The Gallant South- Part Two

Chapter XIV- June 2-July 1, 1913

        Several times, Cora almost found herself phoning Mama Elsie. There were a couple times when she picked up the telephone and almost called Mama Elsie, then remembered she couldn't, and always ended up calling Kit or Theo or someone to just talk for a while, even though they saw each other almost every day.

        On June second, hardly even two weeks after Mama Elsie's funeral, Cora was sitting outside in the garden, trying to read. She'd borrowed one of Eveline's medical texts, but couldn't make head nor tail of any of it. It was far beyond Cora's understanding, topped by the fact that she had no interest in the medical field. Literature was more of her thing.
Cora had begun to realize how much of a personality she'd developed in the almost-year she'd been in Estelle. She put down the text and tried to think about her personality two years ago versus now.
        Two years ago, I was just like every other upper-class lady, she thought. She'd enjoyed reading French fashion catalogs, comparing gowns with her shallow friends, and obsessing over shoes and jewelry. She'd enjoyed gossip and ladies' teas and charity balls. She'd had no personality other than what she was brought up to like and dislike. She was expected to marry someone even richer than her and live a life of luxury, never tasting the outside world. She was expected to be sheltered. She was expected to donate money to the poor, but never actually see them. She was expected to hate the suffragist movement, but never actually see what it was about. She was expected to be simple-minded, humble, quiet, and ladylike.
        Now, Cora found that she disliked maths and science, and had a liking for literature and music, even though she couldn't play any instruments. She enjoyed reading Eveline's essays, and even contributing to them, though she was a horrible writer. She liked walking through the mountains and hills around her house. She enjoyed southern home cooking. She enjoyed church hymns but found sermons boring. She enjoyed cocktails, but not wine. Reading but not writing. Horse riding and driving but not bicycling or scootering. Ice skating but not roller-skating. Cigarettes but not cigars. She was much more interesting now. She had what Bettirose would call "flavor." She wasn't the boring, close-minded person she'd been when she left Estelle. She had character.

        Over the next couple weeks, Cora tried to lighten the mood. She often asked everyone if they wanted to go to the movie house to see one of the slapstick comedies that were always playing, but she was always turned down, and so she and Masterson often ended up going together, sometimes with Maddie or Eveline. Sometimes they went to see a full-length movie, but a lot of them were sad, so they tried to avoid them.
        Bettirose, who owned the Society building, had made a decision to rebuild the building Colby had destroyed and move the Society upstairs. Everyone was thrilled that it would have windows and more space, but of course, as soon as people caught onto what was happening, a lot of groups of boys and men tried protesting it. And Nielsen was always called in to send them away.
        "It's her damn building," he said angrily. "Unfortunately, she can do whatever she wants, as long as she doesn't break the segregation law," he said, eyeing Bettirose.
        "We won't," Bettirose lied, walking back inside with an armful of wooden planks. It had taken a long time to find a construction company that would take the job, especially after hearing what the building was to be. But finally, work had started on restoring it. And along with restoring the building, they were restoring hope. Cora could feel it all around as summer snuck up on them. Soon, 65-degree weather was traded in for 75-degree weather, sometimes 80.
        One day, just before summer officially began, Henderson was outside watering the garden with Cora's help, while Eveline sat in the shade, reading. The day was hot, and Cora and Henderson had been cooling off by spraying the hose on each other, while Eveline had been fanning herself with a large paper fan. Cora had finally given in to purchasing a couple electric fans, which were all plugged in, one in each room that people commonly used.
        After ten more minutes of watering the plants, Cora, holding a water hose, looked at Henderson and grinned, nodding to Eveline. Henderson looked over at her and looked back at Cora.
        "But she's reading," he whispered.
        "Wait for her to put the book down," Cora whispered back. They kept watering, while watching Eveline. Eventually, she marked her page and put the book down to sit back and fan herself for a while. Cora and Henderson nodded at each other.
        "Hey, Eveline!" Cora shouted, and sprayed her with the hose. Henderson joined in with his. Eveline shrieked and jumped up, trying to avoid getting sprayed. But Cora kept the hose on her even after she dove behind a bush for cover.
        "Well thanks, now I'm all wet!" Eveline shouted from behind the bush.
        "It's not as hot outside now, is it?" Cora called back. Eveline jumped out from behind the bush and ran right for Cora, grabbing the hose out of her hands and spraying her. Cora screamed and tried to block the water, but she got soaked. Eventually, Maddie ran out onto the back porch to see what was going on, and both Eveline and Henderson sprayed her with water. Maddie shrieked and ran for the kitchen. A moment later, she emerged with a metal pail. She ran down into the garden and dumped the pail, which was full of sink water, onto Eveline's head. Eveline shrieked and sprayed the hose right in Maddie's face, and before long, they were filling up buckets of water and dumping them on each other as everyone else in the house slowly joined in. It was a perfect way to start the summer.