FOUR
"WHO DID THIS to you?" The nurse at the health clinic put an ice pack on Mama's black-and-blue eye and gave her some yellow pills.
"Doesn't matter," Mama said.
"I'd say it matters."
I figured if I told about Huck, I'd get in trouble. Mama wasn't usually like this. She was a fighter.
The nurse took the ice pack off. "We've got laws about this in West Virginia," Mama mumbled.
"I need to take a photograph of your eye, Mrs. McFee."
"No I'll just be on my-"
"That's how we do it here." The nurse got a camera out of her desk.
"You probably don't want me smiling."
The nurse clicked off a shot and put a bandage on the cut part around Mama's eye. "There's a social worker here if you need to-"
Mama shook her head. "We'll be on our way."
"If you change your mind..."
Mama shook her head again.
"You come back in ten days, Mrs. McFee, and I'll check it."
Mama put on her mega-star sunglasses and we headed out of the clinic. "All right. That's over."
It didn't feel over to me. We walked to the Chevy.
"Do you think Huck might hurt other women, Mama?"
She stopped.
I looked at her. "I think he might."
She unlocked the door. "There are things, Foster, you don't understand."
I understood that the least little thing could set him off.
Foster, you stop looking at me like that!
Like what, Huck?
Like I don't know, but you stop it!
Foster, it's ten o'clock and you're still awake!
We'll, maybe if you stop yelling...
You'll hear a lot more than that, girl, if you don't go to sleep.
Once he stared screaming at me and calling me a loser because I got a bad report card. I told Mama, and that's when she told him they were through. He tried to sweet-talk his way back into her heart. He wrote her a song and brought chocolate and gave me an Elvis doll that twisted at the hips. But Mama said, adiós, sayonara, get lost.
The next day he broke our window. I guess if I'd kept my mouth shut, we'd still be in Memphis. But if I'd done that, I'd be agreeing with Huck. I'm trying hard not to agree with anybody who says I'm a loser.
****************
The trailer was silver, and the top half was round like a bullet with little windows in front and back. It looked like an old-fashioned spaceship had landed in the yard.
"This here's our Airstream," Kitty said. "Lester's pride and joy. Next to me, of course." She batted her eyes.
From the porch, Lester shouted, "She's an International twenty-five footer with a new floor, wheel covers, battery, storage tank, hydraulic disk brakes, new fridge, oven cooktop, new converter charger, new window seals, new hot water heater. I did her up myself."
I'd never seen anything like this. It sat behind their old house right next to a tomato garden.
"Come August," Kitty said, "we'll be up to our earlobes in tomatoes."
It was June. I live tomatoes, but no way would we be here in August.
"We call this old girl the Silver Bullet." Kitty opened the door. "Oh, the memories that bless and burn."
It was hot inside and a little dusty, but it felt magical. There was a tiny kitchen with dishes in a see-through cupboard. a green couch wrapped around the wall, and there was a low bookcase, a hooked rug, and pictures of a man and woman hiking, fishing,and hugging on a beach.
"That's me and Lester in younger days. We crossed America twice in this beauty."
The bed was at the end next to a little closet. it had a yellow-and-green striped cover. Kitty opened a door to a small bathroom with a shower. I poked my head in. Every inch of space was used. Back in the main room, Kitty grabbed a handle on the wall. "Watch this." She pulled, and down came another bed
"Cool," I said.
Kitty pounded the mattress. "It's seen better days."
I flopped on the bed. "This is wonderful!"
"What a place this is." Mama got out her wallet. "I want to pay you rent and-"
Kitty shook her head. "We're not using it, and we can't bear to get rid of it. Lester's daddy lived in it for eight years. Man was sharp as a tack until the day he died. He keeled over in the kitchen one day and that was it. We keep it as kind of memorial to him. You just settle in."
I wished she hadn't mentioned the part about him dying in the kitchen.
"I insist." Mama tried to press money into Kitty's hand.
But Kitty wouldn't take it. "There was a time when me and Lester were flat-out broke and some folks gave is the room above their garage until we got back on our feet. I'm just passing that on."
I want to be like that someday.
There was a stuffed fish hanging above the sink. "Lester's daddy was a fisherman," Kitty explained. "He said you could never catch the smart fish, they were the ones that got away. That was the biggest bass he ever caught. We had it mounted for him on his eighty fifth birthday. He'd talk to it day and night."
I thought she said he was sharp as a tack. I looked at the fish and figured if it got caught, that meant it was stupid. It might take some time to get used to cooking with a stupid, dead fish looking on.
Mama said, "I don't know what to say."
I did. "Thank you!" I gave Kitty a big hug, went outside to the Chevy, and started unloading. A black cat with a white face meowed at my feet.
"Hey, cat."
I carried two big trash bags into the house. I went back for my box of cooking stuff. The cat was purring near my leg.
"He doesn't come around to just anyone," Kitty said. "He must sense you're good. Elvis, this here is Foster.
Elvis? My heart beat fast as the cat looked at me. "If you say 'Hi, Elvis' back you'll have sealed the relationship."
I gulped. "Hi, Elvis." Huck used to make me call him Elvis when Mama wasn't around. Elvis the cat twitched his whiskers and crept away.
Is there any place on this earth without an Elvis?
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