Gigi barked with laughter. aWhoas the one cheating?a she yodeled. aWhat do you call what we were doing, Duckie? Youare just p.i.s.sed acause youare stuck in a c.r.a.ppy job and youare not even a member of your own famdammly.a It was the remark about his family that made him want to quit fighting. aMy daughteras trying to save us,a he said. aSoas your son.a Ava and Travis were wading into the water, lumbering toward them, terrified expressions on their faces.
Gigi turned to look. aHey! Itas Avis and Trava!a Vic dove under the water, scooped her up and, clutching her under his arm, hauled her a.s.s and his out of the water.
On the way home with Ava from Alligator Point, Vic could drive only twenty miles an hour. Lightning flashed all around them and Ava screeched every time. Ditches were full up, more than full, and the overflow crept out across the road, forming rivers. In Carrabelle they drove through a lake of unknown depth where the road used to be. They were in it before he could stop, so he had to keep going. Tree branches flew in front of them. They swerved to avoid a plastic kiddie pool. Stoplights swayed manically over their heads.
Head swallowed three quick cups of coffee in Maudeas kitchen, so now he was a wide-awake drunk with a throbbing knot on his forehead who had to take a leak, driving with his precious, terrified towel-wrapped daughter shivering beside him in the car, but he still thought it was a better option than staying at the party. If head stayed, he wouldave done something even more asinine than he was doing now. G.o.d, just get them back safely. He felt head barely escaped some alternate life in which he and Gigi acted out scene after scene of their B movie. He knew head have to straighten things out with Gigi once and for all the next time he saw her. Head have to come clean at FTA. But for now he felt lucky to have escaped.
What almost caused him to have a wreck, right before he tackled the Ochlockonee Bridge, was his cell phone ringing. The unexpectedness of it startled him. He veered into the other lane, overcorrected, and spun sideways, his tires spewing up water. Fortunately they were the only car on the highway. Their Volvo had stopped in the wrong lane and he eased it back into the right one. He flipped open his phone without bothering to read the caller ID. aWhat?a he said into the phone, his heart thudding. No response. aYou scared me to death,a he said to whoever had called him.
Ava was staring out the window at a little clearing in the woods. aThatas where Mr. Ugly used to sell his peanuts, isnat it, Daddy?a There was n.o.body on the line. He didnat recognize the number when he glanced at it. He snapped the phone shut and kept driving. After a minute he told Ava, aMr. Ugly hasnat been there in a long time.a Caroline rang the doorbell of the house on Evergreen Street. It was only seven in the evening, but the sky had already darkened. She and Otis and Suzi stood on the deep front porch, waiting. It was an old Craftsman-style house, beige stucco and green trim, with steps and a railing leading up from the sidewalk and a little ap.r.o.n of a yard in front, all in surprisingly good shape. There were lights on upstairs. Caroline rang the bell again. Distant thunder rumbled, and a great gray cloud shaped like a steep cliff was creeping across the sky toward them from the Mississippi River. Did Grayson stretch all the way up here? Surely not. But there was a storm brewing. Wind blew damp air and exhaust fumes over from Madison Avenue, which mingled with the smell of the gardenia bushes around the porch.
aSomebodyas got to be in there,a Caroline said, and leaned on the bell again, longer this time. Otis walked over and peered in a window, and Suzi sat down on a glider. They didnat have any luggage with them, because theyad left home in such a hurry.
On the sidewalk in front of the house, an anorexic-looking lady in baggy clothes walked up with three black Scottie dogs on three separate leashes. aHurry up. p.o.o.p!a she ordered her dogs, who kept sniffing the gra.s.s but not p.o.o.ping. The wind was picking up, blowing the womanas hair into her eyes, whipping around the empty plastic p.o.o.p bag she carried.
aWeare camping out right here till they answer the door,a Caroline told her children.
aThey canat hide forever,a Otis said, peering in another window.
aWe ride to victory!a Suzi yelled.
Theyad just driven nine hours to Memphis from Tallaha.s.see and they were all zonked but pleased with themselves for having found the place.
Finally the door was flung open by a bearded young man wearing shorts who looked disheveled and ha.s.sled, his wire-frame gla.s.ses askew. He held an empty cardboard box in his hands.
