Chapter Twelve #3
“Yeah, right!” Cleo giggled. “Come on, Mae. We’ve got supper to get on the table.”
“No, you do not,” Walker said. “But it will be served in about five minutes. Tina is out picking up tacos and . . .” He paused and pointed to the driveway. “There she is now. Y’all go sit down at the table, and we’ll take care of you tonight.”
“You’ll get no argument from me,” Cleo moaned. “These old knees should never be tortured like they have been today. The youngsters in the church need to learn to step up and do their civic duty.”
“How did that get from the feedstore parking lot to there?” Mae asked as she walked up onto the porch.
“Evidently, it flew,” Cleo answered with a wave of the hand. “Take off your—”
“I know,” Mae snapped. “You don’t have to tell me to leave my shoes at the door every time.”
“If I didn’t remind you, I’d have to clean the floor, and I ain’t got the energy to even wring out a mop,” Cleo growled.
“A little help?” Tina called from her car.
Walker crossed the yard and got the two paper bags from the back seat. “I’m glad you thought of doing this. They are worn out tonight.”
She picked up a drink carrier with four large cups of ice. “Did they notice Iris’s new pet?”
“Yes, and they are even too tired to laugh about it, but Cleo said that it probably flew from the feed lot to her yard.”
“I didn’t think of that, but it’s a good story to tell when Iris starts yelling at us. You know I’ll get the blame.”
“Yep—but, honey, you were with me all day,” Walker chuckled.
“Absolutely,” she said and picked up a sack holding three big bottles of soft drinks.
“We should bring in dinner like this at least once a week,” Walker suggested. “Today really drained their energy. I didn’t realize how much they were aging until they limped across the yard.”
“You won’t get an argument out of me,” Tina said. “They do so much for us. The least we can do is bring in supper a time or two a week so they don’t have to cook.”
Mae and Cleo were both slumped on the wingback chairs in the foyer when Walker and Tina came in the front door.
“Y’all have overdone it today,” Tina fussed as she kicked off her shoes.
“What gave you the first clue?” Cleo asked.
“You are too tired to tell me not to track up the floor,” she answered.
Mae sighed. “If I wasn’t so hungry, I’d just take a quick shower and go straight to bed.”
Cleo got to her feet with a groan. “We made sandwiches and to-go bags all day, but we only ate a couple of bites on the run. I hope that’s Pepsi in those cups. I need a little caffeine to give me enough energy to chew.”
Mae whimpered when she stood up. “That’s one thing Cleo and I can agree on. Thank you, kids, for getting food for us tonight. Did you drive all the way to Vega?”
Tina led the way to the kitchen and emptied both bags. “No, this is from that food wagon parked just down the block from the feedstore. I picked up the other stuff at the grocery store, along with the Pepsi.”
Walker set the cups of ice around at each place. Then he carefully poured them full of Pepsi for the ladies, and root beer for him and Tina.
One kitten climbed up the leg of Tina’s jeans as she was putting the wrapped tacos on each plate. She picked her off and put her on the floor. “Little girl, someday I’ll take you over to the Tomorrow Tree and you can climb it, but my leg is off limits.”
“No, you will not!” Mae declared. “She’s never going outside. She might run away.”
Cleo eased down into her chair and bowed her head. “Thank you, Father, for this food and for these two kids who brought it to us. Amen.”
“I like that prayer better than the ones when you start with the first day God made dirt,” Mae said.
“The Good Book says to give of your best. That’s all I’ve got tonight. Now, Tina, darlin’, hand me one of those tacos.”
They ate in silence until the sound of a car engine pulling into the driveway took all their attention from the food.
Mae frowned and focused on Walker. “Are we expecting company? I heard that Yolanda came by the store today and that she’s big pregnant.
Do you have something to tell me? Am I getting my first grandchild? ”
“It’s not my baby,” he blurted out.
“But we do have some gossip.” Tina hopped up and went to the kitchen window, half expecting a policeman to get out of the car with his handcuffs ready, but whoever it was backed out and drove away.
“Someone is using our driveway to turn around,” she announced and sat back down.
“Maybe they’re coming to see Iris’s new lawn decoration. ”
Cleo sucked up several gulps of her soda. “I’m revived enough to hear the gossip now, so spit it out. And even though that chicken is ugly, I’m glad that it’s over there, because she’ll be mad as an old wet hen . . .” She laughed.
“Seems like a fitting thing to say since she’s got a rooster in her yard,” Mae laughed with her. “Maybe if she gets mad enough, she will lay some eggs.”
Tina almost jumped up when she heard another vehicle in the driveway, but Cleo reached over and laid a hand on her arm. “Everyone in town wants to see Iris’s new chicken and can get a better look at it from this angle. Ain’t no need in you hopping up every time you hear the crunch of gravel.”
“How did that chicken really get from the store’s parking lot to her yard, anyway?” Mae asked.
“I told you that the damn thing flew. If someone stole it and put it there, I will bake them a cake,” Cleo barked. “Now, Tina, go on with whatever you were telling me about who is the daddy of Yolanda’s baby.”
“Babies,” Walker said. “She’s having identical boy triplets.”
“Holy hell,” Cleo whispered.