Chapter Six #2
“Now, while my grandson loads up my things”—Ally pointed to the boxes stacked in front of the door and then focused on Tina—“you can help me clean up the dishes. That way I can get to know you better. My mother taught me that the best way to learn about a person is to work beside them for a while.”
Tina pushed back her chair, stood up, and began to gather the plates from the table. She followed Ally to the kitchen area at the end of the long room. “Shall I wash or dry?”
“I’ll wash,” Ally said, and ran hot water into one of two galvanized pans in a deep sink.
“When we are done, we will carry the rinse water out to the flower bed. I have a good well, but I never, ever waste what the Great Spirit lets me borrow. We won’t get any of it on my basil or some of the other herbs, but it won’t hurt the roses. ”
Tina didn’t know what to say, so she simply nodded and took the drying towel from a rack beside the sink. “What was Walker like as a boy?” she finally asked.
Walker came in from outside and sat down on the worn leather sofa. “No fair telling stories on me when I’m not here.”
“Try to stop me.” Ally grinned. “Walker was a good baby, and a quiet child after he was big enough to come and stay with us. His mother, Natalie, tried to bring him on Trade Days because he loved being around the other children. When he was in school, she would let us have him for a week at the beginning of summer, one in the middle, and then for one again at the end. We offered to keep him all summer, but Bull was against that, and she listened to her father. I was surprised that she ever went against Bull’s wishes to marry my son, Joe, especially in one of our ceremonies instead of in her church. ”
“I knew that Grandpa didn’t want her to marry my father, but I had no idea there was a ceremony. Mother never told me about all that. Wasn’t that unusual for a white woman?” Walker asked.
“Yes, it was, but Joe petitioned the council and they okayed it,” Ally told him. “We all loved Natalie, and I’m glad she has found happiness with Kelsey and moved away from Bull.”
“She is happy,” Walker said, and picked up a box on his way across the room. “I will take your things out to your building and start getting it set up for you.”
“Be careful with my weaving frame. I remember back in my younger days when I helped my grandmother bring that same frame to Trade Days,” she told him. “Tina and I will be along as soon as we finish this job.”
After having been so forthcoming, suddenly Ally turned quiet, to Tina’s surprise, and focused on getting everything cleaned up.
Tina followed her lead and joined in silently.
The time for questions seemed to be at an end.
After that, Ally turned off the burner under a simmering pot of soup and pulled a cast-iron skillet from off a hook on the wall.
“Now we’ll be ready to make fry bread when the day is done.
Then we can sit on the porch and watch the sunset until it’s time for you to leave. ”
Tina was brave and had taken care of herself, not from rags to riches, but more like from riches to rags to poverty, but she did not have the courage to tell Ally that she had not planned to spend the whole day away from Benson when she left that morning.
“That sounds great,” she said.
Ally’s chuckle came from down deep in her throat. “We’ll see if you still think so after this day is done, but I appreciate that you are trying to be nice for Walker’s sake.”
Tina popped a hand on her hip and locked eyes with her.
“Walker and Gracie are my best friends, and along with Mae and Cleo, they are my . . .” She paused a moment before she went on.
“I have a biological family, but those four are my chosen family. You can rest assured I’m not being nice for Walker’s sake. ”
Ally removed her bibbed apron and hung it on the back of a kitchen chair. “You are the first woman my grandson has brought home to meet me, and I wasn’t quite sure that I would like you until this minute. He needs a fiery lady in his life to balance his spirit.”
“We are just friends,” Tina said.
“Friends can grow into more.”
Tina thought of Gracie saying almost the same thing.
“Hang up that drying towel and walk with me to my booth. You can handle the money today while I put the finishing touches on my rug. There are usually at least a dozen people who are willing to pay big money for one that they can watch being made.”
Evidently, Tina was working for her breakfast and supper, but she didn’t mind. Not if the evening meal was as good as what she had just finished eating. “How do you decide who gets it?” she asked as the two of them went outside and crossed the yard.
“The one who lays the money on the shelf first,” Ally answered.
