liked children and animals, but you never knew how a man would react to your child, especially when he had his own. Stepchildren caused trouble in every instance she could remember.
One bright blue Saturday in May, Sherry picked up Renee and drove to the Clinton jail, where Benny was waiting for them and climbed into the car. They were all in the front seat. Sherry noticed that when Benny tried to put his arm around Renee, the child flinched and started nattering on about the Flintstones. Benny let her talk. Sherry pulled into the drive-up window at McDonald’s and ordered Big Macs, fries, and shakes for everyone to go and headed for a spot she had picked out on the banks of the Clinch River.
There were yellow and blue flowers everywhere in the new grass. A houseboat drifted by on the wide, dark river, a man and a boy taking the sun on the deck. On the opposite bank a man fished from the end of a dock, and upriver you could see two or three big houses that looked as if they had been there forever, with lawns sloping down to the water’s edge. Sherry spread out the blanket she had brought and handed out the food. She couldn’t think of anything to say.
Then, only a couple of bites into her own, Renee asked for a bite of Benny’s hamburger. Sherry was about to tell her not to be so greedy, but before she could get the words out, Benny handed his hamburger to Renee. She took a big bite and offered it back to him.
“You can have it if you want,” Benny said. “Does it taste better than yours?” he laughed.
Sherry swallowed the lump in her throat. Billy would never have done that, she thought, he was too selfish. Now she knew that everything was going to be all right.
The only serious complication in this new life, from what Sherry could see, was Benny’s wife, Lona Kay, who brought his one-year-olddaughter, Krystal Dawn, to visit him at the jail. There had been more than one unpleasant confrontation when the wife had appeared with the baby when Sherry was there or just leaving. No words had been exchanged, but Lona Kay had looked at Sherry with hatred.
Had she been unfair to Hot Pants? Sherry wondered. It could have been Lona Kay who had tipped off Warden Davis. The woman was no stranger to Brushy, after all, having met Benny there when she had been visiting another prisoner. The warden, according to Benny, had been about to remove her from the approved visitors list when Benny had managed to get her pregnant. Once he married her, she was safely back on the list, as a wife was normally not prevented from visiting her husband, the prison’s gesture toward family life. Benny had baked the wedding cake, chocolate mint with cherries on top.
Benny also had another daughter, Sharon Annette, by a woman he had married just before he had been sent to Nashville State Prison. Sharon, who was now eleven, lived in Benny’s hometown of Morristown, east of Knoxville. She had never seen her father out of prison. She visited him several times a year and wrote to him every week without fail. Sherry had read some of the letters, which had drawings on them of father and child and told him over and over that he was the greatest daddy in the world. Benny cared a lot for little Sharon. Sherry looked forward to meeting her.
He cared for little Dawn, too, and it was clear that he had room in his heart for Renee. It would take time to straighten everything out—to achieve what up-to-date therapists choose to call a “blended family.”
Maw Webster fell ill in October and relinquished her post to her apprentice. She vowed gallantly to return, but it looked as if Benny could be the head cook as long as he wanted the job. He was only two months short of eligibility for parole, which would be a cinch. His behavior had been exemplary except for the one incident of unauthorized absence.
On Christmas Eve 1981, the Clinton Courier-News carried a front-page story about the new jailhouse cook. A photo showed Benny posed plunging spoons into a
One bright blue Saturday in May, Sherry picked up Renee and drove to the Clinton jail, where Benny was waiting for them and climbed into the car. They were all in the front seat. Sherry noticed that when Benny tried to put his arm around Renee, the child flinched and started nattering on about the Flintstones. Benny let her talk. Sherry pulled into the drive-up window at McDonald’s and ordered Big Macs, fries, and shakes for everyone to go and headed for a spot she had picked out on the banks of the Clinch River.
There were yellow and blue flowers everywhere in the new grass. A houseboat drifted by on the wide, dark river, a man and a boy taking the sun on the deck. On the opposite bank a man fished from the end of a dock, and upriver you could see two or three big houses that looked as if they had been there forever, with lawns sloping down to the water’s edge. Sherry spread out the blanket she had brought and handed out the food. She couldn’t think of anything to say.
Then, only a couple of bites into her own, Renee asked for a bite of Benny’s hamburger. Sherry was about to tell her not to be so greedy, but before she could get the words out, Benny handed his hamburger to Renee. She took a big bite and offered it back to him.
“You can have it if you want,” Benny said. “Does it taste better than yours?” he laughed.
Sherry swallowed the lump in her throat. Billy would never have done that, she thought, he was too selfish. Now she knew that everything was going to be all right.
The only serious complication in this new life, from what Sherry could see, was Benny’s wife, Lona Kay, who brought his one-year-olddaughter, Krystal Dawn, to visit him at the jail. There had been more than one unpleasant confrontation when the wife had appeared with the baby when Sherry was there or just leaving. No words had been exchanged, but Lona Kay had looked at Sherry with hatred.
Had she been unfair to Hot Pants? Sherry wondered. It could have been Lona Kay who had tipped off Warden Davis. The woman was no stranger to Brushy, after all, having met Benny there when she had been visiting another prisoner. The warden, according to Benny, had been about to remove her from the approved visitors list when Benny had managed to get her pregnant. Once he married her, she was safely back on the list, as a wife was normally not prevented from visiting her husband, the prison’s gesture toward family life. Benny had baked the wedding cake, chocolate mint with cherries on top.
Benny also had another daughter, Sharon Annette, by a woman he had married just before he had been sent to Nashville State Prison. Sharon, who was now eleven, lived in Benny’s hometown of Morristown, east of Knoxville. She had never seen her father out of prison. She visited him several times a year and wrote to him every week without fail. Sherry had read some of the letters, which had drawings on them of father and child and told him over and over that he was the greatest daddy in the world. Benny cared a lot for little Sharon. Sherry looked forward to meeting her.
He cared for little Dawn, too, and it was clear that he had room in his heart for Renee. It would take time to straighten everything out—to achieve what up-to-date therapists choose to call a “blended family.”
Maw Webster fell ill in October and relinquished her post to her apprentice. She vowed gallantly to return, but it looked as if Benny could be the head cook as long as he wanted the job. He was only two months short of eligibility for parole, which would be a cinch. His behavior had been exemplary except for the one incident of unauthorized absence.
On Christmas Eve 1981, the Clinton Courier-News carried a front-page story about the new jailhouse cook. A photo showed Benny posed plunging spoons into a
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