_
When they got back to the farm, they presented Matthew with the bill and the beer. They both went down easy, especially with beer. The men were more than willing to sit back and reflect over the day’s accomplishments. They had gotten a lot done. The old furnace was removed, the electric pump was nearly operational, and the trench was dug for the new septic tank. Brand new poles, strung with telephone and electrical wires lined the driveway. So, at six o’ clock as twilight set in, a bunch of weary men turned their trucks homeward, promising to return in the morning.
If these seasoned veterans were tired, the Winston's were exhausted. They ached to the point of nausea as they spread out their bedrolls and fell asleep instantly
Annie tried to quiet the little ones resentfully. After all, her brothers weren’t any more tired than she was. She struggled with Joey, finding him to be more hyper and uncooperative than usual. And then John, who always set out his clothes for the next day, made an appalling announcement. “I don’t have any clean clothes for tomorrow.” Annie knew the boxes of baby clothes were nearly empty, but she hadn’t wanted to think about it. Now there was no avoiding the piles of disgusting, smelly, muddy, wet clothes, and it looked like it was up to her to do something about it. A rage began building from deep inside her – a totally frustrated, exasperated anger at the whole stupid mess. She began going from one corner of the room to another, finding more and more dirty clothes. She began throwing them, kicking them, feeling even more resentful as she moved among the motionless, sleeping bodies. What right did they have to be resting peacefully when there was a full-blown disaster? What did they expect her to do – take the clothes down to the river and beat them on rocks?
Sonny tended the fire, expressionless as always. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him watching her. He must have known what was happening and he probably had a solution, but she wasn’t going to ask him. After several more minutes of her kicking and stomping, he finally said, “I’ll get some crates from downstairs so we can haul it all into town.”
“You mean there’s someone in town who can do all this for us?” Perhaps her temper tantrum had been premature.
“No, we’ll do it – at the laundromat? You know, put in the clothes, put in the quarters? Maybe you don’t know.” He turned to go, sighing deeply.
They gathered all the dirty clothes they could find and threw them into the boxes. Annie was working with renewed vigor, fueled by fresh anger and resentment. Soon they were on their way into town, surrounded by great heaps of dirty jeans, shirts, and socks.
_ _ _ _
Alice Simpson thrust the key into the lock just as the Winston bus stopped in the No Parking Zone in front of the Simpson Coin Operated Laundromat.
“Oh, ma’am,” Sonny called, “we’d really appreciate it if you could hold off closing until we get our wash done.” He and Annie climbed out of the bus. “Smile and talk nice,” he muttered under his breath. Annie did as she was told.
“Oh yes, please,” she said sweetly. “We’re new in town and didn’t realize you’d be closing so early--er, oh goodness, it is 9:00, isn’t it? Could you make an exception just once?”
This formidable Mrs. Simpson stared at them. “What do you expect me to do? Sit here half the night?” she whined. “If you start now, you won’t be done until well after midnight. I’ve already been here all day. I run a very clean place here, ya’ know. I can’t have people thinking they can c
ome in here all hours of the night and day. If I let you do it, then everyone else would expect it, too.”
“Mrs. Simpson, we understand this would be an inconvenience for you,” Sonny said smoothly, “so Mr. Winston would want to make it worth your while.” He pressed several bills into her hand.
“Oh, well, I see,” Mrs. Simpson gulped. “I guess, since this is an emergency. And goodness, I recollect that someone told me that you have several children in your family?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Annie smiled. “There are 10 of us all together.” She chatted on as the elderly lady unlocked the doors and turned on the lights, moving in slow motion. Sonny was already unloading boxes from the bus. Annie maneuvered Mrs. Simpson toward her car, promising to lock up when they were finished.
`”My, my, my,” sneered Annie after Mrs. Simpson had finally left, “you can be positively charming if you try, Mr. Jackson.”
“No, not really, I just let your father’s money do the talking. It’s amazing how many doors it can unlock.” There was no pun or humor intended. Clearly, he was as annoyed about this situation as she was. Soon everything was unloaded and Annie stood waiting for further instructions. “Start sorting,” he hissed. “Like – jeans in one pile, whites in another, like that. See? You get it?”
“Hey, I’m not stupid, all right? Yes, I get it!” She threw clothes in all directions.
