Magic

A story about kids

I got up one morning feeling like I could drink a lake and eat a horse. I lay there in the bed for a while, not sure how to wake Mary, and not wanting to get up and wander the house on my own.
"Will you quit squirming? I'm tryna sleep a little longer."
She put her arm around me and held me so tight I couldn't move.
"I can feel your stomach growlin', " she said. "Just gimme a minute and I'll get up, find us somethin' to eat."
I lay there a few minutes, trying my best to be still and quiet, so that she might get some more rest. From the side of my vision I saw something fly by the bed, and land on the wall. It was a bug about the size of a candy bar, with long antennae wiggling back and forth, it's eyes staring at me.
I couldn't help it, I jumped, and I screamed.
Mary snorted like a pig and sat up straight.
"What in the Hell!," she said hail.
"A bug. A big, big bug. It looked like one of those cockroaches, but it flew! From right over there!" I pointed to the corner where I thought the bug had come from.
"It's a cockroach, Shelly, that's all. You ain't never seen one before?"
"Cockroaches don't fly, " I said.
Mary cocked her head back and laughed.
"You're not in Kansas anymore, kid, " she said. "This is Mississippi. In Mississippi, they do. C'mon now, let's get you somethin' to eat."
Out in the kitchen, the only thing we could find was some bread, and that big jar of Raspberry syrup.
"You want yers toasted, or no?" she asked.
I thought I'd like mine soft and chewy, so I said no.
We ate our breakfast of bread and syrup, and then Mary said she was going to teach me how to shave my armpits. She grabbed a couple towels and instructed me to follow her. I followed her into the bathroom. She turned on the shower, started taking her clothes off, and told me to do the same.
"Stick your hand under here, and make sure it's warm 'nough fer ya," she said.
I did as she asked, and nodded my head,  the water was fine.
"Well, go on in then."
I pulled back the curtain enough to climb in the tub, and she followed me. I couldn't help but stare. I'd never been in the presence of a naked woman before. A naked woman who was so unashamed of being naked. My mother had always covered herself whenever I walked into the room while she was changing. I knew Mary was still a girl, a teenager, but her body looked like a woman's. The triangle of black hair between her thighs, and her breasts were larger and rounder than mine. Her waist was small, and her hips round.
"You'll look like me someday," she said. "It''s called an hourglass figure. See how my waist is small, and my hips are round, like an hour glass. You're a pretty girl. You're startin' to git a figure. Let's teach you how to take care of that body."
She showed me how to put lotion in my arm pits, put my hand behind my head, and carefully shave the tender skin there with a pink disposable razor that she gave me, and was to be mine, until I started to get a rash. That's how you knew you needed a new one. Or if the blades were rusty. She showed me an old one so that I could see what rusty looked like.
"You're lucky you don't have to shave your legs yet," she told me.
She showed me the stuff she put under her arms, deodorant. It was a cream in a little round container. She said I shouldn't use it on a day when I'd shaved, because it might burn, but that I could and should use hers on any other day. Until I got my own
"I have to go and do some things today." she said.
"What kinds of things?" I asked.
"I have to go and talk to some people where I used to go to school."
"I can't go with you?"
"Nope. I'm sorry, you can't. But Momma's old friend Earl is gonna come by and pick you up. He's gonna take you with him for the day. You'll meet his daughter. They always have good food over there." She winked at me.
The door opened just then, and a man with white hair with yellow streaks running through it came through the door. My first thought was that I'd much rather go with Mary, than with this old man.
"Howdy. I'm just willin' to bet you're Shelly," he said. He reached out his hand for me to shake and told me he was Earl.
Earl didn't look so bad. The truck he'd parked in the yard was rusted and missing part of a fender. He'd left it running, sounding like it had pebbles in it's pipes.
"You alright with comin' with me today, missy?"
"I-I think so," I said. "Where we gonna go?"
"I'm 'on take ya out to meet my family. My daughter's cookin' up a big breakfast."
"I already had bread." I said.
