Sweet Tea: A Novel (11 page)

She broke into another big smile. “I know Cassandra. We sat next to each other during Arts and Crafts. She made the loveliest wooden butterfly, painted it pink and yellow. My name is Minta. Minta Gray.”

Arts and Crafts! What kind of place is this
? I thought.
We sent Mama here to get her mind fixed, not prepare her to open a craft store!

“We spent a lot of time together. She told me she had beautiful children. Please tell your mama to call me some time. I’d like to take her shopping. I gave her my phone number.” She smiled again. “She reminds me of my daughter. They would’ve liked each other.”

Minta’s big-toothed grin closed to a solemn smile. And I was surprised to realize I liked her, in a strange way.

“Yes, Ma’am. I will,” I told her.

A man about Mama’s age appeared beside her. “Good luck, y’all, and Merry Christmas!” Minta said, and waved. She hung from his arm like a Christmas ornament while they strolled out the door.

A minute later, Mama sauntered down the hallway and entered the lobby. Her hair was shorter, cut into a bob. She looked more sophisticated than she could ever be. She smiled with her usual closed lips.

“Mama, look at your hair!” CeCe ran her hand down the side of Mama’s head.

“Do you like it?” she said. “It’s not really me. But it was free and all. One of the nurses cut it—she told me she was a hairdresser before she became a nurse.”

CeCe kissed her cheek. “It’s good to change your hairdo once in a while. It makes you feel like a new person.”

I secretly hoped she
was
a new person. A sane person. I also wondered how safe it was to have a nurse visiting patients with scissors in their hands.

Mama’s eyes found mine. “Hi, Olivia, aren’t ya gonna give me a hug? You too, Luke.”

Luke and I hugged Mama from each side. I’d been unsure of what to expect, but she seemed like the Mama we knew before the breakdown, even cheerful again. She was dressed in the clothes CeCe bought for her - a green fleece sweat outfit with matching slippers. But I found it hard to relax after all that had happened.

Mr. Shimmering appeared, and we followed him to his paper-infested office.

“Sit down, please,” he said, pointing to the chairs.

He pulled two pill bottles from his pocket and placed them on top of his desk. “This is the medication the doctor prescribed for Cassandra.” He spoke the words as if Mama wasn’t there. He picked one bottle up and held it at eye level. “This is Stelazine. It seems to be working well. However, we will need to check Cassandra’s blood levels in a few weeks to see if it’s still a good match for her. Side effects may continue to occur, and she might be tempted to stop her medication. If this happens, she needs to see the doctor immediately.”

He picked up the other bottle. “This is a tranquilizer called Ativan. Cassandra should take one Stelazine pill each day. The Ativan is only for the times she feels extra stress and agitation.”

Finally, he turned to meet Mama’s eyes. “It will help you calm down. And don’t forget to drink a lot of water too.”

He turned back toward CeCe and me. “This is not a cure,” he said in a deeper tone of voice. “There is no cure, only medication to help Cassandra remain functional. There are refills available for both. She may need to try several medications before we find one that’s best for her.”

He handed me a business card and gave one to Mama. “This is the name of a doctor in your area. You need to make an appointment with him for your next refill.”

He stood up, offered his hand to Mama, and then CeCe. “Good luck.”

We shuffled out of his office, ready to begin a new life with Mama. One without the craziness, I hoped.

I held my hand out. “Here, let me take that for you.”

She sat in the front seat of the car and was quiet the first few miles. Shortly after that, she blurted, “That Shimmering has more patients to handle than I have hairs on my head. He can’t keep ’em straight. How can I trust he gave me the right medicine?”

“I spoke with your doctor ahead of time,” CeCe said. “Don’t worry. He gave you the right medicine.”

Mama’s tone changed. “I don’t ever want to go to that place again. Do you understand?” She scowled. “There’s nothing but crazy people in there. All except Minta and me. We’re not like the others. They’ve all got problems with drugs and drinking. Big deal, so I get confused sometimes. That doesn’t make me crazy. What makes me crazy is this ringing in my ears and being thirsty all the time from that stinking medicine.”

