The Truth According to Us (18 page)

“That was boring,” said Bird, when we were back in the car. “This whole morning has been boring.”

Jottie laughed and jiggled the steering wheel, and the car careened to the other side of the highway while Bird and I screamed.

Emmett was sitting on the front porch when we opened the screen door. “Why, Emmett! Honey!” Jottie cried. “You never said you were coming!”

He smiled at her. “I didn't know I was until about an hour ago.”

“Stand up and let me look at you.”

Emmett stood. He was so tall that Jottie had to reach up to pat his shirt. It was a funny thing Jottie did when she saw him, patting his shirt. I think she wanted to hug him, but she was afraid he wouldn't like it. Now she frowned at him. “You're looking mighty thin, honey.”

“So're you.”

“Puh. You eating enough?”

“I eat plenty.” He winked at me over Jottie's shoulder, and I relaxed all over. I'd been pretty sure Emmett wouldn't squeal about my father's car or Cooey's Red Apple, but now I knew it. “I'm fine, Jottie,” he said.

“Did you see Felix?”

His eyebrow shot up. “Felix is here?” He looked at the front door. “No. I went inside and didn't see a soul, so I came out here. Thought I'd wait for you to turn up.”

“I was up at big farm,” Jottie said.

“And we took Mae to Hampshire Downs,” I said.

He laughed. I always liked to make Emmett laugh. When he laughed, his whole face lit up, and you could see that he was younger than the others. A lot of the time, you couldn't tell. “Hampshire Downs?” he said. “And let me guess: Mae is the Duchess of Bedford County.”

“Waldon doesn't mind,” said Jottie.

Emmett laughed again. “I know he doesn't.”

Suddenly I understood what they meant. As long as Waldon got Mae, he didn't care what she called his farm. “Oh!” I cried out. The two of them turned to look at me, kind of questioning. “Nothing,” I muttered, but inside I felt proud. I knew more than they thought.

“How's big farm?” asked Emmett.

“Same as always,” Jottie said. “Butter's up a little, Wren said.”

“Good thing. Might as well feed it to the pigs at ten cents a pound.”

Jottie plunked herself down in her chair. “So. Why'd you come to town?”

Emmett sat down, too. “I got to talk to Sol.”

Jottie's eyes slid to the front door, and she almost whispered when she said, “Sol? Why?”

She looked worried, and I remembered the parade, how she'd turned pink when she'd waved to Mr. McKubin by mistake. And then Richie, too, getting kicked by Harriet when he talked about Sol. There was something the matter with Mr. McKubin, but whatever it was, Emmett wasn't fussed about it.

“I heard a couple of things about American Everlasting, and I—”

Father's voice came floating out of the front hall. “Gloves? Well, that's real nice. All those fishes up at Dolly's Ford are sure going to appreciate that.”

Miss Beck's voice laughed back. “The WPA strives to maintain the highest standards of gentility.”

“I can see that.” Father held open the screen door and they came out together, Miss Beck glossy and happy and beautiful as the day. Emmett stood up, and Father broke into a smile. “Well, what do you know? This is my brother, Emmett Romeyn,” he said. “Emmett, this is Miss Beck.”

Emmett's mouth opened, but Miss Beck spoke before he did. “Ohh,”
she said. “I understand now.” She smiled up at Emmett like she'd known him for years and held out her hand. They shook hands, and she said to Father, “I thought he was you. The other day, I was walking down Prince Street and I waved to”—she gestured at Emmett—“Mr. Romeyn through a shop window. Did you think I was a lunatic?” she asked, turning to Emmett.

“No,” he said quietly. “No, I didn't.”

“I don't see how you could mistake us,” Father said, grinning. “I'm the handsome one.”

Emmett spoke like he hadn't heard. “You're writing the history of Macedonia?”

“That's right,” she said.

“I'll be real interested to read it when you're done.”

“So will I,” Miss Beck said, kind of rueful.

Father put his hand on her arm. “We'd better go get us some sites of historical moment, then, hadn't we?”

She laughed. “I'm still reeling from Flick Park.”

“I know it,” he said. “It's like London and Paris put together, isn't it? Come on.”

Together, they stepped across the front porch and out into the sunshine. “Bye, honey,” he called over his shoulder. I guess he was talking to me.

I watched them drive away, down Academy Street. They didn't wave.

Emmett sat down hard.

Jottie looked at me. “Go get some lunch, Willa. Make a sandwich for Bird, too, while you're at it.”

I gave her the fish-eye. I knew when I was being got rid of.

