The Ladies' Room (24 page)

"What else did she tell you?" I asked.

"That when she was dead she hoped ..." He paused.

"What?" I pressured.

"Okay, I'll fens up. I knew she was leaving it all to you."

"And?"

"She said she hoped you went through things really slowly
and didn't toss out anything valuable."

"I can see why, but was she talking about just the stuff in
this house?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. She'd say something like that
and then tell me what happened back when she and Eula were
little girls or some other piece of her history. There at the end
her mind flitted from past to present and back again during
the course of one supper."

He ate, and I pondered, finally putting my untouched pie
back into the carton. What on earth could she have meant?
The jewelry? Maybe she was afraid I'd toss everything without taking time to really look at it.

"I guess she meant that jewelry."

"You might want to put it into the safe"

Thinking he meant a safe deposit box at the bank, I asked,
"And where's the key to that?"

"Don't need a key. It's a combination lock, and I know the
combination."

I must have looked puzzled.

"Come on, I'll show you. It's in the basement, and no one but
me even knows it's there. She had it installed after Lonnie
died. I should've told you about it, but there's been so much to
do, and-"

"-and I trust you, Billy Lee" I finished the sentence.

He opened a door down to the basement and pulled a penny
chain cord. Light shined down a very narrow staircase. I hate
cellars and basements and caves and anything underground. Let the tornado whistle blow, and I'll ignore it. I'd rather take
my chances swirling through the air with all the other debris
than spend an hour in a musty-smelling cellar.

He moved an old Victrola to one side and squatted down to
slide a metal suitcase away, and right there on ground level
was the door of a safe.

"There we go. Combination is seven right, thirteen left,
eleven right"

Every day brought a brand-new surprise.

The inside of the safe was about eighteen inches square and
filled with papers, money, and more jewelry in little black
velvet drawstring bags. I leafed through the papers and jewelry
before putting it all back.

"I don't have time to deal with this right now. I've got to
get the upstairs cleaned out first. One thing at a time. We'll
go through the rest of it later and put that jewelry down here,"
I said.

Billy Lee shut the safe, twirled the dial, and moved the
camouflage back over it. "Ain't inheriting fun?"

"I could write a book"

"Why don't you?"

"Are you serious?"

"Sure. You are so smart. You could write a book. You're
funny too. Tell it just like you see it. Only . . ." He waggled his
eyebrows. "Change the names to protect the guilty."

It began with a smile, which became a giggle, and then a
full-fledged belly laugh I couldn't control. It was so infectious,
Billy Lee caught it, and there we sat like two first-graders
laughing our fool heads off, when the doorbell rang. We still
wore stupid grins when we opened the front door to find
Linda and Art ready for the afternoon's work.

On my way upstairs to work beside Billy Lee, an idea popped
into my mind like a lightbulb in a bubble above a cartoon
character's head. I could use the money we'd made today to
help underprivileged girls get an education. I could create a
Gertrude Martin scholarship to be given to the Tishomingo
High School female senior who needed help to pay for college. Billy Lee and I could be on the committee to decide who would
get the scholarship.

By suppertime Art and Linda had a van loaded top to bottom,
and I had enough boxes to warrant a run to the Durant Goodwill store, but that would have to wait. The store would be
closed by the time we could drive there that evening.

Billy Lee fired up the hibachi out on the back porch. I topped
cut-up potatoes, onions, and fresh green beans with pats of
butter, salt, and pepper and wrapped it all in foil to grill thirty
minutes before he put on the steaks. I sat in the swing and
watched him cook.

"What're you going to do with the money you made today?"
Billy Lee asked.

"I'm thinking about a Gertrude Martin scholarship for a
high school senior girl."

"That's a good idea," he said.

"What'd you think I'd do with it?"

"Pay for divorces for women who have cheating husbands.
Or else set up scholarships to train them for jobs so they could
support themselves."

"Hadn't thought of that, but it's a good idea. I like it better
than a scholarship for a younger person. What makes you so
smart? And, while we're at it, you have got to start telling me
stuff."

He looked me right in the eye. "I do tell you stuff."

"You didn't tell me about Linda and Art"

"I forgot. I was thinking about the office and hoping you
wouldn't be disappointed, and I forgot"

"Billy Lee, I love every single thing you've done in the
house. It's as if you read my mind and produce what I want
even before I know what I want"

"Then what's the problem?"

"The problem is, I'd been dreading going through all that
junk today. If it hadn't been for all the gorgeous furniture
you'd built, I might have torched the place just to keep from
sorting and packing up all that stuff."

He chuckled, and the tension disappeared.

"You've really got to start writing some of this down, Trudy.
You'd be-good- at it."

"I couldn't keep a train of thought long enough to write a
whole book. Besides, we've got too much work to do for that
right now. Are those steaks ready? I'm starving." I changed the
subject.

Sometimes Billy Lee's confidence in me was just plumb
scary.

By Thanksgiving we had the dining room finished and the
living room semidone. The woodwork had been stripped and
the walls painted, but we'd decided to wait until after the holiday for the floor man. Momma and Lessie were the only guests,
but we ate in the dining room on Granny Molly's good china.
Momma was off in la-la land and thought I was the waitress
and Billy Lee was a movie star. She fluttered her eyelashes at
him after he said grace and carved the turkey. "I swear I saw
you play on that episode of The Golden Girls."

"Don't mind her. Just be glad she's not yelling and upset,"
Lessie whispered.

