Chapter 2

Chapter 2

            Meanwhile, Wayne and Martha had difficulty taking it all in, looking at this man’s dress. “Tell you what, I have a boy at home just about his size. I’ll have my wife bring him over one, and he can try it on for size. My two boys at home love them during the summer after the sun goes down. They’re cool and dry and are just what this poor boy needs if he wants to go anywhere without a sheet. Because we need him up and moving out of that bed in two days, no more than that. In fact, the day after tomorrow would be good as long. He takes it slow,” he said.

            “Now then,” he paused, making the last of the notes in the charts, “I’ll see you,” pointing at EJ, “in the morning.” Doctor Whitmore said, pausing before leaving. “Doc says that you are staying with him, which is fine. I’ve ordered the nurse to set a bed beside him; if you need anything, yell. Doc says you are good about that and keeping my nurses on their toes.” He laughed as he walked out of the door. The three of them watched the dress, shaking their heads as it disappeared around the corner. Pa and EJ cracked up laughing. EJ grabbed his sides because it hurt too much to laugh, and he could barely breathe.

            The nurse came in with a large tray of food to eat and two full pitchers of water and juice for EJ. “Doctor said he wants you to eat it all and drink every last drop.” EJ stopped laughs and looked at the tray piled high with food.

            Ma cracked up and smiled at the nurses. “He will.” The nurse set a tray for his Ma and Pa on the table. “I’ll make sure of it,” Ma replied, taking the tray and helping her prop up EJ in the bed.

            Ma helped cut up his food. Pa smiled and grabbed a seat next to the bed. She wiped his chin and kissed his cheek when every crumb was gone. Then, setting the trays outside the door, they cooled him, tucked him in his bed, and never left his side all night.

            The next morning, the Doctor came by with his wife, who carried a package, and his boy, wearing a similar dress of blue swirls. He introduced them. “This is my wife, Renee, and my son, Frank.”

            “Hi,” EJ said, staring at the boy and the Doctor’s dress. 

            “Pleased to meet y’all,” they replied. Wayne and Martha nodded, trying hard not to stare at the dress.

            Seeing the expressions on their faces, Renee whispers back, giggling, “You git used to it, dear. They really are quite comfortable, and the boys do seem to like them. Personally, I think my husband likes the attention he gets wearing it. It always causes such a disturbance in the room. I think it looks a little too flashy, but the boys like it, so hey, go with it. Besides, who cares what everyone else thinks I always say?”

            Renee Roslyn Whitmore, named after her grandmother, was born and raised in a small backwoods’ town in Evansville, Kentucky. By the time she turned seventeen, she had followed the path of many girls her age and entered matrimony. With a height of five feet, six inches, she shared the same petite stature as her mother. The contrast between her striking blue eyes and her long, raven-black hair accentuated her natural beauty. According to her husband and two boys, Renee’s face had rounded corners, and her slim, padded button nose gave her an angelic look. Her stubbornness was unmatched, but she embraced the role of a stay-at-home mom with happiness. During the long summer months, she showcased her talent as a seamstress by crafting leather sandals and other leather goods to sell in the bustling market. Along with her humble demeanor, her homespun clothing reflected her simple and down-to-earth nature.

            Frank was the oldest, taking after his father with short brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a chiseled chin. He was growing fast for a fourteen-year-old boy, almost six feet tall. But Frank was his mother’s pride and joy and had inherited her stubborn streak. But he was smart as a whip and loved the outdoors like his brother Mark and his best friend Peter, who was just a year younger than him.

            Martha immediately liked this woman and giggled as she watched Doc Walk around the room, as if it was no big deal to him if they stared or not, as he winked back at them. “EJ, are you ready to go home, son?” Doc asked. 

            “Yes, Doc,” he replied. 

            “I see, too bad. The nurse wouldn’t have anything to do. Did you eat all that food like a good boy?” he asked.

            Ma nodded. “Yes, he did, every crumb.”