“Yeah, sure. Why don’t you go to the Pub next door and get some change.” A county sheriff’s squad car pulled up across the street. Sonny turned abruptly. “First I gotta use the head,” he said as he walked toward the bathroom. “There’s a nosy cop out front. If he comes in here, just tell him to call down to the Simpson place.”
The Sheriff said nothing. Annie got several rolls of quarters and soon they filled every washer in the place and still had more piles of clothes on the floor. They brought every box of detergent, bleach, and softener out of the vending machine. Sonny showed her how to patrol down the aisles of the washers, checking to see if there was enough soap, etc. The jeans especially were billowing great clouds of dirt. They had to be washed twice. Annie’s anger was slowly giving way to exhaustion. Her mind drifted back to the brownstone. How many times she had thrown clothes barely worn into the hamper and they would reappear in her closet, neatly laundered and pressed. She had taken so much for granted.
The time passed slowly, ticking to the rhythm of the churning of the machines, spinning and rinsing each in turn. She kept pacing because she knew if she sat down, she’d fall asleep. What a ridiculous, mundane job this was. Exactly the kind of thing she’d expected to do on a regular basis. Her mind revolted at this revelation.
Once again she looked at her hands, small and pink. What possible joy or reward could there be in laboring hour after hour, year after year, like this? She felt twinges of anger creeping in again.
As the washers finished, the clothes were carted over to the row of dryers. Annie moved around with unbridled resentment, crashing into things, flinging clothes here and there. She forgot that she had an audience. Then she turned and saw him staring at her.
“You really hate this, don’t you?” Sonny said.
She was stunned by his perfect description of how she felt. “How am I supposed to feel? Honored? Grateful? I am so damned tired, I could drop. And don’t you say I told you so, all right? Just leave me alone!”
They went back to work with no further words passing between them. At 1:20 AM they turned off the lights. She dropped off the key at the Pub as Sonny finished loading the boxes of clean, somewhat folded laundry back into the bus. He hoisted himself into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut. What an ass, she thought. He was daring me to give up. He doesn’t think I can do this.
As she slumped down in her seat, dazed and blurry-eyed, she had a vision of the little train that kept trying to climb the hill. Only the cars were cardboard boxes and the train’s hissing sounded like the churning of a washing machine.
_ _ _ _
Annie awakened Saturday morning to the familiar buzz of children laughing, bacon frying, babies crying, and men talking. Andrew was chief cook and baby watcher as it was he who was intently working over the fire. Matthew and Sonny were already up and out. She tried to move but found she was still very tired. No one was asking her for anything or telling her to get up, so she closed her eyes and pretended to still be asleep.
“They didn’t get back till almost 1:30, so Pop said let her sleep,” someone said.
Word was sent for Sonny and Matthew to come eat. They came in, talking vents and wiring. Both looked visibly tired and the day had just began. Mack was making a great show of his obvious disinterest. Thomas and the younger boys were giggling at his antics.
“So, Andrew and Luke can work in the basement with me and those other fellows. Mack can work with you and Charlie,” Matthew said.
“Hey, I’m not going to crawl out there on that broken down roof,” Mack cried. “It’s full of holes and rotten spots. An man could get killed up there!”
“What’s the matter, Mack,” Thomas sneered. “You chicken?”
“No, I am not, but I’m not stupid either. You’d have to be crazy to go out there!”
“Well, someone has to do it,” Matthew retorted, “and besides, you’ll just be handing them supplies and tools. Think you can handle that? There’s no use doing anything else upstairs until we get that damned roof fixed.” He turned away, devoured his food, and went back to work.
“Hey!” Mack called after him, relentless as ever. “Don’t you need anything else from town today? Does Annie need anything?”
“No!” Matthew barked without even breaking stride. “Charlie’s wife is going with her again. I’m sure she is infinitely more helpful than you could ever be. So get to work.”
The day was set. Annie crawled out of her nest and began readying for the day. She was glad Lori was coming with her again. Annie had enormous confidence in Lori’s judgment, and it was wonderful having another woman near her own age just to talk with. Lori seemed friendly and warm-hearted, but at the same time somewhat reserved and on guard as though she was always afraid of saying the wrong thing.
Soon they were on their way toward Dubuque. “Lori, how old were you when Kevin was born?” Annie asked. “I mean, I was thinking that I’m old enough to have children of my own – I mean, lots of women have babies by the time they’re twenty, right?”
