color of a summer garden.
As the lady rocked back and forth, you also couldn’t help noticing the huge round stomach that swelled out in front of her, taking up most of her lap. Her hands rested across the top of it. I’m telling you, she looked like she’d gone and swallowed a pumpkin.
“You ’wake already?” The brown eyes flew open suddenly and glanced over at me. The woman’s heels touched down quick on the floor and the rocking stopped. “Thought you were gonna sleep till next week with the way you were lying there so quiet-like on the floor. Not even MawMaw’s crazy rooster woke you up.” The lady’s face eased slowly into a warm smile. Her voice had a soft drawl to it.
“You’re probably just looking around this place, thinking to yourself, ‘Where in the sweet and sugar world am I? All this laundry hanging up? And who’s that fat dumpy lady sitting over there in that rockin’ chair?’ ” The woman stood up slowly, big pumpkin belly leaving first, and came closer. “I’m Peaches. You met my husband, Cal, last night. He’s the one who brung you here. I’m sorry you didn’t get a good look at our pretty town of Southern Pines when you came in last night. Probably seemed liked forever driving in that bad storm.” She glanced toward the one window in the small bedroom. “You ain’t real far away from civilization here, though, even if it feels like it. Only about an hour’s drive to the bright lights and big city of Fayetteville.”
That news didn’t bring me much comfort, but I didn’t let on.
The lady smiled and patted her stomach. “Oh, and this here is baby-about-to-be-born.”
I eyed the big stomach uneasily and hoped baby-about-to-be-born would stay where it was for a while. I wasn’t a big fan of babies. Seemed like Archie’s family always had one or two crawling around with nasty things coming outta their noses, you know what I mean? The lady must’ve noticed my uncomfortable look because she switched the subject fast. “So, I hear you’re Charlie Battle’s son, right?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Maybe she was just being nice, but she said she remembered him talking about having a son back in Chicago and how there was a clear resemblance in our looks. That she coulda picked out our similarities anywhere. “You got his chin, no doubt about it. And you smile the same way. And your eyes are exactly alike,” she said, studying my face for a minute. “They got the same serious look your daddy’s eyes always does. Is he worrying about something—or just thinking? You never know for sure. A man of few words, that’s him.” Reaching upward, Peaches started plucking some of the laundry from the clotheslines above her head and kept on talking. “So, how about hitting a baseball? You as good as your daddy?”
I shook my head. “No ma’am.”
Like I said, I didn’t inherit much of the Battle talent for athletics. My batting was average and Archie, short as he was, had a better throwing arm than I did. I got the tall partof the Battle family and Queen Bee Walker’s ear for being in tune when you sang—although I’m not sure how those two gifts were supposed to be useful to me.
Peaches laughed at my answers. “You as humble as your daddy is, I can tell already. He always insists he’s nothing special and then he tears the leather off the ball with one swing. When Cal’s on his team, they always win big against the other army boys. My Cal’s a catcher.”
With an impressive tower of laundry tucked under her chin, Peaches turned toward the door and I jumped up to open it, like the gentleman I been raised to be.
“I know how much you boys like to eat,” she said over her shoulder. “So I got breakfast waiting in the kitchen whenever you’re ready for something. Kitchen’s down the hall on the left. Washroom’s at the end. I’ll leave you be for a while.” As the pillar of laundry and stomach tottered through the doorway, I gotta admit I held my breath until it was
As the lady rocked back and forth, you also couldn’t help noticing the huge round stomach that swelled out in front of her, taking up most of her lap. Her hands rested across the top of it. I’m telling you, she looked like she’d gone and swallowed a pumpkin.
“You ’wake already?” The brown eyes flew open suddenly and glanced over at me. The woman’s heels touched down quick on the floor and the rocking stopped. “Thought you were gonna sleep till next week with the way you were lying there so quiet-like on the floor. Not even MawMaw’s crazy rooster woke you up.” The lady’s face eased slowly into a warm smile. Her voice had a soft drawl to it.
“You’re probably just looking around this place, thinking to yourself, ‘Where in the sweet and sugar world am I? All this laundry hanging up? And who’s that fat dumpy lady sitting over there in that rockin’ chair?’ ” The woman stood up slowly, big pumpkin belly leaving first, and came closer. “I’m Peaches. You met my husband, Cal, last night. He’s the one who brung you here. I’m sorry you didn’t get a good look at our pretty town of Southern Pines when you came in last night. Probably seemed liked forever driving in that bad storm.” She glanced toward the one window in the small bedroom. “You ain’t real far away from civilization here, though, even if it feels like it. Only about an hour’s drive to the bright lights and big city of Fayetteville.”
That news didn’t bring me much comfort, but I didn’t let on.
The lady smiled and patted her stomach. “Oh, and this here is baby-about-to-be-born.”
I eyed the big stomach uneasily and hoped baby-about-to-be-born would stay where it was for a while. I wasn’t a big fan of babies. Seemed like Archie’s family always had one or two crawling around with nasty things coming outta their noses, you know what I mean? The lady must’ve noticed my uncomfortable look because she switched the subject fast. “So, I hear you’re Charlie Battle’s son, right?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Maybe she was just being nice, but she said she remembered him talking about having a son back in Chicago and how there was a clear resemblance in our looks. That she coulda picked out our similarities anywhere. “You got his chin, no doubt about it. And you smile the same way. And your eyes are exactly alike,” she said, studying my face for a minute. “They got the same serious look your daddy’s eyes always does. Is he worrying about something—or just thinking? You never know for sure. A man of few words, that’s him.” Reaching upward, Peaches started plucking some of the laundry from the clotheslines above her head and kept on talking. “So, how about hitting a baseball? You as good as your daddy?”
I shook my head. “No ma’am.”
Like I said, I didn’t inherit much of the Battle talent for athletics. My batting was average and Archie, short as he was, had a better throwing arm than I did. I got the tall partof the Battle family and Queen Bee Walker’s ear for being in tune when you sang—although I’m not sure how those two gifts were supposed to be useful to me.
Peaches laughed at my answers. “You as humble as your daddy is, I can tell already. He always insists he’s nothing special and then he tears the leather off the ball with one swing. When Cal’s on his team, they always win big against the other army boys. My Cal’s a catcher.”
With an impressive tower of laundry tucked under her chin, Peaches turned toward the door and I jumped up to open it, like the gentleman I been raised to be.
“I know how much you boys like to eat,” she said over her shoulder. “So I got breakfast waiting in the kitchen whenever you’re ready for something. Kitchen’s down the hall on the left. Washroom’s at the end. I’ll leave you be for a while.” As the pillar of laundry and stomach tottered through the doorway, I gotta admit I held my breath until it was
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