Down the Dirt Road (21 page)

    “Well, that will be up to the doctor to decide but things are lookin’ good for tomorrow Mrs. Marshall.”  The nurse picked up the remote control and nonchalantly turned off
the television.  Jennie was grateful for the reprieve.
Her experience on the way to the hospital had hit her hard. 
The after effects combined with her mother’s very sudden turn left her drained and exhausted.  She had a sudden longing for Officer Jennings to hold her close and make her feel safe.

    Maybe Momma was right.  Maybe she should allow herself the possibility of getting close to someone again.  Not every friend would hurt her the way Trisha did, would
they?  No every man would break her hurt the way Michael did.  At least that’s what Grayson said.  She thought of his confession earlier in the day.  She remembered that first day of high school.  Grayson, like Michael was two years ahead of her.  On that particular day she was lost as a sparrow and trying not to look like it.  The handsome junior had come out of nowhere and pointed her in the right direction.  Their interaction after that point was minimal, she supposed Grayson Jennings could have been shy in his teen years.  In those days he was taller than everyone, thin as a rail and hung out with a quiet crowd, not at all like the well- muscled, athletic and popular Michael McKee.  Her school girl crush had been misplaced, it now seemed, on a boy who had no concern for her feelings even after declaring his undying love.  Perhaps it was time for her to let him go once and for all.

    Trisha and Michael were so much better suited for each other than she and Michael ever were.  As shallow as a puddle, that’s how Grayson had described him.  Fitting description of her former girlfriend too, now that she thought about it.  Yes, they deserved each other.  Neither
one of them would have offered her any support after Daddy’s death, not really.  A few tears at the funeral, a couple of
visits after but they would have drifted apart, of that she was now certain.
   

    Michael sleeping with Trisha might have been the best thing that could have ever happened to her.

    
A weight she didn’t know she was carrying lifted from her
shoulders instantly
.

18.

     Nearly a month had passed since Momma’s trip to the hospital.  As soon as Uncle Tommy returned from his trip he rushed right over to the Marshall farm to see her and had visited nearly every day since.

     Jennie had come home from work on more than once occasion to find them rocking on the front porch, sipping lemonade and laughing.  Momma still hadn’t left the farm but she wasn’t sleeping all day anymore.  She looked forward to Uncle Tommy’s visits, getting up and dressing each morning, styling her long hair and putting on a touch of make up.  Jennie couldn’t be sure but she thought that
maybe there was much more to their relationship these days then would meet the eye.

    She was on her way home from work when she remembered that she needed to stop at the pharmacy for Momma’s prescriptions.  She would have kept right on going had she known Trish McKee would be in line just ahead of her.

    By the time she realized who the blonde in front of her was, it was too late.  Trisha turned and made eye contact, holding Jennie’s gaze tightly.  Her former friend looked tired and perhaps a bit plumper than usual.  Was she having another baby?  The way her and Michael probably went at it, she likely was.

    “Hello, Jennie.”  She spoke with a tentative air, almost seemingly afraid to speak to her former best friend after so long.

    Jennie nodded curtly.  “Hi Trisha.”

    “I hear your Momma is doing well.  I am glad to hear of it.  I was real worried about her.  The ambulance and the police …”  Her pale skin turned rosy with embarrassment.
Trisha dropped her eyes.  “Any way, I am glad to hear she’s doin’ better.”

     “She’s doing OK.  Better than she has been, thanks for askin’.”  Jennie really hoped that her cold voice and curt words would be enough to warn Trisha off from further conversation but her hopes were in vain.

     “Did’ja hear?  Some of the local boys have gotten together and joined up the Army.  They say they wanna go and get them some Iraqi’s – some revenge for 9/11.”
  Trisha looked incredibly sad.  Jennie almost felt bad for her.

     “Nope didn’t hear a thing.”

     “Michael up and joined.” 

     Michael McKee joined the Army?  What about his wife, his babies?  She did feel bad for Trisha then as her former friend fought to hide the tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks.

    “What did he go and do something like that for?”  He was a dumb oaf, just like Grayson had said.

     “Because the other guys were doin’ it.  Says he believes in the cause and won’t rest until he feels like me and the
babies,”  she patted her bulging tummy, “will always be safe.  Thinks it’s his duty to the country and to… us.”

     Her voice broke on the last word and Jennie reached out and hugged her old friend.

     “I’m so sorry Trisha.  I can’t even imagine what you must be feeling.”

     “I don’t know what I’ll do without him!  What if he gets killed?  Or worse, crippled?  How would I ever take care of a crippled husband.”

     The old Trisha coming through loud and clear.  Only thinking of herself as always.  Aggravation replaced the compassion she had begun to feel.

     “You will do what you have to, if you have to because you
love
your husband.  It’s amazing what you can manage when you love someone.”

     She was thinking of course about her life and the hard decisions she had to make when her father died but the words she spoke were true.  Trisha might just surprise herself if she had too.

Although Jennie wasn’t so sure at the moment.

