She still wears the green dress with black piping when I come over. Sometimes shell slip off her shoes under the table. Last time, she pulled out a pack of Montclairs and smoked right there with me in the room and that was kind of something, the casualness of it. I had one too. Now she is clearing away my crumbs with the sterling silver scraper I gave to Elizabeth and Raleigh for their wedding.
Well, while we wait, I have some news, Elizabeth says and I recognize the look on her face already, the secretive nod, one hand on her stomach.
Im pregnant. She smiles, her mouth trembling a little.
Thats great, I say. I put down my cards and touch her arm. She truly looks like she might cry. When are you due?[117]
October.
Well, its about time, Hilly says, giving her a hug. Mae Mobleys practically grown.
Elizabeth lights a cigarette, sighs. She looks down at her cards. Were all real excited.
While we play a few practice hands, Hilly and Elizabeth talk about baby names. I try to contribute to the conversation. Definitely Raleigh, if its a boy, I add. Hilly talks about Williams campaign. Hes running for state senate next year, even though he has no political experience. Im grateful when Elizabeth tells Aibileen to go ahead and serve lunch.
When Aibileen comes back in with the gelatin salad, Hilly straightens in her chair. Aibileen, I have an old coat for you and a sack of clothes from Missus Walters house. She dabs her mouth with her napkin. So you come on out to the car after lunch and pick it all up, alright?
Yes maam.
Dont forget now. I cant worry with bringing them by again.
Oh now isnt that nice of Miss Hilly, Aibileen? Elizabeth nods. You go on and get those clothes right after were done.
Yes maam.
Hilly raises her voice about three octaves higher when she talks to colored people. Elizabeth smiles like shes talking to a child, although certainly not her own. I am starting to notice things.
By the time Lou Anne Templeton shows up, weve finished our shrimp and grits and are just starting on dessert. Hilly is amazingly forgiving. Lou Anne was late, after all, because of a League duty.
Afterward, I tell Elizabeth congratulations again, walk out to my car. Aibileen is outside collecting her gently used coat from 1942 and old clothes that, for some reason, Hilly wont give to her own maid, Yule May. Hilly strides over to me, hands me an envelope.
For the newsletter next week. Youll be sure and get it in for me?
I nod and Hilly walks back to her car. Just as Aibileen opens the front door to go back in the house, she glances back my way. I shake my head, mouth the word Nothing. She nods and goes on in the house.
That night, I work on the newsletter, wishing I was working on the stories instead. I go through the notes from the last League meeting, and come across Hillys envelope. I open it. It is one page, written in Hillys fat, curly pen:
Hilly Holbrook introduces the Home Help Sanitation Initiative. A disease preventative measure. Low-cost bathroom installation in your garage or shed, for homes without such an important fixture.
Ladies, did you know that:
99% of all colored diseases are carried in the urine Whites can become permanently disabled by nearly
all of these diseases because we lack immunities coloreds carry in their darker pigmentation
Some germs carried by whites can also be harmful to coloreds too
Protect yourself. Protect your children. Protect your help. From the Holbrooks, we say, Youre welcome!
The phone rings in the kitchen and I practically fall over myself racing to it. But Pascagoula has already answered it.
Miss Charlotte residence.
I stare her down, watch as tiny Pascagoula nods, says, Yes maam, she here, and hands me the phone.
This is Eugenia, I say quickly. Daddys in the fields and Mothers at a doctors appointment in town, so I stretch the black, twisting phone cord to the kitchen table.
Elaine Stein here.
I breathe deep. Yes maam. Did you receive my package?
I did, she says and then breathes into the phone a few seconds.
This Sarah Ross. I like her stories. She likes to kvetch without complaining too much.
I nod. I dont know what kvetch means, but I think it must be good.
But I still stand by my opinion[118] that a book of interviews ordinarily wouldnt work. Its not fiction, but its not nonfiction either. Perhaps its anthropological but thats a ghastly category to be in.
But you liked it?
Eugenia, she says, exhaling her cigarette smoke into the phone. Have you seen the cover of Life magazine this week?
I havent seen the cover of my Life magazine in a month, Ive been so busy.
Martin Luther King, dear. He just announced a march on D.C. and invited every Negro in America to join him. Every white person, for that matter. This many Negro and white people havent worked together since Gone With the Wind.
Yes, I did hear about the marching event, I lie. I cover my eyes, wishing Id read the paper this week. I sound like an idiot.
My advice to you is, write it and write it fast. The march is in August. You should have it written by New Years.