Angelica

"Mom, I'm one step from a stroke! Eleven years of learning destroyed!"

"Your Daddy inherited his Momma's house. I loathe it. He chucked a great job to live in rural West Tennessee."

"Marcy and her parents offered a spare bedroom at her house, and I could finish my Senior year at Granite City Senior High School."

I discovered myself submerged in a sea of cotton, corn, and soybeans. Waves of strawberry plants whacked my in nostrils. We moved into our new -- ancient home.

They shrugged their shoulders and relaxed their gaze. A hint of a smile plastered Mom and Dad. My stomach growled like an unbalanced washing machine. Bile attacked my taste buds.

Dad said, "It's been vacant for years. Grandmother Agnes McGhee passed away 15 years ago. The structure is sturdy. Plumbing and wiring were brought to modern code."

I said, "I don't plan to stay here. I'll move out as soon as I can. I hate this place. I'll despise it until I die."

Mom said, "I agree with you, but your dad grew up in this house. It is old, hideous and big. It will cost a fortune to heat in the winter and to cool in the summer."

"Cousin Horacio McGhee held it entrust. Momma left it to me. Twenty-five acres comes with the house. The electricity is self-generating"

"Your Cousin Horacio died. He failed to sell or rent the eyesore. The monstrosity disgraces the neighborhood. The mess sucks money."

Dad said, "Honey, the possibilities are unlimited. The money Cousin Horacio sent from Momma's will provided enough to fix the house and allowed us to refurbish the greenhouses."

"Walter McGhee, don't call me honey! Why twelve greenhouses?"

"What should I call you? How about the old ugly grouch?"

"I am not old!"

My shoulders and arms tightened, nostrils flared, and head pounded. Granite City laid four to five hours away. My best friend Marcy cried when we left. Roger, my boyfriend, promised to visit me one weekend a month. St Louis tantalized us--fifteen minutes from our previous home. Trollies and busses transported mom and me into the magic land of joy, wonder, and shopping. The fare of a quarter (twenty-five cents) per person fulfilled a woman's dream. The finest shops sported the current styles from Paris, other parts of Europe and unique parts of the world.

Dad said, "Everything we need is within minutes of Granite City."

Mom and I glared at him and pouted.

Daddy said, "Grandmother Agnes employed several women who harvested fresh vegetables and strawberries year-round. They provided produce to distributors who sold merchandise to stores and restaurants. She withheld 400 quarts of strawberries for a special process."

What he said registered as distant.

We arrived and unloaded the moving van.

I asked, "Mom, where do we put the stuff we should have thrown away before we left Illinois?"

She spouted what must be an old cliché, "'Little jewels produce priceless memories.'" I stared at her like she spoke a foreign language. "Take them to the attic."

While in the attic, I discovered a three-ring binder identified as "Recipes" on the front cover and a "Table of Contents" on the first page. "Grandma's Strawberry Shine & Wine, c, 1875" was listed as the last item. If I am correct this would be my Great Great Grandmother or Grandmother Agnes' Great Grandmother.

A silent 'whoopee' erupted in my mind, and a smile stretched my lips. I trudged the binder down the stairs, cuddled under my left arm, and placed it in the top drawer of the chest in my room. I intended to share the recipe book with my Mom after I researched the end file.

After supper Mom gave a quarter and a penny to Joey and me. Each of us had twenty-six cents to spend at Momma Mc Ghee's Café and General Store.

She said, "A paper cup or a cone of frozen custard cost two dimes, a cup of R.C. Cola with ice cost a nickel and the state of Tennessee receives a penny for sales tax."

We trotted the eighth mile south on McGhee Highway to the café.

The prosperous community of Mc Ghee's Corner stood at the junction of McGhee's Highway Alternate 120 (north and south) and McGhee's Road (east and west.) McGhee's Highway brandished a chat road surface which remained hard while dry. McGhee Road is a mix of dirt and chat except for the chat road surface extending fifty yards east and fifty yards west from McGhee's Corner.

Six retail structures inhabited the business section of the settlement, plus a three-room school, two churches, a volunteer fire station and a one-person branch of the Gibson County Farmers' Bank. Momma McGhee provided two gas pumps in front of her establishment and an auto repair garage behind the store.

