Rustle, Oklahoma

Henry continued up the road past Bob’s and past Cobb Street. We went five minutes out of town, Henry slowed the truck down and turned on his left blinker. He waited for the incoming traffic to pass by before going off the shoulder onto a dirt trail. On the dirt trail, it was as bumpy as I remembered. The trail elevated and went up a hill. At the top, in a clearing surrounded by pine and birch trees is a two-story house. The house Henry and I grew up in.

After our dad passed away, I inherited our childhood home but when Henry got Mary pregnant, I gave the house to them. By then, Carla and I had divorced. A year after Lenny was born, I left to finish my degree in theology. The old home I remembered had been renovated. The old grey porch was gone. Last I saw it the beams were in bad shape, the fence around the edge was broken, and the steps were weak. Now, a fresh, white porch was in place of the old matching the autumn red color of my old wooden home. Windows and shingles had been replaced. A chimney had been added to the house. And beside are two gray sheds with black roofs. I know one was for storage and the other was for tools.

On the other side of the home were white foldable tables and chairs placed against the side of the house. There were banners already set up. “How many people did you invite?” I asked Henry.

“Um,” Henry thought on the question as he parked the truck a couple of feet away from the sheds. “I invited like five guys from work, then there’s Bob, Malcom, and you remember Jerry and Josh, right?”

“Yeah, you used to hang out with those two all the time in high school. J and J. They’re in town?” The last time I heard of the two J friends they had left to separate states.

“Yup. Jerry was already on his way with his wife and two kids to visit his mom. Josh just came because I told him about the party and who was coming. He’s excited to see everyone,” Henry explained.

“I remember Jerry,” Lenny said as we exited the truck. “Uncle Billy, Jerry’s son is my friend. His name is Mark.”

“Oh yeah? Is he as funny as Jerry?” I asked Lenny.

“Yeah! Last time, mom barely bumped into him, and he fell on the ground.”

“He acted like he got hit by a car?”

“Yeah! Yeah! It was funny!” Lenny and I laughed.

“Jerry used to do that all the time when we were younger. I never understood how he could do it. A bit embarrassing don’t you think?” I said aloud so Henry could hear.

“Jerry’s a man of action, Billy. He goes all in. You gotta admire that,” Henry jokingly said.

Henry and I went to the bed of the truck while Lenny ran to the house saying he needed to use the restroom. I grabbed two cases of beer, Henry grabbed a couple of bags, and we marched towards the front door. Mary was waiting for us on the porch. She wore a white blouse tucked into blue, denim jeans with a black leather belt, and brown boots. Her fair hair has a horseshoe-shaped plastic thing that kept her hair away from her face and flowing freely towards her back. Her wide, blue eyes fixated on Henry, she smiled at him then her eyes flickered my way. “Hi Billy,” she said with a raised sweet, happy voice.

“Hey Mary, how are you?”

“Good. I’m ready to help Henry with his barbecue,” she teased Henry. Henry was the first up the porch steps. Mary stared up at him with a grin. Henry said, “I have time, especially if I start now.”

“Oh yeah? Then who’s going to help Billy with the tables and chairs?” Mary cocked her head and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Oh well—”

“You weren’t going to make me, and my friends help? Or let Billy do it all by himself? Were you?”

“—No, I was going to help,” Henry chuckled at the teasing. “So, your friends will help you prep the meat?’

“Yes. They. Will.” Mary tapped Henry’s chest after each word. They were all grins, acting like newlyweds. Henry walked away with a huge grin into the house, and I followed.

“How are you all?” Henry said to Mary’s friends who were in the living room.

“Hi Henry!” The girls all said in unison.

“Hi padre!” One of Mary’s friends said with a giggle. It was the shortest one with long, straight black hair and brown skin. Her name is Esther, one of the few who refer to me as “Padre”. The other girls, lounging on three couches surrounding the glass, black framed coffee table, giggled along with her.

Henry and I set the groceries in the kitchen then went out to grab the rest. It only took one more trip to clear the bed. When we entered, Lenny had come out of the restroom and was in the center of Mary’s friends’ storm of compliments and teasing. Lenny was red as a tomato. When his father and I exited, Lenny saw his escape, telling the women he was going out to help us set the tables and chairs. The women teased, saying: “Aw! How Kind!”, “Go. They need your muscles”, “So strong!”.

