| FEAR OF SPIDERS
By John E. Cother Copyright©2005John E.Cother SUMMER 1965 Itsy bitsy spider Climbed up the water spout Down came the rain and Washed the spider out Out came the sun and Dried up all the rain Itsy bitsy spider Climbed up the spout again 1 June was hot and humid like it most always was in Ft. Anderson, a hot, southern town nestled in Northeast Mississippi halfway between Tupelo and Columbus. It reminded visitors of Mayberry from Andy Griffith fame, so my Aunt Lily said, with its population of just about 1,000 folks, most of whom knew one another and a good bit of each other’s business. It was a peaceful place to live. What few visitors ever came our way usually wanted to know where the fort was located. Truth was, no one knew of a fort ever existing and there were few Andersons in the area. The origin of the town’s name was the one big mystery in Ft. Anderson and the cause of many heated discussions in the barber and beauty shops and among folks attending the football games at the local high school. While most folks had a strong opinion about the name’s beginnings, there was no way to document any of them. Plainly, the folks around during Ft. Anderson’s first days weren’t big on record keeping. Ft. Anderson’s origins never worried me much at all. That summer—the summer I was thirteen, almost fourteen—all I mainly cared about was my lack of money. After all, my one dollar and twenty-five cents weekly allowance I received from Mema and Pop on Sunday was close to gone by Tuesday. No, this small amount of spending money was not enough for a boy with my interests, so this problem left me constantly trying to figure out how to make more. My sister Lesi got two dollars weekly because she was a year older, which I didn’t think was fair, but I never got a vote on the subject. Lesi explained to me it was all fair and square. She told me a girl with a name like Lesi, a name she had to keep telling folks was pronounced LEE CEE, deserved something extra just on account of having been given a difficult name. In addition to that, I called her Les, which was pronounced LEECE. She also said it was different being a teenager and a woman, and it plain meant she out-and-out needed more money and everyone knew it—women always needed more money than men, and that was never going to change. The only thing I noticed different was that she started wearing a bra all the time. I didn’t know why as her chest was every bit as flat as mine. She said it’s just what young ladies are supposed to do. Lesi said what I should really be thankful about was not having that ‘time of the month’ thing because it was uncomfortable and somewhat messy. Lesi thought being a woman was even harder than being a teenager; and being a teenage woman, I thought she was really in for it. I was glad I didn’t have to have those monthly ‘visits’ or wear bras. I was glad to be a young man since we seemed to have less to do. I just wore shorts and a tee shirt no matter what time of the month it happened to be and no one ever said a word against it. Nevertheless, I needed more money just in case, so one Wednesday morning, after I realized I was low on funds again and had only 26 cents in my treasury, I decided it was time to quit fooling around and get serious. Twenty-six cents was not going get me a package of Sugar Babies, or anything else I liked for that matter. I put my mind to work. There wasn’t a whole lot I hadn’t already tried with little or no success. The paper route hadn’t gone well at all because I kept getting lost. The customers didn’t understand and it didn’t take me long to figure out there was no one so cranky as an old man who goes out in the early morning to get his newspaper only to find it’s not there. Then I tried cleaning out the fish tank at the library downtown. Everything was fine until three prized fish floated to the slimy surface belly up. To this day, I don’t think that was my fault. I think the stinking fish up and died of old age. Anyway, I needed a new idea to make some money—one that would serve me better than delivering newspapers or cleaning fish tanks. While trying to figure out how to make my next dime, I heard Lesi’s shower running along with her singing loud and off key. I had the cleanest sister in Ft. Anderson, I thought. That girl took at least two showers a day with more showers if boys were involved in the day’s plans. As I heard her steady stream of water go silent, I thought maybe I would ask her opinion on ways to make some extra money, but, at that moment, I had a wonderful and brilliant thought. By 4 p.m. on Thursday, I had earned one dollar. I was thrilled and proud of my successful new enterprise. I had gotten four of my closest pals to pay twenty-five cents each to see Lesi naked. The only snag to my plan was how I was going to get