            Doctor Whitmore looked at the chart and made a couple more notes. “Your fever has come down a bit, too, but it’s still running hot. That’s expected for a couple more days or so.” Ma wiped the sweat off his face. “Before you go, I brought you something, and I want to make sure you eat one more meal and drink some more. I left instructions with Doc Hatfield to check up on you in a day or so,” he said.

            Doctor Whitmore handed EJ the package. “Well, open it; it’s not going to bite.” EJ opened the package to find a “Kitenge gown” made just for him. It almost duplicated what the Doctor and his son Frank were wearing. EJ, astonished, had never received a dress before. He looked at Pa, then Ma, and held the dress. He almost wanted to cry; a dress was a dress.

            Pa was trying his hardest not to crack up. Martha gave him a hard stare, trying to keep things in perspective. She thought, how do you tell your son that it’s okay to wear this kind of dress when she is uncomfortable? She remembered something her husband said to EJ the other night, “It’s not the clothes that make the person. It’s what’s inside those counts.” The dress wasn’t important anymore; EJ was. Not what that Doctor was wearing or what his son was wearing. It was how they were individual people, that’s all, nothing more and nothing less.

            So what? They are from different cultures. Let them know if they want to wear it, and it makes them feel comfortable. Ma picked up the dress in EJ’s hand, stood up, and admired the craftsmanship. “Mrs. Whitmore, you have a fine hand, I must say. Do you think I can get the pattern from you?” Then, taking the dress and standing against Wayne, “I have three boys at home. I just bet they would love to have one. I might even make one for my husband, too,” Martha said. Wayne nearly swallowed his tongue until he saw where she was going with this train of thought. Martha whispers to him, “You are the one that said clothes don’t make the person, dear,” she said and winked at him. 

            “Hmm, you are right,” he said, taking the dress from Martha and holding it against him in the mirror so EJ could see him. “Fine-looking, I must say. You must be cool, smart, and much better than a plain old sheet.” He winked back at his wife.

            EJ thought Pa had lost his mind wearing a dress; he would be the entire town’s laughingstock. EJ was speechless as he watched Ma and Pa going nuts. He felt the fabric as he laid it back on the bed and rolled his eyes. Pa and Ma, thanking Doc for the lovely gift and their help with EJ, wave them out the door. EJ waited for everyone to leave. “Ma, you cannot be serious?” he said as she laid the dress on the bed beside him.

            “EJ, why not?” She asked. 

            “Why not? Girls wear dresses, that’s why not? I’m not a girl, and I don’t wear dresses.” Ma placed a hand on his knee. “Doctor Whitmore and his son wear them all the time, and they’re not girls,” she said.

            “No. They’re nuts, Ma,” EJ said, looking at the dress on the bed.

            “EJ, it’s not a dress, son. It’s a Kitenge gown for men,” she replied.

            “Ma, call it what you like; it is still a dress,” he said.

            Pa laughed, and Ma stared at him coldly, Pa said. “Your ma’s right, son. Different cultures, different tastes, different types of clothing; remember what I said when I told you that you couldn’t be a farmer or Indian son?”

            “Yes, Pa, I remember, but Pa, a dress?” As EJ picked it up in his hands, he laid it back down on the bed. Pa tried so hard not to laugh. Martha, too, for that matter. Seeing the dress on the bed, the nurse brought in another tray of food with more juice for him to drink. 

            “Oh, I see he left you one, too. My Peter loves his.” EJ couldn’t believe his ears, another one. Martha folds the dress, sets it on a chair, and then helps prop EJ up in bed. “Doc says?”

            “I know. I must eat all of it before I can go,” and EJ sighs.

            The nurse smiled, setting down the tray. “And I’m sure your Ma will make sure you do it, too,” he gives her a wink.

            Ma wiped his chin and set his tray out the door. Pa loaded the stuff into the pickup. “All right, son, time to go,” Pa said, looking at the dress on the chair. “What’s it going to be, son? An entire house full of women at home would love to see you dressed in a sheet and the nurses down the hall, or you could try?” Pa said, pointing to the chair.