“Especially around here,” Lori said. “There were two girls pregnant in my graduating class. Almost every year, there’s at least once. Girls nowadays just walk up there in all their glory, in front of God n’ everybody!”
“That happens everywhere, Lori,“ Annie said trying to sound worldly. She was aware, of course, that this happened to lots of girls, but she never knew any personally.
Lori went on. “I had a crush on Charlie since the first day I started school here. But I didn’t think he’d ever notice me. When we were juniors, he was flunking geometry so I helped him get ready for a big test. And then he asked me out. I couldn’t believe it!” she said incredulously as though it had just happened. “The more we dated, the more heat he took from his mother and his friends.”
“For heaven’s sake, why?”
“He came from a good family and the school jock. Everybody thought we were sleeping together, but we weren’t. We didn’t for a long time, not till the winter of our senior year. I guess we figured if we’re gonna get blamed for it anyway, we might as well do it.”
“His father died the summer after graduation. Charlie was all scared and he didn’t know what to do. See, he was supposed to go to college and play football. But his father’s business was an awful mess, and none of his brothers would come back to run it. They tried sellin’ it, but no one wanted it.”
“The one night, he comes bustin’ into my place and grabs me and says, ‘Come on, lets get married!’ Just like that. He said we’d take over the business and raise our kids right here in Shanny. Sounded so simple, like the right thing to do.”
“Wasn’t his mother relieved that he was staying?”
“Hell, no. She told ever’ body I ruined her son’s life – I kept him from goin’ to college. And that ain’t the way it happened at all. No matter what I do – I can work my fingers to the bone twenty hours a day – she just don’t like me. Never will. But that’s okay – I got Charlie and the kids. And if we can just get out of debt, I think things will be a lot better. Ever’ fight we ever had was about money and the dammed business. They say money can’t buy love, but havin’ it sure makes lovin’ easier.”
Annie looked at her new friend a little wistfully. What different worlds they came, she thought. This was a story of forbidden love and romance, a young couple struggling together against great obstacles. It was like a story out of a magazine.
“Ya’ know,” Lori said, “I wouldn’t probably do too much different if I could start over ‘cause my life is the way it’s supposed to be – I mean, I was born to scrub floors and have babies. But you – are you sure you can handle all this?”
They both erupted into laughter. “See, I told you the whole thing sounds preposterous. You think we’re crazy, too, right? Money or no money! But don’t you see, you’re better off than me. You know exactly who you are and what you want. I’ve always felt like something was missing in my life. I could have had anything I wanted, but what? I never had any idea.”
“So I guess it is true,” Lori said, laughing. “Money really can’t buy everything.” They pulled up to the stop sign at the junction with the main highway leading into Dubuque. “I bet you’re excited to getting back to civilization, aren’t you?“ Lori asked.
“Truth is, I’m nervous. I am so glad you came with me.”
“Hey, this is gonna be fun. I love helping you spend your daddy's money.”
_ _ _ _
When a traveler sweeps into the city 0f Dubuque from the south, he descends on a sharply curved, highway carved out of a bluff. The skyline of the city is filled with a hodgepodge of smokestacks, church steeples, and glistening molasses and petroleum tanks by the harbor. The upper border of this picture is the imposing waters of the river with distant bluffs and villages on the Illinois/Wisconsin side. This place was meant to be hemmed in by natural borders, the Mississippi on one side and the bluffs on the other. There are seven of them, forming a definitive moon-shaped rim around the valley floor. But these steep hillsides had long since been conquered. Houses and businesses stair-step the terrain in perilous fashion. They’re connected by a crazy, irregular system of narrow streets, many of which still showing cobblestones.
They city reeked of its old and time-honored heritage. It boasts of being one of the oldest cities of the upper Midwest. Its urban existence was not born from any wartime fortress like many of her sister cities, but of a stubborn pioneering spirit of tenacity and capitalistic enterprise. The cracked limestone, ivy-walled buildings and wooden framed houses stand as silent testimony to the ability of a man to construct structures that endure longer than they who did the building.
Annie gasped when they rounded the last bend and dropped into the city. She could see the houses lining in the bluff high above them and the European style streets and old-world architecture. She was instantly enchanted.
