Tree Angel

There is no excuse to look at the albums and recipes again. During the pandemic everything feels like a bad game of musical chairs without laughter, without innocence, somedays- without even the fragrance of possibilities. However, her eyes lit upon one tiny picture. A polaroid from the black and white era. A little girl in a relaxed pose. She knew the grey scale pajamas were frilly, red nylon tricot. And she knew that the little white socks could be worn inside without getting ruined-because the floors were that clean. Lunch would be coming soon. Perhaps some Riceland Rice and little boiled chicken drumsticks.

She and her Mom would eat together and then, for a few moments read the “Jonesboro Sun” newspaper and maybe her Mom would lite a Kool Menthol before she promptly washed the dishes- recently Tami was encouraged by kind words using the togetherness pronouns to help and she loved helping her beautiful blond mother. Geraldine, who was really a fashionista, usually wore flip flops at home, pressed her clothes on Tuesday and sometimes went to bed in pin curls though a lot of Moms were at that time going to get their hair “done” in the bouffant style. But they were a patient family of builders, the aspiring- they kept to a plan and a budget and not just everything that was trending. The mother of this family was staying home with her daughter before she would start school. They were also avoiding polio.

Geraldine was sometimes frustrated by being, at this time, a one income family. She always made sure the family members had what they needed first; and, that the bills were paid on time because they had a grocery store, the first supermarket in the town, and her husband, Arthur was an owner and manager in the family business. So there was a reputation on the line. One day she would return to work, they would buy a fancy home and Geraldine would go to the Beauty Shop- and come home with many lovely surprises- usually in Ash Blonde.

Sometimes the daring duo would just stay in pajamas for a while, though Geraldine, who had always helped parents in their businesses, been the youngest secretary to a general at Ft. Polk in the war, and who was asked to stay with full scholarship at the famous TSCW Girls college in Denton - usually got her little girl dressed and kept the home on a schedule. On the days they would bake together, Geraldine would always make sure that the kitchen was clean before the fun began and Tami Thomas, of course wanted to dive right in.

But this morning, right as she was drinking her coffee, she sat down to play "The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company C" and Tami sang along. ". " Mommy! How do you do that?" The daughter loved to dance. Or, they stretched on the floor which they mopped together, and played cards or sometime could take a drive to get a Frosty Mug if they had the car. Geri said, " You will be able to play if you practice." And so the blessed days came and went with the lovely repetition.

There were special trees all around the yard. Tami befriended all the trees- Chinaberry in the front right yard- which was no for good for climbing, but had interesting blue/ purple berries that you could collect in a paper cup. And in the far right, back corner, the yard off the little TV den, there was a magnificent Oak for climbing and for collecting leaves that could be made into crowns by fastening them together with twigs – And then, you could run inside and look at the Golden Book for more ideas about a Cinderella dress and crown, or stop and play a little record and have a cold drink.

But the pear tree was special because the Lady liked it, and often was with them while Daddy worked on his projects... And one evening, as they all three sat on the back stoop and watched the fireflies as Mama swatted mosquitos, Tami said to Arthur, " Daddy, the lady likes your projects in the back yard.".

And Arthur said, "Is there a lady coming to see my projects?".

"Yes, she never talks to us. But I think you should tell her hello. She always walks down the street to see how folks are doing and she comes in our yard while you are working under the tree, mostly that is when she comes over-but sometimes, she just comes and sits with her flowy dress on a rock-she likes trees like I do." She looks like the ladies in my Golden Book." Arthur smiled at Geri, and they weren't the kind of parents who would doubt their daughter anyway.

It was so lovely when Daddy came home and today, they had made a bananas cake, his favorite. “Daddy! Daddy’s here! And Tami ran to the little door to TV den- remodeled by Arthur to jump in his arms and he had been careful to wash before coming home to the girls. And there was a bananas cake, a shining result of two girls who had a baking party, centered in the little Formica table. And this is the kind of Daddy who runs to hug his little girl, kisses his wife and then goes to his shop for about an hour, which at that time in their lives is about the size of a real big closet, to decompress- he called it.

Sometimes, in the summer, they would all pile in the car after the “decompression” period and to go the Taste Freeze to get a hamburger. The little two- bedroom house had two window units which ran all day in the hot, humid climate of the Delta. Tonight, they ate some peas with ham hock left over from Sunday and roast beef and a fresh pan of cornbread which was the favorite of everyone, and a new picked ripe tomato given to Daddy by Mr. Greer, the produce guy who had these in his garden and brought some to sell in the store.

