MADELINE AND LIAM

(This story won first place in Fiction at the Little Rock American Christian Writers Conference in May 2014)

MADELINE and LIAM

 by Troy Lynn Pritt

When Madeline was very young, the Romani set up camp outside of Elkview. One of the Roma, had a sign “PALM READING", a table, and two chairs outside her home (which was mounted on a wagon).

A roughneck young man drove up in a hot rod Ford. He got out proudly and strutted to the table. The woman was seated, doing some mending.

“Are you the woman who reads palms?”

“Yes.”

“I want my palm read.”

“Two dollars.”

“I’ll pay you afterwards.”

“Before.”

He slapped two bucks on the table, sat at the other side of the table, and thrust out his left hand to be read.

“Aren’t you right-handed? Put your right hand on the table.”

She began a well-rehearsed set of lines,

“You will have a long life, and be happy. You will meet a beautiful woman in a strange town. She will become your wife and give you lots of children.”

The roughneck stood up.

“Take me into your trailer house. I’ll give you five bucks to take off all your clothes and show me some Gypsy passion.”

He grabbed her by the arm and she cried for help. A man came to her aid, twisted the yob’s arm behind his back, and pushed him to his car. Humiliated, the hooligan muttered,

“You’ll pay for this! All of you!”

That evening he returned with a “posse”. They gave the Gypsies an hour to pack up and leave. After an hour they would burn all that was left. The Romani packed up and left in a group. The toughs followed behind them, blowing their horns, and firing off shotguns and rifles. Turning onto a dirt road, the last Gypsy wagon in the caravan overturned. The ruffians stopped, got out of their vehicles, and were cheering like fans at a prizefight.

The horses that had been pulling the Gypsy wagon were neighing and kicking, caught in their traces. One of the toughs came up to the horses and shot both of them in their heads. There was an eerie silence. The night was pitch black. It was impossible to see what had happened to the occupants of the wagon. The tormentors went home. The other Romani continued rapidly down the dark and dusty road.                                       The next morning, a local farmer came by, saw the overturned wagon, the dead horses, and three corpses. A man and woman were sprawled on the field, thrown there by the mishap. A little girl’s body was crushed under the side of the overturned wagon. From inside the wagon he heard the cries of a little child. He couldn’t understand the language, but they were obviously cries for help. Looking into the wagon, he found a little girl and pulled her out. She became hysterical.

Trying to keep her from seeing the dead bodies, he put her up in the cab of his old truck, and drove her to his farm. His name was Horace Clanton and his wife’s name was Oma. At the farmhouse, he carried the little girl in to his wife.

“I found a Gypsy wagon overturned. The horses were shot. A man and woman were lying dead in the field, another little girl was lying dead, pinned under the wagon. This little girl was inside the wagon. I’m going back there.  I’ll bury the man, woman, and child. I’ll haul the wagon back here. Then I’ll butcher those horses. I can use the hides. The meat I can feed to the dogs and the hogs.”

Oma was childless. She regarded this orphan Gypsy child as a gift from God. They named her Madeline. After they explained how the girl came to live with them, a sympathetic judge issued a birth certificate saying that she was an orphan.   

Horace and Oma could not understand Madeline’s language, but she soon learned English. Horace and Oma loved Madeline. She understood that before they could speak to each other. Over time she grew to love them also. The memory of her own parents began to fade.

Madeline helped Oma in the house, in the garden, and tending the chickens. Oma began teaching her to sew. She was very bright and learned quickly.

Her first several years of school were without incident. She was polite, did well in class, and the teachers liked her. In the fourth grade the children began to notice clothes and appearances. They formed into cliques. The town children looked down on the farm children.  The farm children were generally poor. Their clothing showed the wear of hard work.

These prejudices about farm children brought Madeline together with Liam O’Doule, a boy from the adjoining farm. They banded together for protection in school. They ate together, and hung around together at lunch time and recess time.

In junior high the isolation of Madeline became more pronounced. With the onset of puberty, she began developing into a young lady of beauty. Her hair was black. Her eyes would flash like glistening coals when she was happy or angry. She could now embroider and crochet highlights on the dresses, skirts, and blouses that she made for herself. They were nicer than any that came from stores.

The other girls were jealous. They repeated the disparaging remarks, the derogatory tales, the exaggerated stories about how the Gypsies were thieves, liars, and half-breeds, who had intermarried with runaway slaves.

Madeline retorted, “Romani are originally from India. That is why we have dark hair and dark skin. We have never been slaves. We choose to lead a nomadic life in order to remain free of oppression and bondage.”

Liam admired the way she stood up to them. They were friends in junior high. In high school they became boy friend and girl friend.