            “All right, Pa, but if they laugh?” He replied. 

            Ma stood up to the full height of the room. “They wouldn’t dare, son.” That’s because Ma had already called them and warned them not to smirk so much, not even from the girls.

            EJ, still not liking the idea but knowing how the sheet likes to blow in the wind, which was worse, sighed. Ma helped him put it on. He was glad it went past his knees, but a dress was, in his mind, still a girl’s dress or not. Pa carries him to the pickup, laying EJ on her lap in the front seat and laying his legs and feet across the seat. They headed back to the farm.

            Seeing the pickup pulling up to the house, everyone, except for two girls, dashed out with smiles. Mary locked them in their rooms. She wasn’t taking any chance of them ruining a homecoming for him. Not when what they were told on the phone, he would most likely be wearing. They could scarcely believe their ears when they heard it. It was another when they all saw it. Robert and Will didn’t care what he wore by the look in their eyes or faces. He was their brother; that’s what matters most, and he was home.

            Julie and Anna were just a little surprised, but that lasted about two minutes when he smiled. With a simple kiss on the cheek from them both, they had let the poor boy come up for air. The only ones that really cared, it seemed, and that it mattered what he wore were his two aunts, his two uncles, and maybe his grandmother, but everyone else, it didn’t make a lick of difference; he was EJ all the same.

            Pa picked up EJ, carried him into the house, back into his room, and set him on the bed. Ma turned it down, removed the gown, and tucked him back into bed. Pa set up chairs around the bed so he could visit with everyone before she cleared the room so he could rest. After all, two days or a day and a half, she planned to keep him there if she had to tie him down herself in that bed. Ma, tying on her house apron, looked down the hall towards EJ’s room, making sure he was still in that bed where he belonged, and sighed, looking at her full house as if she’d been gone from it for days. With a last glance and nod, she said, “All right, girls. It’s time we get things back on track.”

            Mary and Lizzy looked at Martha and laughs. Mary said. “Martha, dear, we’re fine; you are the one that needs to relax,” Mary said as she sent her back down the hall to EJ’s room, pushed her into a chair, gave her a needle, a thread, and little sewing to keep her busy. “Now that’s better,” Mary said as they smiled at her with her sewing basket by her side. Lunch will be ready in about an hour, dear. If you need anything, you know where to find us,” she replied. Wayne headed out the door to put the pickup away. “Wayne, just leave it there, dear,” Mary said while Mary and Julie made a list of things they needed from the store.

            Wayne shrugged his shoulders and did something else, gathering tables and chairs from the outside. Lizzy went out and brought him a glass of lemonade. “You look thirsty, Wayne. Try my lemonade; it’s homemade.” They watched him drink the entire glass and wink at Julie, cueing her to get Richard and Steve. Wayne yawned as Steve and Richard came through the door.

            Mary pointed to Wayne. “Boys?” 

            “Yes, ma’am,” seeing him yawn. 

            Wayne watched them from across the room as they giggled. “Time for bed, dear,” the ladies said having the men helped Wayne to his room, put him to bed, and closed the door. “Julie, remind me to thank Doc for that sleeping medicine; it works like a charm,” Lizzy giggled. Now then, where were we? Oh, yes, we need three pounds of butter. Make that five pounds, just in case. Flour, salt?”

            Grandma walked down the hall to visit EJ’s room. “How’s my grandson doing?” She asked as she sat on his bed and wiped the sweat off his face.

            “Better, Grandma. It hurts,” he said, rubbing his leg and chest. And I am a little hot, but       not as bad as it was,” he replied.

            “That’s good,” she said, kissing his forehead. “You gave me quite a scare, you know.”

            “Sorry, Grandma, I didn’t mean to,” he said.

