Marcie learned to tell time before she was six. And not just if it was time to go to bed or time to wake up but what the exact minute was at any time of the day.
Growing up on the east delta of the Mighty Mississippi, Marcie Devoe could tell you where the best barbecue shacks were or how to find the blues clubs that the tourists didn’t know about before she was eighteen. And she knew exactly what went into a Peanut Butter Bannanarma Martini before she was legal to drink.
She knew all those things because she knew Sissy Wheeler. And just like everyone else on Peach Tree Avenue, Marcie knew how to keep her mouth shut about what she knew. It was the unexpected code of conduct of the small neighborhood clan and Marcie had grown up into the legacy.
“Darlin’, you’re running a hair behind on time.” Marcie settled herself on her usual perch and faced out into the sunset. Beside her, the speaker was idly watching the dying embers of what had been an unusually cool summer day, her sunglasses idly threaded through her fingers.
“You might want to put the jacket back on Sissy,” Marcie advised, her hands slipping into her light weight coat. The sun was eye level on the horizon now, and Marcie realized belatedly that she had forgotten her shades back in her car.
“You’re gonna ruin your eyes watching that inferno, baby doll,” Sissy quipped. Marcie shrugged, leaning her head back against the sun warmed bricks and relaxing into the traditional sunset watch.
Sissy’s manicured hands continued to toy with the sunglasses and Marcie reached out to snag them, slipping them on neatly.
“Thanks.” Marcie grinned behind the powder blue shades, feeling the cat eye design catch her bangs in the persistent North Wind that had been cruising the streets of the delta all week. She had felt it come in town last night. It always came and told her when Sissy Wheeler returned- carrying the smell of champagne and pears down Peach Street.
“I can see I’ve been a bad influence on you.” Sissy replied, face still turned towards the blazing sun and its inevitable descent. “Your momma should really have done a better job raising you to be a lady.”
“Too bad for my Momma that you live next door.” Marcie glanced over under the cover of her shades. “You’re going to get sick if you don’t put that on, Sissy.”
Sissy looked down towards the blue wrap that was laying limply in her grasp, fluttering in the wind like a pennant. “I had forgotten I had it.” A moment passed before Sissy asked, “You going out tonight?”
“Meeting some people down in midtown later tonight.” Sissy cocked her head to the side, indicating Marcie to be silent. Marcie fell quiet, aware of the body signals that Sissy usually employed when focusing. Marcie could hear the Davises fighting in the small town house two houses down but the rest of the street lay mostly silent.
“What time is it?” Sissy asked suddenly, eliciting a groan in response.
“Sis, I don’t want to-“
“What time is it, Marcie?” Sissy repeated, her clouded blue eyes looking past Marcie and directly into the sun. Marcie shook her head in exasperation but Sissy sat there, waiting expectantly. It was an old game.
“I don’t want to play today, Sissy.” Marcie rubbed her forearm absently, her brown eyes watching Sissy behind the vintage glasses. Sissy didn’t move either, her eyes still open and her face still turned into the bright light of the setting sun. Marcie sighed, rubbing her forearm nervously. “Can’t we just talk about how schools going?”
For a long minute, neither of the friends moved as the sun began to cross to the west, inching its way down the horizon and inching the shadows along the brick wall. Moments continued to pass until finally Marcie broke.
“It’s a quarter to six, give or take two minutes. You doing anything fun tonight?” When Sissy scowled slightly, Marcie grumbled. She knew Sissy was annoyed that she had been so late meeting her but she had been at practice. Obviously Sissy knew that but had decided to play their old childhood game instead of talking.
” What does the sun look like?” Marcy asked, taking her cue. A small smile spread like melted butter across Sissy’s face, transforming the pale girl into a sun drenched sprite.
“Just a cat. Smiling like he’s got a secret.”
“You’re making that up, Sissy Wheeler,” Marcie laughed, trying to look but having to avert her eyes even behind the sunglasses.
“ I am not. You’re just jealous cause you can’t see it,” Sissy teased.
“It’s time for me to go soon,” Sissy pointed out, the note of sadness was barely perceptible but Marcie heard it. She had always heard it. Heard the blue sadness coloring Sissy’s voice just like she could smell the hope in her- always had been able to.
“But you’ll be back next month, won’t you?”
“Darn tootin’, lady bug,” Sissy confirmed. Marcie watched the pale shoulders underneath the pastel flowered dress bow in on themselves. She always knew how much Sissy hated to leave but it was a necessary situation.
After all, everyone on Peach Street knew what about the Wheelers. How little Sissy Wheeler was born blind one day at sunset to a thirteen year old girl whose parents had taken one look at the blind, crippled thing and sent it away to a spinster aunt.
“Remember how we met?” Sissy asked .
“We’ve always known each other,” Marcie replied, watching the big dogwood in the Davis' yard cast a shadow on the bricks on the Wheeler home, separating Sissy from Marcie, from her home, and from the little red car that had pulled up front.
It wasn’t really true. But Marcie’s first real memories were of Sissy, a older girl sitting underneath a window in the yard next door crying so hard, little Marcie Devoe had come over to find out what was wrong.
In between sobs, the older girl had confessed she didn’t know what time it was and she didn’t want to go back to her aunt’s house because it was too dark there. Which in a three year olds mind was a completely legitimate reason to not want to go somewhere. Marcie had hidden the girl in her club house for two hours before Sissy was collected and taken off.
Marcie had learned to tell the time after that. Perhaps the three year old had thought if she could tell the time, she could keep her friend longer. Maybe she just was smart enough to learn to read the hands on clocks or learn how to tell what time it was by the shadows on the ground but Marcie always kind of thought it was because she knew Sissy couldn’t. Because Sissy couldn’t see anything except what was in the sun.
So, she did it for her. And Sissy looked straight into the sun for Marcie and told her what she saw. Shapes, people, words…it changed every time- but not the goodbye. The goodbye was a woven exchange that promised a return.
“It’s time to go, Sissy.” Marcie said, taking off the glasses and slipping them onto the upturned face. A familiar old woman was watching from behind the wheel of the Honda Civic in the street, she too knew the goodbye ritual enough to know she had no place in it.
Marcie stepped to the side as Sissy stood up and let the shadow of the dogwood cross over her face, shadowing her and making it impossible to see behind her shades. Sissy turned towards the sound of the idling car, looked directly into the sun, and then back at Marcie.
“How long until next time, Marcie-darcy?”
“Too long, Sissy.”
“You’ll be here when I get back?” The door to the Civic was opening and the Marcie began to cross away towards her house, towards the open screen door and her mother waiting for her with a list of chores.
“Of course. I can’t miss our sunsets anymore than the sun can, you know that.”
And with that, Sissy Wheeler was gone, heading back to her world just as Marcie was heading back towards hers. The Wheeler House brick wall was now completely shadowed and the sun sank lower. Till tomorrow.
Till next time the North Wind brought champagne and pears and Sissy Wheeler.
No comments:
Post a Comment