    “I suppose you might be right.  But what will this town do without all its young men?”

   “Towns before ours have managed and we will too.  Who all is goin’?”

      Well, there’s Michael and his best friends, Josh
and Joey the twins.  And then Will James, Grayson Jennings, Thomas LaRue and Marty Harris.  Oh and the Lyman brothers- Jack and Jesse…”

     Trisha kept talking but Jennie stopped listening.  One name in her list had Jennie’s mind reeling.  Grayson Jennings. 
Her
Grayson Jennings was going off to war?  Not that she really had any right to claim him as her own, that was for sure.  He wasn’t a part of her life but she always just expected him to be there, around town in his police car, keeping an eye on her from afar.  He hadn’t spoken to her since that day on the porch but she caught him sometimes watching her as he drove through town or passed her in the supermarket.  Small towns were just that…
small
.  It was virtually impossible to avoid anyone completely for any length of time.

   If he went off to Iraq, to fight the war on terror as the newscasters had been calling it,
he
might not come back.  That upset her a whole lot more than the thought of Michael McKee not coming back, as wrong as those thoughts might have been.

   “Are you still listenin’ to me, Jennie?”  Trisha was back to her normal self, apparently over the drama of possibly having a crippled husband which seemed altogether worse to her than having a dead one.

    “What?  Oh, yes, I was listening.  That really is quite a few young men.  I guess it will be a little like World War II around here- the women will just have to pick up the slack and keep the town runnin’.”

     “Is that all you have to say?”  Trisha demanded haughtily.  “Don’t you even care that they are runnin’ off to fight someone else’s war?”

      And then Jennie was really angry.  Her former friend had become extremely dim-witted over the years.  Or, maybe she always had been and Jennie had just never noticed, so grateful to have a friend. 

    
“Someone else’s war?  Are you a fool, Trisha?  Those men came to our country and killed our people simply because they don’t like us.  They brought their
holy
war to our soil so we need to go over to theirs and let them know that doesn’t fly in the United States of America.  This is our war now- a war to protect ourselves and give our children a future free of fear and constant worry.
Don’t you get it?
If we don’t stand up for ourselves and let those
people know that they haven’t won then they
will
win.  And if that means I have to work double shifts in the factory and help my neighbors repair a roof or harvest their gardens then I will do it gladly, all the while praying for the safety and protection of our men who are fighting and giving their lives for
my
freedom.”

    She meant every word, just wished that Grayson Jennings hadn’t chosen to volunteer.  Still, she understood- now more than ever in her life- that a person has got to do what they think is right.

     “Hmpf!  When did you become such the little patriot?”
  Trisha’s hands were on her hips in true Trisha fashion.

     “When I watched Chris Amos’s mother collapse in the middle of the road because she thought her son had died in the World Trade Center.
”

     “But he didn’t die.  He’s just fine.”

     “No,
he
didn’t die but nearly three thousand other fathers, mothers, sons and daughters
did
die.  What if they had driven one of those planes into the Norfolk Naval Base?  Norfolk is only three hours from here and full of nuclear powered ships and subs…”

    “I never thought about that.  Bu that doesn’t mean my Michael has to go to war.”

    “What if every wife and mother felt that way?  Who would defend us then?”

     Trisha dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand.  “Well, I still don’t have to be happy about it.  I don’t know what I’ll do here all alone with a little one and a baby on the way.”

     “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.  I’ve got to get goin’, Momma needs her prescription.  It was …nice… chattin’ with you Trisha.  Good luck with the new little one.”

     With that, Jennie turned and walked away from the best friend
of her childhood, wondering why she had ever wasted a single tear on her.

19.

     Jennie’s eyes searched Main Street for any sign of the familiar police cruiser of Grayson Jennings.  They hadn’t spoken in over a month but she had the sudden urge- need- to see him now.  To find out if what Trisha had said was true.  Was he really joining the Army and going off to Iraq?

    She knew in her heart it had to be true.  It was exactly the thing she would have expected Grayson to do.  He would believe in the cause too strongly to stay here and let others go off and fight for it.
 

     There was no sign of any police cars as far as she could see.  Maybe it was his day off?  Should she go and look for him?  Momma was waiting on her but it suddenly seemed very important to her to talk to Grayson.  Driving through town might be the easiest way to run into him.

   She drove as slow as she could, peering down the side streets at each intersection but there was no sign of the familiar white car anywhere.  It was getting late, she knew Momma would start getting agitated if Jennie didn’t get home with the meds soon so she turned her car in the direction of the dirt road that would take her home.  She would try and look for Grayson tomorrow after work.  The need to see him was almost bordering on desperation, a feeling she was having real difficulty understanding.  A month ago she sent him away with his own damaged heart and now hers was crying out for the chance to speak to him once more.

   Not surprisingly, Uncle Tommy’s truck was in the drive when she pulled in.  What was surprising was that Momma and Uncle Tommy were not in their usual place on the front porch.
  Grabbing the package from the pharmacy from the
seat of the car, she took the steps up the porch two at a time and let herself into the house.