Amy lynn, p.15
Amy Lynn, page 15
“You sound like Aunt Carla Jo.”
Jack laughed. “Well, just imagine her sittin’ here next to me because we had this conversation last night. I want you to give time to your daddy, your brother, Granny Patches, and your friends. I want you to dedicate time to your schoolwork. The mental part of what we do will be helped by exercisin’ your mind in school. I would also like you to get your butt back to church. Your daddy said you haven’t gone in awhile.”
Amy looked at the ground. “There’s that thing with Daddy’s girlfriend.”
Jack nodded his head. “Yeah, Miss Francis, I figured that’s what it was. Go to her house and talk to her. She’s a good woman. I have known her for years. Stand up and take responsibility, that’s what Braxtons do. You will leave her house feelin’ better than when you walked in, I promise. Don’t leave bad feelin’s hangin’ out there; take care of it.”
“Yes, sir. But with everything goin’ on, how will I get down here to work out?”
“Maybe you won’t, they have a pretty nice weight room at the schoolhouse. Maybe you can work out there.”
Amy thought for a minute. “You know, there was a weight training elective I could have taken on my school schedule.”
“Now you’re thinkin’. Find a way. Maybe if you talk sweet to your aunt she’ll take you to the school tomorrow and you could try to change your schedule.”
Amy smiled that crooked smile. “Okay, Uncle Jack, I’ll give it a try, but I have to go. Joseph will be home soon.”
“You want a ride?”
“Nope, I’ll run.” She stood up on the tailgate and gave Uncle Jack a big hug and a kiss and said, “Thank you, Uncle Jack, I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he replied.
Amy jumped down off the tailgate and started running across the yard.
“AMY!” yelled Jack.
Amy stopped and turned around. “Yes, sir?”
Jack was serious when he said, “Take care of that thing with Miss Francis.”
“Yes, sir.”
The next day Carla Jo took Amy back to school. Carla Jo waited outside in the car while Amy went to see her counselor. Amy knocked on the counselor’s office door. “Mr. Brooks?”
“Come in. And you are?” replied Mr. Brooks as she walked into the room
“Amy Braxton, could I please speak with you?”
“Well, you don’t have an appointment. Is it important?”
“It’s important to me.”
“Isn’t it always,” said Mr. Brooks under his breath. “What can I do for you young lady?”
Amy sat down. “I would like to change my elective from art to weight training”
Mr. Brooks smiled a condescending smile. “Miss Braxton, weight training was set up by Coach Ramsey for the football team. It’s not available to girls.”
“That doesn’t seem right.”
Mr. Brooks chuckled under his breath. “Well, Miss Braxton, what you think are right and wrong is of little consequence to me. Do you need anything else?”
“No, sir, thank you.”
She left his office and walked out feeling a little dejected. As she walked by Principal Nolan’s office she stopped. What the heck, she thought. Gently, she knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
“Hi, Principal Nolan.”
“Amy Braxton, come in here and sit down. What are you doing here today?” Principal Nolan sat back with a big smile.
Amy explained the situation to her and what she was trying to do.
Principal Nolan leaned foreword. “He said it’s not available to girls? Really? He said that?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Hmm. Amy, here’s what I want you to do. Monday morning you come to the office and see Miss Sissy for your new schedule. If you need anything, if you want to talk or have any problems, you come see me.”
“I’m not causing any problems, am I, Mrs. Nolan?”
“No, ma’am. I’m here for you. Anything you need, I’m here.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Nolan.”
Amy left and as Mrs. Nolan watched her leave the office she hit a button on her phone. “Miss Sissy?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Would you please tell Mr. Brooks to get his ass in here? Make sure he knows I’m not happy.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Chapter 25
On the first day of school, Joseph and Amy left the house together. After Amy locked the door she hugged her brother, smiled and asked, “Do you have everything you need?”
Joseph answered with a bit of attitude. “Yes, Amy.”
Amy put him in a headlock and kissed the top of his his head. “Have fun at school.”