Lesi to take off her clothes in front of them without her knowing it. I had to come up with a way to give the guys good value for their money and that meant figuring out how they could see all of her without anything getting in the way. That was not going to be easy because Lesi was such a private person. What could I do? I even thought of asking her to partner with me and give a naked-girl show. I could even offer to share my money, but that thought lasted for about 10 seconds because I knew she would kill me or worse if she knew what I was up to. But I was desperate, so I had hatched my plot alone. If Lesi was anything, she was a creature of habit, especially if it concerned taking showers. She took her showers in her own bathroom except for her daily shower at 5 p.m., which she took in the downstairs bathroom. She explained that that bathroom was much bigger than her shower and not usually in use around that time. That afternoon, when Lesi and some of her friends left to cruise Main Street on their bikes, I snuck into the downstairs bathroom and gently bent a blind ever so slightly so that whoever was looking in had a clear shot at bare skin. The window was right across from her shower, so this was going to work. I was a genius—no doubt about it. I left the bathroom light on and raced outside to peek into bathroom through the window and bent blind to test my handiwork. Holy cow—direct hit. I could see straight to the shower. Sometimes I amazed myself. Back to the bathroom I charged, flipped off the light, and shut the door. Lesi would be none the wiser. What could possibly go wrong? On Saturday, I invited the guys over. I could barely stand the excitement. The better part of the day, we lounged in my bedroom listening to music. Finally, 5 p.m. arrived, and I knew Lesi would be coming home any moment for her afternoon shower as she was so predictable and so clean. Man, the guys were jumpy. Seeing naked fifteen-year-old girls was a premium deal that summer because none of us ever had. They asked me if I was going to peek—like I would peek at my own sister in the shower. What a bunch of perverts, I thought, but it was these perverts who had turned me into a successful businessman. I was figuring out how many more sessions I would have to hold to make enough money to get me through the winter and how much I could make if I held one of these shows every Saturday when I heard what sounded like Lesi talking. The moment had almost arrived. The guys jumped up and down, making a lot of noise, so I turned the music up to hide the racket. Lesi stuck her head in my room, holding the door ajar and I thought my heart was going to shoot out of my chest. “Hey guys,” she said. “What’s going on in here?” We looked like a herd of cats that had swallowed some canaries, but I tried to look calm. “Hanging out and listening to some tunes,” I said. She glared at me for a second and then left. My heartbeat was so loud I was afraid the guys could hear it. I was so scared I almost backed out of the deal, but the thought of losing all that money helped me keep my scaredy-cat thoughts to myself. The guys would demand their money back if I didn’t see this through—money I had already spent so I had no choice but to go ahead with the plan. Besides, Lesi would never, ever know and no one would be the wiser. “Sh,” I said to the guys. “It’s almost that time.” At first, the guys were quiet as mice as they waited to hear the soft rain-like sound of her shower and before springing into action. It was getting harder to breathe by the minute. I heard Lesi going down the stairs followed by the sound of the bathroom door closing and a few unidentifiable noises. At last, I heard the gentle sounds of the water running in her shower and I knew the time was finally at hand. The guys fought for position outside the bathroom window and after a couple of minutes they were so rowdy they were almost out of control. “Stop it,” I whispered. “She’s going to know you’re out here. Now, listen. You can hear the shower.” “Damn, the shower’s running all right,” Joey said. “I can see the steam coming out.” “I can hardly wait,” Matt whispered. Matt was jumping up and down as he spoke. “Let me see, let me see,” Son whined. “Shit, I can’t see a thing,” Randle yelled. “You guys better shut the hell up,” I said, “or she’s gonna hear you!” I was amazed at all this fuss over Lesi. She was a tall, lanky, tomboyish girl with a crooked grin. What was so damn exciting? As far as I could tell, there wasn’t much to her. Then I laughed at myself. This was, after all, a naked girl we were talking about—a real live, buck-naked female about to show it all. And on top of that, she was going to be soaking wet. If Lesi had been anybody but my sister, I would have been fighting for a place in front of the window, too, but