Chapter 17
Papers were all signed, and all that was left for Bernie to do at noon was get into her new truck and start driving toward Spanish Fort.
The kids stayed true to her wishes and stood at the door of the Chicken Coop and waved until she made the corner and couldn’t see them anymore.
That’s when the waterworks let go and she began to weep so hard that she pulled over on the side of the road a few miles out of town and let it all loose.
Pepper hopped up on the console, put his little paws on her shoulder, and licked the tears from her face.
Half a box of tissues later, she took a deep breath, put the truck in drive, and set her face like flint.
“You are a good friend, Pepper, but now I’ve had my fifteen minutes of whining, and it’s over.
I had many good years in the Chicken Coop, and I know it’s time to pass the bar on to those kids who already love it as much as I do.
” She hiccupped a couple of times, took a sip of her lukewarm coffee, and inhaled deeply.
“If we ain’t movin’, we’re standing still, and old age grows on those folks who come to a screeching halt. ”
Pepper yipped once, lay back down on the passenger’s seat, and closed his eyes.
“I love parties, and I could have dressed up,” she muttered.
“I could have worn different pieces from all my costumes. The pants from Labor Day, the top from Easter, and maybe the hat from Veterans Day to celebrate all the years I owned the Chicken Coop, but oh no! I had to be all brave and tell them not to make a fuss.”
She thought of what Joe Clay told her the first time she drove down to Spanish Fort. “Don’t blink or you’ll miss it.”
“That’s pretty much the story of Cornish except that I just blinked, and it’s already gone.” To keep her mind off what she had left behind, she switched on the radio.
Blake Shelton singing “Goodbye Time” filled the truck.
Pepper put a paw over his ears, but Bernie didn’t turn down the volume.
The song was about a woman who left a man, but it seemed fitting that afternoon as she saw the sign on the Oklahoma side of the Taovayas Bridge over the Red River.
She stopped the truck. When she crossed over to the other side, she would be in Texas.
“A lifetime behind me that accounts for more years than the one in front of me. This is it, Pepper. When I moved into the apartment at the Chicken Coop, I swore I would never go back to Texas.” She took the last two sips of her coffee.
“There, I just swallowed my words. It’s better than getting old and going to a nursing home.
I’ve always heard that life is what you make it.
So, goodbye, Oklahoma, and look out, Texas!
Mary Bernadette is about to enter the state, and it will never be the same. ”
She drove across the bridge without a single glance in her rearview mirror.
Pepper hopped back onto the console and was focused on the road ahead the rest of the way.
Bernie reached over and scratched his ears, and said, “I don’t know if you can read English, old boy, but if you can, that sign back there said, ‘Welcome to Texas,’ and the little one under it said, ‘Don’t Mess with Texas.
’ That doesn’t mean something ugly, but it’s a warning not to throw litter out on the car window or you will get fined.
This ain’t The Wizard of Oz, and you ain’t Dorothy or even Toto, but I can truthfully tell you that you are not in Oklahoma anymore.
You are a Texan now, so get ready for a different world. ”
He wagged his tail and kept his eyes straight ahead.
“Yes, there are squirrels and even rabbits where we are going. You are going to love it there.” Bernie wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince the dog or herself.
In a few minutes she flicked on the turn signal to turn up the lane lined with pecan trees. No one was on the front porch, so she figured she and Pepper could sneak back to her trailer and unload her things before she even went up to the Paradise to see Mary Jane.
When she rounded the end of big house, she braked so fast that poor old Pepper flew off the console and landed in the passenger seat.
A huge banner hung across the front porch posts that Joe Clay had built onto her trailer.
She hadn’t expected both a porch in the front and a deck on the back overlooking a wooded area, but there they were with a big WELCOME HOME, AUNT BERNIE written in sparkling red letters.
People were everywhere and the aroma of barbecue came right into the truck through the air conditioner vents.
She rubbed her eyes, unsure if they were working right, but nothing changed.
Finally, Joe Clay carried over a long length of red carpet and stretched it out from the truck to a table where Mary Jane waited behind a chair that resembled a throne.
He opened the door and offered her his hand.
“My job is to lead you to the place of honor,” he told her. “So, get a leash on your companion over there, and let’s go.”
“If I’d known there was going to be a party, I would have dressed up,” she whispered as she snapped the leash onto Pepper’s collar and put her hand in Joe Clay’s.
“This is just a gathering,” he said out the corner of his mouth. “We didn’t know until Saturday that you would be coming today, so this is the best we could do on short notice.”
Mary Jane rounded the end of the table with Endora and Luna right behind her.
“We are so glad you are finally here,” she said as she hugged Bernie and then stepped to the side.
“Come on around and have a seat. This is the chair we use at Christmas for Santa Claus, but today it is Queen Bernie’s throne. ”
Endora wrapped Bernie up in another hug. “I’ll make you a plate.”
“And I will sit beside you and get your dessert when you are ready,” Luna told her after a third hug.
“We plan to take lots of pictures, and it won’t be easy not to show them to the other five sisters, but we will keep your secret.
Can you at least tell us why you don’t want Ursula or the others to know? ”
“I want to surprise them all,” she said around the big lump in her throat. “Did Clara tell you…”
“Yep, she did,” Mary Jane answered. “But don’t you fuss at her. We want you to meet the folks who have hung on here in Spanish Fort with the hopes that someday it will be back to its former glory, only without the gunfights and brothels.”
“Bless that sweet child’s heart,” Bernie said.