Читать книгу The Last Government Girl - Ellen Herbert - Страница 14

8

“Where did you get that money in your pouch?” Eddie asked Pearl when they were alone.

Water gurgled through the pipes. Rachel was in the bathroom taking a bath.

Eddie stood behind Pearl, who sat on the stool in front of the dressing table, pinning her hair into victory rolls. Her bony shoulders moved like bird’s wings.

“Earned it,” Pearl said, her hand went to the pouch, now under her ragged night gown.

“I don’t believe you, Pearl. Tell me the truth or get dressed and leave here now.”

The money frightened Eddie. Why had she stood up for Pearl? She wasn’t thinking straight. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. This was the longest day of her life. For the last week she’d been so excited about coming to Washington, she had barely slept and now she was exhausted.

Pearl leapt to her feet and gripped Eddie’s arm. “Promise not to tell?”

Eddie sighed. She shouldn’t agree, but she said, “All right.”

Pearl leaned closer. “Found near about five hundred dollars in a Mason jar buried in the roots of a river birch.”

Eddie got dizzy. “Five hundred dollars is a fortune.” She pried Pearl’s hand from her arm. “You know who that money belongs to, Pearl.”

“Don’t be a scaredy cat.” Pearl wore the smug expression Eddie had so disliked in the classroom. “I left bills around the outside of the jar and filled the middle with tore up pages from the Sears and Roebuck. Uncle Alton don’t even know it’s gone.”

Alton Ballou: his name sent a shiver between Eddie’s shoulders.

Government revenuers, who went onto his land to arrest him, were never seen again. And the local newspaper editor knew better than to mention the bootlegger’s name in connection with their disappearance. Even Saltville’s sheriff steered clear of Alton Ballou.

“What will he do when he finds out his money is gone?” Eddie could barely get the words out.

“This here’s moonshine money, so he can’t go to the law.” Pearl patted her pouch. “Admit it, Eddie. It’s the perfect crime. Even a hard grading teacher like you would have to give me an A.”

“Give you an A for what, Pearl?” Rachel entered rosy from her bath, her white terrycloth bathrobe tied around her.

“Aw, Eddie and me were just funning with each other.” Pearl went to the double bed and pulled down the bedspread.

They had decided since Eddie was tallest she would sleep in the long twin bed. An arrangement Eddie found familiar, yet lonely. This was how the bedroom she shared with the twins was set up.

Rachel said, “Your turn to take a bath, Pearl.”

“Eddie, go ‘head and have yours.” Pearl sent her a conspiratorial look. “I don’t need a bath. Took a good one in the stream a few weeks ago.”

Rachel’s eyes widened. She and Pearl were to share the same bed.

Eddie felt a twinge of schadenfreude. Rachel had grown up in a grand house with all the modern conveniences. Let her learn how the poor lived, many without indoor plumbing. In households where hygiene was a priority, a metal tub came out on Saturdays, which was filled with water heated on the coal stove. Each member bathed, usually in the same water. That’s how the Smiths had done it before Eddie’s father got promoted to night supervisor at the mine, and they could afford a bathroom.

“Come on, Pearl. I’ll let you use my special bubble bath.” Rachel took a bottle of pink liquid from her compact case. “It’ll be fun.”

“I don’t fancy getting wet at night.” But Pearl let Rachel lead her to the bathroom.

Eddie lay on her twin bed and tried not the think about Pearl’s money stolen from the most dangerous man in Saltville. Her heart pulsed in her throat, her body tight with fear. She doubted she would sleep.

Through the wall, she heard Rachel say, “Start with your face, Pearl. Here’s a washrag. Let me put soap on it. Now go down around your ears and neck…”

Rain drummed on the tin roof, reminding Eddie of home. Sometime during the bathing lesson, she fell asleep, still in her clothes.

A little before dawn, she woke, not knowing where she was, her mind dark with nightmare images. Large man hands had wrapped electric cord around her neck sending shock waves through her. She sat up, tense with raw terror. Was Mama getting her shock treatment at this moment?

