Pigg River



 

     We’d all been playing croquet out in the yard.  That is, all of us but Kyle.  He just sat on the porch steps with Uncle Dorsey and watched.  Something was wrong with him.  I could tell.  Finally, I walked over and said, “Kyle, how come you ain’t playing?  What’s the matter with you?”

     Then, he said, “I ain’t supposed to tell.”

     Uncle Dorsey put his arm around Kyle and said for me not to worry about him.  “You just ain’t feeling good, are you Kyle?”

     Kyle shook his head.  Then it looked like he was fixing to start crying, but he didn’t.  Uncle Dorsey patted his shoulder and smiled up at me like I was supposed to understand.

     “Come on Patsy!  It’s your turn to go,” my little cousin Becky shouted.

     “I quit!” I said.  “I’m tired of croquet.  Let Bobby Ray take my turn.”  I looked back at Kyle.  “I’m fixing to go get me a drink,” I said.  “Would you like one?  Granny’s got grape Kool Aid.”

     Kyle nodded his head.  “Okay,” he said.  He didn’t even look.  I walked up the steps and went inside.

     All the women were back in the kitchen getting supper ready.  It was Momma and Aunt Julie, Aunt Donna and Cousin Joanne and Granny.  “Momma,” I said.  “I’m getting me and Kyle some Kool Aid.”  I was about to open the refrigerator door when I noticed that Aunt Julie was sitting at the kitchen table crying and everybody was standing around her.  Momma turned around to look at me.

     “Good heavens, Patsy,” she said.  She seemed irritated.  “Use the plastic cups on the counter there.”  She pointed.

      I said, “Okay.”

     Then Granny said, “Here Patsy, Darling.  Let me help you.  That pitcher is heavy.  It’s hard to pour.”  She came over and opened the refrigerator and got the Kool Aid out.  Then, she put ice in the cups and poured it.

     I just stood there.  “What’s wrong with Aunt Julie?” I said.

     “Nothing, Honey,” Granny said.  “You run on back outside now and play.  We’re going to eat here directly, just as soon as the rolls are done.”

     I turned and went back out.  “Here Kyle,” I said handing him the drink.  He thanked me in a soft, timid voice.  I sat down beside him.  “Who’s winning?” I said nodding toward the game in the yard.

     He looked up at me and smiled.  “Bobby Ray just knocked Rosalie’s ball clear down in the field.  See where she is?”

    “Mercy, she sure is way down there, ain’t she?”  I laughed.  Then, we just sat there for a while, me and Kyle and Uncle Dorsey not saying nothing.  Kyle’s little knee was touching mine and neither one of us moved.  Uncle Dorsey smoked his pipe.  It smelled like cherry.  I listened to Momma and them talking back in the kitchen through the screen door.  I reckoned that Aunt Julie must have quit crying.

     After a while, Aunt Donna stuck her head out and yelled for us to come on.  “It’s time to eat!  You children wash your hands!”

     “Come on Kyle,” I said.

     The kitchen smelled like fried chicken and warm bread.  Uncle Talbot said the blessing and we all held hands.  I took hold of Kyle’s little hand and squeezed it tight.  Then, Uncle Talbot said a funny thing.  He said, “Dear Lord, please bless Julie and Mark and Kyle.  Help them and guide them in Thy love.”  I opened my eyes a little and looked over at Aunt Julie.  She had her eyes pressed tight.

     We all said, “Amen.”  I don’t think I’d really noticed with all the people, but Kyle’s Daddy wasn’t there.  He hadn’t come.

     “Y’all, everybody just grab you a plate and help yourselves,” Granny said.  “Donna, you and Joanne help fix the youngon’s.”  Then Cousin Joanne took Kyle.

     “Come on Kyle, Honey.  Let’s us get you some chicken.  You like a drumstick or what?”

     Uncle Lester said, “Mercy Leona, this sure looks might good.”

     “There’s more of everything,” said Granny.  “Tea is over here on the counter and there’s grape for the children.”

     Well, we all filled our plates.  I got a breast and a wing because I don’t like dark meat.  There was potato salad and green beans and deviled eggs and macaroni and cheese and hot rolls.  I got some of everything.  Momma looked and said, “Patsy, you think you’re going to eat all that?”

     I told her I would.  The grownups all sat in the dinning room at Granny’s big table.  Me and Kyle and Rosalie sat out of the front porch and ate in the glider.  We balanced the paper plates on our knees.

     Then, Rosalie said, “Kyle, where’s Uncle Mark?  How come he ain’t here with y’all?”

     I poked her with my elbow.  “Hush,” I whispered.

