Alma Mater (8 page)

drawer, snipping the wax threads. "Did you perform this operation?"
she asked Vic.

"No. Hojo."

"Did a good job. That girl keeps me in business." She laughed.
"Loves jewelry."

"She doesn't make enough money to buy your stuff," Mignon said.
She winced when she tried to put the earrings in.

"Helps if you use a mirror, honey." Zelda placed a two-sided mirror
before her. "Just do it fast and get it over with and then keep twirling those earrings. Put alcohol on the front and back without taking them
out. In a week you ought to be fine. You look like a fast healer."

"Mignon, you don't know anything about Hojo's finances. You're the one without money, not her."

Zelda admired Mignon. "You look pretty as a picture."

"You don't have to go that far," Vic said, having somewhat recovered from the lightning strike in her body.

As they drove back to pick up Jinx, Vic told Chris that her father
drew up the incorporation papers for people, wills, whatever they
needed. He'd often help people who couldn't pay very much.

"Dad puts people first, money second."

"That's a wonderful quality." Chris turned around, her blonde hair
shining in the light. "They do look good on you, Mignon."

Vic found herself looking at Chris. She'd look at the road and then
look over at Chris. When Chris looked back at her, Vic burst out
laughing. Chris laughed, too.

By the time Vic, Chris, Mignon, and Jinx arrived back at Surry

Crossing, R. J. had the grill heating up and the steaks marinating.
Mignon thought she could slip past her, but R. J. knew her

younger only too well. Mignon was too quiet and moving too quickly.
"Mignon, come here."

"Thought I'd fertilize your roses," Mignon replied, but observing
her mother's stare, trudged over to her.

"Oh, Mignon."

_F

ortified by her Lucky Strike, R. J. recovered to check on the
steaks. Bad enough that Mignon pierced her ears, far worse that
she did it behind her back.

Frank wouldn't be home for supper. Since it was the Ladies' Championship at the club, he and Randy Goswell, Arnold Burgess, and Ted
Baptista all took off to play at a new course near Norfolk. The boys
would whoop it up.

A chastised Mignon wore her posts since Vic convinced their
mother that it would be worse to remove them. The deed was done,
why risk infection? Logically, she pointed out that when Mignon
would turn sixteen she'd go poke two more holes in her ears. Vic re
minded R. J. that Mignon made A's in school, didn't drink or smoke,
and so far hadn't behaved badly with the opposite sex. Drugs weren't even mentioned. R. J. puffed on a cigarette as her elder finished her
appeal.

"All right. I'm outnumbered." She drew in a breath, the tip of
her
cigarette a red period to her sentence. "Honey, you have a good head
on your shoulders."

They both laughed as R. J. patted Vic's broad shoulder and then lightly shoved her in the direction of the dock where Jinx and Chris were watching the boats.

"Mom, why so many plates?" Mignon called from the patio.

"Regina and Lisa are joining us."

"What about Teddy and Boo?" These were Jinx's brothers, one
older than Mignon, one younger.

"They're helping to officiate at the club."

"Cool." Mignon had a crush on Teddy, a senior at her high school,
and she wasn't about to betray it.

"Does Jinx know her mother's coming?" Mignon carried out
condiments.

"No, and since when are you so full of questions? It's rude to ask so
many questions, Mignon. You know better."

"Yes, ma'am." She paused. "But aren't you glad I have an inquiring
mind?"

R. J. shook her head and then shot over to the grill. Piper, when Mignon's back was turned, had grabbed a steak off the pile by standing on her hind legs and then had fled at top speed.

"Damn her." R. J. shook her head. She shaded her eyes, watching
the three college girls sitting on the dock, the low sun drenching them
in gold.
To be young,
she thought to herself.

R. J., not a bitter woman, endured her disappointments with equa
nimity. She loved Frank despite his failings, but the financial strain wore on her nerves. Sometimes, she felt old on the inside, old and
tired.

Vic and Jinx flanked Chris, all of them dipping their feet into the river, the sun shining in their faces.

"Nah." Jinx shook her head.

"Why not?" Chris inhaled the heavy river scent.

"Because American men are too frightened of women in the first place. They'll never give one political power," Jinx concluded.

"Go, Piper!" Vic had just seen the dog steal the steak.

They all laughed.

"You haven't said a word." Chris elbowed Vic.

"About politics" —Vic shrugged— "I'm not very interested."

"She'll do whatever Charly tells her." Jinx knew this would pro
voke Vic.

"Bullshit." Jinx's barb found its mark.

"He'll run for office after a pro-football career."

Vic checked her watch. "Jesus, I forgot to listen to the game." She
shrugged. "Oh, well."