"This is new territory for me. I didn't know Momma could
flirt," I said out the side of my mouth.

"You two should stop telling secrets. It's bad manners to
whisper like that. You will upset Billy Bob and me"

"It's Billy Lee, Momma," I corrected her gently.

"I know Billy Bob Thornton when I see him. It'll hurt his
feelings if you call him Billy Lee. He's been my favorite
movie star for a long time, so don't try to play games with me.
Now, get us some more tea. My glass is almost empty, and his
is only half full."

"Yes, ma'am," I said.

Billy Lee followed me to the kitchen. "Play along with her.
It's really kind of fun."

"For you. You get to be a famous movie star. I'm just a waitress who's allowed to sit at the table."

"But it is Thanksgiving, and you've got family," he said.

"Oh, no, you don't. You're not playing the orphan card with
me today, mister. And if you're going to be Billy Bob Thornton today, then get on in there and keep her flirting and happy."
I pushed him toward the dining room.

He patted me on the shoulder. "Yes, ma'am. I'm on my way.
Did I ever play on The Golden Girls?"

"I don't know, but that's one of her favorite shows. If she
says you were on The Beverly Hillbillies, don't argue."

"You got it," he said.

"Did you get the help straightened out?" Momma asked
Billy Lee when we got back to the dining room.

"I sure did. She just didn't recognize me off the big screen.
I look different without stage makeup. Tell me, what movies
have you played in, Miz Clarice?"

"Oh, darlin' boy, I'm not an actress" She giggled.

"Woman as lovely as you, I'll bet you used to be °"

Momma blushed and fanned the heat in her face with the
back of one hand. "No, I wanted to be, but my daddy said no.
He said his daughters were going to marry and be good
mothers. So that's what I was. I have a daughter who's away
at college. She's going to be a teacher. I wish she'd be an
actress, but I'd never tell her that. My daddy didn't let me
be what I wanted, so I'll just keep my mouth shut and let
her be a teacher. But she's so pretty and funny, she could be
an actress. I bet she could play Blanche's daughter any old
day."

I was learning more about my mother than I'd ever known
or imagined, and it was all because of Billy Lee.

"Is your daughter Trudy?"

"Yes, she is. Do you know her?" Momma asked.

"I've met her."

"Well, imagine, what a small world it is. Do you think you
could get her a part in one of your movies?"

"I might. Tell her to come down to the studio and audition
for me," he said.

I tried to give him my best drop-dead look, but it just
couldn't get past the silly grin on my face.

Lessie poked my arm. "See? She's happy even if she's not
'here.'"

"Thank goodness." I nodded.

Momma shot us each a look, and we stopped talking.

"Now, I want to know what made you decide to go into acting," she said.

"It just seemed like it was the thing to do. I was out there in
Hollywood and couldn't find a job doing anything else, and
this scout asked me if I'd like to play on The Golden Girls, so
I gave it a try."

She nodded seriously.

"I got that part and went on to get another. Pretty soon I
was the star of a movie."

"Well, that's a wonderful story, Billy Bob, but I'm sleepy
from this delicious meal. Would you take us home now?"

He played along and went to his shop, opened a side door,
and drove out a 1970 Cadillac Coupe DeVille: a bright, shiny,
red convertible with white leather interior. My eyes popped out
of my head. He bundled the two old girls up in their coats and
scarves, then helped Lessie into the backseat and Momma into
the front. She held her chin up as if she were escorted every day
in such style.

I didn't believe my eyes until he came back in the car. I met
him on the back porch. The wind was chilly, and I hadn't taken
a jacket. He threw an arm around my shoulders as we went
inside.

"Where the devil did that come from?" I asked.

"The garage," he said.

"But.-. . ," I stammered.

"I told you when we went to Jefferson that I'd take you
somewhere in my car sometime when we didn't have to buy
lumber," he said.

"You didn't tell me it looked like that," I protested.

"So, you like it?"

"How many more sides to Billy Lee are there?"

"Billy Lee is just a plain old feller who likes different things.
That old Caddy reminded me of one Gramps had when I was about four. He used to take me for rides with the top down.
When I found one that had been restored, I bought it. I took
your Momma and Lessie for a little drive, or I'd have been back
sooner."

"Where?"

"Just up and down Main Street and out past the grade
school. By then Miz Clarice was getting cold."

"You are an angel," I said.

"Me? Not old oddball Billy Lee Tucker."

"You've played on that, you rat. You know what people say
about you, and you don't give a dang"

"You got that right!" He winked. "Now, how would you
rate our first holiday in the house?"

"You're changing the subject, but I don't even care right
now. It couldn't have been better unless Momma was in her
right mind."

He picked up a tea towel and dried dishes as I washed them.
"I didn't mind being a movie star."

"I'm sure you didn't." I couldn't keep the grin off my face.
"Even though I was a waitress and without Crystal and with
Momma living in a crazy world, it was happy."

"I wonder what set her off on that track today," he said, as
we worked together washing dishes.

"Well, if I close one eye and squint the other one, I suppose
you do look like Billy Bob" I pulled the plug on the dishwater
and looked at him through squinty eyes.

He slapped the air beside my shoulder. "On that note, I'm
taking a turkey sandwich home and taking a nap"

"See you later. And when you come back, you'll be plain old
Billy Lee, so don't be thinking you're going to get any royal
treatment now that Momma has gone home. And, Billy Lee, you
really look more like Harrison Ford," I teased.

"I get royal treatment every day, Trudy." He was out the door
before I could slip another word in.