if I stopped to think about seeing my own sister naked, I might change my mind or get sick—and I needed that money. Somehow, I knew a wet, naked girl was even more exciting than a dry one. I wasn’t sure why. Yeah, I guess I did get the excitement, but this was my sister, so I just wanted to get the deal over with. I watched Joey, Matt, Son, and Randle fight for the best view. It was funny as all get out, but I couldn’t laugh and they had to pipe down or else we’d get caught and then—well, I didn’t want to think about that, either. “Shut up,” I said. “If Lesi hears you, the deal’s over and we’re all up the creek.” “How long is she gonna be in there?” Joey asked. “She’s taking forever.” “Be quiet, fool,” Son hissed. “It’ll be worth waiting. You know Lesi’s hot.” “Oh God, the shower curtain is opening,” whispered Randle. “She’s coming out.” “Let me see, let me see,” Son squealed, elbowing Randle out of the way. “Let me see.” “I can’t see a damn thing for all the steam,” Matt said. Matt tried to wipe the window with his hand. “Just you wait,” Joey said. Joey was straining to get a better look into the window. “Holy shit,” Son yelled. “Holy, holy shit.” Son looked like he had seen a ghost. “I can’t believe it,” Matt said, shaking his head. “I can’t believe it.” “JT,” Son said, “we’re gonna kick your ass for this.” “Yeah, and we want our money back,” Randle yelled as he tried to run away from the house. Son turned to run and knocked Matt flat to the ground. Randle and Joey scrambled away from the window, too, followed by Matt who was in just as big a hurry. As they ran to the street in front of my house, they screamed about kicking my ass and getting their money back. I watched them totally confused. What a bunch of ungrateful jerks, I thought. All the boys Lesi’s age talked about how pretty she was. Everybody knew that. Maybe she had some gross hairy moles on her body or clumps of warts like that old lady I saw at the corner store when Randle and I were buying Sugar Babies. Maybe she’s hiding something—some big, ugly, hairy secret. Finally, as disgusting as I thought it was to look at my own sister naked, I had to. Business is business. After making sure nobody could see me, I drummed up the courage to peek into the bathroom window and there, wet and stark naked, was my Pop. My knees got weak and I pinched the windowsill so hard I got a splinter in my finger. The guys had seen my pop naked. Oh, God in heaven, I had seen my pop naked. Oh God. Pop naked. Disgusting. Horrible. I’ll never be able to look at Pop again without seeing his…his thing. I headed for the kitchen with my stomach in a twist just thinking about how the guys were going to kick my ass. I needed to eat something. On my way, I took a shortcut through the den where I found Lesi sprawled on the den floor reading a book of what looked like poetry. “Hey, Les, I thought you were in the shower.” “I was going to take a shower, but Pop beat me to it so I decided to wait.” Lesi didn’t look up from her book. “Oh.” I felt my heart drop to my toes. “Where are the guys?” “Gone.” “Where?” “Home, I reckon.” I felt pretty well defeated at that point. “Ok, JT, what’s the matter with you? You seem sorta down.” “Nothing’s wrong, Les. Nothing at all.” It was bad enough I was selling chances to see my sister naked. Now I was lying, too. The chances of me getting into heaven were getting slimmer and slimmer. “Ok, if you say so.” Lesi looked up at me with suspicion in her eyes. I decided I’d better forget about eating and go straight to my room where no one could see me—where no one would have the chance to figure out I’d been up to no good. I almost fainted when Pop came out of the bathroom. I felt my face start to burn and I guessed it must have been blood red, because it felt like it was on fire. Pop handed me an envelope with our names written on the outside: Jackson Turner Macone and Lesia Emma Macone. I stared up at him trying to pretend everything was all right. “JT, go ahead and open it up,” Pop said. “It’s for both of you.” “Oh, what is it?” Lesi asked, jumping up from the floor. “What is it?” “Give me time,” I said. My hands were shaky as I opened the envelope. Inside the envelope were two new, crisp five-dollar bills. It wasn’t even time for our allowance, so I wondered what the deal was. I handed the envelope to Lesi. She seemed every bit as surprised. We looked at Pop. “Well?” Pop said. Lesi hugged Pop and I shook his hand. “What’s this for, Pop?” I asked. Maybe he had heard about me selling looks at Lesi. My face got hotter. Pop smiled. “Is this next week’s allowance? I mean, is there something special you want us to do because I…” Oh God, he knows what I’ve been up to and he’s trying to make me confess. “No, son, it’s just something I want to do for you and Lesi. Can’t a Pop give his kids five bucks when he feels like it? For no special reason?” Lesi and I stared at Pop. Any minute now, he’s going beat my butt. “Hey, stop staring at your old Pop. You know it’s not polite.” “Yes, sir,” I said, imagining the seat of my pants heating up. “You’re right, Pop,” Lesi said, giving Pop a hug. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome, honey,” I shook Pop’s hand again, feeling more and more like I should tell him I knew he knew what I’d been doing and he could have his five dollars back, but I needed the money and there was a slight chance he didn’t know what I had done. Boy, that’d be a miracle, I thought, but a kid counts on miracles because that’s all kids have, so I kept my mouth shut about the guys and the shower surprise. Lesi came over and hugged me tight. “What the heck was that for?” I asked, stuffing the money in my pocket. “No reason,” she said, “A hug, that’s all.” Lesi was smiling a wide and mysterious looking smile. Man, I was confused. This whole day had been pretty darn confusing and after that hug, I felt worse than ever. If Lesi found out I’d been trying to sell a peek at her, she’d not only be mad, but she’d be hurt. That bothered me the most, I guess. If she hadn’t given me that hug I’d have been fine, but between the hug and Pop, I was about ready to throw myself at their feet and tell them to go ahead and kill me. Maybe she knew and she and Pop were torturing me. No, there was no way she could know. No one knew but us guys and they wouldn’t tell a soul as it would get us all in trouble. So, my secret was safe, but I had bigger problems than Lesi and Pop, now that I thought about it. The guys wanted their money back—the money I had already spent. Of course, I had the five dollars Pop had given me, but if I gave the money back to the guys, I would be down to four dollars and all my hard planning would have been for nothing. There was no decision to make because I had to give the guys their money back or they would kick my ass and I didn’t think I wanted to have that experience. I called Son and told him to get Matt, Joey, and Randle, and bring them over to my house. I would cheerfully refund their money. That was a lie as I would give them their money, but I damn well was not going to be happy about it. Such a good plan had gone awry like most of my plans. The guys arrived only a few minutes later. Mention money, and they came running. I gave each of them a twenty-five cent refund which seemed to satisfy the vultures. Matt asked if I wanted to keep the quarter and try the plan again. I said, “No… hell no!” “Man, oh man, JT, your dad has a huge one,” Son said, stretching out his hands like he was showing a big fish. Randle chimed in, “Biggest one I’ve ever seen.” “Hey, Randle,” Matt said, “how many of ’em you seen?” “Well, I have seen my dad’s,” Randle answered, “and let me tell you, JT’s dad has a much bigger one.” “Maybe your dad has a small one,” Joey offered. Joey was giggling almost like a girl. “No, that’s not it at all,” Randle said. “JT’s dad is huge down there, huge.” “Yeah, and did you notice,” Matt said, “it had a blue head to it.” “Oh, yeah,” echoed Son and Randle, laughing loudly. “Damn it, guys,” I said, “shut up about my Pop. I don’t want to hear it.” All this talk of Pop’s thing was about to make me sick to my stomach. They snickered and did crude imitations of Pop. I finally ignored them, and mercifully, they quit but I had to admit, however, my pop had a monstrous pecker, not that I had seen many full-grown peckers. I think I saw one in a book on anatomy at school, but it was not nearly as big as Pop’s. I smiled as I figured that was pretty much how I would end up myself: taking after Pop in the pecker department. The way my friends talked, I’d be the envy of every man in town if my pecker were as long and thick as his. I couldn’t help but wonder if that thing ever scared Mema, but then the thought of Pop naked in front of Mema was too disgusting for words, so I went back to thinking about money. Lesi and I spent a lot of time talking about the five dollars from Pop because he had never given us that much money at one time before. Pop left about a week later and we wondered if we would ever see him again. Mema said she didn’t know where Pop went off to, either, so Lesi and I weren’t the only ones wondering. I didn’t think she was telling the truth, but she held fast to her story. Lesi and I spent hours trying to imagine where Pop was and if he still loved us. She was convinced Pop still cared about us, but I wasn’t so sure. “Do you think Pop ever loved us, Lesi?” I asked, one day when we were alone. The Beatles were crooning, “There are places I remember all my life…” on her radio as I stared first at the ceiling of her bedroom and then out her big window onto the street in the front of our