We went to the side of the house opposite of the sheds. Henry and I grabbed the tables and set them up in four columns, vertically, in rows of five. Lenny ran around to help me in pulling out the foldable legs of the table. There were three tables left which were put at the front of the columns, horizontally, close to one another, they will hold the food. Before the chairs, we put table covers over each table. Then we set the chairs, each table holding five. As we worked, “That Esther, she’s always messing with you,” Henry’s midwestern accent turned his a’s into æ’s.

I stopped and stared at my brother, “What are you getting at?”

Henry stopped, raised his hands, and shook his head at me, “Nothing.”

“She’s fun. I guess,” I said, resuming placing the chairs. I could feel Henry’s gaze still on me, probably with a big grin.

The sun was high in the sky, bright and round, with its view undisturbed. It may be a cool seventy-degrees, but I was sweating. I knew by now my forehead was shiny. By the time it was over my back was lightly damp. I unbuttoned a couple more buttons and sat at one of the chairs, rubbing my right leg. Henry had gone inside to grab us a drink. When he came out, Mary was with him.

“Here you go,” Henry handed me a cold-water bottle.

“Henry said you aren’t coming to the party,” Mary said unperturbed.

“Yeah,” I said as I opened the bottle then took a swig. After swallowing, I continued, “sorry, Mary. Lenny.” Lenny was sitting right beside me.

“Why are you not coming, Uncle Billy,” Lenny said, disappointed. He stared at me with those round, innocent, childish eyes.

“A lady, a member of my flock, rarely is able to go out and relax. Her husband is sick, and she’s been taking care of him for a long time. Lisa is her name, remember her? Yeah? Well, she’s the one and I wanted to give her a day off. So, I’ll be taking care of her husband while she comes here.” I glanced at my brother and his wife then back at Lenny as I said, “If she comes back early. I’ll come back, eat what’s left and hang for a bit.”

That seemed to lighten the boy’s spirits somewhat. I didn’t know that me not being at the party would make him this sad. Lenny’s still a kid, once he runs around with the other boys, he’ll forget it all and enjoy himself. Mary said, “Of course, we’ll probably still be going for a long while. I think probably until eleven. Then there’s the clean-up, Henry and I will still be up.”

“Yeah, come back and help us clean,” Henry patted my back.

“Save me some brisket and I’ll help.”

Henry and Lenny went back inside. Henry went to work on the barbecue. The food was ready to be cooked, Henry would have to start now to finish on time. Lenny was sent to the shower by Mary. I waited by Henry’s truck for Mary. She was going to take me back to the church for she still needs to grab the cake and Henry had forgotten the ice.

“Sorry,” Mary said, hurrying towards the truck. “I got caught in the gossip.”

We entered the truck; Mary started it then slowly drove down the trail back onto the road heading into town. She took a left to enter Cobb Street, on the way back I had asked Mary questions about her job. Mary works as a primary teacher, teaching the first graders. She had been working at the elementary school in town for the past eight years. Recently, there had been budget cuts leading to some teachers being dismissed. Mary had been one of the lucky ones to keep her job.

She told me that her class was getting ready for easter. They were decorating the classroom. Mary also expressed her dismay over Lenny growing up. “When I saw my little students working on their drawings of bunnies with big ol’ smiles, it nearly made me cry. Lenny still wants to hunt for eggs, but he doesn’t have the same excitement over easter like he once did. He’s growing up, Billy. When I drop you off, I’m going to pray really quick. I’m going to ask the lord to stop Lenny from growing any older.”

Mary pulled into the dirt lot of the church. She will be heading to grab the cake and ice after this so I hurried to get out. I turned to say goodbye, but she had her head down and her hands clasped. I smiled and when she was done praying, I said, “Thank you Mary. I’ll see you guys later if I’m able to.”

“No problem, Billy,” Mary said cheerfully. “If you can’t make it, we’ll save you some food.”

“Brisket?’

Mary laughed. “Of course.”

I stepped away from the truck and she drove off. I waved goodbye. Mary saw, she wove back as she drove back towards the main road. I then walked a couple of paces towards the gate of a small, old white house beside the church.