Amy walked toward the bus stop. She was nervous thinking about the first day of high school. She looked down the road for Tommy and Timmy and then shook her head, not believing she did it. They had been at the bus stop with her every year since kindergarten. At least she would see Mary Beth. Mary Beth spent the summer with her mom’s brother and his family, who lived in the Smoky Mountains. The bus came and Amy got on.
Mary Beth excitedly squealed her name. “AMY!” Amy sat down beside her and they hugged.
Amy studied Mary Beth. She looked different. “You look great, I love your hair.”
“Thanks, I had the best summer of my life. I …” Mary Beth stopped talking, reached over to Amy and lifted her bangs, revealing the scar on her head. “What happened to you?”
“I got hit with a rock.”
“It must have been a big rock, what happened?”
Amy feigned a smile. “I really don’t want to talk about it. Tell me about your summer.”
Mary Beth went on and on about waterskiing, tubing, and a cute boy she met. As Mary Beth spoke Amy found herself unable to concentrate or listen. Mary Beth’s voice kept getting farther and father away. Amy felt herself drifting, like she was in a cloud.
“Amy, Amy?” Amy heard off in the distance. She snapped out of it and looked at Mary Beth. “Are you OK?”
“Yeah, fine, it’s just … I’m glad you had a great summer.”
Mary Beth watched her carefully and thought something isn’t right.
Amy thought about telling Mary Beth what happened but she couldn’t. She just couldn’t.
They arrived at school and Amy went to the office to get her new schedule. There it was, weight training, last period. Amy discovered she had a new name, Kerry’s sister. As bad as it was not having her own identity in junior high, this was a hundred times worse. In junior high, Kerry was just a good kid that everyone liked. Here he was a football star that had been lost in the prime of his life.
She went to each of her classes and tried to listen to her teachers, but it was difficult. As last period came around she got her workout clothes on and went to weight training. Coach Ramsey saw her and she could tell he didn’t want her there; that was, until he saw her last name. He pulled her to the side. “Kerry was the finest young man I have ever coached. I loved him like a son.”
“Thanks, Coach.”
“Amy, each one of these young men has had workouts designed for them. If you want I can try to design something that fits your needs.”
Amy pulled out the workout her Uncle Jack made. “I have what I want to do written down. Would it be okay if I use this?”
He didn’t even look at it. “Sure, that would be fine.” Then the coach cleared his throat and barked across the room, “GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE A YOUNG LADY THAT WILL BE IN OUR CLASS THIS YEAR. YOU WILL SHOW HER RESPECT OR YOU WILL ANSWER TO ME. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?” “YES, SIR!” came a thundering reply. The coach smiled at Amy and returned to his office.
Weight training became her respite in an otherwise trudging slog through her freshman year in academia. She had a lot of anger and rage, and for that hour she could let it all go. The football players progressed from ignoring her to having a grudging respect for her and then full-blown admiration. By the end of the year, while the players cheered her on, she benched her own weight seventeen times. She had also changed physically. She had always been a little muscular with a layer of baby fat, but all that was gone. Her body looked like the miniature version of an NFL wide receiver. She did not realize that through her example, she had pushed many of the football players to achieve new levels of strength. The coach noticed. Coaches of most every girl’s sport in the school all but begged her to try out for their sport, but she had no interest in them.
Report cards were not a highlight of her year. She got a couple of Cs, which had never happened before. Her daddy was not happy, but Carla Jo kept him from making a really big deal about it. She wasn’t failing, but her daddy expected far more. The truth was, had Carla Jo not coaxed that out of her, she would have done worse. Concentrating was a problem she was struggling with and it wasn’t getting any better. Carla Jo was her advocate and kept explaining to her daddy that it would take time.
Socially she still had Mary Beth. Mary Beth, however, had made some new friends. She kept Amy close but had a difficult time understanding Amy’s standoffish behavior. Amy was one of the most beautiful girls in the school. The boys flocked around her, but she swatted them away. Any thoughts she had about sexuality had been badly distorted by what happened to her on that hill. The rumor in the school was that she was gay. She laughed when she heard it, but then she thought about it. She really didn’t know what she was.
