Emma's Life
by Amanda Cash
I pushed open the door and stuck my head inside the trailer. “Hi Grandma!”
Grandma looked up from her usual place, the big rose-colored recliner, and beamed her toothless smile at me. “Oh, my baby!” Her shaky fingers fumbled with the remote for a moment before she turned off Lawrence Welk, giving the previously rattling windows a break from the volume that she could hear.
I walked across the small living room to where she sat. “Now don’t step on my feet,” she said. She lifted her tiny stocking feet, paranoid of her arthritic toes being touched.
Looming over her small frame, I pressed my face into her thin white hair and gave her a gentle hug. “I’ve missed you Grandma. How have you been?”
“Oh, same as always. My crooked ole’ joints just ache me but I’m still here. You want a glass of tea? I made a fresh pitcher this morning, just hoping that I would have someone to share it with,” she said as she patted my fleshy hand with her bony one. “Go in there and get yourself some and make sure you 'rench' out the glass and put ice in it. It might not be cold enough yet.”
“I would love some tea. Do you want some too?”
“No, no. I’ve already had a glass this morning. If I drink too much more, it’ll take the top off of my stomach.”
I walked into the tiny kitchen and pulled a red glass out of the cupboard, rinsed it out and filled it with the cold tea. Because I knew she would check, I dropped one ice cube into the glass and walked back in. I sat in the rocking chair across from her and put my glass on the table next to me.
“Honey, did you 'rench' out that glass? Nobody uses that red one ‘cept you.” When she was satisfied with the nod of my head, she continued. “Even when you was little, you always wanted Grandma’s red glass to drink out of. Said nobody had pretty glasses like Grandma. Do you remember that?”
I smiled at the memory of it. “Of course I remember that Grandma. You always made me ‘rench’ it out too.”
The old woman leaned forward in her chair and chuckled. “Well, don’t take your memory for granted, baby. One uh these days, your heads not gonna be able to tell you what you want to know.”
My Grandma leaned back in her chair and began to rock. Her cloudy brown eyes took on that far-away look that I know so well. “You know what sweetheart? I’m ninety years old and I can remember the Shimfessels that lived down the road from us when I was a youngin’ but I can’t remember the last time I did a load of rubbins in the washin’ machine.”
“Who were the Shimfessels? I’ve never heard of them before.”
Grandma looked at me, astounded. “Didn’t I ever tell you about them? Well, I’ll be. Where’s my head?” She reached up and tapped herself on the forehead, then scooted herself up in her chair, like a child. “The Shimfessels were our neighbors when we lived in Kentucky, down on the Ohio River, you know? There were five kids, just like us, and their youngest was Emma May. We had the same name and the same birthday, can you believe that? Of course, back then everyone called her May, just to keep the two of us straight.”
* * *
“Emma, slow down!” The young girl ran down the dirt road, her pink dress flying up behind her. Ahead of her, Emma ran faster, making the dust and leaves scatter. She turned her head to look back at her friend. “Hurry up May! Daddy will be home soon!”
“I can’t run as fast as you! Please slow down!”
Emma slowed her run to a jog, and then finally to a fast walk to let May catch up. “If you didn’t wear a silly dress everyday, you could run faster, you know.”
“Mama says a lady always wears a dress. It makes me look ma... ma... ma-ture, or somethin’ like that.”
“Well I’m a lady and I ain’t wearin’ no frilly dress.”
“Emma, you are not a lady. Look at your britches! They’re covered in dust. You’re as dirty as one of our pigs.”
The two girls walked steadily up the hill, swinging their book straps and their ponytails in unison. At the rise of the hill they stopped and looked out over the farms. May’s two-story house was located about a mile to the west while Emma’s was located at the bottom of the hill. From where the girls stood, they could see that Benjamin’s horse wasn’t in its place at the stable.
After the girls continued on down the hill, May asked, “Emma, what’s your big hurry in gettin’ home today? You know your daddy’s gonna hug you first no matter when you get there.”
“LeRoy and Carrol told me on the playground that they’re gonna play a trick on daddy today,” Emma bounced on her feet as she talked. “But they warned me not to let on, or they would take me behind the barn and tickle me till I peed my pants!”
May burst into giggles, which were quickly relinquished after a smart peg in the arm from Emma. “Well, I saw LeRoy and Carrol take off with Henry. Do you think my brother’s gonna help ‘em?”
“Probably. You’re brother’s always lookin’ for some ugliness to get into.” Emma threw a devilish smile at her friend. “From the looks of you, at least we know it runs in the family!”
The two girls took off, playing chase until May smacked headfirst into LeRoy as he came around the woodpile with Henry and Carrol in tow.
“Whoa! Hold on there kiddo!” LeRoy grabbed May by the shoulders and steadied her. “You okay?”
May stood frozen to the ground, her eyes two large, brown saucers. “Um. Sorry LeRoy. I, um, I didn’t mean to...”
“Hey, it’s all right.” LeRoy patted his chest. “No harm done.”
May blushed scarlet as LeRoy chucked her under her chin. He turned to Emma and gently tugged her rich, dark hair. “Hi shorty. How was school?”
