Love, Ruby Lavender Read online

  Ruby felt tears sting the corners of her eyes. She pushed her way outside. She left the wagon under the chinaberry tree and ran for the Pink Palace. Surely she would find Bemmie there. She wished Miss Eula would be there, too. She would listen to Ruby spill the whole story. Then she'd have all the right things to say to make her feel better. But she wasn't there. She'd have to find a way to feel better all by herself.

  * * *

  June 25

  Dear Miss Eula,

  I found Bemmie. She was safe in the Butterfields' chicken yard. She and Herman were squawking up a storm. Her feet are bright blue.

  Melba's mama was in the middle of a permanent wave for Mrs. Popham but quit it to put Melba in the shower. Mama says she is still kind of blue, but she is all right, except her hair. Melba is telling everyone I did it on purpose.

  I am sleeping with the chickens tonight, on our quilt. Dove was going to come but didn't. I don't care. I am going to watch Ivy's chicks come into the world. They are still peeping, and any minute they will crack out of their shells.

  Love,

  your (lonesome again) granddaughter,

  Ruby L.

  Pee Ess: There is a full moon tonight. I have a lantern with batteries, a big flashlight, a canteen of water, two Moon Pies (lucky number), and the dictionary, so I can read calming words to ivy while the chicks hatch. I wish you were here.

  * * *

  14

  "Moreover ... moron ... morose..." Ruby had opened the dictionary on the counter, propped her elbows on either side of it, and read randomly on the page. She sat on a stool she'd dragged into the greenhouse. Her lantern glowed next to her head. She'd had leftover corn bread crumbled in buttermilk for supper, as her mother had spent so much time at the Lathams', she had come home late, and Ruby had said she wasn't hungry anyway.

  "You and Melba need to talk," her mother had said, but Ruby had refused to go with her to the Lathams'.

  Someone tapped on the greenhouse door. "It's me."

  "Dove!" Ruby slid off the stool and opened the door. "Come in quick—Bemmie is out there, roosting with Bess. She wants like anything to get in here with Ivy and these new chicks."

  "Are they here yet?" Dove had a sleeping bag in her arms and a backpack looped over her shoulders. She wore the same clothes she had worn ever since Ruby met her.

  "Not yet. Boy, am I glad to see you!"

  "Me, too." Dove rolled out her sleeping bag next to Ruby's quilt. They had just enough room.

  "I thought you weren't coming. What happened today—it really was an accident."

  "I know it was. I was just so ... so...shocked! Everybody was. Miss Mattie was so mad at you, and she thought you did it on purpose, and I didn't know, because, how would I know? I already saw how you and Melba don't get along, and—"

  Ruby tried to interrupt. "How can you talk like that, without taking a breath?"

  "—and I met your mama, at the Lathams'. I like her. She told Aunt Tot and everybody else that you were trying to keep Bemmie away from Ivy, just like you said, and then she and Melba's mama talked in the corner for a while—I didn't get that on tape—and then Melba's mama patted your mama on the arm and went back to Melba, and Miss Mattie said, 'Evelyn, you've got to do something with that child,' and your mama said—I've got that part on tape! Do you want to hear it?"

  "No." Ruby wanted to hear it more than anything.

  "Well, never mind then. I brought my equipment with me tonight. I've got a fresh tape—let me label it."

  Dove unzipped her backpack and pulled out her tape recorder and camera. She opened her notebook to a clean page, looked at her pocket watch, and wrote:

  June 26. Inside the chicken house at the Pink Palace, just outside the town of Halleluia, Mississippi, 10:07 p.m., waiting for Ruby Lavender's chicks to hatch. This will be recorded on tape 7, and here are My Impressions of this event, which I will record here, faithfully.

  Signed,

  Helen Dove Ishee,

  Junior Anthropologist-in-Training

  She picked up some clay pots and moved them to the shelf above her. Then she pushed buttons and made sure her tape was ready. After a few quiet minutes, she frowned and looked at Ruby. "Did you hear that Melba had to have her hair cut off?"

  Ruby pulled her knees up to her chin but said nothing.

  "She looks just awful."

  Ruby crossed her arms on top of her knees and still was silent.

  "Pitiful!" said Dove.