Lori gave a quick travelogue tour as they drove through town. “There’s the Fourth Street Elevator – the shortest, steepest railroad in the world. Down there is the ol’ Shot Tower where they made lead bullets for the Civil War. Up there – see that big building up there on the hill. That’s Mercy Hospital. I had both my babies there. Anyway, we’re going downtown.” She chuckled. “Downtown, Dubuque-style, that is. I’m sure it’s a lot different from what you’re used to. Let’s go to Penney’s first.”
“The furniture is on the second floor,” Lori directed as they walked in. “Let’s do the big stuff. I can’t wait to see that sales lady’s mouth drop open when you tell her what you want,” she giggled.
The saleswoman in J.C. Penney’s furniture department was the first in a long line of people who gasped when Annie announced what she wanted to buy. All she needed to say was “six beds” or “ten pairs of boots”, and there would be that increasingly familiar response. It wasn’t only the large number of any one item, but also the speed and casual manner with which she shopped.
It was still early when they finished. Annie said she’d like to walk around the mall area a little longer. She was stalling. She explained her apprehension to Lori over triple scoops of Rocky Road at the 31 Flavors Ice Cream Emporium.
She knew they should drive out to Sears and inquire about her order. She told Lori the Staten Island story. “Sonny says I have to tell ’em to deliver it out to the farm – that’s like 30 miles. Will they do that?” she asked, biting her lip.
“Well, of course they will – free! No problem,”
“Okay then, let’s drive out there. Sonny makes everything feel like a test.”
“So what? What ya’ care what he thinks anyway?” countered Lori. “He’s working’ for you, ain’t he? C’mon, I’m sure they’ll be very reasonable.”
And they were. Of course, they would be happy to deliver such a large order, the clerk smiled. Would Tuesday be soon enough? Annie felt foolish worrying over something so silly. What must Lori think of her, she wondered.
Her friend just laughed at her. “You worry too much,” Lori teased. “Maybe where you come from, everybody has a pile of money. But girl, around here, money talks. They want your business so they’ll bend over backwards to keep you happy. When she said Tuesday, you should have said, ‘No Monday or Sunday!’ Sure, you should have made them get their tails out there on Sunday,.”
They went back downtown to the dock behind J.C. Penny’s to load up a few items Annie wanted to take home with her today. Somehow, they managed to stuff in pots and pans, dishes and towels, and round dinette set for the kitchen. As they pulled away, Lori rolled down her window and started singing,
Next thing ya know ol’ Jed’s a millionaire.
The kinfolk said, Jed, move away from here.
Californiee is the place you oughta be.
So, they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly --
Hills, that is…movie stars, swimming pools.”
They were heading for the hills all right – Dubuque County hills – golden mounds, glistening in the spring sun. They made plans for their families to have supper together. “When you work this hard together, you oughta eat together, though I wouldn’t exactly call what we did today work. But the men will be tired. We’ll stop n’ get some groceries and beer and make ‘em a nice supper,” Lori said.
After selecting groceries, Annie automatically reached for her purse. “No, no,” Lori said. “This is our treat. Besides I cut some coupons out of the Bugle yesterday. You know, coupons?” she said again, noticing her friend’s blank expression. Lori showed her the small pieces of newspaper. “Beef steak – 99 cents a pound” or “Wonder Bread – 4 loaves for a dollar”. But it was obvious that Annie knew nothing of the fine art of coupon clipping.
They picked up Lori’s kids at the baby-sitter and headed out to the farm. They pulled onto the yard to a happy chorus of, “Hey, what ya’ buy? Anything for me? What’s for supper? We’re starved!”
“Did you pick up any beer? I could sure use one right now – several, in fact,” Matthew was bellowing from the other side of the house.
Annie did a quick head count and found that two of her brothers were missing. “Where were Peter and Danny?” she called.
“Hey, don‘t look at me,” Thomas said. “I was only in charge of Joey and the baby. No one told me to keep an eye on those two.”
Before Annie could panic, the Gibson’s Pontiac pulled onto the yard.
“I got a couple of escaped convicts here,” Jake called. “I was wonderin’ if there was any reward for catchin’ two such dangerous varmints.” He opened the door and out stepped the two little boys.
“Are you mad?” they said, searching their sister‘s face.
“Actually,” Annie retorted, “if I’m angry with anyone, it was with your father and brothers. How could these two little boys be gone all afternoon, and no one notice?”
