Tuesdays were blog days for me. With my sixtieth birthday coming up, I was quite tickled to be able to refer to myself as a blogger. I had inherited my son Cedric’s old laptop and with some help from his girlfriend, Carmen, I’ve been able to publish at least one blog post a week. At first I wasn’t sure what to write. When I learned I had diabetes, I discovered the best way to learn how to manage my disease was to talk with others online. There was so much information I decided to share my finds on a blog at EugeenaPatterson.com. I wasn’t world famous, but I liked having something purposeful to do.
Today, I published a post that I needed for me, but hoped it would help someone. I decided to title the blog post, “Ms. Eugeena’s Guide to Breathing or Waiting to Exhale?”
I can credit Amos for my first bullet point.
Think before you jump into someone else’s mess.
Of course, my problem at this point was I had overthought whether or not to start trouble. I kind of figured when I walked into Louise’s room on Sunday and found Jocelyn leaning over the bed that trouble had found me. A murder right next door escalated the trouble factor to another degree. I was never one of those people who had an easy time letting things go. But I knew I needed to stop and breathe.
Writing calmed my nerves to a degree. I re-read my blog post again, and then I hit publish to share it with the World Wide Web. I took a peek at my Facebook and Twitter account to see if the new blog post was posted. I was really proud of myself because a few months ago, I barely checked email. Who had time to do that stuff in between grading papers?
Now I had apps on my phone and I was just Ms. Tech Savvy. I stopped patting myself on my back long enough to remember I was savvy with Google too.
I typed in Jocelyn Miller in Google to see what came up. There were a lot of women with the same name. Some trashy looking women too. Since that search didn’t work, I went over to Facebook. I had found quite a few classmates by typing in their name. Some of them I really didn’t want to contact, but I was curious about what they had been up to all these years. It was amazing what people posted out there in public. My goodness!
After I typed in Jocelyn’s name, I saw a few photos come up. Just as I found a photo that looked like the young woman I met Sunday, the phone rang. I ignored the phone for a minute and pulled up Jocelyn’s Facebook page. She was a really pretty girl. The phone kept ringing as I thought whether or not it would be a good idea to do a friend request. If I did, wouldn’t that make me appear like I was stalking her? Of course, that’s kind of what I was doing.
I held that thought and went to grab the phone. When I saw who was on the caller ID I was actually grateful for the interruption. I picked up the phone, “Well, Cora, you called just in time because I have myself in a bit of predicament.”
The closest person to being a sister to me was also my aunt. Cora Gibson was only two years older than me and the youngest child in the Gibson clan. She answered me back, “You and Amos finally went out on that date yet?”
“No,” I sputtered. “What is it with everyone and this matchmaking? Leave me and Amos alone. Please don’t tell me you called me to ask me that.”
Cora laughed. “Girl, I thought you were getting with it.”
“Getting with what? Cora, you and I are not spring chickens. I’ve lived my life.”
“But you still have more years to live and there’s nothing wrong with being happy. Now what have you gotten yourself into now?”
I took the cordless phone and sank down in the living room chair to catch Cora up on what all had happened.
“Oh my! Who knew your little ole neighbor had that much drama in her life? Do you know who the father could be?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea, but Louise mentioned the name August yesterday. She didn’t give a last name, nor did she confirm, but I assumed this was someone special. Could be the father of this baby girl.”
I was really just talking out loud. I did that quite often when I talked to Cora. She knew me and would add her two cents when necessary. “The more I think about it Louise had to be in her teens when she had this baby girl. She married her first husband at age eighteen. When that marriage didn’t work out, she married her second husband at age twenty-three and had William maybe a year later.”
Louise’s story of having a child in her teens wasn’t too different from mine. My oldest son’s conception prompted the shotgun wedding between Ralph and me. I had to finish school and later went back after having Cedric. I was still a bit upset that Louise never thought to mention this to me in all the years we had known each other. But there had to be significant reasons.
“Cora, you know something else? During Louise’s time, I imagine they hid girls away for a while until a baby was born and given away for adoption.”
Cora spoke up. “They certainly did. Did Louise grow up around here, Eugeena?”
