Chapter 5
October 1915
Cy held her elbow as she
struggled to sit down on the picnic blanket and spread her skirt around
her. He was ashamed because she repulsed
him and surely this wasn’t the way that he should be feeling. He tried to keep the emotion from his face, but
lately Mary had been catching on. It was
the last month of her pregnancy; he could barely look at her, much less talk to
her civilly, though he tried. She used
to be chatty. In fact, she never shut up
if they were around other people. She
would go on and on about how she wanted her own home and her own table to sit
at; with the baby coming they should really establish themselves as their own
family and move out of his parents’ house. She never felt at home there…always just a
guest. He spent too much time with his
parents. She wanted more time alone with
him. The discourse never ended and made
him look like a failure. As soon as they
were alone, he’d make sure she knew how she’d humiliated him. Mary would apologize and over time she had
curtailed her attacks and become hushed.
When they first married, she was pretty,
even beautiful, and he was proud to have her on his arm around town. It made him feel superior to the other plain-wived
men. She quickly started to let herself
go. He tried to encourage her to keep up
on her looks by talking her up when they were around other folks, but as soon
as they were alone, the repulsion would surface again and he’d be short and
nasty with her. They hadn’t been
together since she’d conceived and then it was only because he’d been drinking
with the men in town and he had been aroused by some women from the next town
over who had flirted with them. As the
child grew, Mary became fleshy and faded.
When they’d go to church or into
town, he made sure they walked. He
always had an excuse, despite Mary’s complaints: the wheels on the mule cart were wearing
down, it was too nice of a day to not enjoy the sun, or he’d complain that he
was just too antsy to take the cart. The
extra exercise might make her want to slim down a bit.
Mary had made an effort to look
pretty today for the Fall Festival but he still didn’t want to sit on the
blanket facing those dark-circled eyes and all that soft meaty skin. He positioned himself so that he was looking
outward at the pond, grateful that she hadn’t been opposed to the spot he chose
since it was on the outskirts of the activity.
“I do believe this is a fine day,
don’t you, Cy?” Mary was struggling to
smile as she looked down at her hands and scratched at the nail bed of her left
thumb.
“What’s for supper tonight?”
“Oh, come on, Cy. Let’s enjoy being out.” She opened the basket and started to remove
the chicken, pickles and bread that she had packed. “I made your favorite fried chicken.”
He loved her fried chicken, but he
didn’t want her eating any of it. She
was big as a horse and the last thing she needed was to be eating. He wanted to vomit as he anticipated her
chewing and licking her fingers.
“Thanks. It looks delicious.”
They ate in silence while
children laughed and chased each other nearby.
Cy hoped that once the baby was here, Mary would keep herself busy with
the other mothers, chasing children and gossiping, so that he could be with the
men instead of sitting on a stupid blanket.
“Oh, my God, Cy. Something’s wrong.”
He licked his fingers and looked
out at the pond.
“I’m serious. I think it’s time.”
Cy helped her up and saw that her
skirt and the blanket were quickly becoming soaked. He saw the dark stain of the moisture and imagined
that it was a sign. A sign from God
telling him that freedom was near at hand.
They began walking towards home.
Mary’s pain increased regularly, and an hour later he put Mary down on
the bed and prepared to go for the doctor.
Cy walked to the barn, saddled up his horse and headed back towards the
festival. Cy was sure he would be
there. People didn’t like to miss the
Fall Festival. He hadn’t seen him, but
then he hadn’t seen much of anyone except for the ruffian kids.
He soon returned with Doc Jenkins
in tow. Mary was writhing in pain and
for a moment, he felt a wave of unexpected compassion. He turned away at the doctor’s urging and
went to the parlor to wait it out.
Mary’s screams were horrific and he couldn’t stand to hear them. He walked outside to the front porch just as
his mother was coming up the front walk.
She grabbed his hand and they sat on the porch swing in silence for what
seemed an eternity. Cy passed the time
by drinking from the flask that he kept in the interior pocket of his
jacket. He went inside and refilled it
once, but lost his urge to drink when he passed the bedroom on his way to
the kitchen and heard Mary moaning. But
once he was back on the porch swing with his mother, he forced himself to drink
again and it got easier with each swallow.
Doctor Jenkins came out with a
bundle in his arms and held it out towards Cy.
He accepted the offering and peeled back the layers of the blanket. He looked at the baby’s face and thought he
smelled taffy.
“It’s a girl, Doc Jenkins
announced. “Congratulations.”
Cy gazed down at his daughter and
smiled.
3 comments:
Nicely done, Ellie.
I love how Cy struggles with his personal thoughts and his desire to do right... although, he's still a brat. Making his wife walk over an hour to a Fall picnic just because she's gained some wait and looks huge at 9 months tells me Cy's a butthead.
"Cy gazed down at his daughter and smiled." yeah, and we all know that smile fades when she starts to cry...
Oh, this one makes me think of a certain someone “Jimmy” and not mine, though he can be a brat too, lol.
Ellie I cannot describe the way your story makes me feel. I am so attached to the characters and what is going on in their lives, in a short amount of time that I hate it when it ends.
I hope you continue to entertain us and lengthen the story hint… hint; Again, I hate it when it is over and I have to wait a week to see what is going to happen.
Keep them coming, I can’t wait for Friday!!!
Thank you, Sabrina and Jacque, for your kind words! Thanks for reading!
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