“Some of them will try to negotiate with me, but they don’t know how many hours have already gone into making something that will last for generations.
So, it all comes down to whoever puts out the dollars without hassling me.
Would you work for fifty cents an hour?”
“No, ma’am, I would not,” Tina answered.
“I don’t, either,” Ally said.
“But once upon a time, I worked for tips. That was my second job, though, not my primary one.”
“Why did you need two?” Ally asked.
“Because I made a very bad decision, and it came back to bite me on the butt.”
“They have a way of doing that. I see that Walker has set up three chairs in our booth. It will get warm when the sun is high, but we have a little fan to circulate the air.”
“How did you know to bring three chairs?” Tina asked.
Ally threw a smile over her shoulder as she opened the door at the end of the booth and went inside. “Old women have their ways. Now, you can help me put the jewelry trays on the shelf.”
The intricate designs fascinated Tina as she pulled trays out and arranged them for the buyers to see. “Do you ever have problems with people trying to steal these?”
“Not often, but this helps,” she said as she set a small sign on the shelf that said The Great Spirit Sees All.
A shiver shot down Tina’s spine. “It would scare me into being honest.”
Ally pulled a chair over to the far end of the booth, sat down, and began to work on weaving the last few rows of the blanket.
“It should do that to everyone. I see that Walker is already making the rounds. If you would like to go with him to meet some of his friends and relatives, I’m fine alone until the customers arrive. ”
“He didn’t invite me, and besides, I’m good right here,” Tina said as she settled into an empty chair.
“A good woman does not need to hang on to her man for strength or stability. She is enough in her own right. What is your story?” Ally asked. “Why did you stay away so long? Walker missed you.”
“Short story is that I went away to college, made some bad choices, had to deal with the consequences, and didn’t feel worthy to be his or Gracie’s friend anymore.
I was on my way to California to visit with my parents, who have almost let me back into their good graces, when I decided to come through Benson.
I wasn’t even sure that Mae and Cleo would invite me through the front door, but they welcomed me with open arms. Walker and Gracie did the same, and I feel . . .” She hesitated.
“At peace, right? I see it in your eyes,” Ally said.
“That’s right. I called my folks and told them I was staying in Benson, and they seemed relieved. I was one of those whoops babies, so I always felt more at home at Mae and Cleo’s place than anywhere else.”
“Babies are a blessing,” Ally said with a sigh. “I wanted more but only got one son, and he died young. I’m grateful for Walker, and I keep hoping he will give me grandchildren before I’m too old to rock them.”
A streak of jealousy danced through Tina’s soul at the idea of Walker having a wife.
That would put a severe damper on their friendship.
A blush traveled from her neck to her cheeks, and she didn’t need a mirror to tell her that her freckles had darkened.
Thank goodness Ally was working diligently on her blanket and had her back turned.
She didn’t even see Walker standing in front of the booth until he spoke. “How’s it going? Do you need me to take care of anything here?”
“No, we’ve got it covered,” Ally answered.
“Then I’m going to go help Chico make tacos,” he said. “If you get in a bind, grab the nearest child and send him over to get me.”
“Are you all right?” he mouthed at Tina.
“I’m good,” she whispered.
And that’s a lie, the voice in her head said.
Okay, I’m nervous, but I’ve never been a clingy type, and I’m not starting today, she declared silently.
“Need some help?” Walker asked when he entered Chico’s booth.
“I never turn down help.” His friend smiled and shook his head at the same time.
“Make up your mind,” Walker said.
“Yes, I can use some help. But no to the redhead you brought with you today,” Chico said.
“Why would you form an opinion about Tina before you even meet her?”
“I always figured you would wind up with a wife from this community or from a res. I didn’t think you’d bring a tall redhaired woman home to meet your shinálí,” Chico said as he added the spices to the meat for the tacos.
“How many women have you brought home to meet your grandmother?” Walker tried to deflect the matter away from him.
“About five or six, and she didn’t like any of them enough to ask them to share her booth at Trade Days,” he answered. “What’s so special about this one that Ally is willing to let her do that?”