Chapter 14: Here's Reba

Reba Skye sat at the counter in the diner and nursed her cup of coffee. She glanced at the grainy newspaper picture, looked away then did a double take and looked back again. She recognized the woman in the picture. It couldn't be ... but it sure was! There was big sister Ruby, bigger than life. The rip in her dress showed her leg almost up to her butt. She knew one thing for certain, that was definitely Big Sis. Reba grabbed the much out of date newspaper away from the man reading it.

"Do you mind?" a sarcastic voice asked and his hand reached out to take the paper back.

"Hands off, you out of town foreigner," she snarled at him and grabbed the newspaper tighter. "Go get your own paper." Without looking up, her eyes stayed focused on the picture of Ruby as she dragged some guy out from under a car while some other real big guy held it up.

"That is my paper," the man answered. "Give it back."

"This here part is mine," she told him and pulled the Metro section away from the rest of the newspaper. "Now, go away." She devoured the story with her eyes.

"Good lord, god damned ignorant Okie hillbillies," He muttered under his breath as he left the small diner, anxious to resume his journey away from this godforsaken town and all these people who seemed to glory in their ignorance and poverty.

"Go jump in the lake," she answered and began to read the newspaper story yet again.

She looked at the dateline at the top of the page. This paper was far from being fresh news. Who to tell? She answered that question right away,. No one, that's who. She was careful as she folded the story and the picture of her sister small enough to fit into her dress pocket and went for a walk. She had to think things out.

She spied Jake West, head accountant for the only mine still operating in the area, Parson's Zinc Mine Inc. Right then she knew exactly what she must do. Pa had been getting way too free with his hands lately and she wanted to get away from that sour smelling old drunk. Big Sis was the answer. She hurried over to the short round-bellied bookkeeper as he got out of his car.

"Mister West, do you still make the trip to the City every Monday for the company?" She smiled her friendliest at him.

He stopped, blinked twice and thought before answering. "Ah, yes, I still do. Why?" He looked at her again as if worried what her answer might be.

"I got a chance for a job in Tulsa and I need a ride down. If I can catch a ride with you, Mister West, I would sure appreciate it. I promise to keep quiet and not bother you none with a bunch of talking."

"Ah, yes, you may. It might be nice to have company. I leave at six in the morning and I definitely cannot wait on you. The company keeps me on a very tight schedule." He blinked twice more and smiled. He was certain the young lady did not know Tulsa was out of his way. However, no matter, she would be refreshing company for a lonely man.

"I'll meet you right here in front of your office at six o'clock on Monday morning," she promised. It was then Friday morning.

Friday night Pa came home drunk, as usual, carrying a small roll of bills in his shirt pocket. He had been lucky at poker before he got too drunk to play. Win lose or draw, one thing her pa was famous for, was his ability to gauge when he was too drunk to play cards any more. Then he would just up and quit.

Reba waited until he sat and laid his head on the table. She watched him fall into a drunken stupor before she eased up behind him and slipped the money out of his pocket, removing the top two bills. She tucked the remainder of the money back into his shirt pocket. Reba turned around and left the house.

"I got to find some place to hide this. That stinkin' old coot will miss it and blame me, that's for sure. The mistrustful old..." She could not think of a name hard enough to express her feelings toward her father.

She found the perfect place behind the diner, a loose rock embedded in the dirt. She lifted the rock up, placed the two bills in the hole and replaced the rock, an eight-inch piece of flagstone.

When she got home, Pa was still passed out, still sitting on a chair while his head rested on the kitchen table. Reba smiled and went to bed...

"Where the hell is the rest of my money?" her pa yelled at her. She came out of the small room she had shared with Ruby until Big Sis took off with that traveling preacher.

What money, Pa?" she asked. She tried to look innocent and failed.

"You little tramp, you know what money. You give it back right now or by god your ass is mine." His baleful red-rimmed eyes glared at her. "You bring it here to me right now or I'll beat your hind end with a knotted rope until you bleed all over."

He made a grab at her. "Don't!" she screamed and raced toward the kitchen. She fumbled in the knife drawer, grabbed out an old butcher knife, twisted and sliced at the same time.

"You damned little thief!" he yelled. Blood began to drip off the ends of his fingers on his left hand. Midway up his left forearm his shirtsleeve was cut. Blood poured down the cut arm.

"Don't you ever try to lay your hands on me again," She yelled at him. "You dirty old rotten bum, the next time you try I'll kill you instead of giving you a little scratch."

He fell to the floor unconscious.