"Bread ain't breakfast," he laughed. "Iffin you think it is, then you can go ahead and call this lunch. Hows that sound?"
I thought that was fine.
Mary came into the room just then, looking and smelling very much like an adult, wearing a black skirt that reached almost to her knees, a red plaid shirt, and shiny black patent leather shoes with a little heel in the back.
"Wow! You look nice," I said.
Mary and Earl both laughed, and Mary thanked me and said she needed to go. She looked in my eyes and asked if I felt all right about going with Earl.
I smiled and nodded, I was pretty sure that I did.
I skipped out the door and ran to the truck.
"Hang on there," Earl hollered. "That there door is heavy. Liable to knock you right on your keester."
I waited for him to hobble over and open the door for me.
I climbed up into the truck and sunk right down into the white leather bench seat. I buckled my seat belt, and decided that this just might be fun.
Earl got into the other side, Mary smiled and waved, and we were on our way.
We drove and drove. It seemed like forever had gone by when Earl stopped at a gas station.
"You want somethin'?" He asked.
I thought about it, then shook my head no, I didn't need anything.
"You want a pop? Don't be shy now, just tell me. You want a pop, say 'Earl, get me a pop'."
Not knowing what else to do, I shrugged my shoulders, smiled, and said "Earl, get me a pop."
"Please. Ya can say please too, now," he laughed.
"Please?" I said laughing too.
"Um, I need to use the bathroom," I told him, quietly.
"Oh, that's right around the side, there. You go on and do that, and I'll go get us some pop, hear?"
I nodded. He came over to my side and opened the door and I jumped down and ran around the side of the building and found the girl's bathroom.
When I got back to the truck, Earl was standing at my side with two Cokes in his hand. I climbed up into the seat and he handed me one. I just sat there and looked at it for a minute, confused. I'd thought he was going to bring me an ice cream pop. Earl came around and got in on his side.
"What's wrong? You don't like Coke?," he asked.
"No, I like Coke. I just, well, I thought you were getting me a pop. This is a soda."
"Well, yeah. It's a soda pop. You ain't never heard it called that before?"
I shook my head no, that I hadn't. Earl laughed.
"Well did you want some money to get you your kinda pop? I'll give it to ya, and I'll wait."
"No, thank you, though. For sure. Coke is good."
"You're ready then?"
"Yes, Sir."
"K, then. Of we go. Put on your belt now."
I buckled the seat belt and the truck lurched back out to the road. The roads were starting to get bumpy now, and most of them were made of dirt. Before long, Earl pulled into a long drive in front of a big white farmhouse.
"Well, here we are. This here's Lucinda's house. Sit right there a sec, I'll get you down. You can take your pop on in the house with you."
I followed Earl up to the door, and he told me to go ahead and use the metal knocker that I reached out to touch. I'd never seen a real one before, only on TV. I took hold of it and pulled it back and let go. Then Earl showed me how to grip and keep rapping. One rap is never enough, he said.
Almost at once, a pretty blonde lady with her hair pulled back in a ponytail opened the door.
"Hi, Daddy!" she said.
I was sort of surprised that this was Earl's daughter, since she looked like she might be as old as he was. Her long blonde hair was graying at some spots, and the lenses in the glasses she wore were almost as thick as the bottom of my coke bottle. She hugged Earl, and then he turned to me.
"This is my new Friend, Shelly." he said. "Shelly, this is my girl, Lucinda."
"Welcome, Shelly. You can call me Lucy, that's much easier, isn't it?," she winked at me.
"It smells good here, Lucy," I said.
She laughed. "I hope you're hungry, then. There's lots of food, c'mon."
I followed her and Earl into a big kitchen, with a table in the middle of it that looked to me like it was still part of a tree. There were long benches along either side of the table, and they were almost full of people, young and old. I saw a boy about my age at one end scoot over a little.
"You can come sit right here," he said.
I looked at Lucy. "Well, go on." she nodded.
I moved over to where the blonde boy was and I smiled a thank you, and sat.
