Chapter 21: Who Are You?

Callie woke up earlier than usual, and began to prepare breakfast and get ready for work. She had been unable to sleep because of Cade's uneasiness. She was grateful her job was only part-time and that she didn't have to work every single day. Whenever Cade punished her, it always hurt, and even though he had only given her ten licks with the belt yesterday, she could still feel it.

As Callie tidied up the living room, she stumbled across the letter from the tax commission and realized as she opened it, that this must have been what had upset Cade. She opened the letter and read it. She didn't understand fully what it meant, but she knew it was bad. She put the letter away and finished straightening up the living room, trying to get rid of the feelings of gloom and doom that were beginning to consume her. She was determined to help Cade find a way to keep moving forward and not let anything stand in their way of having a good life.

The children ate their breakfast in silence. They could tell Cade was upset about something, but they didn't know what it was. They had learned over the years to keep quiet when one of the adults in their life was in a bad mood, even Jessica didn't dare say too much.

Finally, everyone left the house for the day, and Cade didn't waste any time asking Lonnie if he had received a notice from the county tax commission. "Yeah I got one of those too," Lonnie sighed.

"Do you think Pennington had something to do with it?" Cade asked.

"Is the Pope Catholic?" Lonnie snorted. "Of course Pennington is behind this."

Cade seethed at his words. "Why would that asshole do this to us?"

Lonnie shook his head and breathed a heavy sigh, "He's been after this land for years. This increase in taxes is just another scheme of his to get us to sell our land and move away. He always has something like this up his sleeve. I don't know why he wants our land so badly, but recently he seems to be stepping up his game."

Cade tightened his jaw, "It's because of me, and whatever it is he has against me."

Lonnie didn't argue with Cade's reasoning, because he had noticed an increase in Pennington's meddling since Cade's arrival. Lonnie continued driving, "Why do you think he has issues with you?"

Cade glared at Lonnie, "I wish I knew."

"Well, there's definitely history between your family and his. I wish my old man was around, rather than living in Florida," Lonnie mused. "He might be able to tell us something if he was here."

"I wish I knew what happened to make Pennington hate my family so much." Cade raged.

Lonnie turned toward Cade, "I wish I had the answer Cade. If Walt was here right now, he would have the answer, but Walt was always tight lipped about the Pennington's."

"I wish Walt had left me instructions about how to handle the Pennington's before he died," Cade mused and attempted to calm down a little.

Lonnie continued driving at a steady pace, and chuckled a little. "I told you Walt wasn't that organized," Lonnie smiled. "A list of instructions would have been a bit too much to expect. Then he added, "Are you a praying man? If so, that might be our only hope, because things look grim for all of us if Pennington doesn't back off," and Cade could tell Lonnie was being very serious.

"I'm not a praying man and I never have been, but I found out recently that my mother's father was a minister, if that counts." Cade raised his eyebrows.

Lonnie laughed, "Your mom was the minister's daughter?"

"Yep," Cade said. "Is that a bad thing?"

Lonnie laughed. "That all depends on your perspective," he smirked. "Minister's daughters are often rebels." He laughed, and then he stopped the truck because they had arrived at their first destination.

"Well that would follow," Cade smirked. "My mother is definitely not your garden variety mother."

Lonnie snorted, grateful that Cade's mood seemed to be lightening a bit.

When Callie arrived for work at eight in the morning, rather than six as Lionel had asked, he confronted her. "I thought I asked you to come in at six today." Lionel looked at her rather sharply.

Callie looked down. "We agreed eight when you hired me, and there's no way I can come in any earlier."

Lionel scoffed and brushed past her in annoyance, "The customer's are waiting."

Callie quickly changed into her uniform and began working. Rhonnelle gave her a warm smile, "Don't let Lionel push you around."

Callie managed a smile at Rhonnelle, "I hope he doesn't fire me."

"He won't," Rhonelle assured her, "He just enjoys bullying us to see if we'll cave in to the pressure." She gave Callie a wink. "He's kind of an asshole, but a harmless one."