  Ruby shot Dove her shut-up! look, but Dove didn't get it. "Do you want to hear my interview with her? I did it after she got her hair cut off. She'd just looked in the mirror. It's loud and you can hear every single word."

  "I don't want to hear it," snapped Ruby.

  She pulled up her overalls strap. "Mama already told me about Melba's hair, Dove."

  Dove just looked at Ruby. Ruby fidgeted. "Okay," she admitted. "It looked awful when she was standing there with that paint dripping all over her." She pushed her hair out of her face. "But it wasn't my fault." She rested her forehead on her crossed arms and sighed through her knees. "I don't like Melba. And I hate it that you do."

  A fly buzzed somewhere around Ruby's head. Outside, Bemmie and Bess began squawking. "They should be sleeping," said Ruby.

  "Why don't you like her?"

  "She hates me."

  "Why does she hate you?"

  Ruby used the palm of her hand to wipe the sweat from her upper lip. "No good reason."

  "There must be some reason."

  "She's a bully."

  "She's been nice to me."

  "Good for you. You're new here. She wants to know all about you right now. Just like everybody else."

  Dove stretched out on her sleeping bag and began scribbling. Bemmie and Bess kept squawking, and Ruby stood up. "I need to check on the chickens. Maybe there's a skunk out there..."

  Dove ignored her. "Peas, why is Melba so mad at you about the accident last summer? What happened last summer?"

  15

  Ruby changed the subject. "Why do you always wear the same clothes, Dove? Don't you have any others?" She made a shield with her hands and looked through the windowed Avails of the greenhouse but saw nothing unusual in the moonlit chicken yard.

  Dove was already in the middle of an explanation. "I've got lots. They are all the same. I had my mama buy me six shirts and six pants, all alike, and of course the socks come in a package of six, just alike, and then I always wear my hat and boots. I like these clothes. They're good for anthropology work; they're field clothes."

  "Then they're uniforms, like the army, or a garage mechanic." Ruby's stomach growled, and she squatted under the counter to find her Moon Pies. "Did you eat tonight?"

  Dove nodded. "That's why I was late. I ate with your aunt."

  "Miss Mattie?"

  "Yep. She had me and Aunt Tot and Uncle Tater over for dinner after Melba got cleaned up. What are you doing?"

  Ruby shoved aside a bag of lime and searched under the counter. "I bet the whole town was at Melba's house."

  "There was a reporter there, too. She was real old and wrinkly and powdery. Miss Mattie said she lives next door to Miss Eula and has no sense. She said, 'Don't talk to her, whatever you do,' so I didn't. But I took lots of notes. It's a stroke of luck to be ready with your equipment when there's a real-life tragedy, so you can get all the interviews firsthand, especially when people will talk and tell you all about it. I wanted to snap a picture of Melba to compare to the ones I took of her yesterday, but I didn't think she'd let me."

  "It was just a bucket of paint!"

  "Well, it's some powerful paint! Melba's head is stained bright blue in splotches like a patchwork. Mr. Popham said, 'The only way to get that blue off of her noggin is to soak it in turpentine' and then Melba started wailing again and her mama said, 'Harvey, you're not helping' and she asked everybody to go home, but I talked to Melba for a few minutes in her room—that's when I tape-recorded her."

  Ruby spied the Moon Pi
es but couldn't reach them. Her voice was muffled from under the counter. "Serves her right, after making fun of my chickens the way she did. Her hair was ugly anyway."

  "At least she had some! She's so mad at you!"

  Bess squawked louder and Ruby listened. Then Bess quieted. "What's the matter with those two?" Ruby pulled the Moon Pies closer, using a broom handle, then reached farther and clawed them to her. "Got 'em!" she cheered. "They're kind of smushed." She crawled backward from under the counter and threw herself on her quilt. "Who cares if Melba is mad at me? I don't. I don't care about her at all."

  "Well, I do."

  Ruby glared at Dove. "You just want to record your gossipy old stories—that's all you want to do. You're just as nosy as Miss Phoebe and her column."

  Dove's face colored and she picked at some straw on her sock. Ruby sighed. "Sorry. Really." She handed Dove a Moon Pie, keeping the most smushed one for herself, hoping Dove would notice. Dove took it but didn't say anything about getting the best one.

