CHAPTER 12

The Sterrett house sat at the end of Whitman Drive. It was the first house in a brand-new development that would see magnificent growth in the 1960s. The doctor and his wife, Doris, built it before their last child was born in 1951, and it is still the flagship of residences in a neighborhood of beautiful homes. Every Christmas the stone wall and the driveway are illuminated by rows of multicolored lights that will stay up till New Year’s Day. On Tuesday, December 23, 1958, at 2:00 p.m., the Sterrett house showed no signs of the season, as the lights would not come on till dusk. Louis Wayne turned into the lane and parked under the carport by the kitchen door. He sat under the wheel and listened to the last verse of “The Chipmunk Song.” Simon, Theodore, and Alvin might be the last laugh he would have for a while. He turned off the engine and went inside.

His mother and his father were sitting in the living room drinking hot tea, Campbell on the sofa, Doris in her wingback chair. The house was silent. Louis Wayne walked from room to room until he found them. The living room was never used except for company and special occasions. Well, he thought, this was certainly a special occasion.

“What are you two doing in here?”

“Oh, hi, Louis Wayne. Come sit down. Where have you been?”

“Out doin’ stuff. Are you okay, Mother?”

“She’s fine. Just a little tired. Where’s Barbara? Is she with you?”

“No, she’s not. Just me.”

Louis Wayne thought it strange his mother had still not said a word. He knew it was going to be an awkward conversation but he didn’t expect it to be this uncomfortable before he even started.

“Are you guys busy? Have you got a minute?”

“Always, son. What’s on your mind?”

His mother looked sedated, but Louis Wayne knew this was no time to stop and change the subject. He’d been riding around for the past hour working up the courage and forming the words. He had to keep going or he would find all kinds of reasons to back out.

“Pop, Mother, I have something pretty serious to tell you. I don’t know how to go about it so I’ll just do it. You asked about Barbara. Well …”

“Have you two broken up?”

“No. Well, yes. I guess we have broken up. But that’s not what this is about.” Louis addressed everything to his father. “Pop, I have been seeing someone else. And I’m in love with her. I know you may think that’s just something I’m saying, but I really am. Shirley Ann Briggs. That’s who I’ve been seeing.”

“Pretty girl. I know who she is. Cheerleader isn’t she?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you broken the news to Barbara?”

“It’s more than that. Just let me finish.” The words started coming slower and with more difficulty. Each word stretched out into a sentence. “I. Have been. Seeing her. For quite sometime. We’re in love. Very much in love. And we’re going to have a baby.”

The silence of the house when he first walked in sounded like a football game compared to this quiet. The glass of red wine his mother had been holding slid out of her hand and rested on its side in her lap. A dark stain spread on her gray wool skirt, but she didn’t seem to notice. And if his father was still breathing, there was no evidence of this. Then the only movement and sound that defied the stony silence came a moment later when his mother leaned forward in her chair and vomited all over her legs.

“I have to go back to work.”

“But you haven’t said what you think about tonight.”

Buddy and Amanda Briggs were standing outside in the driveway. He was wearing his coat and hat and she wore a sweater around her shoulders and was hugging her arms close to her body. The snowflakes were still fine and melted when they hit the pavement, but it wouldn’t be long before they started to stick.

“I don’t know. Whose idea was this again?”

“Shirley Ann’s and Louis Wayne’s. It’s the way they want to do it. I think it’s a good idea.”

“Do I have any choice in the matter?”

“Buddy, you can say yes and go with us or say no and stay home.”

“Do we know that the Sterretts want this? Are they going to want us there or is this just something Shirley Ann and the boy have come up with?”

“The boy has a name. Get used to it.”

“Is this just something Shirley Ann and that wonderful young man Louis Wayne Sterrett came up with?”

“Oh, Buddy, go to work.”

“What do you want me to do, Mandy? You want me to go over there and hug this boy and thank him for knocking up our one and only daughter and tell his family how terrific I think he is? You want me to kiss each one of them on the lips and wish them a Merry Christmas? Is that what you want me to do?”

“What other choice do we have? You tell me another way to handle this and I’ll listen. I’m just trying to make it easy on everybody concerned. Now you can get mad and take weeks or maybe months to come around, but you know you will come around because there is nowhere else to go. You love your daughter. If you don’t, if this has turned you against her for life and you can just send her out in the cold and never see her or your grandchild again, then … well … I guess you’d have to live with that. But if you know that eventually you’re going to come around and be the man I know you are, then you might as well skip all that hotshot stuff and start tonight.”

Buddy sighed heavily and looked up at the gathering clouds. “Yeah, I’ll come around. But I just don’t know if I can do it tonight. I may need a little more time.”

He got in the car and started the engine but this time he didn’t wait for it to warm up the heater. He just backed out the driveway and turned toward town.

Amanda stood there in the snow not feeling the cold. She needed a little time too. She was doing more talking than feeling for the sake of Shirley and the benefit of Buddy. But she knew she would feel the weight of her feelings soon enough. She walked back in the house and put her sweater on a chair, turned on the radio and began washing dishes. The Christmas music didn’t sound the same. Early this morning it had lifted her spirits but now even Bing Crosby couldn’t cheer her up. She forced herself to hum along to “Silent Night.” And by the time the dishes were dried and “Blue Christmas” ended, she sat down at the table and put her head in her hands and started to cry. Immediately the phone rang. The voice on the other end had always dried her tears.

“Mandy. I’ll go tonight. I’m ready.”

“I love you.”

“What’s there about me not to love? I’m a pushover. I love you too.”

She put the phone back in the cradle and began to hum along with “The Little Drummer Boy.” She was already beginning to feel better. With Buddy on her side, she could face anything. Even Doris Sterrett.