Eddie watched the sunrise turn the sky pale pink and calmed.

Once Bert finished washing up, she hurried to the bathroom. The tub was so filthy she decided to take a sponge bath at the sink. After she washed and dressed, she went to the bed where Rachel and Pearl lay sleeping like tangled kittens.

“Time to get up.” She angled the lamp’s light in their faces.

Rachel blinked awake. “Our first day as government girls.” She sprang up, climbed over the footboard, and threw on her bathrobe. “I’ll be ready in a snap.”

“Turn off that durn light.” Pearl rolled across the bed and back to sleep.

Eddie, in the smart beige suit she’d bought at Margolis Department Store, fixed her hair and makeup in front of the dressing table mirror.

Rachel returned, dressed in a similar suit of navy gabardine, and put her hair in victory rolls. All the while she called to Pearl. She went to the bed and shook her. “Get up, Pearl. We need to catch the streetcar in half an hour.”

Pearl pushed up against the headboard, the sheet held to her chest. “I need to tell ya’ll something.” She looked from Rachel to Eddie, her eyes shiny with tears. “I don’t have a job yet. But I’m fixing to get one today. I swear.”

Rachel shot Eddie a look of apology then rounded on Pearl. “Why did you lie to us?”

“Sorry, Rachel. More than anything, I want to be a government girl like you and Eddie.” Pearl snuffled. “See I run away from Saltville after Uncle Alton give my baby Billy to his married daughter who lives in Chilhowie.” Pearl covered her face and sobbed.

She was good at turning on the waterworks, Eddie thought and regretted being hard-heartedness, but she would always be a skeptic.

“You poor thing.” Rachel stroked her hair. “But Eddie and I have to go now or we’ll be late.” Rachel faced the mirror and applied lipstick.

Eddie stuck a hatpin in the crown of her picture hat. Like proper young ladies, they were back in hats and short white cotton gloves for their first day.

“Before ya’ll go, I need to ask a favor.” Pearl spoke in a calm voice, no more tears.

They turned, impatient to leave.

“Don’t tell anybody I’m here in Washington. If Uncle Alton finds out where I am, he’ll come hurt me bad.”

“Why would he do that?” Rachel said.

Pearl’s hand slid under her pillow and touched what was hidden there. “Because he’s the meanest bootlegger there is.”

“That’s why you had the shade down on the train, isn’t it?” Eddie said. “You didn’t want anyone to see you leave Saltville.”

Pearl gave her Cheshire cat grin.

“I’m going to grab us some toast to eat on the way to the streetcar stop.” Rachel waved to Pearl and went downstairs.

Holding the door handle, Eddie said, “I assure you, Pearl, someone at the depot saw you. You can’t keep a secret in Saltville. Your uncle will find out where you are.” With that she shut the door.

What a mistake she had made insisting Pearl stay on Georgia Avenue. She had invited achtung, danger.

“I’m not hungry,” she told Rachel downstairs.

The knot in her stomach remained as she and Rachel crowded onto the streetcar. They made their way down the aisle and held onto straps that hung from the ceiling, crammed in with other government girls. Rachel was talking, but it was as if she was speaking underwater. Eddie heard only the roar of fear rising inside.

She had wanted to leave Saltville behind, but instead she brought the worst of it with her, its lawlessness, its violence.

She resolved to make Pearl move out this afternoon. She would help Pearl find somewhere else to live. Aunt Viola had been right. Better not get involved with bootleggers or their kin. Pearl had stolen a fortune from her uncle. He would come for his money and would hurt anyone in his way, including all those who lived with Pearl on Georgia Avenue. Achtung.

Eddie bent to watch Washington slide past the streetcar’s windows, but her mind traveled three hundred miles southwest to Saltville, certain this city wasn’t far enough away from the evil reach of Alton Ballou.