Chapter 13
When they got back to the farm, they presented Matthew with the bill and the beer. They both went down easy, especially with beer. The men were more than willing to sit back and reflect over the day’s accomplishments. They had gotten a lot done. The old furnace was removed, the electric pump was nearly operational, and the trench was dug for the new septic tank. Brand new poles, strung with telephone and electrical wires lined the driveway. So, at six o’ clock as twilight set in, a bunch of weary men turned their trucks homeward, promising to return in the morning.
If these seasoned veterans were tired, the Winston's were exhausted. They ached to the point of nausea as they spread out their bedrolls and fell asleep instantly
Annie tried to quiet the little ones resentfully. After all, her brothers weren’t any more tired than she was. She struggled with Joey, finding him to be more hyper and uncooperative than usual. And then John, who always set out his clothes for the next day, made an appalling announcement. “I don’t have any clean clothes for tomorrow.” Annie knew the boxes of baby clothes were nearly empty, but she hadn’t wanted to think about it. Now there was no avoiding the piles of disgusting, smelly, muddy, wet clothes, and it looked like it was up to her to do something about it. A rage began building from deep inside her – a totally frustrated, exasperated anger at the whole stupid mess. She began going from one corner of the room to another, finding more and more dirty clothes. She began throwing them, kicking them, feeling even more resentful as she moved among the motionless, sleeping bodies. What right did they have to be resting peacefully when there was a full-blown disaster? What did they expect her to do – take the clothes down to the river and beat them on rocks?
Sonny tended the fire, expressionless as always. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him watching her. He must have known what was happening and he probably had a solution, but she wasn’t going to ask him. After several more minutes of her kicking and stomping, he finally said, “I’ll get some crates from downstairs so we can haul it all into town.”
“You mean there’s someone in town who can do all this for us?” Perhaps her temper tantrum had been premature.
“No, we’ll do it – at the laundromat? You know, put in the clothes, put in the quarters? Maybe you don’t know.” He turned to go, sighing deeply.
They gathered all the dirty clothes they could find and threw them into the boxes. Annie was working with renewed vigor, fueled by fresh anger and resentment. Soon they were on their way into town, surrounded by great heaps of dirty jeans, shirts, and socks.
_ _ _ _
Alice Simpson thrust the key into the lock just as the Winston bus stopped in the No Parking Zone in front of the Simpson Coin Operated Laundromat.
“Oh, ma’am,” Sonny called, “we’d really appreciate it if you could hold off closing until we get our wash done.” He and Annie climbed out of the bus. “Smile and talk nice,” he muttered under his breath. Annie did as she was told.
“Oh yes, please,” she said sweetly. “We’re new in town and didn’t realize you’d be closing so early--er, oh goodness, it is 9:00, isn’t it? Could you make an exception just once?”
This formidable Mrs. Simpson stared at them. “What do you expect me to do? Sit here half the night?” she whined. “If you start now, you won’t be done until well after midnight. I’ve already been here all day. I run a very clean place here, ya’ know. I can’t have people thinking they can c
ome in here all hours of the night and day. If I let you do it, then everyone else would expect it, too.”
“Mrs. Simpson, we understand this would be an inconvenience for you,” Sonny said smoothly, “so Mr. Winston would want to make it worth your while.” He pressed several bills into her hand.
“Oh, well, I see,” Mrs. Simpson gulped. “I guess, since this is an emergency. And goodness, I recollect that someone told me that you have several children in your family?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Annie smiled. “There are 10 of us all together.” She chatted on as the elderly lady unlocked the doors and turned on the lights, moving in slow motion. Sonny was already unloading boxes from the bus. Annie maneuvered Mrs. Simpson toward her car, promising to lock up when they were finished.
`”My, my, my,” sneered Annie after Mrs. Simpson had finally left, “you can be positively charming if you try, Mr. Jackson.”
“No, not really, I just let your father’s money do the talking. It’s amazing how many doors it can unlock.” There was no pun or humor intended. Clearly, he was as annoyed about this situation as she was. Soon everything was unloaded and Annie stood waiting for further instructions. “Start sorting,” he hissed. “Like – jeans in one pile, whites in another, like that. See? You get it?”
“Hey, I’m not stupid, all right? Yes, I get it!” She threw clothes in all directions.
