand. The last thing I wanted this man to think was that I was weak in any way. “I did it before you married me, I can do it now.” I couldn't stop myself from adding that little dig.

Charlotte, still snoozing, was in my arms. Her body was as limp as a wet dishrag. Pee Wee was so close behind me I could feel his breath on my neck. Of course that irritated me and I almost dropped Charlotte as I stumbled toward the door. He attempted to take her, but I silently pushed his hands away. As soon as I got inside, I placed her on the couch, covering her with a light green blanket that I'd left on the couch from the night before.

“You can leave now. You don't have to worry about us,” I assured Pee Wee. “We're getting along fine without you.”

“I'm sure you are, Annette. You know how to get that point across real good. But that still don't mean I don't worry,” he said, plopping down in that old La-Z-Boy chair of his.

I stood with my arms folded. “I'm surprised you haven't come back for that damn chair yet,” I commented under my breath. He ignored my comment.

He was clearly uncomfortable, so I did not understand why he had bothered to come to the house on this particular night. We stared at each other for a few moments. He looked confused, then tense. When the phone rang, he looked relieved, and I heard him release a sigh of relief that was so profound it sounded like a hiss.

I was apprehensive about picking up the phone. The machine was on, but I didn't want the call to go to it. The speaker was on, and if the caller, meaning Jacob, said something stupid, I didn't want Pee Wee to hear it. I grabbed the phone in time and I was glad to hear the voice of Mr. Combs, the widower who lived in the big brown house across the street.

“Annette, I was just checking to make sure you're all right,” the old man began. “I've been real worried about you. Is everything all right now?”

Now?

“I'm fine…now,” I told him, puzzled.

“That's good. Did you straighten out that mess with that jitterbug peeping in your front window? I hope so. Because the other night when he did it, he also peeped into your car. I told my grandson Harvey that that spook was up to something. If you come out to your car and find it vandalized, or sugar in the tank one morning, you'll know who done it.”

“Mr. Combs, what are you talking about?” I glanced at Pee Wee. Like me, he looked thoroughly confused.

“Honey, you don't have to try and hide nothing from me. I'm only concerned about your welfare. You remind me of my niece in Biloxi.”

I had to deal with old folks every day of my life. With my parents and Scary Mary racing with one another to see which one could drive me crazy first, I was used to the ways of the elderly. I thought I was going to have to go across the street and sit on Mr. Combs for him to cut to the chase. “Brother Combs, I have company right now, so I don't have a lot of time to talk. Could you please get to the point?”

He sputtered through a few coughs first. “Didn't the po'lice bring you home earlier tonight?”

“That's correct. Why?”

“Well, since you ain't disabled, coming home in a squad car had to be because you got a mess on your hands. And it must involve that sport I've seen visiting you on occasion since Pee Wee took off. He's the one I seen peeping in your front window and your car.”

I could feel my blood rising and my heart sinking. “Oh, thank you for telling me,” I said, trying not to sound too concerned. “You have a blessed night.”

“God willing. You just be careful now. This is a close-knit neighborhood, and we look out for each other. Me and your daddy go fishing all the time. I keep my hunting rifle and a baseball bat handy. You need me, all you got to do is holler and I'll come running. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, sir. Mr. Combs, would you do me a favor and not mention any of this to my parents? I don't want to worry them.”

“I won't say nothing about it to them. Now you make sure all your windows and doors is locked.”

I hung up and turned to Pee Wee. He spoke before I did. “Who was that? What is it you don't want your parents to worry about?” he asked, giving me a tentative look. “Is there somethin' goin' on around here that I should know about?”

“That was Mr. Combs across the street. Uh, he told me there's been reports about a burglar breaking into houses on our street.”

Pee Wee rose, hands on his hips. “What?”

I motioned with my hands for him to sit back down, but he didn't. Instead, he moved closer to me with his hands still on his hips.

“Don't overreact,” I advised. “We've had break-ins in this neighborhood before.”

“I'm goin' to get a pit bull for you! No—three pit bulls. I want you to keep one in the front yard, one in the back, and one in the house at all times. I'm goin' to have a burglar alarm installed first thing tomorrow mornin'.”

“I told you that I can take care of myself, Pee Wee,” I said weakly. I paused and exhaled a sour breath. I had drunk a glass of wine at Rhoda's house and I could still taste it. “Do you think Lizzie would mind if you stayed with me and Charlotte tonight?” I asked, wringing my hands and looking toward the window. I knew Jacob had some issues, but his recent actions and what Mr. Combs had just told me made me realize that Jacob's issues were more serious than I thought. “You can sleep in your La-Z-Boy,” I said quickly.

“No problem,” Pee Wee said without hesitation. “Just get me a pillow and a blanket.”

“What about Lizzie?”

“What about Lizzie?” he asked with a look of mild disgust on his face.

“Shouldn't you call and let her know you're staying here tonight? I don't want to cause you any problems with her.”

“Baby, I've had problems with that woman from the day I moved in with her. But this is not the time to talk about that. I am more concerned about you and my daughter.” He paused and shifted his eyes, like he was trying to decide what to say next. “You and Charlotte are my family.”