            “I know you didn’t, you silly boy,” she said, giving him another kiss on the cheek. “Now then, since you will be fine,” she said, her eyes never leaving him, “Grandma needs to go see if she can chop down a few trees of her own.” Martha and EJ gave her a strange look, and Grandma laughed at their expression. “Not to worry, I won’t be far if you need me, but right now,” looking at Martha, “I believe you have all the help you need.” She hugged them and whispered in Martha’s ear, “I’ll be at his parent’s house if you need me.” Martha hugged her back, wiped a tear from her eye, and thanked her for all she had done. Grandma slipped a note in her hand, winked, and whispered. “Read it later,” as Martha slipped it into her pocket. Grandma closed the door and walked down the hall. “All right, Steve, let’s go before they know I’m gone,” she said. 

            “Yes, Ma, are you sure?” He asked.

            Grandma takes one more look at the house. “Yes, son, they need me more right there,” she said. Steve put her suitcase in the car and drove her to EJ’s house. She knocked on the door. Steve carried the suitcase; Jim answered the door. “Hello, Jim,” Jim seeing Steve and his mother. “May we come in?” She asked. Jim shrugged his shoulders and let them in. “Where’s Linda?” His mother asked.

            “In the bedroom. I’ll go get her,” he said. 

            “No. That’s fine, Jim. Leave her be.” Jim, seeing the suitcase, gives her a worried look. “Steve, the boy’s rooms are down the hall. If I remember right, just set them in there,” she said. “Yes, Mother.” Jim’s mother opened the cabinet, pulled out a kettle for tea, and took a tea bag from her purse. Steve shook his head. “I know, just a little now and then not going to hurt, and I have my pills,” she said. Grandma opened up the cabinets. “Looks like we will be doing some shopping, too, by the looks of things,” shaking her head. Steve hugs and kisses his mother, closing the door behind him.

            “Mother, you can’t!” Jim said. 

            “Can’t what, dear?” she asked, pouring the tea into a teacup. “Oh, did you hear? I’m moving in here for a few days,” she said. Jim nearly hit the ceiling and almost fell onto the floor on his knees, begging her not to do this. “You all right, dear? You look kind of peaked. If you want, I can call the Doc to have you looked at?”

            Jim ran outside, looked for Steve, hoped he hadn’t left yet, then hung his head low. “She’s going to kill me when she finds out.” It didn’t take long before he made it back inside the door. There was a loud pounding on her door.

            “Linda, are you coming out, or do I have to come in and get you?”

            Then it happened. “JIM!” He was dead, and he knew it.

 

* * * *

            On the way back to the farm, Steve is laughing. He imagines what is happening back at the house where he just dropped off his mother. “Oh well, they deserve it and more,” Steve said, pulling back onto the farm. Walking back into the farmhouse as he passes her sisters in the kitchen, he nods, walks down the hall towards EJ’s room, gives Martha the keys to his mother’s car, checks the hallway for his aunts, and closes the door. “Martha, me and you need to have a little talk,” he said, pulling up a chair and taking out a pad and pencil. “I’m on a secret mission of sorts,” he said, checking the door.

            “Oh, really, what kind of mission?” she asked as she set down her sewing for a minute.“Let’s say for now. I need to know what you want in a house, bedroom-wise, the works,” and smiled. 

            “Steve, we can’t?” she replied. 

            “Details, details; dream a little. It will be fun,” Steve replies. 

            Martha laughed. “Well,” she said as she glanced over at EJ, asleep. She giggled, thinking of next spring and all the guests and the possibility of more. “All right, just for fun. If you tell Steve, Wayne will kill me,” she said. 

Steve laughed and patted her on the knee. Martha picked up a sock, needle, and thread. While watching EJ sleep, they talked, and he noted and smiled, and they laughed. Mary knocked on the bedroom door and brought in the trays for lunch. 

            “There you are, Steve,” she said, seeing him in the room with Martha. Have you seen my sister Betty? We can’t seem to find her anywhere on the farm, and the car’s still here,” she said.

