Page 19 of Grounded
“But there are educational programs, even a travel channel, more than we get now.Please?”Annie had clasped her hands together and looked longingly at Beulah.
“You didn’t have cable at your other house, and we’re not going to have it here,” Beulah had said, hoping that was the end of it.
“But we couldn’t get it back there, and you can here. Jake has it, so if it comes to his house it would come here.”
“Just because a body can do something doesn’t always mean a body should. We don’t need the extra expense, and you need to save your money for college.”
“Grandpa wants it too,” Annie had said, stomping off.
Fred hadn’t wanted it, of course, but he never knew how to say no to Annie or her mother, Jo Anne, for that matter. It had always fallen to Beulah to hold the line on discipline. Losing Jo Anne had broken her heart. It would have been easy to give in to Jo Anne’s beautiful daughter, the little girl who lost her mother and, for all intents and purposes, her father, but Beulah knew it would do the child no good in the long run. More than once, she had wished Fred had been stronger with Annie and Jo Anne. It was a man’s duty, but not all men took to it. All in all, she never held it against him. Fred was a fine Christian man who loved and provided for her, Beulah reasoned, and that was what mattered.
Oh, how she missed Fred! He balanced her out, facing the world with a grin and a laugh. Losing him had created a vast hole in her heart these last two years. Worse still, he left her without any way to reach Annie. They were two different kind of people, she and Annie, and Beulah could not imagine what went on inside Annie’s head. It was plain to see Annie felt the same about her. The visits from her granddaughter had nearly stopped altogether, like a well run dry in the middle of summer.
And what would Fred say now? He would be heartbroken to know Annie had nearly moved in with a man before they were married. She wondered if Annie would have even considered such a thing if Fred were alive.
The similarities between Annie and Jo Anne were hard to ignore. Beulah wrung out the dishrag and hung it on the faucet, recalling the night Jo Anne came to tell them she was pregnant. She came by herself, even though she and Eddie had already gone to Tennessee and married. Beulah could still see her long brown hair, parted in the middle and hanging in her face. Part of her had wanted to reach out and push the hair back out of her face, but another part of her wanted to slap her child. Beulah felt a deep hurt and anger at her only child, throwing her life away like that.
Beulah had cautioned her against Eddie Taylor. He was a handsome fellow, but he came from a family full of liars and rakes. The saying was, “If a Taylor said it, don’t believe it.” But as is the way in this fallen world, they were a fine-looking bunch of smooth talkers, and her Jo Anne was not the first to fall under their spell. The whole county had believed Eddie’s uncle when he ran for the state legislature. It had all gone fine, until the FBI found him to be siphoning off campaign donations.
But they had married, and she had hoped Eddie would be different. He wasn’t. In less than a year, he was gone, and Jo Anne never saw him after that.
Beulah pulled out a red, blue and yellow checked towel from a cabinet drawer to dry the dishes. She liked color; it made her feel good. That was what Annie needed, she thought: color. She was always dressed in black. Who in the world wouldn’t be depressed, wearing mourning clothes all the time?
“Why don’t you wear that pretty red sweater?” Beulah had suggested before they went to church last Christmas.
“You don’t like what I have on?”
“We are celebrating the birth of our Lord, not his death,” Beulah had answered.
“It’s just black, Grandma,” she said. And so they trotted off to church, Annie in solid black and Beulah in her cream sweater with the gold Christmas tree pin that Fred had given her one Christmas years ago. Annie needed color but Beulah would not suggest it again.
She might never have the relationship with Annie that Fred did, but she did know how to pray for her. And pray daily she did. It was no accident Annie was here. Beulah believed it was nothing short of divine providence.
With the colorful towel, Beulah dried the last dish and put it away. Then she went through her nightly ritual of filling the percolator basket with Maxwell House and the pot with water so it was ready to plug in when she got up. The quicker she could get that first cup of coffee, the better.
Her knee ached worse than usual—must be another big storm coming through. She winced with pain as she climbed the steps. That doctor was on her about getting it fixed, but it would have to wait. “Big storm comin’ …,” she said aloud as she reached the final step, pulling herself up with the handrail.
Chapter Seven
Annie was relieved when the voice mails from Stuart tapered off. She had left the ringer off, not wanting the temptation to answer.
One morning, finally feeling rested, she went out on the back porch and called Janice. Her friend was upbeat, a stark contrast to Annie’s own dark funk.
“I think I’m going to like it better than TransAir,” Janice said. “I’m on a route to Milan, and the other flight attendants are super nice. One girl is from Tennessee and she sounds like you.”
“I want to get back so bad, I can’t stand it!”
“Why? Do you know how many people would love to get a month in the country? This is a huge gift. Enjoy it!”
“Yeah, I guess. But it reminds me why I got out. I forgot how quiet it is. I feel like I might go crazy,” Annie confessed.
“Just think about all the fresh air you’re taking in,” Janice said.
“Uh-huh. You mean that sweet air wafting over from the silo and the cow pastures?” Annie glanced at the silo, as if she could almost see the scent of fermentation coming her way.
Janice laughed. “Something like that. You should make the most of it. Go fishing or snipe hunting or whatever it is you do in the country. Look up an old friend from school.”
“Actually that may be easy to do. My friend Jake is coming down later this week.” Annie traced a crack in the concrete with her finger. “We used to be really close, but we haven’t been around each other in a long time.”