Outside of school she kept up with her household chores. Joseph was old enough to help, and he did. She kept her word to her uncle Jack and went to visit Miss Francis. Uncle Jack was right. She was wonderful, kind, and forgiving. Amy taught her how to make corn bread like the boys liked it. Miss Francis assured Amy that she had no intention of mothering her but would be there if she needed anything. Amy was sure to let her know that she was welcome in the Braxton home.
Amy also went hunting with her Daddy, Jack, and Gene, but it wasn’t the same. She enjoyed her time in the woods but there was still a level of apathy she couldn’t escape. Jack killed a deer but that was it.
During their last outing, Gene and Amy were attempting to drive the deer, leaving Jack and Leon alone. While they were waiting, Leon turned to Jack. “When do you think I’ll get my little girl back?”
“Like she was? Probably never. She will never be the same. But hopefully she’ll be close. Trust Carla Jo. She knows what to do.”
Jack kept working with Amy. By the end of the year she began to excel in self-defense. After dinner Amy would go down to the barn and practice on the heavy bag for about an hour. Leon would sneak down and watch her. Her rage and viciousness were only exceeded by her speed and skill. He was happy she was learning to defend herself, but at what point did it become something more?
When possible, she would visit Jack and they would spar. He was glad to have the workout but more than once he had to stop and let her calm down a little. It was the rage. After a particularly strenuous session, Amy gave her uncle Jack a hug and kiss like always and then ran home. Jack dragged his tired self into the house and confided to Carla Jo. “She’s almost as fast as I am. I’m bigger, stronger, and I know more but it won’t be that way for long. She’s dangerous, Carla Jo. She’s dangerous right now.”
Carla Jo had a concerned look on her face. She knew all about that rage. Love would eventually fix it, but until then she worried about what Jack and Amy were doing. Jack was clearly proud of her. This left Carla Jo walking a fine line between respecting what Jack was teaching her and expressing her concerns about it.
“Jack?” Carla Jo spoke softly. “Are your sure she has the temperament for these skills? She’s not yet real stable. Aren’t you afraid she may hurt someone?”
Jack stroked his chin and thought about it for a moment. “I see it when she throws the switch, the point where she doesn’t see me anymore. She sees those boys. It takes me awhile to get her there. She’s still the same sweet kid she’s always been. It would take a lot for her to hurt just anybody. No, I don’t think she would hurt anyone. Then again, I wouldn’t want to be the one to piss her off.”
Amy’s fifteenth year of life was hard, confusing, frustrating, and lonely. If it could be described by a color it would be gray. The color of Amy’s sixteenth year, however, would be tie-dye, definitely tie-dye.
Chapter 26
Amy got out of bed and stretched. It was the first Saturday of summer vacation and for the first time in a long time, she felt pretty good. She dropped down on the floor next to her bed and did one hundred push-ups and three hundred ab crunches. After about five minutes of assorted stretches, she went into the kitchen and made her daddy some coffee. She pulled the curtain back on the kitchen window and watched the sun rise over the trees. It was going to be a beautiful day.
A car pulled up the driveway and soon afterward Amy heard a soft knock at the door. She opened it and there stood Miss Carol Francis.
“Good morning,” Amy said with a slight smile as she invited her in. It was still a little clumsy when they were around each other. Miss Francis was a hugger, that’s how she greeted people. Since the attack Amy had a very short list of people she would let touch her and Miss Francis was not on that list. They walked in the kitchen and Amy asked Miss Francis if she wanted to help her fix breakfast.
Miss Francis had a natural sweet smile. “Sure honey, I’d love to.”
There wasn’t much small talk between them, but there was kindness. Miss Francis had a heartfelt kindness. It was genuine. Amy’s, on the other hand, was a little more manufactured.