Caroline, Suzi, and Otis looked past him into the living room, into the house owned by Marylou Ahearn, alias Nance Archer.
aHelp you?a asked the young man.
aWeare looking for Marylou,a Caroline said. She had trouble saying that name in connection with Nance. Nance and Marylou seemed like two different people.
aShe was by here earlier this afternoon,a the young man said. aAround four thirty.a aWas there an old man with her?a Suzi asked.
aAnd a dog?a Otis asked.
The young man wrinkled his brow and exhaled loudly. aAre you selling something? aCause Iam broke.a Caroline explained that they were friends of Marylouas from Tallaha.s.see and that they were concerned about her and wanted to catch up with her to see if she was okay.
aMarylou has friends in Tallaha.s.see?a he asked, stepping back to let them inside. aShe sure didnat have many friends in Memphis.a He shut the heavy oak door behind them and quickly locked it. They all stood there in the foyer beside an old player piano. aShe did have a man with her,a the young man said. aWilson somebody. And her dog. b.u.t.ter. Heas in the living room.a aBuster,a Otis said.
aWho is it, Trev?a A st.u.r.dy young woman with a long dark braid and fluffy bangs, wearing overalls, walked into the foyer carrying an armload of books.
Caroline explained that they were friends of Marylouas, and the young woman, whoad introduced herself as Katya, said, aYou just missed Elvis Week. Did you come to see Elvis?a aNot hardly,a Otis said.
Katya invited them into the living room, where she turned on a floor lamp and then set her stack of books, which all looked old and serious, on the floor. Caroline and Suzi settled on a rose-colored sofa and Otis on a leather ottoman. Buster hopped up on the sofa beside Suzi, who bent over and kissed the top of his head.
Katya plopped down on an Oriental rug, crossing her legs underneath her. Her bare feet were dirty on the bottoms. The young man, Trevor, set down his empty cardboard box and perched on the arm of the leather chair.
It began to rain, and the raindrops blew against the tall windows in the living room.
aMarylou showed up here earlier today and told us we had to move out,a Katya said. aWe were just house-sitting, but, yeah, we expected a little more notice.a aI donat expect anything from anyone,a Trev said. He had the entire alphabet tattooed around his hairy left calf.
aUm,a Katya said, hugging her knees. aWeare graduate students at Memphis University. English and philosophy. Trevas getting ready to take his thingamajiggers. His exams.a aIf I donat pa.s.s, Iall be driving a bus,a Trev said.
Caroline looked around the living room. Old, comfortable furniture. Ceramic ashtray in the shape of Arkansas. Coffee table book about the Holy Land. Piano with a hymnal open on the music rack, old black-and-white pictures of dead people on top. This was a house that Marylou had lived in for a long time. aDid the man with her, Wilson, did he seem okay?a Caroline asked the couple.
Katya pulled her braid over her shoulder and swung the end back and forth. aHe seemed fine to me.a an.o.body ever seems fine to me,a said Trev.
aHe wasnat, like, trying to get away?a Suzi said.
aOr signaling for help?a Otis said.
aWhy would he be doing that?a Trev said, dropping down onto the chair. He was interested now.
Lightning flashed outside, too close, and when it thundered, the lamp wavered.
aOoh, I hate storms,a Katya said, hugging her knees.
How much should they tell Trevor and Katya? How well did Trevor and Katya know Marylou? Had Marylou told them anything about why shead moved to Tallaha.s.see?
Before Caroline could decide what to say, Suzi blurted out, aShe kidnapped my grandfather!a aNo kidding,a Katya said, exchanging a glance with Trevor.
aWell, not kidnapped,a Caroline said. aThey left town without telling us, and my dadas having memory problems. Iam not sure how aware he is of whatas going on. We think that she took him against his will.a aThis is unbelievable!a Katya exclaimed, clapping her hands together. aMarylou, a kidnapper! Wow!a aNothing anybody does surprises me,a Trev said.