            “Oh, didn’t she tell you? Hmm. It must have slipped her mind. That’s my mother.” She said, taking the tray and sitting it on the table for Martha.

            “Tell me what, Steve?” Mary asked. 

            “She left two hours ago. Yep,” as he nodded his head.

            “How?” she asked, standing furiously with her hands clenched to the side in the doorway.  “I dropped her off myself; she’ll be fine. Doc told her to chop down some trees, so that’s what she’s doing, I guess,” he replied.

            “When I get my hands on those two,” she said, storming out the door. Martha and Steve laughed, watching her go out the door. To find Lizzy to tell her what her sister had done.           

            “Well, thanks for the chat,” he said, putting the pad away. He smiled at EJ waking up from his nap and looked at the gown hanging around near him. “Yes, sir, which would blind a horse in any direction,” he said. 

            “Now, Steve!” she replied. 

            “Sorry, Martha. It’s just hard for a man to accept wearing a dress, I guess, but hey, I’ll try,” he said. Martha gave him a cold, hard stare as he left the room and helped prop EJ up in bed for lunch.

            “He’s right, Ma,” EJ said.

            “EJ, are you still worried about what people will think?” She asked. 

            EJ said. “Yes, Ma.”

Martha was too. Tell you the truth, but she wouldn’t let him think that. “Well, don’t sweat the small stuff. Now eat your lunch,” she said as she tucked the sheet around his waist and kissed his head. 

            The lumber had just arrived for the rooms while Wayne was asleep. Steve laughed and told the boys to go ahead and put it away over by the barn for now. He signed for it, thanked the men, and sent them on their way. “Richard?” Steve called.

            “Yes, Steve?” Richard said, coming out of the barn and leaning against it as he wiped mopped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand

            Steve leaned against the barn next to Richard. “Mother wanted me to ask you if you wouldn’t mind staying on the farm a bit longer,” he said as he discussed his secret plan with Richard. Richard laughed as they looked at the house. “Are you kidding?” He asked.

            “Nope. I’m not. Remember Aunt Margaret down in Salt Lake City?” He asked.

            “Yes,” he said.

            “Well,” showing him a telegram he had just received the other day.

           

Dear Steve, yes, I would love to help. Stop.

There is an overstock of lumber at Mike’s lumber mill. Stop.

Please tell me what you need, and I’ll send it to you. Stop.

I have an old friend at Stringham Hardware. Stop.

See him, left word for him there. Stop.

Aunt Margaret, see you at the picnic. Stop�"end of Telegram.

            “You mean?” Richard replies.

            “Yep, we plan to build a house.”

            “But how, Steve?” Richard asked.

            “I’m not sure yet. Aunt Margaret said to contact this man, so I am going to see him while the women are out shopping,” he said.

            “What about our house, Steve?” Richard asked, realizing it stood empty and lawns needed to be mowed and cleaned; after all, he had been here for about a week. But the thought of leaving made him sad, and he didn’t want to think about being there alone when all the fun was here. He enjoyed being a farmer and the smell of fresh hay and soil running through his toes as he wiggled them in the dirt.

            “Don’t worry about that, Richard,” Steve said as they watched the two girls, Donna and Peggy with Anna behind them, headed out to collect eggs and feed the chickens. Steve puts his arm around Richard and tells him what his mother has done or what they have planned. Richard laughed. “That means,” as he looked at Danny playing with Sam, still dressed as Indians. “She left him in my care for a few more days,” he said, slapping his brother on the back and laughs. “Oh, they will be so mad when they find out. Of course, I’ll stay. Besides, I like it here, so does Danny, and it’s much more fun than an empty old house any old day.”

            “Fine then, I’ll go take care of things. You keep things quiet, not a word.” Steve said. He smiled, looking towards the house.

            “Steve, they won’t expect a thing,” he replied, going inside to water the horses and give them some apples for a treat as he scratched them behind the ears.