I'd never seen a feast the size of that that was in front of me right then. There were plates of glazed ham, bacon, sausage. A pot of baked beans and a basket of biscuits. There were scrambled eggs and pancakes, and some sort of soft gray spread that I learned was called pork pudding. That sounded terrible to me, but when she said I had to try it, I wasn't sorry. It was like a soft, sweet sausage that melted in your mouth. You could put it on your pancakes, or biscuits. I put it on my pancakes, and covered the whole mess with maple syrup. I thought it just might be the best thing I'd ever tasted. 
After we ate, everyone helped to clean the kitchen and the adults moved to the front room.
"Ya'll can go play for a bit now," Lucy said to the boy, who's name was Miles, and me.
Of course I felt a little awkward being left alone with a boy I'd just met.
"You don't have to worry," he said. "I'm not mean to girls, like most o' my friends. You can tell me a secret. Or we can play cards. Do you want to play cards?"
"Sure," I shrugged.
He walked to a cabinet at the far side of the room and rummaged in it until he came up with a deck of cards. Marilyn Monroe was on the outside of them, blowing one of her famous kisses.
Miles sat down opposite me at the table.
"What do you know how to play?," he asked.
"I dunno. I can play War, and Fish."
"You mean Go Fish."
"Whatever."
"I got an idea." piped Miles. I'm gonna hold up these cards and you take one, but don't look at it."
He fanned out several cards, and I picked one somewhere near the middle. 
"Now tell me what card it is." he said.
I started to turn it over. 
"NO! You can't do that. Just, tell me what card it is."
I stared at him, incredulous. How was I supposed to know what card it was if I couldn't look? I started to squirm in my chair a bit, feeling uncomfortable and awkward.
"Ummmm, I don't know."
"Guess. I know what it is. Try to guess and I'll tell you if you get it. Is it a number card or a face card?"
I thought for a moment. 
"A face card." I guessed.
Miles pursed is lips and nodded his head, one of those smug nods.
"Did I get it right?" I asked, a little excited.
"Yip," he said. "Now what suit? Close your eyes and tell me the first one that pops into your head."
I closed my eyes and scrunched my brows and wished real hard for the right answer.
"Diamonds."
"YES!" Miles was excited too. This was fun.
"Is it the queen? Is it the queen of diamonds?"
"I don't believe it. Are you related to David Copperfield? You must be magic or something."
I turned over the card I'd laid on the table, and the queen of diamonds was there staring at me, holding out a rose.
"My turn, my turn!" said Miles, pushing the cards at me.
I moved them around a little from hand to hand, the bridge shuffle was too complicated for me to handle. I took a handful of cards and spread them out for him to pick one. 
It was the seven of clubs. I looked at it, put it back face down, and I did what he'd done.
"Okay, so now what is it?"
"it's a number." he said.
I nodded, and he bounced up and down a bit. He guessed quite a few times before he got to seven, and didn't get the clubs right away. It was still a fun game.
When it was my turn to guess again, my card was the three of hearts. I guessed again, on the first try. Miles said that I was freaky, and he didn't want to play again. He walked across the room and put the cards back in the cabinet. I had just enough time to start to feel hurt before he turned around so suddenly it startled me. He spread his fingers out and shouted "JUST kidding. I knew you were magic when you came in."
I got a warm feeling in my belly just then, and I felt so happy I could cry. It was never very easy for me to make friends. I had Mary now, and Miles. Someone thought I was magic. That put a smile on my face that lasted the rest of the day.
When Earl came out to tell me it was time to go, Miles and I were sitting at the table, reading from Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland out loud to each other.
Lucy came and asked if she could hug me. I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure"
She patted my head, said that I was a sweet girl, and to "take care now."
Miles stood behind her and waved. Earl laughed.
"Uh oh. We got a couple o' love birds over here now. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get to see him again."
But it wasn't like that at all. Miles wasn't that kind of boy. I thought that I would like to see him again, though. It had been fun. And he thought I was magic.