aWheread they go?a Caroline asked the young couple. aAfter they left here?a aSightseeing, probably,a Katya said. aMaybe she took him to Graceland! Everyone ends up there.a aAre they coming back?a Caroline asked them. aWhere are they staying tonight?a aa.s.sumed theyad stay here,a Trev said. aOtherwise, whyad they tell us to get out?a Lightning loomed right out front of the house. Katya screamed. Suzi squealed and plugged her ears. Thunder rattled the windows. Afterward they waited a minute, but nothing else happened. Suzi cautiously removed her hands from her ears.
aMy grandfather was a scientist,a Otis said. aHe was a nuclear researcher. He wasnat always as out of it as he is now.a aHe grew up here in Memphis,a Caroline added, abut I doubt he remembers much about it. He needs his medications. Are you sure he seemed all right?a aHe was smiling,a Katya said. aWe thought they were a couple!a aThatas false!a Otis barked out. aShe hates him. He hates her.a aLots of couples hate each other,a Trev added.
aSo you donat approve of their relationship?a Katya said.
Suzi snorted. aThey donat have a relationship,a she said.
aLooked like it to me.a Katya smiled mischievously.
aIf you call Marylou planning to kill him a relationship!a Caroline said, thinking What the h.e.l.l? She needed to talk to someone about Marylouas insane behavior. So she and Otis and Suzi related to Trevor and Katya how Marylou had been a subject in her fatheras experiments in the fifties, and that shead always blamed her father for her daughteras death, and then how, just recently, thanks to Google, shead located him in Tallaha.s.see and plotted her revenge, and that shead used a fake name and everything.
Trevor burst out laughing, a startling bray. aMarylou Ahearn? Kill someone? That figures.a aNo way!a said Katya.
aWay,a Otis said. aShe told us herself, after shead changed her mind and decided not to do it.a aAt least, we hope she really changed her mind. Thatas why weare a little worried.a aSo how did you know they came here?a They told Trevor and Katya that Marylou had called them from the road and left a message, explaining that shead taken Wilson to visit Memphis and not to worry, shead bring him back soon, etc. Since it was just Suzi and Otis at home with Carolinea"Vic and Ava being down at Alligator Pointa"the three of them decided to go ahead and follow Marylou to Memphis, just to make sure everything was okay.
They knew Marylou had a house in Memphis, so they stopped at Marylouas Tallaha.s.see housea"Suzi knew where there was a hidden keya"and looked through some of her bills and letters and papers, hoping to find the address. They found the address, but they also discovered that Nancy Archer wasnat her real name.
aThatas far out,a Katya said. aNancy Archer.a aAttack of the Fifty Foot Woman,a Trevor said. aWorst movie ever made.a aOh, Trev,a Katya said. aYou would know that.a There was a lull in the conversation. Caroline knew she should try to call Vic again. Shead left messages for him, telling him what had happened and that she and Suzi and Otis were leaving for Memphis, telling him Marylouas real name and her address, but as time went on and he didnat answer or return her calls, she got angry and turned her phone off. Otis never had his on, and Suzias battery was dead. She decided shead check her messages and if head called shead call him back when she was good and ready.
aYouare welcome to stay here and wait for them,a Katya said, unfolding herself from the floor. aBack to work, Trev.a Caroline felt herself relax a little. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw green interstate signs. So far, it seemed, Wilson and Marylou were okay. And, although she hadnat let herself acknowledge it yet, she was happy to be back in Memphis. The rain seemed to have stopped. aHow about if I go get everyone some barbecue?a Caroline suggested.
aI donat eat meat,a said Trev, pushing his gla.s.ses up on his nose.
aSince when?a Katya asked him, and he shrugged.
aMaybe Suzi and Otis can help you pack your things up,a Caroline suggested.
Trevoras mouth lifted into a sort-of smile.
Last December, when she and Ava visited Memphis, shead gone with Ava to Graceland one afternoon. While Ava pored over the exhibits in the house, Caroline zipped through and settled outside on a concrete bench in the Meditation Gardens, where the tour ended, to wait for Ava.
It was warm for December and flies buzzed here and there. Beside the Presley family graves were garish but touching arrangements of silk flowers and trinkets and teddy bears and cards and pictures of Elvis on easels. The fountain, between Caroline and the gravestones, sparkled and spattered. All the benches in the garden were painted black. There was a black iron fence around the fountain and another one around the semicircle of grave markers. An airplane droned overhead.
