Bartle Clunes - Chapter 39
Eizer Griggs' loss
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El Dorado County 1952
Sunday morning, at the Tropical Paradise Motor Hotel in Bakersfield, Merlene Flounder got out of bed about 10 o'clock. She jumped into her car and before she even knew what she was doing, she found herself flying up US-99 in the tulle fog, passing Visalia, passing Fresno, Merced, Modesto, Stockton straight as an arrow up through the Great Central valley. She was going to get her son.
“I am taking him back with me now, ” said Merlene. “I am his mama and he belongs with me.” Eli sat on the sofa next to her. She held on to his little hand. A light, misty drizzle was dripping down the living room window, the wild rose bush scratched against the glass, a wraith in the gloom, as they sat facing each other.
“I see,” said Eizer, nodding. What else could he say or do?
“I love my boy, Eizer, and I miss him and I just need to take him home.”
“Yah. I love him, too, Merlene. He is a real good boy, and we've been getting along right fine, the two of us. If you don't mind my asking, where is your home now? And what about a school?”
“I still live down there near Bakersfield, and don't you worry none about that. I will have a home for him wherever I go and we will always find us a school.”
Eizer had lived in dread of this day. He knew it would come, but he hadn’t let himself think about it. For the ten months Eli had lived with him, there had been no word from Merlene. She could have been in prison or dead, for all he knew. This afternoon she'd just driven up out of nowhere in a decrepit old Chrysler, wanting to take her boy back.
Eizer convinced her to stay for supper, rest a bit, leave in the morning. She had been drinking and looked as if she was prepared for a fight, but there would be no confrontation from Eizer. He simply asked her not to go out on the road so soon. She sputtered out a half-baked argument but ultimately agreed to stay over, making it sound as if she were doing Eizer a favor.
“You sure have fixed up this old place,”she said, looking around, her eyes vacant, unsteady. “It's so different now, like a new house.”
“Yah, well, we had a bit of work done, some cleaning up and painting. Eli was a big help. We worked together on it.”
Eli smiled proudly at his mom. “Come on, Mama, let me show you.” He helped her get up off the couch and gave her a tour of his bedroom and his books. He introduced her to Finn. Putting on their jackets, he took her out back to show her his egg boxes and let her pet the cow. The sky had cleared as the sun was setting, and Eli rode around in circles in the muddy yard on the red bicycle that Santa brought him for Christmas.
“Look, mama! Look! Look at me ride! I ride my bicycle to school all by myself.”
“Well, that's nice. Did you miss me? I'll bet you didn't even miss me.”
“Yes, I missed you, mama. I really missed you. Watch me ride!”
“I told you I would come back, didn't I? Didn't I say I would be back?”
“Yes, you did.” He made one more loop.
Eizer found a few minutes to talk with Eli at bed time, telling him how much he would miss his company, and what a good, brave boy he was. He promised to look after the Book Exchange until Eli came back. In the morning, he tucked a few dollars into Eli's jacket pocket and a little piece of paper with Bartle Clunes’ phone number on it. “You keep this, now, and call anytime day or night. You understand? I will come for you whenever you need me.” Eli nodded and threw his arms around Eizer's neck, tears in his eyes.
A soft rain had begun again around supper time and had fallen all night. The morning was a dull gray. After breakfast, Merlene packed up Eli's old suitcase. Eizer stood by, unable to move. He had invited her to come stay in Riles Crossing — the three of them could live together, he said, until she got on her feet. But she would have nothing to do with that idea.
She thanked Eizer for watching her boy, as if she had been away no more than an hour or two. He offered her some money to help her on her way and gave her Bartle's phone number, too. She took it, stuffing the cash into her jeans, banging the suitcase out the front door, Eli's hand firmly in her grasp. As she drove away south with her boy, Eizer stood at the window and wept. Tears like February rain.
I was hoping Eizer would convince her to stay. But it sounds like she is too stubborn, proud, selfish, or foolish (youth) to consider it. Hopefully she will reconsider the offer.
Right now, I'm not happy with Merlene. 👀