Read an Excerpt

The Red Organdy Dress

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By Beverly O'Rourke

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Beverly O'Rourke
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4685-7257-5

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Chapter One

She doesn't remember who she is or where she came from. She can hardly remember her name or that of her daughter. She lives between darkness and light, between reality and madness. Lillie no longer cares what she looks like or how she looks to others. Her hair stands up on her head as if she stuck her fingers in an electric socket. It would almost be humorous if it were not so pitiful. Taking care of Lillie's hair is no easy task.

Her curly salt and pepper wrinkled hair is extremely thick and matted. Her daughter has tried everything but nothing seems to work.

Lillie wears long wide dresses that make her look as if she is going to a dance. She calls them moo moos and her pants pedal pushers. She lost thirty years or more of her life as an adult. Her realities are memories of a childhood that has left her many years ago.

She is a strange sight sitting on the porch with her gray hair glistening in the sunlight. Her chain smoking out of control and unending cups of coffee. She smokes at least three packs a day of Marlboro lights and when she runs out of those she'll smoke most anything available. There is no smoking allowed inside so she sits on the porch every day rain or shine.

Her weight is about 300 pounds and it doesn't seem to bother her at all. According to nurse Miles she is a sweetheart and easy to get along with. No one ever complains about her. Nurse Miles thinks it is because she is out of sight and out of mind during the day. She just sits in her favorite chair and spends her day in a dreamy trance, sometimes smiling and sometimes laughing out loud. When and if she gets agitated or upset she rocks back and forth banging the chair against the wall. But she calms down easily and her life is fairly simple.

Some days she listens to the radio and moves her feet to the rhythm. As you might guess she prefers the "oldies but goodie" radio stations. Her daughter believes she is happy because she has never once asked to leave. The only time there seems to be any life in her is when her daughter Toni arrives. Toni always brings gifts. Lillie is very protective of the gifts and will not allow anyone to touch them. In fact she has had to be restrained when other patients have touched her belongings. Toni is her only guest and for that reason tries to visit at least once a month. When Toni's husband comes along Lillie gets anxious and agitated so he spends his time walking the grounds until Toni is ready to go.

Lillie likes being alone outside on the porch and will sit there without moving or stopping to eat. That might be one of the reasons she is so obese. She rarely gets any exercise and eats mostly fattening foods. Her favorite foods are potatoes, cake, pies, strawberry punch and chocolate milk. She eats a huge breakfast that consists of bacon, sausage, eggs and lots of sweet rolls or toast and butter. The candy and cookies Toni brings her are probably another source of her weight problem. She doesn't seem to mind because she never looks in a mirror or discusses her weight with anyone anyway. The doctor has had no impact on changing her eating habits. If you ask her she would be the first to say that she was not over weight. If fact she is in complete denial about all the food she eats. She claims that most of the food they give her is for someone else. She says she feeds a child. Toni has known about the child for many years and never questions her mother about it. Occasionally she'll bring a little toy for the child just to watch the smile on her mother's face.

Toni and her husband argue all the time about the candy and other treats that she takes to her mother. Daryl cannot understand why she brings that stuff if her mother is already over weight and why buy toys for a non-existent child? Toni argues that she feels the little girl is the only thing her mother lives for. She can't get her husband to understand her mother's madness.

A normal day for Lillie is sitting on the porch feeling the warm air on her face and watching the leaves fall from the trees. She doesn't go on walks around the grounds or enjoy the beauty of the garden up close. She just sits in her chair and meditates or it seems that is what she is doing. If anyone were to pass by and see her sitting there they needn't bother to wave hello, because she usually doesn't wave back or acknowledge anyone's presence. She just sits and smokes and drinks coffee until someone comes to get her and insist that she go inside.

Chapter Two

It is twelve noon on Saturday again and Lillie is sitting on the porch in her straight back chair. She prefers the straight back chair even though her daughter brought her a rocker. She says the rocker makes her seasick and she refuses to use it. Her legs are crossed and she has her elbow on her knee. She is wearing a pink and blue flowered moo moo and if you stand on the sidewalk you might be able to see her blue panties under her dress. She is holding a cigarette between two fingers and the fingers are stiff and pointed upwards. Her nails are painted bright red as is her toenails and she is wearing white rubber slippers with flowers on top of each shoe. Lillie appears to be watching for something out there on the road beyond the fence.