“Don’t worry, Mama. The side effects will stop,” CeCe replied, keeping her eyes on the road. “The doctor told me so. And I’ve already seen most of them fading. You just have to stick it out. Maybe you should take the other medicine to help you relax. You’ve been through a lot.”

“Yeah,” I added. “You’ve been through a lot.”

I could see CeCe in the rearview mirror, but I couldn’t see Mama’s expression so I couldn’t be sure what else might be going on in her mind. But I had a sinking feeling.

Luke fell asleep as usual. Mama went back to being quiet while CeCe drove. I stared out the window at the homes covered in Christmas lights. I wondered what the New Year and the
new
Mama would bring.

M
y job at home was to check the mail, and the last few days I’d forgotten. The mailbox was stuffed, and I grabbed the mail, sat down at the kitchen table and ripped open anything that resembled a card or letter. Sure enough, I found a card with Aunt Nadine wearing a Santa hat and bright red lipstick, along with a two-hundred-dollar check. Surprisingly, Grandma and Grandpa actually placed a check in their card this year. The other cards were from Bessa’s granny, and Jonzie, and one I didn’t recognize. I opened it and read:                             

Dear Cassandra and Kids,

Belinda and I are moving to Jacksonville and would like to come for a visit. I know it’s been a long time, but family shouldn’t remain separated. We’ll be moving down this spring. I hope you’ll be happy to see us.

Love,

Bradley

He even included a check for one hundred dollars. “Hmmm,” I muttered, grinning, “I like you already, Uncle Bradley.”

We hadn’t seen Uncle Bradley since Daddy’s funeral. We hadn’t seen anyone from Daddy’s family since the funeral. Actually, we’d barely seen anyone from Daddy’s family even before the funeral. Whenever I tried to talk about that with Mama, she turned cold and silent. Knowing I had family members in the greatest city in the world, with whom I had no contact, was a mystery I hoped to unravel one day. After receiving this letter, maybe now I would.

Well,
I
was excited to see him. I hoped Mama would be too.

“Mama, CeCe, Luke, we got a special card in the mail,” I shouted, and put the checks in a separate pile.

They all gathered around me. “Who’s it from?” CeCe asked first and picked up the card.

“Uncle Bradley,” I answered, curious to hear Mama’s response.

“Let me see that.” Mama grabbed the card from CeCe’s hand and read it. “Why, after all these years, does he want to see us?”

“He says right here.” I pointed to the place on the card and said it aloud. “Family shouldn’t remain separated.”

“Hmmm,” was all Mama said.

Luke practically jumped out of his sneakers. “I’ve got an uncle?” 

“I guess you wouldn’t remember him,” CeCe said. “You only met him once, at Daddy’s funeral.”

“This is so cool,” he said, and smiled in a way I hadn’t seen him do in ages.

It was good to see him smile.

Mama, still overly calm, caused
me
anxiety. I tried to distract her by saying, “Don’t you think we should go to church tonight?”

CeCe shot me an evil eye. I suppose, after sacrificing the turkey because of our sinful souls, she feared church might not be the best place to bring Mama. But we’d always gone to Landon Baptist Church
on Christmas Eve. And before Daddy died, we went every Sunday. I missed going. The church people were the closest thing we’d ever had to a family.

“No, I’d like to just stay in tonight,” Mama said.

“Okay, Mama, whatever you want,” I replied, and hung the Christmas cards with tape from the top of the doorway to the kitchen.

* * *

The next day was quiet, with no visitors. We opened the wrapped gifts from K-mart with each of our names on it. Grandma and Grandpa called to wish us a Merry Christmas, and acted as if Mama had never been gone for weeks at a mental hospital. CeCe helped Mama bake a ham and some collard greens and mashed potatoes, and I made the cornbread we always had. For dessert, we had sweet potato pie and drank eggnog while we watched
It’s a Wonderful Life.
Christmas passed us by without an inch of excitement except for the anticipation that in a few months, we’d be meeting our uncle. And except for Mama’s mentioning of the name Westin Barnes.