Eventually Leon got up and walked into the kitchen. Carol was peeling potatoes and Amy was making biscuits. He smiled and poured himself a cup of coffee. Leon hugged Amy and kissed her, and then gave Carol a hug and kissed her. It wasn’t lost on anyone that Amy came first, especially Amy.
Leon sat down at the kitchen table, took a deep breath. “Amy, I have some good news. I’ve asked Carol to marry me and she said yes.”
Amy didn’t react. She stood at the counter mixing biscuit dough. After an uncomfortable silence, Amy turned to look at them while trying hard to maintain a forced smile. “Congratulations. When’s the big day?”
“We were thinking before school starts. That would give everyone a chance to get used to Carol being here.”
“Okay, sure. That’s fine.”
Miss Francis got up, took the peeled and sliced potatoes, and sat them on the stove. She turned toward Amy. “I was wondering if you would like to be my maid of honor.” Carol was sure this would be met with excitement. She wanted to do everything she could to include her step-daughter-to-be.
But Amy just stood there stoically, pinching off chunks of dough, patting them, and putting them in the pan. Without looking at anyone Amy answered her question. “Don’t you have friends for that?”
Amy didn’t realize how hurtful that statement was. She thought she was just being honest. Her lack of empathy caught Leon and Carol both off guard.
Leon responded with a hint of scorn. “Amy, what Carol just offered you is an honor.”
Her brow furrowed and lips pursed and she contemplated a response. “An honor for who, me?”
She rinsed her hands off in the sink, turned to the stove, and poured bacon grease out of an old coffee can into the skillet before turning on the flame. She looked at her daddy and responded in a quiet, measured voice. “Daddy, I want you to be happy. If she makes you happy, then okay. You want to marry her and move her into our house, fine. I’ll treat her with respect and I will try to be nice. Haven’t I been nice to you, Miss Francis?”
Carol nodded her head. “Yes.”
Leon sighed and shook his head. “Amy, you know there’s more to it than that.”
Amy put the potatoes in the skillet, salted them, and spoke calmly without looking up. “What’s the more part, Daddy? Is that the part where I lie and say I want her in this house? I’m not gonna lie, I don’t want her in this house. You both deserve better than a lie.”
An uncomfortable silence fell over the kitchen. “Miss Francis, would you please take the biscuits out of the oven in fifteen minutes? I think you know how to make potatoes. I need to go.” Amy went to her bedroom, changed clothes, put her shoes on, and walked out the front door.
Carol looked at Leon and said sarcastically. “That went well.”
Amy walked down the hill thinking about the events of the morning. Hearing her stomach growl, she stopped by Ed Gwinn’s for a Moon Pie and a Dr. Pepper. While walking across the road and up the driveway, she thought about life with Carol in her house. Those were not happy thoughts. Arriving at her Uncle Jack’s front door, she knocked. Carla Jo answered the door and laughed. “Well, that looks like a good breakfast.”
“It’s not bad,” said Amy as she tossed her last bite of Moon Pie to Bubba.
“Jack’s still in the bed. What brings you here so early?”
They sat down at the kitchen table and Amy explained what had transpired earlier. Carla Jo had an understanding smile and reached across the table to pat her hand. “You had to know it was coming.”
Amy had a little scowl on her face. “Yeah, but I don’t have to like it.”
Carla Jo sat for a moment, took a sip of her coffee, and put it down. She looked at Amy with a stern face. “Do you think your mother would have wanted Leon to be alone?”
Amy started to speak, “It’s just that—”
“No,” Carla Jo interrupted, “I asked you a question.”
“No,” said Amy under her breath.
Carla Jo sat back in the chair and said, “Being a friend is a tough job. You have to look someone you love in the eye and tell them hard truths. Things they may not want to hear. You’re my best friend and you need to hear the truth. Are you listening?”
Amy nodded.
Carla Jo got a little fired up. “It’s time to put your big girl pants on. Yes, you DO have to like it. You DO have to go to that wedding, put on a dress, be the maid of honor, smile, and celebrate. If you don’t, you will do far more damage to your daddy than any discomfort you may feel in the three short years you have left on that hill.”