The shine on the floor of the porch catches your eye immediately. You know right away that it was freshly painted with a clear varnish and now knots in the wood are clearly visible. It is so beautiful that when the sun hits it just right, the floor literally appears to glow. There is a rocking chair on one side of the porch and a table with a large coffee urn on it. There are cups, saucers, creamers and sugar sitting next to the coffee urn on a white plastic lace table cloth. There is a bench on one side of the porch and a two seated swing on the other. There is a beautiful hand braided rug right under the door leading into the house. Trees surround the porch of every hue under the sun. Some are green and some are gold, some appear to be blue, beige and red. One large tree has tiny white flowers all over it and its branches have spread so wide it appears to be much larger than the other trees. There is a vegetable garden blooming just a few feet away from the porch. The garden has tiny little blooms of tomato plants, green peppers, hot peppers, corn, watermelon and cantaloupe. On the other side of the garden are greens, cabbage, lettuce, string beans and red beans. Next to the vegetable garden are cages where rabbits, chickens and pidgins are kept. You can hear the cooing of the pidgins softly in the background. Beyond the cages and down the hill is a large red barn which is barely visible through the huge trees that cover the entire property. A big old black truck can be seen parked down near the barn. The truck appears to be up on blocks and there are no tires on it. It is leaning slightly tilted as if it could fall any moment. There is a small orange tractor trailer parked near the fence. You can see a small lake in back of the house about 400 yards down the slope and a little row boat tied up at the tiny dock.

Occasionally other people wander out onto the porch and fix themselves a cup of coffee. Sometimes they sit for awhile or stroll around the grounds. Voices can be heard in the vegetable garden. People are either planting or pulling vegetables. Laughter can be heard somewhere in the background. There are doors slamming once in awhile and the chatter of people making small talk fills the air with activity. Even the bark of the dog down by the lake makes the entire picture something movies are made of.

Lillie hates the three cats lounging about the property. One black and white cat can be seen hanging from the tree with the white flowers on it. The yellow stripped cat, Quincy, is lying on the end of the porch across from Lillie. When she first came out this morning she tried to shoo the cat away but he did not move. The other cat is a gray fluffy one with a lame leg that annoys Lillie with his meowing at night. During the day he usually hangs out on the dock and watches the fish and other crawly things in the water.

This is a wonderful time of the year when the flowers are blooming and the birds are chirping and flies buzzing everywhere. The weather is very warm in the morning and the sun comes out in the afternoon. The evenings are balmy and cool. This is spring in the country and most people are out having fun at the beach or the lake. It is picnic time and time for the children to go barefoot and play in the dirt. People are doing spring cleaning and painting their homes.

It is time to put up all the winter coats and hats and bring out the light summer wear. Most people stop sometime during their life and take a deep breath and inhale the wonders of springtime around these parts. But none of this seems to get Lillie's attention as she sits smoking quietly and watching the road.

Today is a special day as is every Saturday. She stops her smoking briefly and looks up and out to the road beyond the porch. She waits in anticipation; her cigarette still perched between her two stiff fingers. The smoke eating away the cigarette without any help at all. Billows of smoke dance up and up as if it was swaying to a music beat and into the ceiling of the porch and disappear. Lillie can finally see the little girl standing at the gate looking back at her. She is leaning on the fence only about forty yards from the house. Lillie strains to stare back at her. Her eyes aren't as good as they use to be. In fact, she refuses to wear the glasses she got last year. She could just make out the red organdy dress and the white lace socks. Lillie stands up for a moment and motions for the little girl to come in but she doesn't. She just stares back for a few moments and as quickly as she appeared she skips off down the road. Lillie follows her with her eyes but she does not speak or call after her. She just stands watching as the child runs to a man waiting on the road. The man grabs the little girl's hand and they walk down the road until they disappear out of sight.