  Ruby pushed her hair out of her face. "I didn't mean it. I know your ... work ... is important," she said.

  Dove unwrapped her Moon Pie. "I'd hate to be bald..." was all she said. She took a bite of her pie, then, looking thoughtful, started talking with her mouth full. "I mean, monks in Tibet are bald; they plan it that way, and they all look the same. They even wear the same clothes—these old potato-sack robes—and they fold their arms just so and smile just so and look all peaceful all the time. I bet it's a rule they have to look peaceful all the time—I'll find out when I go there—and they're bald, but here ... here only old men are bald and that looks fine. But kids' being bald, that looks weird, and being blue is even worse. I don't know anybody who is blue on purpose."

  Ruby flopped herself backward. "For heaven's sake, Dove!"

  Outside, the chickens gave another squawk. "Go to sleep, girls!" called Ruby.

  Ivy began clucking in earnest and moving on the nest, a little left, a little right, then settling again.

  Dove's eyes grew wide. "Hey! Is that peeping I hear?"

  "Yes sirree!" crowed Ruby. She tossed her Moon Pie onto her quilt and leaned closer to Ivy. "Put your head close to the nest, and you can hear the chicks pecking on their shells."

  "Good golly!" Dove's Moon Pie was smashed under her left knee. "How does it work? What happens next?"

  "As long as the chicks are warm under Ivy and pecking on their shells, they are growing stronger. They'll peck a line all the way around the middle of the shell, and then they'll push hard with their feet and wiggle out. They have to do it themselves, or they won't be strong enough to live in the world. Ivy's clucks mean 'Come on, you can do it.'"

  Dove listened. "They're talking to each other already."

  Outside in the moonlit night, Bess and Bemmie began talking too, squawking loudly again. And this time they didn't stop.

  "Hush up, you hens!" yelled Ruby. But Bemmie and Bess screeched longer and louder, and suddenly Ruby knew: Something was terribly wrong.

  16

  Dove blinked. "What's going on?" Ruby flung open the greenhouse door and pushed herself into the warm night air. She saw Bess racing through the chicken yard, panicked. Ruby's heart began a hard thump in her chest. She couldn't see Bemmie anywhere. She tore back into the greenhouse. "Throw me a rag from that bucket, Dove!" Now Ruby's heart raced, hurry-hurry.

  Dove was on her feet. "What for?"

  "I'll throw it over Bess's eyes so I can catch her. Hurry!"

  Dove lunged for the bucket, kicking it and wedging it between bales of straw.

  Thunk! Something heavy hit the ground beside the door where Ruby was waiting. Bess screamed. Ruby focused her eyes in the moonlit dark. Now she saw them—rocks Uttered the yard! Ruby kept the chicken yard clean and dirt-smooth—someone was throwing rocks! Ruby couldn't breathe. She held the greenhouse door open with her foot and stretched her arms out to Dove. "Hurry, Dove!"

  Dove threw a handful of rags at Ruby. Ruby grabbed for them and stumbled.

  Thonk! Again. Another rock. And spap! Again. Desperate, Ruby scrambled to her feet, bringing the rags with her, and reached for the door. But before she could get back outside, a shattering sound deafened her. Her hands flew to her ears and she screamed. Dove screamed. The girls ducked, covering their heads as a greenhouse window fell into a million crumbling pieces and glass showered them. The lantern fell and went out.

  "Ruby!" Dove was under the counter, but Ruby was near the door. She lay still, in a ball, on her quilt. Moonlight streamed through the windows and across her back.

  "Ruby!" Dove screamed. Slowly, Ruby lifted her head and took a breath. Yes, she was alive. "Are you okay?" Ruby nodded and spit. Glass was all around her, maybe even in her mouth, but she was okay. Dove was okay, Ivy was...

  Ruby couldn't see the nest. "Where's Ivy!"

  Dove jumped to her feet. "Her nest is turned over! I don't see her!"

  Ruby panicked. She crawled under the counter, ignoring the glass as it scraped at her. Bess had slammed the greenhouse door shut, trying to get inside, and now she scrabbled against it, squawking to get in. Ruby didn't hear her; she called for Ivy. "Where are you, Ivy?" Dread washed over her. "Where's the lantern, Dove? Do you have the flashlight?" Ruby stretched out her hands and felt gingerly around the greenhouse floor in the shadow-darkness. Her right hand touched feathers, and a frightened chicken pecked her hand. "Ivy! Ouch! Here she is!"