After high school, Liam went into the Navy. He promised Madeline that when he returned from the Navy, they would be married. They wrote and sent pictures to each other regularly. When Liam came home on leave, he spent every evening with Madeline.

Madeline found a job in town as a seamstress. She was very good at alterations. She could also make a dress or jacket just from a picture without a pattern.  

Both Liam and Madeline were saving every bit of money they could squeeze from their paychecks for marriage. Liam was a cook in the Navy. He spent his four years in the Navy planning a restaurant that he would start when his enlistment was over.

When Liam came home from the Navy, he and Madeline were married in the little Baptist church that both of their families attended. The newlyweds took a bus to Lewisburg. They found an inexpensive apartment in a run-down neighborhood. Madeline sought work as a seamstress; Liam looked for a suitable venue for a restaurant.

Oglesby Machine, Tool, and Die Company was just then moving its factory into an abandoned warehouse. Liam believed Oglesby was going to grow. He found an empty building nearby to rent. Using his savings from the Navy he bought restaurant quality refrigeration, stoves, kitchen utensils, pots and pans. He did not have enough money yet to buy tables, chairs, cash register, table cloths, dishes, and eating utensils.

He went to Frank Oglesby and asked to set up a stand on the parking lot, next to the building, to sell coffee, sandwiches, fruit, and snacks.  Mr. Oglesby thought it was such a good idea that he made a place for him just inside the building. He even ran a water line and installed several electric outlets for Liam to use.

Liam had doughnuts and coffee ready when the men came to work in the mornings. At lunch time he had hot dogs. He boiled the hot dogs on a hot plate. The men would spear a hot dog out of the pan, put it on a bun, and add mustard, catsup, onions or pickle relish themselves. He also had sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper. There was only one type sandwich each day. When he started out he charged ten cents for each item – coffee, doughnut, hot dog, or sandwich.

Liam and Madeline worked together equipping and furnishing the restaurant. Madeline made the curtains, napkins, and tablecloths.

They called the restaurant “The Working Man”. They did not serve beer or wine. There was a juke box. The menu included children’s plates. In one corner there was a large area set aside for children. There were toys that were washable and they were faithfully washed every day. The family section was non-smoking. Liam hired waitresses who were pleasant and patient with the customers.

The restaurant’s concept was - a place where a working man could bring his family or a date, have a relaxing meal and conversation, and linger over coffee and dessert. Liam had a winning concept. It appealed to young families. He even fixed up a rest room just for mothers with comfortable chairs and a table so that a mother could nurse her baby, give it a bottle, change its diaper, or just rock a crying baby in private.

Since he was also working at his coffee stand in Oglesby’s, the hours for the restaurant were Wednesday – Saturday 6 PM to 10 PM, Sunday 12:30 PM to 3 PM. Madeline was still working as a seamstress. They decided that she should start working out of their home, accepting as much or as little work as she wanted. In this way, they could start trying to have a baby.

The same year that they began trying, Madeline became pregnant. Oglesby’s plant and the restaurant closed each year December 25 to January 1. They decided to go back to their parents’ farms to tell them their good news.

As they were driving out of town they saw people going into a church.

“Oh, Liam, please stop. Let’s go into that church.  It’s Christmas. We haven’t been to church in a long time.”

The church was a Catholic church. Any other time the ritual, the strange music, the candles, and the incense might have been uncomfortable for these erstwhile Baptists. Today, it was just right.

They drove on to the Elkview where they had attended school and on out to the country. They stopped first at the O’Doule farm.

As they came in the front door, Liam’s father stepped forward, shook his hand, then gave him a hug. Liam’s mother had tears in her eyes. She almost ran to Madeline, threw her arms around her, and said,

“Oh, Honey, Honey, I am so happy for you. You have made me so happy. This is the nicest Christmas present a person could receive.”

After a half hour or so Liam said, “We had better get on over to the Clantons. They go to bed early.”

“Can’t you stay for a cup of coffee and some fruit cake?”

“We’ll come back tomorrow.”

Horace and Oma overflowed with joy to see Madeline once more and to find out that she was expecting a baby. This was the first time that Liam and Madeline had come back for a visit since the wedding. Madeline had written to her adoptive parents at least once a month. She had sent them pictures of Liam and herself. None of those was like seeing her in person, hearing her voice, seeing for themselves that she was happy. So much can’t be said in a letter. 

While they were there, Madeline saw the poverty in which she had grown up. She and Liam lived simple lives in Lewisburg, but their life was luxurious compared to that of Horace and Oma. She realized how much they had sacrificed to provide for her. She had never noticed the poverty before this because of the love they had lavished upon her. She would be a loving mother just like Oma!  She and Liam must find a way to go to church and bring their children back to these farms for visits. This is where love, like flowers, flourished alongside the other crops.