“Yeah, sure. Why don’t you go to the Pub next door and get some change.” A county sheriff’s squad car pulled up across the street. Sonny turned abruptly. “First I gotta use the head,” he said as he walked toward the bathroom. “There’s a nosy cop out front. If he comes in here, just tell him to call down to the Simpson place.”
The Sheriff said nothing. Annie got several rolls of quarters and soon they filled every washer in the place and still had more piles of clothes on the floor. They brought every box of detergent, bleach, and softener out of the vending machine. Sonny showed her how to patrol down the aisles of the washers, checking to see if there was enough soap, etc. The jeans especially were billowing great clouds of dirt. They had to be washed twice. Annie’s anger was slowly giving way to exhaustion. Her mind drifted back to the brownstone. How many times she had thrown clothes barely worn into the hamper and they would reappear in her closet, neatly laundered and pressed. She had taken so much for granted.
The time passed slowly, ticking to the rhythm of the churning of the machines, spinning and rinsing each in turn. She kept pacing because she knew if she sat down, she’d fall asleep. What a ridiculous, mundane job this was. Exactly the kind of thing she’d expected to do on a regular basis. Her mind revolted at this revelation.
Once again she looked at her hands, small and pink. What possible joy or reward could there be in laboring hour after hour, year after year, like this? She felt twinges of anger creeping in again.
As the washers finished, the clothes were carted over to the row of dryers. Annie moved around with unbridled resentment, crashing into things, flinging clothes here and there. She forgot that she had an audience. Then she turned and saw him staring at her.
“You really hate this, don’t you?” Sonny said.
She was stunned by his perfect description of how she felt. “How am I supposed to feel? Honored? Grateful? I am so damned tired, I could drop. And don’t you say I told you so, all right? Just leave me alone!”
They went back to work with no further words passing between them. At 1:20 AM they turned off the lights. She dropped off the key at the Pub as Sonny finished loading the boxes of clean, somewhat folded laundry back into the bus. He hoisted himself into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut. What an ass, she thought. He was daring me to give up. He doesn’t think I can do this.
As she slumped down in her seat, dazed and blurry-eyed, she had a vision of the little train that kept trying to climb the hill. Only the cars were cardboard boxes and the train’s hissing sounded like the churning of a washing machine.
_ _ _ _
Annie awakened Saturday morning to the familiar buzz of children laughing, bacon frying, babies crying, and men talking. Andrew was chief cook and baby watcher as it was he who was intently working over the fire. Matthew and Sonny were already up and out. She tried to move but found she was still very tired. No one was asking her for anything or telling her to get up, so she closed her eyes and pretended to still be asleep.
“They didn’t get back till almost 1:30, so Pop said let her sleep,” someone said.
Word was sent for Sonny and Matthew to come eat. They came in, talking vents and wiring. Both looked visibly tired and the day had just began. Mack was making a great show of his obvious disinterest. Thomas and the younger boys were giggling at his antics.
“So, Andrew and Luke can work in the basement with me and those other fellows. Mack can work with you and Charlie,” Matthew said.
“Hey, I’m not going to crawl out there on that broken down roof,” Mack cried. “It’s full of holes and rotten spots. An man could get killed up there!”
“What’s the matter, Mack,” Thomas sneered. “You chicken?”
“No, I am not, but I’m not stupid either. You’d have to be crazy to go out there!”
“Well, someone has to do it,” Matthew retorted, “and besides, you’ll just be handing them supplies and tools. Think you can handle that? There’s no use doing anything else upstairs until we get that damned roof fixed.” He turned away, devoured his food, and went back to work.
“Hey!” Mack called after him, relentless as ever. “Don’t you need anything else from town today? Does Annie need anything?”
“No!” Matthew barked without even breaking stride. “Charlie’s wife is going with her again. I’m sure she is infinitely more helpful than you could ever be. So get to work.”
The day was set. Annie crawled out of her nest and began readying for the day. She was glad Lori was coming with her again. Annie had enormous confidence in Lori’s judgment, and it was wonderful having another woman near her own age just to talk with. Lori seemed friendly and warm-hearted, but at the same time somewhat reserved and on guard as though she was always afraid of saying the wrong thing.
Soon they were on their way toward Dubuque. “Lori, how old were you when Kevin was born?” Annie asked. “I mean, I was thinking that I’m old enough to have children of my own – I mean, lots of women have babies by the time they’re twenty, right?”
