asked to.
Maybelle brushed her arm across her forehead. Her chest heaved in and out like she was the one doing the pushing.
"Look! Look here, Lexie!" she said. "You got a baby boy!"
I come full out of the bedroom doorway then and run over to Lexie. Maybelle had a baby by the feet. It was all blue. Sort of grayish black and blue, it was. It wan't moving or crying or nothing. Maybelle turned it over and rubbed its back real good, but that baby just stayed limp. I was getting real scared for it, I was.
Lexie wasn't doing too good, neither. She hadn't stop yelling. There was blood everywhere. That kitchen floor looked worse than the spot where MeeMaw used to chop up the chickens. Goodness gracious! All that blood from having one little old baby. That's when the floor disappeared right out from under me. And when that floor come back, it weren't a floor no more. It was a sofa. I was laid out with a sheet tucked all around me. Melvin was there.
"Baby girl, you had yourself quite a day," he said.
"Oh, Uncle Melvin," I said. "We had ourselves a baby and there was no one round to help us none."
"I know, sweet pea," he said. "You just rest now. Doc says you're gonna be just fine, goose egg and all."
"I wanta see the baby," I said.
"Well, you just rest for now, baby girl, okay?" Melvin said. That wan't hard since I hadn't slept none the night before. I was wanting to make sure that baby was okay, but a'fore I knew it, I was falling asleep.
"Is the baby okay, Uncle Melvin?" I whispered as I nodded off. "Is he?"
"Ssshhhhh," he said. "Go to sleep. Everything's gonna be okay."
My eyes were real heavy, but I remember thinking the baby's not crying . Matter of factly, the house was quiet as church.
Chapter Eight
I don't know for sure why Ray lost his job over there at the cotton mill. He coulda come in with liquor in him. Wouldn't be hard to smell it on his breath. Sometimes he drunk all night long.
Ray was a hard one to figure out. Sometimes he was so nice to my mama and me, it was like a new man moved into his body and just took over. Like that summer when Lexie was having her baby. She recovered fine from the birthing. And her and Melvin had themselves a set of them twins where you get two babies at once! They was almost identical, they was, 'cept one was a boy and the one that come out when the floor left my feet was a girl. Even so, I couldn't tell them apart, 'lessen their diapers was off. Lexie could.
Doc Crawley got both of them howling just fine when he got there and had my mama come over to help. Mama got Lexie to nurse them right off and they drifted on to sleep. Ray come, too. He was real jolly. Later when they woke up, he held those babies hisself.
"It's yore uncle Ray, little fella," he said to the one they named Irl. They named the little girl one Katherine Alice after Lexie's mama. Irl wan't named after no one. Lexie just liked the name real good. Melvin didn't much mind what she called them. He said he liked the babies just fine and he trusted Lexie to give 'em a good name to take 'em through life. I think he was worried how they was gonna afford two of them at once. The mill was cutting back when no one figured on it, so Melvin was getting less hours every week.
Come Labor Day the mill had their regular year-end picnic for all the workers and their families. Noble Brewster, the boss man, said we could come since Ray worked most of that year 'fore they fired him. That was real nice of him, too, 'cause he didn't have to. They was having a dance for the big folks and everything. It was real special for sure.
They had lots of good food; watermelon for dessert, all you want even, and they had games and prizes for us kids. The gunnysack race that year was the one to win. They was giving away a new bicycle to whoever finished first. It was one of them two-legged races. You had to
Maybelle brushed her arm across her forehead. Her chest heaved in and out like she was the one doing the pushing.
"Look! Look here, Lexie!" she said. "You got a baby boy!"
I come full out of the bedroom doorway then and run over to Lexie. Maybelle had a baby by the feet. It was all blue. Sort of grayish black and blue, it was. It wan't moving or crying or nothing. Maybelle turned it over and rubbed its back real good, but that baby just stayed limp. I was getting real scared for it, I was.
Lexie wasn't doing too good, neither. She hadn't stop yelling. There was blood everywhere. That kitchen floor looked worse than the spot where MeeMaw used to chop up the chickens. Goodness gracious! All that blood from having one little old baby. That's when the floor disappeared right out from under me. And when that floor come back, it weren't a floor no more. It was a sofa. I was laid out with a sheet tucked all around me. Melvin was there.
"Baby girl, you had yourself quite a day," he said.
"Oh, Uncle Melvin," I said. "We had ourselves a baby and there was no one round to help us none."
"I know, sweet pea," he said. "You just rest now. Doc says you're gonna be just fine, goose egg and all."
"I wanta see the baby," I said.
"Well, you just rest for now, baby girl, okay?" Melvin said. That wan't hard since I hadn't slept none the night before. I was wanting to make sure that baby was okay, but a'fore I knew it, I was falling asleep.
"Is the baby okay, Uncle Melvin?" I whispered as I nodded off. "Is he?"
"Ssshhhhh," he said. "Go to sleep. Everything's gonna be okay."
My eyes were real heavy, but I remember thinking the baby's not crying . Matter of factly, the house was quiet as church.
Chapter Eight
I don't know for sure why Ray lost his job over there at the cotton mill. He coulda come in with liquor in him. Wouldn't be hard to smell it on his breath. Sometimes he drunk all night long.
Ray was a hard one to figure out. Sometimes he was so nice to my mama and me, it was like a new man moved into his body and just took over. Like that summer when Lexie was having her baby. She recovered fine from the birthing. And her and Melvin had themselves a set of them twins where you get two babies at once! They was almost identical, they was, 'cept one was a boy and the one that come out when the floor left my feet was a girl. Even so, I couldn't tell them apart, 'lessen their diapers was off. Lexie could.
Doc Crawley got both of them howling just fine when he got there and had my mama come over to help. Mama got Lexie to nurse them right off and they drifted on to sleep. Ray come, too. He was real jolly. Later when they woke up, he held those babies hisself.
"It's yore uncle Ray, little fella," he said to the one they named Irl. They named the little girl one Katherine Alice after Lexie's mama. Irl wan't named after no one. Lexie just liked the name real good. Melvin didn't much mind what she called them. He said he liked the babies just fine and he trusted Lexie to give 'em a good name to take 'em through life. I think he was worried how they was gonna afford two of them at once. The mill was cutting back when no one figured on it, so Melvin was getting less hours every week.
Come Labor Day the mill had their regular year-end picnic for all the workers and their families. Noble Brewster, the boss man, said we could come since Ray worked most of that year 'fore they fired him. That was real nice of him, too, 'cause he didn't have to. They was having a dance for the big folks and everything. It was real special for sure.
They had lots of good food; watermelon for dessert, all you want even, and they had games and prizes for us kids. The gunnysack race that year was the one to win. They was giving away a new bicycle to whoever finished first. It was one of them two-legged races. You had to
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