"Look out, honey. I better patch him up." Reba's mother pushed her out of the way. "Y'alls better git out of the house for the day. I think your daddy might be a tad angry when he comes back around." Martha Skye began to bandage her unconscious husband. He had passed out from loss of blood.

"Ma, why do you even stay married to that piece of red neck white trash?" Reba watched her mother bandage the cut arm.

"Honey, he's the only man I got. He's my husband. Besides, where would I go? A lone woman can't make it by herself in this world, not at my age. I'm almost forty years old. All I know is being married."

"Well, Ruby got out on her own."

"Your older sister was lucky enough to get the eye of that travelin' preacher and he protected and took care of her." She ripped the end of the rag she used to bind up Claude's arm and tied the bandage in a knot. She poured a small amount of coal oil on the wound to coagulate the blood and stood.

"Honey, folks like us ... well, if you don't get a man early, you don't have a chance." She shook her head in a sad way. "The one chance I had for a better life I threw away. Jake West and your pa was both chasin' after me and like a fool I chose your pa. He looked so exciting in those days. People walked soft around Claude Skye." She sighed and added, "They still do."

"Then I found out exciting don't put beans on the table. The other mines played out and Jakey married that whiny Karen Beasley and we both found out we made bad mistakes."

Reba did not listen to her mother's lament. "Ma, I decided I am going to get out of here. I got a ride Monday with Mister West. Why don't you come too? There ain't nothin' here for you same as there ain't nothin' here for me. We can go to the City together. I want to find Ruby and you want to get away from him."

"You do what you want, Honey, I ain't got no adventure left in me." She looked lonely and lost and tired.

The next day was Sunday. Reba left the two bills she had stolen from her father in their hiding place under the rock behind the diner. She sat inside the diner and drank coffee, traded insults and lies with her friends and told only one of her friends her plans. Sundown that evening she went home and entered by the back door.

"Now I gotcha, you thievin' little bitch. "Where's my money?" Claude grabbed her by the throat as she came into the house. Martha saw what was happening, grabbed a cast iron skillet, and hit him on the head.

Reba jerked loose and stepped back. "You ever lay hands on me again and I'll kill you." Her voice sounded deadly.

She hurried to her room, packed her three spare dresses and ragged underwear into a cloth bag, and then grabbed her old banjo off the wall and stalked out of the house. Just as she got to the door she looked back and said, "Come with me, Ma."

Martha Skye stood in the middle of the kitchen and looked lost. "Go on ahead, Honey. My time has come and gone. I'll stay here. I'm too afraid to just take off."

In the meantime, another drama began to play out. Karen Beasley West whined at her husband, "I just heard how you was taking that trashy Reba Skye along with you. How many others have you given rides to? I know you been ridin' everything with a skirt around here."

Jake West listened with tired patience as his wife began her latest tirade. After a few minutes, he turned his back on her.

"Where are you goin'? Don't you dare walk away from me. Don't you dare turn away from me when I'm talking to you, Jake West."

"Karen, I made the biggest mistake of my life when I married you. I was hurt when Martha chose Claude Skye over me. I was hurt and you spread your legs for me and I married you. The trouble was, your legs stayed mostly closed almost as soon as we said 'I do.' Well no more."

Karen West stared at her husband, unable to believe he would have the courage to speak to her like that after their twenty years of marriage. "What?" she exclaimed.

"The trip to the City tomorrow is my last one. I have been transferred to the home office. The mine here will close in another year. I never told you because I couldn't make up my mind whether to take you with me or not. You just decided for me."

"Don't you dare talk to me like that," she interrupted.

"You get the house and the savings in the bank. I keep the money in my checking account and tomorrow I shall begin to regain my self-respect. I hope so any way." He went into the bedroom and finished his packing. Minutes later he carried his luggage out to his car.

"I shall sleep in the office tonight. Goodbye."

The moment he walked out the front door for the last time, his pace became jaunty. He smiled from his heart for the first time in many years. Jake West felt free. He placed his two suitcases in the trunk of his Dodge sedan and drove to the diner for a meal in peace and quiet.

"Mister West, what are you doing here?" Reba looked up from her cup of cold coffee, surprised to see him sit down two stools away.

He gave her a sad smile. "There has been a little bit of a change in my plans. My wife accused me of improprieties with you."

"Oh." She looked down at her coffee cup. "Well I thank you for almost givin' me a ride. I guess I'll just have to stick my thumb out." Damn, couldn't anything in her life go right?

He chuckled and told her, "Oh no, you are still welcome to ride along with me if you wish. This time when I leave I shall not return."