“Especially around here,” Lori said. “There were two girls pregnant in my graduating class. Almost every year, there’s at least once. Girls nowadays just walk up there in all their glory, in front of God n’ everybody!”
“That happens everywhere, Lori,“ Annie said trying to sound worldly. She was aware, of course, that this happened to lots of girls, but she never knew any personally.
Lori went on. “I had a crush on Charlie since the first day I started school here. But I didn’t think he’d ever notice me. When we were juniors, he was flunking geometry so I helped him get ready for a big test. And then he asked me out. I couldn’t believe it!” she said incredulously as though it had just happened. “The more we dated, the more heat he took from his mother and his friends.”
“For heaven’s sake, why?”
“He came from a good family and the school jock. Everybody thought we were sleeping together, but we weren’t. We didn’t for a long time, not till the winter of our senior year. I guess we figured if we’re gonna get blamed for it anyway, we might as well do it.”
“His father died the summer after graduation. Charlie was all scared and he didn’t know what to do. See, he was supposed to go to college and play football. But his father’s business was an awful mess, and none of his brothers would come back to run it. They tried sellin’ it, but no one wanted it.”
“The one night, he comes bustin’ into my place and grabs me and says, ‘Come on, lets get married!’ Just like that. He said we’d take over the business and raise our kids right here in Shanny. Sounded so simple, like the right thing to do.”
“Wasn’t his mother relieved that he was staying?”
“Hell, no. She told ever’ body I ruined her son’s life – I kept him from goin’ to college. And that ain’t the way it happened at all. No matter what I do – I can work my fingers to the bone twenty hours a day – she just don’t like me. Never will. But that’s okay – I got Charlie and the kids. And if we can just get out of debt, I think things will be a lot better. Ever’ fight we ever had was about money and the dammed business. They say money can’t buy love, but havin’ it sure makes lovin’ easier.”
Annie looked at her new friend a little wistfully. What different worlds they came, she thought. This was a story of forbidden love and romance, a young couple struggling together against great obstacles. It was like a story out of a magazine.
“Ya’ know,” Lori said, “I wouldn’t probably do too much different if I could start over ‘cause my life is the way it’s supposed to be – I mean, I was born to scrub floors and have babies. But you – are you sure you can handle all this?”
They both erupted into laughter. “See, I told you the whole thing sounds preposterous. You think we’re crazy, too, right? Money or no money! But don’t you see, you’re better off than me. You know exactly who you are and what you want. I’ve always felt like something was missing in my life. I could have had anything I wanted, but what? I never had any idea.”
“So I guess it is true,” Lori said, laughing. “Money really can’t buy everything.” They pulled up to the stop sign at the junction with the main highway leading into Dubuque. “I bet you’re excited to getting back to civilization, aren’t you?“ Lori asked.
“Truth is, I’m nervous. I am so glad you came with me.”
“Hey, this is gonna be fun. I love helping you spend your daddy's money.”
_ _ _ _
When a traveler sweeps into the city 0f Dubuque from the south, he descends on a sharply curved, highway carved out of a bluff. The skyline of the city is filled with a hodgepodge of smokestacks, church steeples, and glistening molasses and petroleum tanks by the harbor. The upper border of this picture is the imposing waters of the river with distant bluffs and villages on the Illinois/Wisconsin side. This place was meant to be hemmed in by natural borders, the Mississippi on one side and the bluffs on the other. There are seven of them, forming a definitive moon-shaped rim around the valley floor. But these steep hillsides had long since been conquered. Houses and businesses stair-step the terrain in perilous fashion. They’re connected by a crazy, irregular system of narrow streets, many of which still showing cobblestones.
They city reeked of its old and time-honored heritage. It boasts of being one of the oldest cities of the upper Midwest. Its urban existence was not born from any wartime fortress like many of her sister cities, but of a stubborn pioneering spirit of tenacity and capitalistic enterprise. The cracked limestone, ivy-walled buildings and wooden framed houses stand as silent testimony to the ability of a man to construct structures that endure longer than they who did the building.
Annie gasped when they rounded the last bend and dropped into the city. She could see the houses lining in the bluff high above them and the European style streets and old-world architecture. She was instantly enchanted.