house. “Of course he did, and don’t you ever say that again, JT. Pop—I don’t know what happened between Pop and Mema—but he’s always loved us. I’m sure of it,” she said. I wondered how Lesi could be so sure when I wasn’t, but I could tell from the way she narrowed her eyes when she said “sure of it” that I’d better leave the subject of Pop and love alone. Girls. They thought they knew everything—maybe they did. “Les, you think much about Pop?” “Yes. Do you?” “Lots.” “Me, too.” “Do you think Mema thinks of Pop much?” “Yeah, lots like us.” “How do you know?” “I don’t know. Just do.” “Ok.” Lesi smiled her half-crooked smile. And so it went with us. Not that we didn’t fight like cats and dogs sometimes, but we always knew what we needed to know. One Saturday night, Lesi burst into my bedroom screaming for me to get up. “JT,” she screamed, “help me please. There’s someone looking in my bedroom window. I saw his face. I saw him.” Lesi was sweating like she had been running. “Les, are you sure?” I asked. “You could’ve been dreaming.” “No, no, no, I haven’t even been to sleep. He looked right at me through my window. Come in here with me.” Lesi was grabbing my arm. “Ok, don’t worry, I’ll help you. Everything’s going to be ok. I don’t see anyone out there,” I said, peering out her window scared like I’d never been before. I couldn’t figure out how someone could look into Lesi’s window with her bedroom being upstairs, but she was convinced she had seen someone there. If so, they must have been up in the oak tree. “JT, will you go outside and make sure? I’ve been dreaming most every night that some man was after me, always chasing me and this could be him. JT, will you?” “What?” I was sweating every bit as much as Lesi by then. “Look, I saw one of those spiders—a Brown Recluse—the kind Mema’s friend Margie told me always spins a web in the house of someone who’s going to die and the one I saw spun a big old web right on the corner of the porch.” “What did you do?” Lesi had been acting funny for sometime around spiders of any kind, and now I knew why. “I knocked the web down with the broom and now I reckon I shouldn’t have because there’s some man after me. But Miss Margie said you’ve got to get rid of —” “How do you know what Miss Margie said was true?” Miss Margie was a big talker Aunt Lily always said. “Spiders are evil, JT… pure evil… a Brown Recluse hanging around can’t be anything but bad luck. They trap poor helpless bugs in their webs and do all sorts of hideous things to the bugs once they catch them. And they’re poisonous. POISONOUS.” “Don’t they eat flies and mosquitoes?” I asked. “Randle told me spiders eat insects that cause problems, but nobody ever told me spiders—” I had no idea what I was talking about, but I sure didn’t want to go outside alone. I knew that much. “Not just any spider,” Lesi said, rolling her eyes. “Listen, JT. I saw somebody outside around my window. Now are you going to help me or not?” When Lesi put her hands on her hips, I knew it was time to do something. “Okay, okay. I’ll go if you watch me from the window so if somebody tries to get me, you call the cops.” “Thanks.” “Maybe we should get Mema.” “Don’t bother waking Mema. She probably drank herself to sleep by now. Anyway it’s late.” “But, Lesi—” Strength in numbers kept creeping into my brain. “I’ll go with you if you want me to,” Lesi said. I nodded. With great relief, I headed for the door, “Are you sure you want to go with me?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t change her mind. “I’m sure,” Lesi said, “but you’d better put your pants on.” Damn it to hell. I had forgotten I was in my briefs. Embarrassed, I clumsily pulled on some jeans. I noticed Lesi had her robe all neatly tied in the front with a big bow. Why are girls always so neat? We crept all over the yard staying close for safety. I don’t know who was trembling more, Lesi or me. . “Let me know if we get close to a spider web,” Lesi whispered, squeezing my arm. “Okay.” I wasn’t too happy about running into any of those Brown Recluses myself. Just as we turned a corner, I heard the Beach Boys singing “Be True to Your School” and jumped so hard I almost knocked Lesi over. “Now what’s the matter buddy, ain’t you heard of my school, we’re number one in the state,” blasted from a nearby radio. “JT, watch it,” Lesi said, pushing at me. “Let’s go this way,” I said, not waiting to hear what Lesi had to say on the subject. Spiders or no spiders, I was starting to get some courage and figured I’d better keeping moving while I was feeling brave. Lesi and I followed the sound, slipping through the yard in the direction I thought it was coming from. Just as we passed the back porch, Lesi elbowed me. “Look that way,” she said, pointing to the alley behind our house. “There’s a big blue car sitting right