“Go on. Don't cut your fingers off.”

I went in the door and slid myself between the coatrack and the wall next to the front door, where I could hear everything. I was a natural.

For a stretch of time, they didn't say anything. Then Emmett said, “That is a real pretty girl.”

“I guess,” Jottie replied.

Then he asked, low, “Do I look so much like him?”

“Only to someone who doesn't know you,” Jottie answered. It was true, too. They were both thin and dark, and they had those eyebrows, same as Jottie, but I'd never before thought that they looked alike. If I were blindfolded and I heard one of them walk in the front door, I'd know which one it was, just by the sound of his shoe against the floor.

“Mm.”

“And you're taller.”

He laughed a little. “Are you trying to comfort me?”

“Well, you are. You're real good-looking.”

He groaned. “Stop that. Honest to God, Jottie, you sound so sorry for me.”

I pondered that. She did sound sorry for him, and I couldn't figure out why. I didn't understand what Emmett said next, either. “How is it that Felix gets everything he wants?” he muttered. “How is it that he never pays for a damn thing?”

“Oh, honey, don't be like that. She's not worth all this fuss.”

“I wasn't talking about anyone in particular,” Emmett said.

“Good. Girls like her are a dime a dozen.”

“Oh, yeah? Where?”

Jottie cleared her throat. “What's all this about Sol?”

“So you can say his name out loud now?” Emmett said, kind of snide.

“That's enough of your lip, there, mister. I'm your older sister, remember?”

Emmett made a sound that Jottie would have killed me if I'd made. When he did it, she laughed.

“I heard that Shank fired some fellows, that's all,” Emmett said. “Charlie Timbrook and George were telling me about it the other day, and it sure as hell sounds like a rotten business, because afterward Shank gave them the big old talk about how they have to pull together like a family, meaning that the rest of them have to make their orders just the same and he's not paying any extra.”

“Sounds like Ralph,” said Jottie.

“Yeah, well, it's not right, and he wouldn't dare try it on if there was
a union. I got kind of riled up about it and told them they should strike—”

“Oh God, Emmett! They'll lose their jobs, every one of them.”

She sounded panicked, and I understood why. Losing your job was just about the worst thing that could happen. I thought of all those poor people with hungry eyes and dirty children, how they held up signs that said Will Work for Food.

But Emmett didn't sound scared. “No, they won't. Not if they do it right. And if they get a union out of it, it'd be worth it. Once they've got themselves a union, their jobs are safe.”

“Not
once
they've got a union! If!
If
they get a union! Which will be when hell freezes over, if Ralph has anything to do with it. And until then, he can replace each of them five times over without even thinking about it. Everyone in town is out of work except for the folks at the mill.”

“But look at General Motors!” He was excited now. “If they did a sit-down, they might have a chance; that's what I was telling them. They're skilled workers, a lot of them! Shank's not going to be able to—”

“Are you trying to start a war? Emmett, what were you thinking? I hope they didn't listen to you.”

“I think they did, a little.” He sounded uncomfortable. “It's because of Daddy. They still think he walked on water down there, and they take my word on anything because I'm a Romeyn. That's why I need to tell Sol.”

“You're going to tell Sol that you encouraged his men to strike?”

“Well. Yeah. Feels like going behind his back, otherwise.”

“Emmett, honey, you don't even work there. It's not your problem and it's not your strike if they're fools enough to try it.”

“I know. I know that. But Charlie and the others—well, I felt like I should tell Sol what I did. Sol's always been real good to me.” I could hear the floorboards creak as Emmett stood. “I guess I'd better get on with it.”

“Give Sol my best,” Jottie said.

Emmett made that sound again, but this time Jottie didn't laugh.

All of a sudden the back door slammed. “Don't anyone care about lunch around here?” Bird yelled from the kitchen, so I quick slid out of my hiding spot before she caught sight of me and told.

I went into the kitchen with my elbows out. “ 'Bout time you came in,” I said, real huffy. “Jottie told me to make you a sandwich.”

Bird didn't scare easy. “I don't want a sandwich you make. You cut it wrong.”

Cicadas seethed in the motionless landscape of Dolly's Ford. A trickle of sweat dodged down Layla's back, and she resisted the urge to swat at it through her dress. “Wait,” she said, taking a gulp of nearly liquid air. “He was in prison for three years?”

“Yup. By the time he got back to the ford, he weighed about eighty pounds. They didn't feed them much in Confederate prisons. Rats, mainly.” Felix bent to pick up a stick and tossed it carelessly into the massed green beside the path.