Caroline found herself watching the other visitors filing through. A late fortyish woman with bangs and chin-length hair, carrying a purse with a picture of Elvis on it, kept sniffling and patting the grave markers like someone whoad just lost her entire family. A younger blond woman wearing jeans and a jean jacket sat in front of Elvisas grave and read a pamphlet which looked, from the ill.u.s.trations, to be religious in nature. A British couplea"a man with dyed hair and a toupee to matcha"were walking around talking, too loudly, about the thrill of finding their names, which theyad scrawled in pen, still visible on the wall in front of Graceland after all these years. A tall, thin, Asian man appeared, took pictures, and left. Two smiling short, stout, German-sounding women in their sixties relit a vanilla scented candle on Elvisas grave. What was wrong with these people? They were acting like Elvis was some martyred saint. What did they hope to gain by coming here? It didnat make any sense to Caroline.
A man with a roaring leaf blower came along the path. A swirl of leaves eddied around her feet.
aMama!a It was Ava, in her white T-shirt that said La La La I Canat Hear You. Ava looked like an angel, standing there in the sunlight, with the drops of the fountain in an arc around her. Ava never called her Mama anymore, and Caroline cherished the sound of it. Ava darted over and sat down on the bench beside her mother.
aMama, you know what?a Caroline took Avaas hand.
For a few seconds Ava allowed her hand to be held, but quickly, hating to be confined, she pulled her hand out of her motheras grasp.
In spite of herself, Caroline felt hurt.
aIave been thinking. Elvis had Aspergeras. The way they described him as a child, always staying to himself, not having friends, not making eye contact. He was a total klutz. He dry washed his hands all the time, and walked sort of hunched over when he was a kid. And he was so good at music. Never had any lessons. A musical savant.a aWell,a said Caroline. aThatas a possibility.a aI just feel like aa Ava looked away. aIam embarra.s.sed to say.a For Ava to be embarra.s.sed to say something was highly unusual.
aIam listening.a aOkay.a Ava took a deep breath and let it out. aI feel like Elvis can help me, with my life, with my, you know. My Aspergeras. Maybe he can heal me. Cure me.a Was this the reason all these people came to the Meditation Gardens? Did they all feel the need to be healed? Like going to Lourdes? aYou donat need to be cured of anything,a Caroline told Ava. aYouare fine just the way you are.a aThen why do you keep trying to fix me?a Ava said.
aIam just trying to make things easier for you. Help you.a aHuh,a Ava said. aWell stop helping me all the time.a Caroline felt the familiar sting of being unappreciated, misunderstood, and hating herself for being so petty. Parents were never appreciated. She knew that. But knowing it and not caring about it were two different things. aAll right, Iall stop helping you. Elvis can help you.a aFine.a Ava got up and wandered down the path toward a split rail fence that overlooked a rolling pasture and in the distance a barn.
Although she knew better, Caroline stood up and followed her. Groups of visitors, wearing their headsets, were strolling along the paths between the house and Vernon Presleyas office, the racquetball court, and the Meditation Gardens.
She joined Ava at the fence, and both of them leaned against the rails and gazed at the horses grazing a few yards awaya"six horses, paired head to rump, swishing their tails in each otheras faces, the way horses do. One of them was a palomino.
aI wonder if Elvis rode any of those horses,a Ava said.
Caroline slipped her arm around Avaas waist. aElvisas horses are long gone,a she said.
Ava scrunched up her beautiful, angelic face and began to weep.
These sorts of public meltdowns rarely happened anymore, but they did happen, and you could never predict or control them. You just endured them.
aThose poor horses never knew what happened, when he died,a Ava sobbed. aThey waited and waited for him to come see them and feed them and ride them, but they never saw him again. They didnat understand.a aThey had each other,a Caroline said, stroking Avaas hair. aSee? Look at them out there, taking care of each other.a Tears ran out of Carolineas eyes, too. Whenever Ava cried, Caroline cried.
aWhyad he have to die? Whyad he take all those drugs? Why?a Caroline was aware that other people were standing off a ways, staring at them, including the British man with the toupee. She had to think of something to say to calm her daughter down.
aMaybe he knew things would never get better for him,a Caroline said. aMaybe he just gave up. But thatas not going to happen to you. Or me.a aI know that!a At last Ava allowed Caroline to hug her, and Caroline buried her face in Avaas sweet, sweaty hair. Oh, when are you going to grow a sh.e.l.l like the rest of us? is what she was thinking. And was also thinking, Ava still needs me! And, I canat do this anymore!