* * *

After New Year’s Day, Mama returned to work at the nursing home. CeCe went back to the community college and cleaning houses, and Luke and I went to school as before.

Tuck found out about my night with Matt before I had a chance to break up with him. Matt couldn’t forgive me for ditching him. Probably to get back at me, Tuck began dating Monica, and even though I was one of the few remaining virgins in my junior class, I became known as the Spelling Slut of Landon High.

Sick of the rumors, I decided not to date any more high school boys. Jonzie and I paid her cousin ten dollars to make us fake IDs so we could seek out more mature-minded males. Our plan was to hang out at the Hunka Bunka Ballroom on the edge of town. It was a rock club, not a ballroom anymore, but for some odd reason the owner never changed the name. Probably cost too much money to buy a new sign.

“Bessa, you have to come with us,” I said. “Jonzie’s cousin’ll make you an ID too.”

“Are you crazy?” she said. “My granny would never let me stay out that late. Besides, being in a smoky bar isn’t good for my voice,” she reminded me. “I have to sing in church on Sunday and you know I’m not into going to that sort of place.”

“Yeah, I know. Just thought I’d ask.” Not for a moment did I think she’d say yes. Maybe I even wanted her to tell me I shouldn’t go, just like she was always telling me things I shouldn’t do.

On a Saturday night in late January, Jonzie and I hit our first rock and roll club. I told Mama I’d be babysitting with Jonzie, and she told her mama she’d be babysitting with me. Even though she rarely paid much attention to where I went, I made up the story anyway, just in case the medicine caused that to change.

We stood in line outside the door, shivering from the cold. Neither of us wore our coats since we didn’t want to cover up our new outfits.

Mine wasn’t really new. I’d lost those five extra pounds and snuck out wearing CeCe’s new jeans and her black cashmere sweater, which slightly exposed my right shoulder. I even borrowed her hoop earrings.

Jonzie wore a pink hooded sweater with a white star across the chest and a pair of black pants that laced up the front. Her spiked-heel boots lifted her about six inches off the ground. Even though I had heels on too, Jonzie still made me look short.

The band played so loudly the music rumbled inside my chest. “Give me some lipstick,” Jonzie hollered in my ear. It was her fifth application in ten minutes.

My pointy-toed boots started to cut off the circulation to my toes. I wanted to get inside and sit down.

“The line’s moving. Quick, get your ID out,” Jonzie said, and shoved me ahead.

I rummaged through my purse and pulled it out. It appeared authentic to me, but I didn’t know if it would go over with the guy at the door.

“I’m nervous,” I whispered to her.

“Shhhhh, play it cool.”

Jonzie went first. A burly guy with a band t-shirt, ripped up black jeans and a feather earring in his ear checked her ID. He stared into her eyes and cocked his head toward the door. “Go on in.” 

Jonzie wandered in and headed toward the bar. Although taller and plastered with makeup, I figured my over-developed chest would draw attention from my baby face and I’d follow her right in. The guy checked me out and examined my ID. He asked what year I was born.

“1961,” I said, pretending to sound annoyed.

“You look young for your age,” he commented.

I smiled. “I guess that means I’ll look young when I’m old.”

He handed back my ID. “Go ahead.” He waved on the next person in line.

Jonzie and I bolted straight to the bathroom, grabbed each other’s hands, jumped up and down and chanted in high-pitched whispers, “We’re in, we’re in, we’re in!”

“Let’s get a drink,” she suggested.

We made our way to the crowded bar. I edged myself in between two guys. I stretched out my arm and waved a five-dollar bill in the air.

The bartender slapped down two napkins. “What can I get ya?”

“Two Cokes,” I hollered above the music.

I felt a pinch in the back of my arm. I turned around. Jonzie pushed herself in front of me and shouted, “Make that rum and Cokes.”

The memory of spewing all over Matt’s living room floor remained fresh in my mind. I didn’t intend to finish the drink, but like a fool, I did anyway. At least I stopped after two this time. Wide-eyed and filled with excitement that we pulled it off, I gazed around the smoky bar, and Landon seemed a million miles away. It reminded me how desperate I was to get away for real.

