Cornelia rushed into the room and said, “It worked perfect.”
Otis came barreling in seconds later.
He said, “What the hell’s that for?”
He pointed at the twine looped around the bedpost.
She said, “It’s in case she needs me.”
Otis said, “Woman. Is you crazy? You can’t be at her beck and call, answering to a damn bell while you’re working. You got to get your priorities straight.”
“Otis honey, it’s only if something urgent comes up.”
“Like what?”
Cornelia glanced at Rae Lynn, her face going pink.
“Woman things, Otis.”
“Aw, hell. I ain’t needin’ to hear about that.”
He went back out, but not before yelling at them. “Ain’t nothing more urgent than her getting out of bed and earning her keep. I’m keeping tabs on what she’s costing me.”
“She ain’t hardly had a chance to yet!”
“I don’t wanna hear no back talk!”
“Yes, honey.”
“She better get right, or she can get out.”
“Yes, honey.”
He went out, slamming the door behind him. Cornelia faced Rae Lynn, who sat in the bed looking like a child about to cry, rubbing on the little nub of finger, over and over. Cornelia sat with her and leaned forward, patting her hand.
“Aw, now, shug. Don’t you let him upset you. His bark’s always been worser’n his bite. He got it from his own daddy, who acted like a tetchy old mule most days.”
Rae Lynn reached out and lightly touched Cornelia’s arm, where three round, puckered scars were visible.
“That bite a his seems right ferocious to me.”
Cornelia in turn stared at Rae Lynn’s hand on her arm. She touched the stub where her finger was missing.
“What happened here?”
Rae Lynn pulled her hand away. Tucked it under the sheet.
“It was an accident. Happened years ago.”
Cornelia sighed and said, “It don’t matter nohow. They’s only the marks of life, showing what we been through.” She leaned back to study Rae Lynn, tipping her head to the left. “And, here I was thinking you was a man! After I brung you the pie, I thought, he sure is sweet looking compared to most.”
Rae Lynn gave her a little smile. “Well, I should’ve known it won’t the smartest thing to do, maybe. They’ll probably want me to leave here, and soon.”
“We ain’t gonna worry about that right now. Peewee’s a reasonable man. Now, Crow? He’s the one to worry over. Thinks he’s running things.”
Rae Lynn flinched at the thought of Crow, of facing him again. Maybe he’d be different, but she somehow doubted it.
She said, “Peewee might say it’s my own fault. You know, lying to him and all.”
Cornelia turned a sage eye to her and said, “I bet you had your reasons. We always do what we have to do, what’s necessary, don’t we?”
Women folk, is who Cornelia meant. They were most often the ones to bend, sometimes until they broke. Or got broken. She believed with all her heart in that moment, she and Cornelia would get along just fine. Rae Lynn felt an instant kinship. She ought to tell her who she was at least. She was real understanding. Seemed real trustworthy, and already a friend.
Rae Lynn said, “My name?”
Cornelia smiled and said, “What, don’t tell me. It ain’t Rae Cobb? ”
Rae Lynn shifted in the bed. “Well, it is, but it’s actually Rae Lynn. Rae Lynn Cobb.”
Cornelia smiled big. “Ain’t that something,” she said.
“Call me Rae Lynn.”
“Well, all right.”
She got up and went to stand by the door. “Now you need anything, you use the pull cord. I’ll be back at dinnertime to fix you something to eat.”
“Okay.”
They established a rhythm over the next few days and Cornelia didn’t pry her with any more questions. Bit by bit, Rae Lynn was up and moving about, Cornelia’s nightgown hanging off her and reaching to her toes. The other woman was a bit taller and a few pounds heavier. She went from the bed to the chair and back to the bed for a while, until one day, she sat in the chair by the window for most of a morning watching the comings and goings of the camp. She was taking care of herself once again and felt almost normal. She wished she had her clothes, but couldn’t seem to find them anywhere. She went and checked around to the backside of the house, where she found the laundry pan and a washboard. A couple of Otis’s shirts hung drying on a line; the dress Cornelia had made from the material Otis burned a hole in, it hung there too. She wanted to take it and put it on, so she’d be decent, except it seemed rude to assume such was all right. Cornelia might think it had to do with the fact she’d paid for it, so she stayed in the gown for now.