Mabel watched Clyde walk out the door. Mabel knew she should feel something for him, in fact, Mable should feel something for her husband and her child. The truth is Mabel felt nothing deep for anyone. Mabel watched Becky eating oatmeal. The idea of being responsible for this being for the next eighteen years was soul-killing. Mabel put away the dinner things and cleaned the kitchen. " Becky, finish up you will need a bath. The phone rang it was Mabel's mother. " How is Becky is she fed is she bathed. Are you still seeing that cowboy? Her mother's speech was rapid and garbled. "
Damn it, Aunt Hattie can't keep her mother shut. Mabel thought to herself. Mabel had forgotten that Clyde had taken her to pick up Becky. More questions garbled into each other. "Momma, I have to go Becky is in the tub. "I love you ". The five-minute conversation was draining. Mabel finished washing the dishes, wiping the table, and sweeping the floors. Mabel was stalling, she couldn't bear to touch the baby. Mabel completed her shower and set her hair in pin curls. Mabel changed the sheets she couldn't bear the smell of Clyde in her bed. Mabel ironed her clothes for the next day. Mabel leaned out the window to gather the clothes off the clothesline. Finally, Becky fell asleep, and Mabel could bear to touch her. Mabel couldn't stand the look of her child; it was clear there was no love between the two. Mabel took several sleeping pills and put Becky in her crib. Mabel fell into a deep, still slumber.
Mable woke up nearly twenty hours with a heavy head. Clyde was standing over Mabel with a screaming Becky in his arms. It took Mabel several minutes to realize where she was. What her life was now, saddled down with the brat. "Mabel, this child is full of her own filth and hungry, How long have you been asleep? You need to get up."
Mabel got up. "Put her down. She can walk to the bathroom. "
Clyde looked at Mabel in disgust. "I came to see if you come to your senses about us. I can see you haven't".
Mabel took Becky's hand. Mabel held Becky over the kitchen trash can and dropped her diaper into the kitchen trash. Mabel ran the tub and didn't check the water. Becky was quickly bathed in cold water without a loving touch and without a kind word. Mabel pulled her out of the tub and left Becky on the floor. Mabel picked up a diaper and an outfit not looking to see if it matched.
Becky was promptly put into a high chair. Mabel threw together a pot of oatmeal. It was 9:30 at night. Mabel slapped down a bowl of oatmeal in front of Becky. "God, Mabel put some milk and sugar on it. I have seen feral cats take better care of their young." Clyde fixed the child's oatmeal. He poured her a jelly glass of orange juice. Becky prompted threw the jelly glass. Mable sighed and cleaned up the mess. Mabel ignored Clyde. Mabel left the room to call her father in-law and made sure to talk so Clyde could hear her. " Gene, yes, I agree we will have to move. I will also need a cleaning girl twice a week to help with running the household. No, I need to help to care for your son and his child. I plan to sing in the club again. Gene was on the other line unsure what to make of this sudden change of heart, "Fine, I expect you to be packed up by the end of the week."
Mabel walked around making mental checklists to be packed up by Friday. Mabel would need a babysitter in addition to the cleaning girl. Mabel didn't relish going back to her husband, but she wasn't drawn to Clyde either.
"Clyde, just go," Mabel said as Clyde went to embrace her.
"Mabel, you will regret this someday. Clyde studied Mabel to see any trace of emotion. Then again, maybe you won't. I think you are just drawn to those drawn to you, and then you like a moth in the night just flying away when the light goes off."
Clyde walked out the door. Mable closed the door and waited to hear his boots clack on the second stairwell. Becky was still eating and quiet. The quiet relieved Mabel. Mable heard a knock on the door. "Damn it, Clyde, I told you to go." Mabel opened the door, and there stood Millie. Another dumpy little friend followed Mabel around like a lap dog. Millie had befriended Mabel in the early days of Mabel's marriage. Millie was captivated by Mabel's beauty and style. " Come on in Millie, I will put on a pot of coffee. Mabel thought to herself, it's been months since Millie stopped in. Millie was a decent friend who never asked too many questions.
