Chapter Seven

“Gracie, honey,” Lenny Bean said to me the next morning. “You got to get me my Zippo. I must have dropped it over at Betty Ann Houseman’s, and I need my Zippo. That there is the best damn lighter I ever had.”

I remembered him saying something about his lighter when I was out there in the dark invading his privacy but I couldn’t remember exactly what it was.

“Well, you’re going to have to wait for your Zippo, Lenny Bean. I don’t work at Betty Ann Houseman’s on Mondays. As a matter of fact, I won’t be there until Wednesday. Sorry, honey.”

“But, little darlin’, you don’t understand. I have to have my Zippo.”

“Lenny Bean, I can’t go there today. It’s not my day to work at Betty Ann Houseman’s.”

“Please, baby. Get me my Zippo,” he pleaded.

“Go on over there and get it yourself.”

“Aw, honey, I don’t want to go over there by myself. Please, baby,” he said and ran his fingers down my arm.

“Oh, all right, Okay, you’re looking too pathetic. I’ll get you your Zippo, Lenny…right after my nail appointment.”

“What time is that?”

“Noon.”

“Oh, no, you have to get me my Zippo at quarter past noon on the nose, and then bring it on over to me at the KFC. Then you can go get your nails done.”

“You ain’t coming with me to Betty Ann Houseman’s? You are making me bust in on that woman by myself?”

Well, I was mad as I could be. Shit, I had an appointment to have my nails painted Precious Pink at noon.

“This is my day off, Lenny,” I told him, pouting up my lips. He knew I didn’t like to miss my nail appointments. “I’ll go there later on and get it.”

“Honey, I’ll get you a jar full of jerkys, a carton of Lucky Strikes and a little ole puppy dog to make you smile. Just get me my Zippo.”

“You can’t light your damn cigarettes without your goddamn Zippo?” I asked him. I was standing there, eyeballing him, and then he took those fingers of his and slipped them right inside the waist of my jeans.

“You best get over there, at quarter past noon, before she steals it and gives it to that fuck face she’s married to,” he said. “I don’t want to wait all day for my Zippo. That Zippo has sentimental meaning for me, Gracie.”

“Oh, yeah, and just what kind of sentimental meaning is that, Lenny Bean?”

“My daddy gave me that Zippo right before he died.”

“Oh,” I said and hung my head. “Really?”

He didn’t say a word, just nodded, and made his eyes look all big and sad. “Do you remember where in Betty Ann Houseman’s you left your Zippo?” I asked. I sure couldn’t refuse him then, even though the last thing in the world I wanted to do was miss my nail appointment. I guess I’d just have to go on over there later and see if they could slip me in.

“You look under the cushions of her couch, now, you hear? You look real good. Take your time. I really want my Zippo back. It’ll kill me if I don’t have it. It’ll just kill me. Don’t forget to look upstairs in her bedroom in case that fuck she’s married to took it up there.”

“Don’t you worry, Lenny, I’ll get your damn Zippo for you.” I kissed him and brushed the hair out of his eyes. And he gave me one of those big soulful kisses and slapped my ass.

“I knew I could count on you, Gracie. I just knew it.”

As I walked away I kept trying to remember what he’d said about his lighter the night before, something about it falling out of his pocket, or something to that effect, but I couldn’t make sense of what I’d heard, though it was there in the back of my mind weighing heavy.

 

Well, wouldn’t you just know it? I came walking up the drive of Betty Ann Houseman’s house, and I didn’t see any cars in the driveway. I figured she took little Tabby out for a spin, and I’d have to use the key she gave me. I didn’t like doing that but Lenny Bean wanted his Zippo. I thought I’d peek in the garage and make sure she wasn’t around. Maybe she’d heard there was rain in the forecast and had put her Caddie away.

But the garage door was locked. I thought that was strange ’cause Betty Ann never locked the garage. Hell, she even hated using it. She always put that Cadillac of hers right out there in the driveway for everyone to admire, but when I looked through the garage window, I saw two cars sitting in there—Betty Ann’s red Cadillac convertible and some other fancy-looking car. The other car looked familiar, and I figured Kevin Kain used it when he wanted to show off, and I’d seen him riding around in it. So I didn’t give it much thought.

I sure was relieved that she was home. I figured I could just run in and find that Zippo and get on out of there. I certainly did not want to disturb Betty Ann and to tell you the truth, I was feeling a little stupid. I mean, why couldn’t Lenny come on over and get his own goddamn Zippo?

I stood on the bell and stood on the bell, and nobody came to the door. I heard little Starfish barking from inside the house, but nobody was letting me in. Well, this just wasn’t right. Betty Ann’s Caddie was in the damn garage. She must be home. I started getting real scared. I mean, I started thinking that maybe poor Betty Ann needed help in there. All I could think of was that poor little baby, little Tabby, and I prayed her mama wasn’t hurt in any way. So, I used my key. I had to use my key. I wouldn’t have, under normal circumstances, but I was afraid Betty Ann was in terrible distress, else why the hell wasn’t she coming to the door?