“Yes, Louise has been in Charleston all her life. In fact, I do know her ancestors owned a plantation in Charleston, so she has no problem tracking her roots. Remember I told you she always tried to downplay that part of her life.”
“That’s right. Well, you know Esther might be able to shine some light on this fellow named August. Esther knows everyone around here and people know her.”
Aunt Esther was the oldest of my father’s siblings and my godmother. How the oldest and the youngest child were still left out of eight children was amazing since the two women were quite alike in many ways. In her eighties, Esther was still quite feisty and didn’t mind giving her baby sister, Cora, a hard time. In recent months, Cora had taken on becoming Esther’s caregiver. Being a former nurse, it seemed like a good fit, but those two ladies could get on each other’s nerves pretty good, often times with Cora calling me to keep her sanity.
“You know I do need to pay you ladies a visit. It’s been awhile. I want to ask Louise what happened all those years ago, but William’s death has put her in a bit of tailspin too. I mean someone shot the man next door to me.”
“Girl, your neighborhood has gone down a bit. What have the kids said?”
I smacked my forehead with my hand. “I haven’t told any of them. I guess I better before I have one or all of them showing up to my door, especially Junior. I think he went to school about two years behind William.”
“Oh girl, you know that oldest boy will try to move you out of that house if he could. How is everyone else doing anyway? I can’t believe Thanksgiving will be here in six weeks.”
“You are telling me. Even though I’m out of the classroom, time is still flying by. You know Junior’s wife should be having their third baby boy around Christmas. Leesa has been doing pretty good. She came by for Sunday dinner with Kisha and Tyric. Both of those munchkins are growing fast.” I sighed. “The only child of mine that I haven’t heard from or seen has been Cedric. Since him and you know who moved in together, he’s become a stranger.”
“Now Eugeena, you’re not still fussing about that boy being unmarried, although he is almost forty, right?”
“Cora, that is what doesn’t make any sense to me. All this time Cedric has never shacked up with a woman. Suddenly this girl is special. Okay, well that is wonderful, but when did marriage become so unpopular?” I held my hand to my head as if to ward off a headache. “Don’t get me started if he gets that Carmen girl pregnant. I already feel sometimes I flat out failed as a parent with Leesa. I believe I was just tired when that girl came along.”
“Now let’s not go there, Eugeena. There’s no need to be hard on yourself. You and Ralph did the best you could do. Besides, you never know, sometimes playing house might encourage them to do the real thing. That girl is a bit younger than Cedric. I imagine she would want a ring after a while.”
Cora had a point. There was at least a ten-year difference in Cedric and Carmen’s age, which I always found pretty fascinating as well.
I turned from my thoughts to hear Cora’s laughter.
“What’s so funny,” I asked.
“You have more going on now than when you were in the classroom teaching. You sound like you’re enjoying retirement just fine.”
I walked back over to the computer and sat down. “The superintendent did ask me if I wanted to substitute teach sometime, but I honestly have plenty to keep me busy.”
Maybe a bit too much.
I peered at Jocelyn’s Facebook page and noticed she had just posted a status. I leaned in to read what she posted and sucked in a breath.
Have you ever done something unforgivable?
I gulped as I scanned the comments below her post. Like a few of those who posted comments, I wanted to know what Jocelyn had done.
Cora’s voice invaded my paranoid thoughts, “Eugeena, are you okay? What’s going on with you? Have you monitored your sugar today?”
“What? Yes, my glucose levels were normal. I will be eating in a bit. Look I have to go. I will keep you updated on what’s going on around here.”
“Alright, Eugeena. Just play it safe. You almost got yourself killed the last time you were digging around.”
“Believe me this is nothing like the last time. I hope to see you and Aunt Esther soon. Goodbye, Cora.” I hung up the phone thinking to myself at least I hoped to see them soon.
If Detective Wilkes caught sight of the status Jocelyn just posted, that girl would surely be moved to the top of the suspect list. Why’d did people post such things publicly? Was this a cry for help?
I didn’t know whether she would respond, but I decided to send Jocelyn a message on Facebook. Jocelyn, this is Eugeena Patterson. I met you on Sunday at Hillcrest Manor Nursing Home. It’s urgent you get in touch with me as soon as possible.