The next day she dropped Ava off at Graceland and decided to explore the city on her own. Shead visited there many times when she was growing up, but it was simply her birthplace, the place where her father had grown up, a backdrop for family reunions. As she drove through Midtown she felt like shead been wearing smudgy gla.s.ses that had been removed. The past was visible everywhere: 1920s bungalows, Art Deco buildings from the thirties and forties, neon signs from the fifties and sixties. She drove past a sign in the shape of a smoking cigarette and one that had a white shirt with no body in it, waving an empty sleeve, advertising Happy Day Laundry. Every particular she saw was interesting and worthy of scrutiny, because it was in Memphis.
Memphis was where shead lost her mother. The whole city seemed poised to reveal something important to her, something about her parents. Their past lives, their youth, their spirits even, seemed to be living on here in an alternate universe. In this part of town she could be back in the fifties, for all the buildings had changed. Was it possible to fall in love with a city?
Downtown shead parked her car beside the Peabody Hotel and took a walk down Main Street. Trolleys, mostly empty, clacked past her. There was the Chisca Hotel, once the broadcasting home of WHBQ radio and the Red Hot and Blue show hosted by Dewey Phillips, whoad played Elvis Presleyas first single, aThatas All Right,a for the first time on his show in 1954.
One street over, on Mulberry, was the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot, now the National Civil Rights Museum. She pa.s.sed a building which was once the Alonzo Lott School for Waiters. Sunlight slanted on the brick storefronts and coffee shops, the fire station. She could open up a clothing store in one of these buildings. Carolineas.
In the distance was the Arcade Restaurant, and across from the Arcade was Earnestine and Hazelas, which had once been a church and then a pharmacy and a brothel. Now it housed a juke joint called Soul Burger.
The Arcade was a touristy spot because it had been used as a setting in several Hollywood movies. Locals sniffed at the food because the rolls werenat homemade, but Caroline loved the old brick building, the neon signs in the huge plate gla.s.s windows, the Memphis memorabilia on the walls, the soda fountain and the boomerang pattern in the Formica on the tabletops. It was the oldest restaurant in the city, and it was down at the end of South Main.
In the Arcade shead sat in one of the turquoise and tan booths and ordered coffee and sweet potato pancakes and indulged her fantasy of living there, in one of those buildings on Main Street, working in a quiet and orderly store surrounded by beautiful clothing that shead chosen herself, talking to people who actually wanted her advice and suggestions, feeling competent in her own life again.
And now, driving through Memphis, on her way back to Marylouas house with the tangy smelling white bags of barbecue and sides in the backseat, it felt unnatural being in Memphis without Ava, but it also felt fine. She was starting to understand that she and Ava would probably keep needing each other, coming apart and then back together, for the rest of their lives. It was up to her to make the first real move, to take a short step away. Neither Mom nor Elvis could make everything all right for Ava.
Caroline hadnat been able to step away, at all, ever, because part of her, deep down, was sure that she was somehow responsible for Avaas autisma"that it was caused by something Caroline ate or drank or did while she was pregnant, or that her genes were bad, or the fact that her labor had gone on for a week and Ava had been yanked out by forceps with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. And those f.u.c.king mercury-laced shots.
Like Nance, shead blamed herself all these years, but unlike Nance, she hadnat had a single evil doctor to share the blame. It was just her and the guilt and Ava, and somehow, she was going to have to practice, putting them aside, little by little.