Callie caught on to her job duties quickly. There were busy times and slow times, but overall Beatrice's Diner didn't lack for customers, and Callie worked hard.

When the noon rush arrived, Callie was assigned to wait on a table of four businessmen. All of them looked as if they belonged in a more upscale eating establishment, but Rhonnelle informed her, they often came to Beatrice's because the food is so good.

"You must be new here?" One of the men at the table smiled at her with appreciation.

"Yes, I am. What can I get you?" Callie asked politely.

The men looked at each other and chuckled and Callie realized right away that this table of executives was worse than the tables of blue-collar men who made up the majority of their lunch crowd. No wonder Rhonelle had given her the honor of serving them, rather than doing it herself. Callie ignored their innuendoes and stares, and she was glad when she could finally give them the bill.

"It's on me," One of the men said, taking out a hundred dollar bill, and handing it to Callie. "Keep the change little lady."

The men smiled, "Thanks Drake, we'll get it next time," one of the other men said.

"No problem," Drake grinned.

Callie froze when she heard the name Drake, but she attempted not to react much, and after the men left the restaurant, she quickly cornered Rhonelle. "Who were those men?"

"Drake Pennington and his cronies," Rhonelle said casually. "I bet they gave you a nice tip, they always do," she winked at Callie, "The tip always helps me stomach them."

Callie looked down at the $60 tip in her hand. "Yeah, they tipped well," she said absently. Callie had to give a percentage of her tips to those who bussed and cleaned the tables, but after she did that, she would still have a sizable amount left over.

"Ronnie," Lionel barked, "The customers are waiting."

"Jesus Christ," Rhonelle rolled her eyes. "Ain't this job grand?"

"Callie," Lionel warned, "I don't pay you girls to stand around gabbing."

"Yes sir," Callie said absently, and quickly got back to work. She was a bit shaken up after her encounter with Drake Pennington. He was a handsome man, and for some reason that surprised Callie. She focused on her work all afternoon, so that she could leave work by three o'clock when her shift ended. On the way home, she stopped at the convenience store to stock up on cigarettes, and on a whim, she decided to purchase a bottle of vodka. They never kept any alcohol in their house, and after her day in the trenches, and meeting Drake Pennington, Callie wanted a drink. She was grateful for her tip money, which was one of the best benefits of being a waitress.

Cade was sullen all day, but Cade's mood didn't prevent him from working hard and he and Lonnie breezed through their appointments and got home by six o'clock that evening.

After dinner, Cade retreated to the basement. Somewhere was the answer he was seeking about the Pennington's and his family. He pulled out the old box of pictures once more, the ones he had found on Thanksgiving, and looked at each picture again. Each picture had its own story to tell, and this time Cade noticed a couple of things he didn't notice the first time. In a couple of pictures, his grandma Martha was wearing the gold locket around her neck.

Cade picked up the locket and looked at it. It was oval, with a unique design on the front. The more he looked at the locket, the more he realized that probably it was not purchased at the dime store, or even at a random jewelry shop. There was something special about this locket; Cade was certain. He suddenly felt grateful he had gone to the effort of getting it back from the pawnshop. He held it up in the dim light of the basement and after awhile he decided to pry it open. Opening it proved difficult, but he was able to do it after carefully inserting his knife in the crack. Once it was open, Cade discovered there were two small pictures inside, one of a young girl, and the other of a young boy. He did not recognize either child.

Cade thumbed back through the pictures in the boxes, but he was certain there were no pictures of these children in the boxes. He found pictures of Walt as a baby, and even pictures of Walt's parents, but not the two children pictured in the locket. Then it suddenly occurred to him that there were no pictures of his grandmother Martha as a child. The first pictures of Martha appeared when she was around seventeen or eighteen years old, about the time she married Walt, and before that, there were no pictures of her. As he examined the pictures more closely, he realized there were only two photos of Martha dated prior to her marriage to Walt. Those two photos were the ones in which she was wearing the locket, after that there were no other pictures of her wearing the locket. Cade looked once again at the small black and white photos of the two children inside the locket. Whoever they were, the box of photos in Walt's basement didn't provide the answer.