there.” The closer we came to the car, the louder the music became. The sounds of the Beach Boys leaped out of the car at us. I peered into the front seat of the car to find it empty. Lesi poked me in the ribs again and pointed at the backseat where two teenagers were kissing like crazy and rolling around. They didn’t look much older than Lesi or me. I was mesmerized to say the least—this was the first time I had seen two teenagers making out in person. I couldn’t decide if I was sick or thrilled, so I kept staring as Lesi pulled my arm, trying to get me away from the car. “Come on,” Lesi said. “Let’s get out of here.” It was at this point, the girl in the car heard us, looked up, and screamed. Lesi and I screamed back. The guy jumped out of the car and grabbed Lesi by the arm. “Let her go,” I shouted, tearing her away from him and kicking him in the stomach. He fell to the ground holding his belly and groaning. Rather proud of myself, I stepped back, ready to kick him again. “Stop, JT,” Lesi shouted, grabbing my arm. “It’s Danny and Julie.” “What?” I took a deep breath and looked closer. Wow, I am finally seeing Julie Moyers up close. Wait until the guys hear this. The guys called Julie ‘twins’ because her breasts were so huge. Julie Moyers and Danny Newsome were students at Ft. Anderson High School with Lesi. They were both about a year older than Lesi, making them about sixteen. When we could finally breathe normally again, we told them about Lesi seeing someone outside her window. They volunteered to help us find the culprit. We welcomed the company, as Julie agreed with my thoughts that there would be safety in numbers. Now, four of us were creeping around outside in the darkness and the search had become an adventure and fun. I was still scared, though as we all were I thought. I told Danny I was sorry I kicked him, but I didn’t know it was him. He said to forget it. I was relieved as he looked like a kid who could’ve kicked my ass in a hurry if he wanted. Julie and he turned out to be a lot of fun while they helped us look all around the yard for almost an hour. We never found anyone so we gave up the manhunt and Lesi asked them in for a coke. All four of us piled up on Lesi’s big, soft bed. Lesi turned up the music so loud I had to put my hands over my ears. “Are we going to wake your mom?” Julie asked. “Nope. Not if I put a hundred speakers right by her bed,” Lesi said, turning up the music even louder. “Okay. If you say so,” Julie answered. “I say so,” Lesi said, laughing. “Let’s dance,” Julie shouted, jumping off the bed, pulling Danny with her. Herman’s Hermits sang “Mrs. Brown You Have a Lovely Daughter” while Danny and Julie danced like crazy all around the room. Man, they sure had the moves. I was sure wishing I could dance like that, but I had never danced with a real, live girl and I certainly hadn’t danced with a dead one, either. The painful truth was that I didn’t know how to dance, so I didn’t try. When Lesi left to go get cokes for us, Julie asked me if I wanted to dance with her. I said no and felt my face get all hot, but she asked me again and said I would have fun. I finally came clean and told her I didn’t know how to dance. She grabbed me by the hand and said she would teach me. I was embarrassed because I was so clumsy, but I was having fun just as she said. Lesi came back with the cokes, put them on her dresser, and then she and Danny began to dance. Now, Lesi could dance. While I stumbled and stepped on Julie’s feet, Lesi danced like nobody’s business. Here I was, dancing with a girl— a pretty one at that who wasn’t at all flat chested like Lesi. The guys were going to be jealous when I told them how much Julie liked dancing with me. Why, she didn’t even stop when I stepped on her toes. Of course, she was an older woman of sixteen so she probably had had experience with new dancers. I was so excited and I didn’t want it to end. Suddenly, Danny put his hand on Lesi’s butt “What in holy heck are you doing?” Lesi yelled, slapping Danny so hard I heard the crack over the music. The look on his face was so odd I burst out laughing. Danny grabbed Julie by the arm. “Let’s get the hell out of here,” he said, but instead of leaving with him, Julie slapped him a good one, too. “Holy cow,” I said. “Two in one night.” Danny glared at me and stormed out of the house. I was scared, but I so happy when he left. I thought for sure he was going to kick my ass because he was so mad. Lesi and Julie laughed when they heard the door slam. I laughed, too, but I wasn’t sure why. They both glared at me and I stopped laughing. I didn’t grab anybody’s butt, so I couldn’t figure out why they seemed mad at me. Lesi told me to go to my room so she and Julie could ‘girl talk,’ so off I went. I had to think about what had just happened. We had