Two girls in the seats to the right of us got up. Jonzie and I snagged them before anyone else could, and scoped the place out with fascination. Jonzie jabbed me in the arm. “Hot guy at two o’clock.” I swiveled myself around on the barstool and checked him out. A Bon Jovi look-alike stood beneath recessed lights with a halo of smoke surrounding his head.

“He winked at me,” Jonzie said.

“Wink back.”

I couldn’t believe I was telling Jonzie what to do. She’d always been more aggressive than me in every way, especially guys.

She smiled at the guy. Then sounding panicked, she said, “He’s coming over.”

She sat up straight, shook her head, and loosened her bangs in front of her face. The closer he got to us, the less I thought he resembled Jon.
Too bad.

The guy walked over. “Hey,” was all he said.

“Hey,” she said back.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Jonzie and this is Olivia,” she wrapped her arm around my neck.

“What ya drinkin’?” he asked.

“Rum and Coke.”

He threw a twenty on the bar, and the bartender came over and he ordered Jonzie and me another one. Within a few minutes Jonzie disappeared, so I did a little room-surfing myself, catching glimpses of each good-looking guy and skipping the rest. I felt warm and tingly again, just like I had the night of the concert. An abstract painting of dancing drunks floated on the dance floor.

My eyes stopped dead center at one who reminded me of Matt. I smiled. He smiled back. Then he promenaded over to my seat. We exchanged names, and before I knew it, Tom offered me another drink, and he and I were lip-locked in the corner of the bar. Jonzie was nowhere to be found.

“You wanna take a ride? He asked. “I have to pick up some money from a friend.”

I hesitated. “Is it far?”

He scratched the tip of his nose. “No. Just a few miles down the road.”

Leaving with this guy wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but after my third rum and Coke, my decision-making skills had gone down the toilet. “All right, Tom, but I don’t usually get in cars with strangers.”

He grinned in a playful-sadistic way. “I’m not a stranger. I’m your new best friend.”

“Let me tell my
other
best friend what I’m doing.” I said, and scanned the bar for Jonzie. I didn’t see her anywhere. Since Tom said we wouldn’t be long - and the alcohol had stifled my intelligence - I went along.

* * *

As I walked past the sea of parked cars, I detected motion in one. I recognized a very familiar red-robin tattoo. Squinting, I noticed the words “free bird” under it. In addition to her double-ended burning candle, Jonzie had added the red robin after she served six months under house arrest enforced by her parents for getting caught stealing lipstick from K-mart.

I knocked on the window. She pulled the back of her shirt down. “What’s up?”

“I’m going for a quick ride, I’ll be right back,” I said.

She smiled and waved me on.

Tom and I walked past a few rows of cars and stopped in front of a blue Jeep. He opened the car door and got in first then leaned over and pulled the lock up for me; I slid inside. 

“You sure we won’t be long?” I asked him again.

He started the engine and laid his hand on my thigh. “It won’t take more than a few minutes. Just sit tight.”

We pulled up to a dark street with a row of tiny one-story houses.

“I’ll leave the car on so you’ll have some music,” he said, and slammed the door shut.

Rethinking my decision to go with Tom took firm hold of my paranoia.
No, I’m not gonna do this.
After a few more minutes, I started thinking about my future. Although I couldn’t imagine being alone with Mama if CeCe left – again - I began to feel selfish about my plan. Nevertheless, the fear of taking over her position of head-of-household drove me to carry on. I needed to get to the library. A scholarship was the only opportunity for me at this point, and I had to start studying for the SAT’s.

It felt like I’d been in the car much longer than five minutes. I glanced at the clock and saw it had been fifteen. My heart began to pound, and that unsettled feeling planted itself right in its favorite spot in the pit of my stomach. Crazy thoughts began to run through my head. Rattled by nervousness, the hole in my gut grew.
What if someone killed him and he’s dead inside the house? Maybe it’s a set-up and he and his friend are waiting for me to come to the door so they can rape me.

Ten more minutes passed. I thought hard and realized I had two choices. The only thing left was to pick one. I had no idea what the consequences were to one choice, but the other might well land me in jail.