"I saw you had brought back Becky with your friend, the cowboy. Her health must be better."
Mabel decided to play the adoring mother and wife. "Oh, yes, the farm did wonders for Becky's health. The fresh milk and air fattened her and strengthened her lungs. "
Millie was a dull woman. Dishwater was the best way to describe Millie from her hair to her personality and everything else in-between. Millie was nondescript. The overall blandness made Mable even more stunning in comparison.
Millie looked at Becky in her high chair." Mabel, she looks so chubby and round. Can I hold you?"
Mabel replied," Of course, you can". Mabel watched Millie as she cooed and fussed over Becky. Why was she here? Mabel smiled as she remembered kissing Millie's boyfriend, Ralph after they had a round of Bridge and Tom Collins. Mable had just had Becky and she had felt dead inside. Fredrick had invited them to play cards to cheer Mabel up. Ralph had cornered Mabel in the kitchen, and they had enjoyed a session of deep kissing. Then Mable fell into the darkness.
"Hi Becky, do you remember Auntie Millie? I used to come over and rock you when your mommy wasn't well." Mille gasped, "Oh Mabel, I didn't mean to bring that up."
"It's okay Millie. That was a long time ago, I was a young mother and Becky was a breech birth. You never know pain until you go through that. It was a hard time for all of us. I have so much to tell you. Fredrick and I are moving to a new house to raise Sammy from his first marriage."
"Mabel, that is great news. A house is wonderful news. What are you going to do about Clyde?"
"Millie, that was just a dalliance. Fredrick was overwhelmed with a new, difficult baby and a sick wife. It tears holes in the fabric of a marriage. It is nothing that can't be mended."
"I am so glad you have been able to put things together again." Millie exclaimed. Mabel nodded and got to make the coffee."
"How do you manage to keep things so neat and how do you manage to always look so lovely." Millie inquired.
Mabel shrugged "Just a bit of lipstick, a hundred strokes to my hair every night. I am just naturally neat." Mabel shivered a bit when she thought of the last time she saw Millie. Mabel hadn't been out of her room in weeks, she hadn't bathed, and her hair was matted. Mable was having those crying jags that matched Becky's, the thoughts of hurting Becky racked her brain day and night. Mabel would scream sometimes just to feel. Mabel wouldn't let Millie in those dark days as Millie had tried to speak to her through the door.
"Well, I have some news. Ralph and I are getting married. I wanted you to be the maid of honor. I don't have many women friends. Maybe, Becky could be the flower girl. It is going to have to be soon. We have a baby on the way." Millie whispered.
"That is wonderful news", Millie.
"Thank you, Mabel. Honestly, I thought I was going to be an old maid. I am thirty. There is not much time to have a big family. Ralph was always dragging his feet about getting married. I even converted to being Catholic. I took all my classes, but it was the baby that did it. His mother would have a fit if he didn't marry then. We are having a Catholic wedding at Notre Dame in Waterville. Two weeks from today."
Mabel was delighted to have an event to go to. She thought to herself, God, I hope Fredrick is well enough to not be going into one of his fits.
"Millie, what are your colors? What will I need for a dress."
"Teal, Mable, you look so beautiful in that. Wear something bold. I will wear white, of course."
Mabel poured the coffee into cups. Mabel and Millie sat and drank coffee at the table. Millie rambled. "We are going to live in Waterville, not on that dreadful Water Street though. We are buying a little house in Park Place. Ralph will work at one of the paper mills or the Central Maine railroad. I will be staying home to be a housewife. I am so excited. I never thought I would land Ralph."
Mabel studied Millie she was one of those women who were beautiful in pregnancy. The planes of her face had changed. Millie's body had curved out a bit. There was a bit of color to her cheeks. It was right there, that Mabel started to hate Millie. Copyright India Marque 2022.
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