     For a minute Kyle didn’t answer.  Then he sort of mumbled that his Daddy wasn’t there anymore.  “He done packed up a suitcase and drove off last night.”  Then he started to cry.  I looked at Rosalie.

     “See what you done!  I swear Rosalie, ain’t you got better sense?”

     “I’m sorry Kyle,” she said.  She sat her plate down and got up and went over a knelt down and hugged his legs.  “Honest Honey, please don’t cry.  You’re Daddy will come back.”

     “No he won’t,” Kyle sobbed.  “Momma said she didn’t think so,”

     “He will,” I said.  “Uncle Mark loves you to death.  You know that.”  I didn’t know what else to say.  “Eat your supper and don’t worry.  Everything will turn out all right.  Aunt Donna’s got chocolate marble cake.”

     Rosalie kept hugging his legs and kissing his knees and after a while he stopped crying.  I wiped his eyes.  We finished eating and we all had cake and then Uncle Dorsey came out with his Banjo and sat down in the porch swing.

     “Y’all going to play?” I said.

     “Well, I thought it might be nice,” he said.  Me and Cousin Joanne and Bobby Ray helped with the dishes.  I kept my eye on Aunt Julie.  She still looked right sad and she wasn’t talking much.  Momma and her were wrapping up all the leftovers.

     Momma said, “Julie, you and Kyle can take some of this home with you and eat it tomorrow.”

     “Yes,” said Granny.  “Y’all do.  There ain’t no way I can eat all this.  I’ll wrap up a big piece of this cake too.”

     “You don’t have to do that, Momma,” Aunt Julie said.

     “Julie Darling, the last thing you need to be worrying about is cooking.  Here Donna, hand me that plastic wrap.”

     We finished cleaning up and everybody went out on the porch.  Uncle Talbot got some chairs from the kitchen so everybody could have a seat.  It was getting dark.  The sun was setting over the mountain and the lightening bugs were out.  Granny got some mayonnaise jars from the pantry and we poked holes in the tops with a screwdriver.

     Rosalie said, “Come on Kyle.  I bet I can catch more than you can.”  Kyle got up and went out in the yard with her.  Uncle Lester had his mandolin.  Uncle Talbot got out his guitar and Granny even went and got her autoharp.  Everybody was tuning up and strumming.

     “Y’all need this light on?” said Aunt Donna.

     “Oh, I don’t reckon,” said Uncle Dorsey.  Leona, you need the light on to see to play?”  Granny shook her head.

     “I don’t guess so,” she said.  “Not as long as I know the songs.  Julie, are you going to sing?”  Aunt Julie said she’d try.  “Sing, Pass Me Not Oh Gentle Savior,” Granny said.  “You do that so pretty.”

     Me and Bobby Ray were sitting on the steps.  I was watching Granny’s hands as she played.  They looked so gentle. 

     “Julie Honey, scoot your chair over here next to us.”

     She did.  Then Uncle Talbot asked her if she was ready.  “Y’all might have to help me out,” she said.  Then, Uncle Lester started it off and Aunt Julie sang.  The sound seemed to reach up in the air.  Uncle Dorsey sang the low part.  After that, we sang, What A Friend We Have In Jesus and everybody knew the words to that.  We even sang the first verse twice.

     Then, I heard something.  I turned to look.  Somebody was coming up the driveway.  I could see the headlights way down at the bottom of the hill.  “Wonder who on earth that could be,” said Aunt Donna.  We all watched.

     “Julie, Honey, I believe that’s Mark’s truck,” Granny said.

     “I think it is,” said Uncle Talbot.

     Kyle saw his Daddy pull up in the yard.  He threw down his jar and ran over.  Uncle Mark got out of the pickup truck.  Kyle came up and wrapped his arms around his Daddy’s legs.  Uncle Mark picked him up with one arm. Then, he walked over to the porch.  “How’re y’all,” he said.  “Julie Honey, can I talk to you a minute?”

    “Well, I reckon,” she said.  “Come on in the house.”

    Uncle Mark sat Kyle down and came around the bushes and up the steps next to me.  Aunt Julie held the door and they went inside.  I turned to see.  After a minute they were hugging and kissing.  Then, they came back out on the porch.  They had their arms around each other.

    “Mark Honey, have you eat?” Granny said.

    “No Missus Tinsley,” he said.  “I been too tore up to eat anything.”

    Granny sat her autoharp down and stood up. “Well, come on in the kitchen and I’ll fix you a plate.” 

Copyright © 2017 by James William Gardner

James Gardner is a native of Southwest Virginia. He writes extensively about the contemporary American south. His work explores aspects of southern culture and society often overlooked: the downtrodden, the impoverished marginalized by society.

Shirley Gerald Ware-Publisher