"You certainly have a laid-back attitude about him," Chris said, her tone implying no judgment.

"Because Vic is so drop-dead gorgeous she can have any man she
wants." Jinx sighed, wishing she were that beautiful. "Charly's a big
man on campus." She used the old phrase, a light mocking tone in her
voice. "But Vic is bigger in her way."

"Jinx, you're so full of it." Vic hated being singled out for her looks.
After all, she hadn't earned them.

"Well, I guess she could seduce just about anybody," Chris said.
Chris flipped water over on Vic with her foot.

Heat, sweltering, uncontrollable heat, flickered through Vic's
body. She stared deep into Chris's eyes. Chris winked devilishly at
Vic, who smiled and then turned away.

Raised in a judgmental family, Chris had survived by nourishing
her spirit of rebellion. She didn't know what she was looking for until
she met Vic. Then a piece of her private puzzle fell into place. She
knew she wanted to be in Vic's presence.

"We'd better read every word of the sports section tomorrow so
you can pretend you listened to the game." Jinx waved, recognizing
friends going by in a small sailboat.

"I'm not going to lie to him. I forgot." Vic saw the occupants of the boat waving, so she waved back. She changed the subject. "Wonder if Aunt Bunny will win the tournament?"

"She has to be pretty good to win it more than once." Chris
squinted at the sun's reflection off the water.

"Aunt Bunny is good. She probably could have been a professional,
but she married Uncle Don and when she was young the circuit wasn't
so organized, I guess."

"Must have been a bitch," Jinx remarked.

"You take life as you find it," Vic echoed the Savedge creed.

"You think?" Chris's eyebrows shot upward. It occurred to her this
was diametrically opposed to her own worldview.

"I do."

"What about changing things for the better?" Chris asked.

"You do what you can, but at some point you have to accept fate,"
Vic replied.

"I am not talking about fate," Jinx said. "We sat up last night and talked about fate, and then Vic made me eat chocolate cake. I'll never
lose weight."

"Jinx." Vic laughed.

"You did," Jinx teased her.

"You know" —Vic turned to face Chris again, which made both of
their stomachs flutter— "there we were in bed and suddenly we hear a little voice, 'I'm lonesome. I'm locked in the fridge. Save me, save me, Jinx.' So, of course we had to do what we could."

"Now you sound like your father." Jinx lifted her feet out of the
river. "I once asked Mr. Savedge how he stopped that column of Ger
man tanks and he just said, 'I did what I could.' Did you know he was
awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, which is the medal just be
low the Congressional Medal of Honor?"

"Jinx, she doesn't want to hear all this." Vic wondered if she could
have done what her father did. She wanted to be brave like Frank if life
tested her harshly.

"People confused the Distinguished Service Cross with the Distinguished Service Medal, which is kind of a desk-job medal." Jinx took a
breath. "My dad, a looey in Korea, told me. Mr. Savedge doesn't talk
about it, but the men know, I mean men who fought. They . . . I think
they're different from men who haven't seen combat. Men truly re
spect Vic's father even if he does lose money pretty regularly."

_"Jinx.
"

Jinx realized she shouldn't have been talking out of school. "Sorry." Vic simply said, "Dad isn't too good with money."

"Mine is, and he's a cold bastard," Chris said this without rancor, a
statement of fact, no more, no less.

"Mine's good at it—money, I mean—but he's the excitable type.
Everyone tells me I take after him, and I'm not sure it's a compliment,"
Jinx said.

"It is. Your dad's electric." Vic smiled.

"Mother's a piece of work." As if on cue, Regina Baptista pulled up
with Lisa.

56
R I T A
MAE
BROWN

"Surprise." Vic giggled.

"Goddammit!" Jinx stood up. "I'll be right back."

As she walked away, Vic and Chris laughed, then lapsed into si-

lence looking at the river, each feeling the nearness of the other.
Chris finally said, "You have a wonderful family."

"Thank you. I'm glad you could meet everyone, even the Monster."
"She's a riot."

"Good, you can have her." Vic thought she'd melt.

"They're waving us up there." Chris swept her feet out of the water
and stood up in one easy motion. She reached down for Vic who al
lowed the blonde woman to pull her up. For a second, Chris held on to
Vic's hand.

"You're stronger than I thought you would be."

"Probably not as strong as you. Your mother said you were a
brute." Chris let go of Vic's hand.

By the time they reached the patio, Regina was regaling R. J. with
the vicissitudes of motherhood. "I'm telling you, Orgy, is there such
a thing as ovarian recall? Can I give them back? And Lisa, don't you
think for one moment that you can get your ears pierced!"