Read Online Under the Skin by Vicki Lane - Free Book Online

facing the television set, the Bible and the telephone on a table beside the recliner, thefeed store calendar and the fly swatter sharing a nail on the wall by the kitchen door, and the shelves filled with the little wooden animals her son Cletus had carved. It was in the wake of Cletus’s untimely death that I had really gotten to know Birdie and to appreciate her strength and wisdom. I only hope that when I’m her age—somewhere up in the eighties—that I can be as happy in my skin as she is in hers.
    “Ben and that pretty Amandy stopped in day before yesterday.” Birdie took her place on the recliner as I dropped onto the plastic-covered sofa. “He said you and Phillip was planning a wedding next month and I said I knowed that sooner or later you was going to come around and I was glad to hear it.”
    Par for the course. I don’t think I’ve ever managed to be the first to tell Miss Birdie any news. She seems to attract it like a magnet. Usually it’s her friend Bernice who keeps her informed about local goings-on—how many times has Birdie greeted me with the details of some late-breaking event, prefaced by “Bernice’s boy heard it on the scanner”?
    “Well, that Ben! He beat me to it.” I was in defensive mode now, already a little guilty at not having stopped by earlier. “I was going to tell you as soon as we decided on a date but my sister—”
    Birdie studied at me over the top of her glasses. “Ben
told
me his mommy was making a long visit. I seen a shiny little black and yellow car going down the road yesterday and again this morning. Reckon that must have been her.”
    I explained that Gloria was a city girl and not used to shopping only once a week or less. “She’s still just getting settled but I’ll bring her over soon so she can meet you,” I promised, wondering what these two would make of one another.
    “Now I’d like that just fine, Lizzie Beth.” Birdie’sbright blue eyes twinkled at me then turned to peer out the window. “Law, there goes that Roberts boy again; he’s up and down this road every whipstitch.” She watched the truck out of sight then turned back to me. “Tell me about your sister, Lizzie Beth. Seems like I remember you saying she lives in Florida. You uns haven’t seen much of one another over the years, now have you?”
    “No … it’s hard for me to get away, and Gloria …”
Gloria hates it here. She wouldn’t have come if it weren’t for this supposed death threat
. “… Gloria stays pretty busy too.”
    “Ay law, that’s a cruel shame.” The sharp blue eyes grew misty. “I had me four sisters but they every one of them married and went off while I was still just a little thing—me being the least un. The only one I remember at all is Fairlight—and they’s ever one of ’em dead and buried long since. No, talking of sisters, I’d say Belvy—you remember the one they call Aunt Belvy, her at the Holiness Church over to Tennessee?”
    Oh, yes, I remembered Belvy—a formidable presence who spoke in tongues and prophesied when the Spirit took her. Little chance I’d forget Belvy.
    I nodded and started to answer but Birdie wasn’t paying any attention to me. She was staring at the gray screen of the silent television, just as if she were watching one of her stories unfold.
    “Belvy was my playmate growing up and as close a thing to a sister as there is. And though we’ve gone our different ways this many a year and don’t hardly see one another but once in a great long while, I always knew that in time of need …”
    Her voice trailed off and she shook herself as if waking. “I do go on, don’t I? But I’m proud that you and your sister will have some time together now. You know, Lizzie Beth, a sister’s a comfort and a treasure in goodtimes … and she’ll always look out for you when times is bad.”
    It was early afternoon and I was weeding the nasturtium beds down at the lower place when I heard the scrape of metal on