Chapter Three

The man is wearing a large brown hat tilted to one side and a brown double breasted suit. The suit is expensive and shiny with little white stripes all over it. He is wearing a gold chain that hangs down the side of the pants and the pants are smaller at the ankle than at the leg. The legs of the pants are wide and droopy. His fancy cuff links glitter as the sun hits them and his chain tinkles as he walks. His pinkie ring boasts a huge size diamond large enough to be seen from across the street. He has a wonderful smile and the little girl looks up at him and he smiles back. As they walk down the street they become acutely aware of the neighbors watching them on both sides of the street. One lady stops sweeping her porch to watch them as they go by. Her head moves with them as she watches them walking. She is trying to remember who they are. Another two ladies are standing on the porch of another house talking, but they also stop when the man and the little girl go by. One woman leans over and whispers to the other woman as the father and daughter go down the street. There is a gray haired man in the yard of the big brown house on the corner and a baby sitting in a swing on the porch. The man is pruning his flowers and does not notice them as they pass. The tiny grocery store can be seen from at least a block away. There are signs made of tin nailed to the walls outside of the store advertising sodas, ice cream and beer that are sold inside. The building itself is a wooden structure painted white.

When the couple reach the corner they go directly into the tiny grocery store. The sign on the front of the store says LIMS Grocery. Mr. Lim and his family live in the back of the tiny store and everyone in the family works there. Mrs. Lim could be seen sweeping outside on the sidewalk and because today is Saturday the children are home stacking cans on the shelves in the back of the store. You can hear them giggling and laughing as they work. Mr. Lim is a slight built Chinese man who is a second generation American and has worked very hard to establish his business. He knows most of the adult people in the community and practically all of the children. Children are usually the ones sent to the store to do the daily shopping for milk, bread or other small items. Mr. Lim calls the little girl and man by name.

You knew right away that this was not the first time they had been in the store.

"What you buy today missee?" the owner of the store chides with the little girl. She ignores his teasing and runs straight for the candy shelves. She fills her arms with as much as she can carry. Candy was at least a penny each and she knew her daddy would pay the price. She drops the candies on the counter and starts to return to the candy shelves when the man who came in with her grabs her hand.

"Wow, slow up baby, this is a lot of candy. Baby you know what mamma will say. You don't need any more."

"But daddy, I wanted to get some for my friend"

"Who is your friend?" he sort of half heartedly asked.

"You know, Trisha, next door?" knowing that she has no intention of sharing it with Trisha. "Oh, the little girl who lives in the back house"

"Yea, can I daddy, can I?" using her very best smile.

"Go ahead but hurry up I got to get back" He didn't really care how much she spent; he was making pretty good money.

He started his own real estate business about five years ago, when he finally left the South L.A. Realty Company. When he first came to Los Angeles real estate was booming and people were coming in from all over the country. Black people were coming to Los Angeles in droves from the south. They came as teachers, skilled laborers and entrepreneurs to a place were there were job opportunities. Most of them had been educated in southern schools but could not get jobs in the south. They came to Los Angeles and got jobs in the public school system, city jobs like trash pick up, street sweepers, elevator operators, in banks and city and county maintenance. Before long they were buying homes with their GI bills and savings. New home development was springing up everywhere.

The little girl's father came to Los Angeles with his wife and two children just after the war. He met his wife while a student at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He got his degree as a building contractor but found it difficult to get work in that field so the natural progression was to real estate.

When he first came to Los Angeles he found a small one bedroom apartment and worked long hours to establish himself as a serious real estate agent. He worked for a white company name South L.A Realty Company. He was the only black agent in the office and that gave him an edge when it came to dealing with other black families and non-whites. The owner of South LA Realty Company encouraged his promotion into the black arena. His presence actually increased the owners overall business and he was seen as an extremely valued employee. After about five years with South LA he obtained his own broker's license and opened his first office. He had been in business about four years before the divorce. Now his business is doing quite well with three offices throughout Los Angeles and the valley. He has 20 employees working for him. He is making more money now than he has ever made. He drives new cars and wears only the best and finest clothes. Even though he is divorced from his wife, he never once missed paying the taxes on the home he had purchased for the family. He continues to give money for the food and other expenses needed to run the house and take care of his children. In that respect he was old fashion and believed the male's role was to take care of the female. His x-wife did not work and had no other source of income. This was something he remained steadfast in his belief, "a woman's place is in the home".

His wife, Trudy, divorced him because she believed he was having an affair with one of their neighbors. The truth was he was having an ongoing affair but it wasn't with her, it was with another woman that he met while selling a home. There were many fights and accusations that went on for several years. Finally when Trudy had enough she asked him to leave the house. He did leave and he has since married another woman he met at a real estate seminar in New Orleans two years later. His name is Frank and he was raised to believe that his role in life was to financially care for his family.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The Red Organdy Dress by Beverly O'Rourke Copyright © 2012 by Beverly O'Rourke. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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