“LeRoy! Quit messin’ with them girls and bring them wires over here!” Carrol barked from behind the big oak tree as Henry struggled with a hand-powered generator. “Dad’s gonna be home any minute!”
“Well ladies,” he tipped an imaginary hat and winked at May. “I’ve been called to work. Until next time.”
The two girls watched him as he sauntered over to the tree. May let out a deep sigh and turning to Emma, she said, “You’re brother is just so charming. Where on earth did he learn to do that? Surely not from your daddy?”
Emma let out a sound of disgust and ran over to her brothers. “Watcha doin’ with Daddy’s battery?”
Carrol threw his baby sister an amused look. “It’s not a battery Emma, it’s a generator. We’re gonna hook it up to Dad’s rockin’ chair so that when he sits down, it’ll sting him.”
“But you’ll hurt him!”
“Oh we’re not gonna hurt him either, are we LeRoy?”
LeRoy looked up and gave Emma a reassuring smile. “No, it’s not gonna hurt him. It’s just gonna shock him a little, that’s all.”
The boys set the generator behind the old oak tree and ran the wires around either side of it to their dad’s metal rocking chair, which held a constant position under the shady part of the tree. Emma watched, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
“There’s dad!” Carrol hissed. “Henry, you and the girls go hide behind the woodpile.” He turned an accusing glare on Emma. “And make sure Dad doesn’t see Emma. One look at her face and he’ll know something’s up.”
Emma, Henry, and May ran behind the woodpile as Benjamin rode his horse into the stable. Carrol and LeRoy ran behind the tree and began to crank the lever of the generator. When Benjamin came out of the barn and began to walk towards the tree, they stopped and sat paralyzed.
Benjamin walked to his rocking chair, aiming to take his afternoon nap like he did everyday. He stopped in front of the rocker, pulled his suspenders off of his shoulders and placed his hat low on his head, to block out the sun.
Instead of sitting, rather, he fell into the chair. A loud noise issued from both the seat of the rocking chair and Benjamin’s throat.
“Yow!” Benjamin jumped up and started running towards the house, waving his hat frantically at the seat of his britches. “Bees boys! Bees! There’s bees!”
He looked back to see if he was being chased by the bees and instead saw LeRoy and Carrol doubled over in laughter. Benjamin did an about face and ran towards them. “Boy’s! I’m gonna have your hides!”
* * *
Grandma’s laughter mingled with my own and filled the small room. “Daddy liked to belt them a good one if he’d uh ever caught ‘em. But by the time the boys had run all the way to the river, daddy was laughin’ too hard to do anything about it.”
Still chuckling, I shook my head. “That’s terrible! I never knew they were as bad as all that.”
Grandma looked up at me. “Oh, they weren’t bad, they were just ornery. They were all boys, you know.”
“Yeah, and how does that explain you, Grandma?” I smiled at the woman as she shook her finger at me.
“Ah, I’m not ornery. I’m too old for that kind of playfulness.” She paused to stare into her past before a mischievous grin sneaked across her face. With a glint in her eye, she said, “But I sure could give them a run for their money.”
I looked into the wrinkled face that I loved so much. “Well Grandma, that runs in our family. I mean, look at Dad.”
Grandma waved her hand at me. “Phew! He gets it from his father, God rest his soul. But you, youngin,’” she wagged her thin, crooked finger at me. “You get it from your ole’ Grandma.”
“Me?” I batted my eyelashes innocently, bringing forth a laugh from her. After a moment her laugh turned into a choking cough, making her fragile body shudder.
“Grandma?” I started to get up from the chair, but she waved me back down.
“I’m fine.” She coughed again. “Just went down the wrong pipe, that’s all. But now my ole’ bladder’s hollerin’ at me. I’m gonna go to the lavatory.” She stood up and froze.
In that terrible instant I saw her. My Grandma, standing with her back slightly bent and her legs shaking, hands reaching for something to hold onto but falling short of everything except air. All of my muscles tensed up while I waited for her to topple onto the floor.
“Do you need some help?” I wanted to rush over to her, but I knew from experience that she would push me away, determined to uphold her independence.
“No, I just have to wait for my ole’ knees to decide that they want to go.” She straightened and began her shuffle across the room. “Don’t fuss about me. I’ll be right back.”
I sat there in her small living room, with its thin layer of dust that her eyes could not see, and listened to the lingering voices of the Shimfessels, LeRoy, Carrol, and my great-grandfather. The voices from the past faded, all but one, and the sounds of a little girl filled my mind.
A little girl that I can only know as Grandma, my protector and special soul angel. A little girl that eighty years later, still speaks with a touch of Kentucky southern drawl, thinks her father is incomparable, and has written her final will and admits to her granddaughter that she is ready to pass on.
My eyes filled with tears as I hear the past little girl shuffle her way towards the living room, voicing small groans that she thinks I can’t hear. I never knew this girl, and though I want desperately to know her now, I know that I am too late, for that past cannot be relived and the number of days left cannot be counted.