“I always told my working girls two things: The walls of a whorehousenevertalk, but watch for the fly parked on your headboard, and understand pen on parchment can leave a legacy of treachery.”
I cocked my head, trying to make sense of her words.
“Clara was drunk on love, and the daddy refused to marry her after she birthed his child. When she caught him stepping out, the girl eventually went to the ol’ tattler newspaper,and tattle she did. Tol’ them about theBluepolitician, Eldon, getting her pregnant after he became smitten with her. I tried to tell the foolish girl Eldon wasn’t worth it.”
Another Blue was out there somewhere.It’d been so long, I couldn’t recall if Pa had talked about an Eldon. Though the name seemed somewhat familiar.
“Don’t you know Eldon Carter had been laying his pipe all over my brothel for years? Hell, the whole county—and more pipe than Wheatly & Sons Plumbing had laid three countieswide. That horndog couldn’t keep it in his pants once he’d set his sights on a pretty gal.”
“Carter?Why, he’s my kin. An uncle or great-uncle, though I’ve never met him,” I said, astonished. The memories of Pa’s stories of kin had been fading with each passing year.
“Ya don’t say, Eldon’s kin. From down in Troublesome Creek?”
“That’s home. I worked as a Pack Horse librarian there.”
“One of them Troublesome book women I heard so much about in them hills?” Waldeen studied me closer.
“Yes, ma’am. They called me a few names, but some might’ve called me troublesome too.”
“Them smart females soldiered themselves into britches them menfolk could never fill,” Waldeen continued. “One of my girls left to open a tiny brothel in those parts in ’40, I believe. Weren’t but three of them living atop a mountain near Paintsville, but she wrote me that they were thriving in moonshine and dough. Even had a Pack Horse librarian sneaking them books every so often.”
“There was several scattered around,” I said. “What happened to Uncle Eldon?” I asked, thinking I’d finally meet him one day. Even if he was a scoundrel, maybe there were cousins or other kin he might lead me to.
“It turned sideways for Clara and downwards for Eldon. Literally.” The old madam grimaced. “He was a respectable, small elected official. And a highly valued client at my brothel.”
Waldeen saw my disbelief and said, “Money may be green, but it don’t give a whit about the color of the palm holding it.”
Willie.Could William be Willieandthe boy in Waldeen’s photograph? Uncle Eldon, me, and Willie. Honey’s father.My kin.We Blues were all knotted,twisted tight on our branch, Doc had told me. And I suddenly realized the woman, Clara, carried the gene and was also Honey’s grandmother, and Waldeen’s baby William was her pa.
Stunned, I said, “I know’d Clara’s son, Willie, and her daughter-in-law, Angeline. We’re all related.”
It was time for Waldeen to be surprised. “I learned there’s not many of you Blues, and I was hoping ya might know something when I volunteered my empty cot. My sweet boy William. What kind of man did he turn into?”
A tormented one.I’d never spoke of it to another soul after it happened. Only Jackson know’d after I had solicited him to help me give them a proper burial in their yard. I paused, not wanting to tell her how I’d found Willie hanging from the tree after he took his own life. I could still see Angeline’s toppled Mother’s Lard bucket he’d climbed up on to do the deed. Stunned, I had frantically snatched up the squalling newborn lying in the dirt under his swaying corpse. Grieved for the loss of my dear friend and young patron, Angeline.
I groped for the right words, shuddering from the horrors of that hot July day in ’36. Finally, I said, “Willie passed after an accident, along with his wife, who died soon after childbirth. I raised their baby, Honey. She’s mine now.”
Waldeen’s face dropped and she spoke wistfully, “IfonlyEldon had married her. The last night he called on her after the newspaper article was published, he was furious and smacked Clara around and tried to take the baby. She grabbed my gun from the bureau, and I fought her for it but lost that struggle. She shot Eldon. Died right on that birthing bed of red-satin sheets where his son drew first life.”
I’d lost another kin. Saddened, I could only stare at her, the hardness of many lifetimes etched across her face.
“It broke my heart when Clara ran off with my darling William. It was the last I saw of the child. My sweet William. And when I wouldn’t talk to the law, they dropped the dirt on me for the politician’s murder. One of them johns of mine was a slick city attorney who ended up persuading the DA not to seek the death penalty; otherwise I’d be sitting right up there on Death Row with that ol’ poisoner, Sassyann.”
“Death penalty.”
“Lots of respectable men paid visits to my place, kid.Businessmen, politicians, unpolished young lovers, and the souls stuck in loveless marriages. We catered to a few Bible-thumping johns, police chiefs, and honorary Kentucky Colonels. There were the stuffy old goats from the country club and wild bucks of spoon wealth from over at the university. All kinds of mighty an’ powerful people came from all over the country to partake of thespecialamenities we offered at Rosebranch. And if any of ’em ever heard you’d talked, well, ya ain’t gonna be jawing for long. ’Lessen it’s with ol’ Lucifer, himself. I buried my little black address book and protected many powerful men. Least they could do is protect me.”
Heavy footfalls sounded in the cafeteria.
“Hurry, take it. The guard’s a’comin’,” she whispered, thrusting the book with the hidden contraband into my hands.
“I could never use it, Waldeen. My hand’s fine, and I have to get to the next wing.” I tried to give it back.
“In here, ya can’t carry yourself too tallortoo small. Tricky, but you’ll learn the balance. Understand, Cussy?”
Not much different from outside. It felt like I’d lived most of my life as an apology. And I know’d that feeling all my life; when to rise and when to duck.
“When you feel too small and that dirt drops down, ya let this do the talkin’ to stand back up.” Her wise eyes warned. “Get on back to work, kid. And here, take this jar of honey for your wound.”