  Ruby's hand closed around the flashlight. She switched it on and played it over the floor of the greenhouse. There was Ivy, next to a bag of peat moss, sitting quietly on a pile of straw that had fallen out of the overturned peach basket. Beside Ivy was a large rock with a note attached by a rubber band.

  "Oh-my-gosh, Ivy, oh-my-gosh."

  "Here's an egg!" Dove sounded triumphant, then suddenly defeated. "It's broken to pieces." Her voice was full of cracks. "Here's another. Oh, no!..." Her voice trailed off.

  Ruby didn't hear her. "She doesn't want me to touch her. I don't know if she's hurt."

  "I can only find two eggs. Let me have the flashlight, Ruby." Dove took the flashlight from Ruby. "Here, help me look, we've got to find the other egg. These two are—"

  Ruby rallied. "What? They're what?"

  "Broken. Just broken. Broken to bits."

  "Let me see," ordered Ruby. Her voice curdled in her throat. Dove played the flashlight on the eggs she had found. They lay cracked opened with warm, wet chicks inside. There was no movement or sound from them. They had dropped too far and cracked open too soon for the chicks to survive on their own.

  Ruby was numb. She stared at her chicks.... They were here, peeping and pecking ... and now they were not. "No!" she whispered it. She didn't hear anything—no peeping, no pecking.... "Nol" she shouted. She sprang to her feet and barreled out the door. She looked for her chickens and saw bobbing lights and shadows dressed in bathrobes hurrying toward the Pink Palace. Bess was roosting and looked unhurt.

  Ruby couldn't think. She walked back inside and lowered herself onto a straw bale, using her hands for balance. Her voice crumbled. "I don't know where Bemmie is. People are coming. I don't want them here."

  "We need help, Ruby. Look at us!"

  By the moon's light, Ruby could see that her hands were bleeding. Dove had a long scratch on her forehead. The broken eggs lay still, their almost-born chicks inside. Ruby touched them tenderly. A lump started in her throat, hard and huge. She felt the sting of tears at her eyes.

  "Ivy's sitting on the third egg, Ruby. It's still peeping." In the silence, Ruby could hear a faint peeping coming from under Ivy. Ivy clucked back. She would not move from her egg.

  Ruby heard her mother's voice, full of concern, and Miss Mattie's, in charge. One tear spilled down Ruby's cheek. She gritted her teeth and willed it away. She picked up the rock that had come through the glass, removed the rubber band, and opened the note. It said:

  I hate you, Ruby Lavender, and I hate your stupid chickens.

  It wasn't
signed. It didn't need signing; Ruby knew who had done this. Soon, everyone would know. Ruby crumpled the note and waited for the door of the greenhouse to open.

  17

  The questions came.

  "What in the world?"

  "Are you girls all right?"

  "Watch where you're stepping, folks!"

  Somebody had found the lantern and turned it on. Flashlights played around the greenhouse, making spotlights in the lantern glow. Ruby's mother crouched in front of the girls and looked them over carefully.

  "We're all scratched up." Dove's voice choked in her throat.

  "Ruby honey?" Her mother placed her hand on Ruby's back.

  Miss Mattie stood in the doorway. "They're scared half to death, Evelyn, but they're fine."

  Ruby's mother frowned. "I don't know..."

  , Ruby was doubled over with her head on her knees. Her fists clenched the note, and she was breathing hard. Dove began to cry.

  Now Miss Mattie was examining the damage. "Most of these panes are safety glass. It could have been worse. They're lucky."

  "Lucky!" Ruby lifted her head. A dust streak swam down her cheek. "Look at Ivy! Look at the chicks! I know who did this—it's Melba Jane! She killed Ivy's chicks."

  Ruby's anger pulled her together. She shuddered all over and pointed at the eggs on the ground. Her mother stooped under the counter and looked. The chicks still did not move.

  Miss Mattie put a hand lightly over her mouth, then fished in her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. She handed it to Ruby's mother. "I can't imagine she meant to do this, but you're right, she probably did. I saw her running away from here like a scared jackrabbit."