My brother, Joey, purchased his frozen custard and Royal Crown Cola. I opened my mouth to order when a dog yelped and bumped the back of my legs. I reached for the counter to keep from falling and dropped my coins on the floor. I examined the area and saw nothing. Joey assisted without benefit. A boy about my age swooped his left hand on the floor near a stool and retrieved my twenty-six cents. He took my hand, placed the money in my palm and said, "I'm sorry about Ralph, but he had a scare."

Behind him plodded another boy near my age who grunted, huffed and cheeks reddened saying, "Where is my mutt?" His t-shirt exposed chiseled abs and ironed hard arms. The boy's short pants revealed muscular legs. He towered over everyone in the building.

Ralph scrunched behind me. His body shook near my right leg. A moan erupted from him. I reached down petted him and said, "Everything will be OK."

Ralph cried, and I interpreted his words as saying, "Monster boy kicked me because he was angry at his cousin. The bully owns me."

I scrunched my eyes, peered at the big boy and said, "Monster bully, that is what Ralph called you, and I agreed with him."

Everyone in the store laughed except bad boy, and his two friends,

"My name is Hector. I run things around here. In fact, if I kicked you instead of Ralph, no one would help you."

Joey said, "My sister is a Grand Master of Fraternal Fear. She will beat your rump and leave you crying like a baby. Hector you need to apologize before she gets mad and stomps you silly."

He chuckled and shook his voice in a false tremble and said, "Oh, I am afraid."

He came over and moved his foot toward me. I kicked him on the ankle. He fell on the floor, and hit his head against a chair. He pushed his body upright, clinched his hands and pulled his right-arm back to render a punch. I kicked him in his manhood. He humped over, and I booted him in the head. He plopped to the floor like a bag full of wet cotton.

Joey said, "I told you. In the future, remember Angelica looks like an angel and fights like a devil. I don't know anyone her age who can beat her. Thank the Lord you are alive. She likes you."

"How do you know she likes me?"

"You're still alive."

Hector strolled over to where Joey and I sat in a booth. He said, "I'm sorry I acted like a bully."

"Tell Ralph you are sorry for kicking him."

Hector petted Ralph on the head and said, "I'm sorry for kicking you. I promise not to kick you again."

Ralph growled at Hector, and I said, "You are no longer his owner. He wants to be with me and my brother. Also, Ralph's grandfather belonged to my grandmother."

Hector gazed at the floor, mumbled unintelligible words, and a tear escaped from his left eye. I intended to hurt him, but I trembled and experienced remorse. My cheeks burned as my eyes glazed and tilted downward.

I said, "You can visit him anytime, and he can buddy with you whenever he chooses."

Hector's face brightened. He lifted his eyes. A grin replaced the frown. Ralph moaned, wagged his tail, and strutted over to Hector. He brushed his body against Hector's right leg. He strolled back to me and cuddled against my legs.

Hector repeated the sports cliché, "No pain, no gain."

I experienced the saying in a previous life. I concluded football coaches used it often in weight training. His muscles bulged forth from his tight t-shirt.

He sat facing me from a table near to my booth. Bad Boy said, "Angelica, I understand you went to a large high school in Granite City."

I said, "Our high school had grades ten, eleven and twelve. Fourteen hundred students attended. My senior class projected four hundred graduates. If I maintained the same GPA as the previous grades in Freshman, Sophomore and Junior years, I expected to attain one of the top five spots in our school. However, Mom and Dad refused to let me live with a friend and her family."

A girl, another girl called her Beth. She said, "Peabody High has one hundred twenty in our student body. The senior class has twenty-six. We know each other. You and Joey are related to half the students and faculty."

Hector said, "If you mess up, the whole community knows all the details, but they stand by you, because you're family. Angelica, your daddy is a good man. He survived The Great Depression, Prohibition and World War Two. He is a respected hero. The love of his roots drew him home."

I said, "I appreciate your comments about my Dad, but Granite City is my home."

"OK, I understand. Can you teach me to fight like you?" He whispered with soft and tender words.