cokes and were all dancing. I was dancing close to Julie and her large breasts, having fun when Danny grabbed Lesi’s butt, exiling me to my room. And the whole time, Mema didn’t wake up. We could’ve had a robber in the house. Mema slept through the radio, the dancing, and the slap. Lesi and Julie seemed mad and sent me out of the room. None of this made much sense to me. I knew I had gotten the bad end of the deal. I pouted for a while and then went to sleep. Sometimes life was a mystery. Sometimes you could tell what was coming, but most of the time you were plain surprised. I woke up the next morning with someone tapping me on the shoulder. I looked up to see Julie sitting on the side of my bed. Still half asleep, I thought I was dreaming. . “Hey, buddy. I had fun dancing with you last night, you know that?” I nodded. “You’re going to be a real heartbreaker someday.” I wasn’t sure what she meant, but she was grinning big so I decided being a heartbreaker must be a good thing like having a pecker the size of Pop’s must be, too. Then Julie leaned forward and kissed me right smack on the lips. I almost fainted because this was my first real kiss. I had been mouth kissed by an older woman. Lesi kissed me once in awhile, but that never counts when it’s your sister. This was not my sister, cousin, or anyone like them. I was full of wonder and I tingled in places I never thought I could tingle, and then she was gone. I felt good and bad at the same time, and I wondered about that, too. Before I could finish my thoughts on the matter, Lesi came into my room. She asked me what Julie had to say. I told her Julie came to say good-bye to me. She said that was nice of Julie considering me being thirteen and her being sixteen and all. I said it was thoughtful of her and I had appreciated it. Lesi leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. It felt good, but it didn’t feel like Julie’s kiss. All I could think about was Julie and kissing and dancing. I had danced with and been kissed by Julie. Son, Randle, Matt, and Joey would never believe this—and I couldn’t wait to tell them. I turned on my radio just in time to hear Peter and Gordon singing something about living in a world without love. If they had asked me, I’d have agreed it wouldn’t be good because I was sure I now knew what love was—at least the love they were talking about. “Hey, Les,” I said, “you think Julie might come back over sometime?” “Forget Julie. She’s way too old for you.” “Oh.” She laughed and punched me in the belly. I tickled her and we both laughed, but then she turned serious and I thought she was going to take back what she said about Julie being too old for me, but she didn’t. “JT, I think Mema’s sick because she hasn’t come out of her room in days and she didn’t even wake up last night.” She stared at me as if I was supposed to do something, but I didn’t know what I could do, if anything. The look on Lesi’s face scared me. “You think we ought to go check on Mema?” I asked, my voice quivering. “You don’t think that spider bit Mema do you?” “No, because I got it good with the broom,” she said and then smiled as if there was nothing to worry about. “We don’t need to see to Mema now. You know she doesn’t like to be bothered, so we’d better not.” That confused me almost as much as Julie’s kiss, but in a different way. Pop always said you couldn’t figure women out even if you had an interpreter, whatever that meant, but now I was beginning to understand what he’d been talking about. “Okay,” I said, still feeling Julie’s kiss and not wanting that feeling to go away. Mema always stayed in her room for days anyway, so Lesi was probably right—there was nothing to worry about. “I called Aunt Lily,” Lesi said, “and she’s coming over to take us to Tupelo.” I was too excited to spend much time thinking about Mema. Lesi and I were going to Tupelo. We loved Tupelo. Aunt Lily usually took us there five or six times a year and sometimes we would even stay overnight. Elvis was born in Tupelo, Aunt Lily told us on one of our visits, and she took us to see his house. Once, we even thought we had seen him in a car. We weren’t sure, but it was a solid white Cadillac with loud music coming from it. The guy driving had long sideburns, so I told Lesi and Aunt Lily I’d bet a year’s allowance it was Elvis, but Aunt Lily said that would be a foolish bet if she made it because she was sure I was right. If we could run into a famous singer like Elvis, we might even run into Pop. Maybe Pop was even visiting with Elvis or maybe he was living somewhere in Tupelo. When I got a chance, I told myself, I’d ask Aunt Lily. After all, Aunt Lily was Pop’s sister and a sister keeps up with her brother or at least that’s the way it was with Lesi and me. |
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