Back at Marylouas house Caroline and her kids and the couple sat down in the kitchen, which smelled like old bread and old sponges. The round table took up too much s.p.a.ce in the kitchen. The wooden chairs were tall and spindly, their seats hard and too short, the chair cushions thin and hard and lumpy from years of b.u.t.ts pressing into them. Despite the discomfort, it felt like they were having a party. Trevor decided to cast off his vegetarian scruples just for that evening and accepted a sandwich with a sigh. They all dived into the greasy barbecue sandwichesa"pulled pork on white bread with a pickle, fries, beans, and slawa"that Caroline had dumped onto Marylouas thin china plates. Katya asked Suzi what she liked to do, and Suzi told her about soccer and how she couldnat wait to get started again in the fall, and Caroline felt relieved.
Then Otis started talking about how they should start selling Elvis relics on eBay, and Suzi chimed in with some suggestions about what they could pocket and sella"leaves from the trees on the grounds of Graceland, threads from the carpets inside the mansion. Katya and Trev got into the discussion, proposing that they all go into the Elvis relic business together.
aThere are other Elvis sites to harvest from,a Katya said. aLike Lauderdale Courts, where he grew up. Humes High School.a aWead have to wear disguises, so they wouldnat be suspicious of us, coming back to Graceland, over and over again,a Suzi said. She grinned at her mother while slurping up sweet tea through a straw, happier than Caroline had seen her in months.
aTheyare used to people hanging out at Graceland every day,a Caroline said, and told them about the people shead seen in the Meditation Garden.
aIall sit by Elvisas grave and weep and fall out while you guys steal things,a Katya said. aThis could be way more lucrative than being a TA.a aIall impersonate a German tourist,a Trev said. aWear a toupee. Pretend I canat read any signs.a aOtis could be an Elvis impersonator,a Suzi suggested. aHeas already got the pigging-out thing down.a Otis kept stuffing french fries into his mouth. aYou could be a Donald Duck impersonator,a he said.
aOr Michael Jackson,a said Suzi.
aMichael Scott!a said Otis.
aIall be Kelly Osbourne,a said Caroline.
It was almost like a dinner at home but without the edge.
They had just finished dinner and were helping Trev and Katya pack up endless cartons of books, when Caroline decided to check her messages. There were six from Ava and four from Vic.
She tricked him. Shead told hima"and Carolinea"that she was taking him out to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast, and head had no reason to doubt her and he was dying to get out of that house, but then, before he knew it, the three of thema"she and Buster and Wilsona"were on the interstate driving toward Panama City, and she told him where they were really going. It stunned him at first, that she could be so audacious, so bold, as to think she could get away with such a stunt.
aWhy are we going there?a he asked her. Pine trees went whizzing past in the raina"he was way too old to jump out of her car, even if it were barely moving.
aIam taking you back,a she said. aWhere we met. Where I got the radioactive c.o.c.ktail. To jog your memory.a aI remember all I need to remember.a aNot in my opinion.a aAnd yours is the only one that counts, I guess.a aYou got that right.a Why hadnat he allowed himself to be talked into getting a cell phone? Caroline and Vic and the kids wouldnat have any idea where he was. Theyad be worried sick. He voiced this worry to Marylou.
aIall call and let them know youare safe in an hour or two. Or three. After weave gotten a good head start.a aSo you changed your mind again? You are going to kill me?a aThis is just a little outing. I need to know for sure that you remember who I am and what you did with that experiment, that you understand how terrible it was, and that youare truly sorry. Then Iall take you home.a aI know who you are and I understand what I did. It was terrible and Iam truly sorry. Thereas an exit. Turn around.a aYouare just saying that.a He wasnat just saying that. It was true. Head just waited too long to tell her, hoping he might not have to. aI have to use the bathroom. Right now. Pull over.a aThereas a rest area three miles up the road. Donat try anything funny.a At the rest area he considered accosting a stranger and telling him what was happening, but knew that people would think he was a senile wacko. He thought about sneaking off into the woods, but then head be a senile wacko lost in the rainy woods. Buster would follow his scent and give him away. Maybe he could run across the interstate and hitchhike back. No, shead be the only one whoad stop to pick him up.
He did manage to find a quarter in his pocket and the number for Vicas cell phone on the emergency card Caroline had put in his wallet, but as he tried to make the call Marylou and Buster came up behind him and Marylou hung up the phone. He gave up and got back into the car with her.