" Daddy, I love these Mr. Greer tomatoes", everybody laughed, and Arthur said to Tami, " They are really good when they come from the garden and they are picked to taste.", and so on and so forth they all talked about food and loved to eat together. And in this way all needs were satisfied. Geraldine had nothing to say about gardens- she liked all the progressive food products in our store.

In the polaroid the little girl sat beside the white, studio piano with her feet up, little sock feet crossed, bangs perfectly trimmed and read a little golden book- but maybe she was in the little TV Den, built by Arthur, and watching Alfred Hitchcock climbing into the lap of her Daddy. The lovely scent of tobacco filled the room- he always smelled faintly of Camels- but a lot of people did back then. Amazingly, these parents were only in their mid-thirties and had created paradise for their child.

They would get ready for bed, brush hair and read books. And in her Golden book, Tami saw the lady of the Pear Tree. And they said prayers, and the Mom would tell her the stories of how she could talk to her Dad even while they were not together- they had a straight line through their love. Tami heard the story of her birth and the ten years it took her to be born. Her Mom talked to her about using her heart and mind to be well, and how people liked people who liked them. Yes, people did that back then. Her Granny had died during an operation and often told the story how she was told "Go back, your children need you" and that she didn't want to return, but she did and Daddy had a dream about a number on a house and got the call to go there the very next day to deliver the groceries onto the porch- they did what they could to avoid the polio until the vaccine came in, kept a distance and put up partitions for checkers, who Daddy had said,” had a thankless job anyway". The store gave free delivery elders or those who said they didn't feel healthy and town council told everyone to keep distance. Some people had to live in Iron Lungs. Finally, they took Salk vaccine on a sugar cube together as a family.

One night Arthur said “Honey, Mrs. Stuttgart’s estate is being sold and they have a baby grand over there I would like to recondition.”. Geraldine smiled, because she was married to a man who could do anything. He became a pilot before he graduated Jonesboro High School, and he could fix or build anything. He never cared for the opinion of others, though he kept certain attitude required to run a business like theirs in a small Southern Town, especially one so close to Memphis.

Daddy called up Spud, one of his airplane buddies as Mama called them. " Hey Spud, what ya doin' this Saturday, I need some help moving this piano I am going to fix for Geri to play. " They all went to the “estate”. Arthur reconditioned the intricate moving parts into a magnificent instrument and finally sanded the wood and laid down seven coats of varnish, which shined like glass. He watched the weather all the time as working under the tree, even with a tarp, was uncertain. But when Tami saw the Lady of the Tree looking at the fine, restored Mahogany one evening all by herself she knew it wasn't going to get wet anyway.

Sometimes they sat on the back stoop to watch fireflies, immediately to the side of the little closet called a shop. And sometimes, go get the fish fry to bring home on Friday night and eat fried okra to boot or make ice cream in the freezer with the salt on the ice. We liked summer squash and homemade ice cream. Not the box.

Once the Lady of the Pear Tree, in the swoopy dress, moved to look over Daddy’s shoulder while he worked, and I was going to ask her Daddy to say hello- but Lady of the Pear Tree put fingers to her smiling lips and kind of disappeared.

Soon, the piano was finished and somehow put together. The living room was neat and now a somewhat glamourous room with hardwood floors and the little Ethan Allen combo with the barrel made to hold magazines- a stagecoach picture above. The elegant piano now sat in front of draped mint green chiffon which Geraldine had dyed with Ritz- She played Paderewski, Debussy, Boogie Woogy and hymns galore while the Daddy smiled.

And when we were all there together and resting about the house, I might see the lady just standing, comfortably, sometimes holding a pear in an outstretched hand or walking to take a look in the shop. As time went on, and polio was gone, we became busier and then the sister I had ordered came- which was the best thing ever. After we moved, some years later, there was illness and then, death. And I forgot about the lady but never the trees. Later, a woman with a sweetly familiar family face appeared at our home for a short visit the day of the unexpected death of Arthur, while my sister and I were still just young women.

So, the little polaroid picture is, a pandemic pumpkin. We all know that when grownups try to stay at the ball past midnight or revist the empty ballroom on the morrow that the magic is gone- the magic is in the moment. Still, those wonderful moments are almost captured in the pictures and humans scramble to hold onto what is disappearing before their very eyes, while real magic has its own agenda. And, it WILL be present for those who can deeply love the one moment of life they are in.