Lori gave a quick travelogue tour as they drove through town. “There’s the Fourth Street Elevator – the shortest, steepest railroad in the world. Down there is the ol’ Shot Tower where they made lead bullets for the Civil War. Up there – see that big building up there on the hill. That’s Mercy Hospital. I had both my babies there. Anyway, we’re going downtown.” She chuckled. “Downtown, Dubuque-style, that is. I’m sure it’s a lot different from what you’re used to. Let’s go to Penney’s first.”
“The furniture is on the second floor,” Lori directed as they walked in. “Let’s do the big stuff. I can’t wait to see that sales lady’s mouth drop open when you tell her what you want,” she giggled.
The saleswoman in J.C. Penney’s furniture department was the first in a long line of people who gasped when Annie announced what she wanted to buy. All she needed to say was “six beds” or “ten pairs of boots”, and there would be that increasingly familiar response. It wasn’t only the large number of any one item, but also the speed and casual manner with which she shopped.
It was still early when they finished. Annie said she’d like to walk around the mall area a little longer. She was stalling. She explained her apprehension to Lori over triple scoops of Rocky Road at the 31 Flavors Ice Cream Emporium.
She knew they should drive out to Sears and inquire about her order. She told Lori the Staten Island story. “Sonny says I have to tell ’em to deliver it out to the farm – that’s like 30 miles. Will they do that?” she asked, biting her lip.
“Well, of course they will – free! No problem,”
“Okay then, let’s drive out there. Sonny makes everything feel like a test.”
“So what? What ya’ care what he thinks anyway?” countered Lori. “He’s working’ for you, ain’t he? C’mon, I’m sure they’ll be very reasonable.”
And they were. Of course, they would be happy to deliver such a large order, the clerk smiled. Would Tuesday be soon enough? Annie felt foolish worrying over something so silly. What must Lori think of her, she wondered.
Her friend just laughed at her. “You worry too much,” Lori teased. “Maybe where you come from, everybody has a pile of money. But girl, around here, money talks. They want your business so they’ll bend over backwards to keep you happy. When she said Tuesday, you should have said, ‘No Monday or Sunday!’ Sure, you should have made them get their tails out there on Sunday,.”
They went back downtown to the dock behind J.C. Penny’s to load up a few items Annie wanted to take home with her today. Somehow, they managed to stuff in pots and pans, dishes and towels, and round dinette set for the kitchen. As they pulled away, Lori rolled down her window and started singing,
Next thing ya know ol’ Jed’s a millionaire.
The kinfolk said, Jed, move away from here.
Californiee is the place you oughta be.
So, they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly --
Hills, that is…movie stars, swimming pools.”
They were heading for the hills all right – Dubuque County hills – golden mounds, glistening in the spring sun. They made plans for their families to have supper together. “When you work this hard together, you oughta eat together, though I wouldn’t exactly call what we did today work. But the men will be tired. We’ll stop n’ get some groceries and beer and make ‘em a nice supper,” Lori said.
After selecting groceries, Annie automatically reached for her purse. “No, no,” Lori said. “This is our treat. Besides I cut some coupons out of the Bugle yesterday. You know, coupons?” she said again, noticing her friend’s blank expression. Lori showed her the small pieces of newspaper. “Beef steak – 99 cents a pound” or “Wonder Bread – 4 loaves for a dollar”. But it was obvious that Annie knew nothing of the fine art of coupon clipping.
They picked up Lori’s kids at the baby-sitter and headed out to the farm. They pulled onto the yard to a happy chorus of, “Hey, what ya’ buy? Anything for me? What’s for supper? We’re starved!”
“Did you pick up any beer? I could sure use one right now – several, in fact,” Matthew was bellowing from the other side of the house.
Annie did a quick head count and found that two of her brothers were missing. “Where were Peter and Danny?” she called.
“Hey, don‘t look at me,” Thomas said. “I was only in charge of Joey and the baby. No one told me to keep an eye on those two.”
Before Annie could panic, the Gibson’s Pontiac pulled onto the yard.
“I got a couple of escaped convicts here,” Jake called. “I was wonderin’ if there was any reward for catchin’ two such dangerous varmints.” He opened the door and out stepped the two little boys.
“Are you mad?” they said, searching their sister‘s face.
“Actually,” Annie retorted, “if I’m angry with anyone, it was with your father and brothers. How could these two little boys be gone all afternoon, and no one notice?”
Chapter 13
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Just checking in and bookmarking so I don't re-read chapters. :)
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