I walked in slowly, and I saw the baby sitting in her playpen. I went right to her. “Little Tabby, where’s your mama?”

The baby looked up at me and gurgled out something I couldn’t understand but she was pointing up to the top of the stairs. I heard a scream and my chest started to pound. It sounded like poor Betty Ann was screaming.

I looked up, and there was that crazy Chihuahua barking up a storm. So I ran like crazy up those stairs and checked the baby’s room and the guest bedrooms. I guess I was so panicky that I couldn’t tell exactly where the screams were coming from. Then I realized the screams were coming from Betty Ann’s bedroom. I was scared to death, but I knew I had to help her. On the way into her room, I picked up a candlestick holder from the hall table and held it up high in my right hand.

Well, you could have bowled me over with a breath. I could not believe what I walked in on. I knew it was Jeb Oates, even though I was seeing him from behind. I recognized the bastard’s tight, blond hair. Nobody in town had hair like that. There he was, Jeb Oates, with his goddamn eggplant penis, pumping the hell out of Betty Ann Houseman. She had her legs up in the air and she was screaming like a fan bumping into one of those Beatles. She was screaming so loud she didn’t even know I was standing there, or that little Starfish was having a conniption fit.

“Jesus. Shit,” I said and the damn candlestick holder fell to the floor and almost landed on my foot.

Jeb jumped off her and she grabbed the sheet and sat up. “Why, Grace. What on earth?” she said, all breathless, and her face was strangely contorted and sweaty as hell.

“I was looking for Lenny Bean’s Zippo,” I said and knew my face was as red as a fire truck.

Jeb Oates laughed and pulled back the sheet. “Come on over here, Grace.” He gave me a perverted grin.

Why, you can imagine how I felt. I backed up toward the door, as the son of a bitch got up and walked toward me, all naked and hairy, his slimy penis bouncing out in front of him like a horny dog’s.

I ran down the stairs as fast as I could. I could hear them laughing behind me as I shot out the door, like it was the funniest thing in the world for me to find them in bed like that. Well, I didn’t think it was funny to see that ape in bed with my Betty Ann Houseman. Why, that was like Granddaddy Ellsworth sucking up to Haley Mills. It was an awful thought. Just an awful thought.

I walked over to the KFC in a daze. To add insult to injury, there was that stupid Billy Bean sitting at the counter with Lenny. I couldn’t even sit down next to Lenny ’cause the damn counter was so full. So I had to stand there behind them trying to get that awful naked image of Jeb Oates out of my head.

“Don’t you teach school?” I said to Billy.

“It’s a semester break, Grace.”

“Where’s my Zippo, honey?” Lenny asked.

“I don’t have it.”

Lenny spun around on that stool with his mouth open and gaped at me like I was standing there in my underwear.

“You don’t have it?”

“No,” I said, “I don’t have it.” I burst out crying, as loud as little Tabby.

“Why not?”

I turned around and ran out of the KFC just as fast as I could. Everybody was staring at me. I felt like such an idiot. I noticed Lenny’s car in the lot and went right to it. Luckily, it was open, and I threw myself across the backseat and sobbed like a baby that ain’t had a diaper change all day.

“Shit, Grace, what the hell is the matter with you?” I heard Lenny ask as he got into the front seat. I knew Billy Bean had gotten into the car, too. I didn’t even have to hear him. I knew he was there. Sure enough, I looked up, and the bastard was staring at me like I’d gone crazy.

“What the hell you looking at Billy?”

“Why didn’t you get Lenny’s Zippo, Grace Place?” he asked.

I told them what I’d walked in on. Hell, Lenny knew Jeb Oates had tried to rape me. I’d told him all about it. He wanted to go knock the shit out of Jeb Oates, but I wouldn’t let him. Now I was sorry I’d saved the bastard’s neck.

“Well, there’s just no accounting for bad taste,” Lenny said, reaching back to pat my arm. “You’re going to have to tell Betty Ann why you’re so upset, honey. You got to tell her how Jeb almost raped you. You got to tell her what a creep he is.”

“I can’t tell her that her stupid boyfriend tried to whack the shit out of me. I can’t tell her that, Lenny.”

“Sure you can, Grace,” Billy said and winked at his brother. “If you don’t tell Betty Ann Houseman she’s sucking a piece of shit, she’s going to go on sucking that fruit.”

I looked up at him and realized that that was the awful truth. Damn, maybe he’d even taken poor Betty Ann Houseman against her will, but then, I remembered those legs of hers all up in the air, and I realized she might even like the son of a bitch. Holy, Horrible Hixson, what a thought!