Georgia Kay pushed her hair back and leaned wearily against the hoe. Sweat was trickling down her spine and between her ample breasts in the usual July sort of way that makes southern ladies long for cooler weather. Georgie and her baby sister Anna Lee had been at it since dawn, chopping away in Mr. Calcutt's cotton field next to the river they know so well. "Mama said she saw you hopping that ferry last week" Anna said. " So what?" replied Georgia. "She ain't my boss, and neither is that rich bunch that keeps us out here in the field working our tails off for food and a bolt of cloth here and there to sew up a new dress." The girls' beagle dog named Faith followed them from row to row, wallowing in the dirt to keep cool.
Kay, as her friends called her, had a beau on the other side of the Mississippi River named Edwin Scott. His family owned the grainery on the edge of the water where the sandbars butted up against the silos for storage. "I love him, you know" she whispered to Anna Lee. "Pssht. You're in heat like Faith." And it was true, actually. Kay was halfway between child and woman in that place where the hormones begin to surge and make a girl feel all kinds of strange and pleasurable things. She had first felt the stirrings of passion that night several months ago when Scott had met her at the river's edge to court her. They had met last winter when she and her family took the ferry over to visit family in Missouri. Eddie was propped up against the dock watching the river go by when he spied a lovely girl on the ferry coming over from Heloise. Her hair was a reddish gold, about the color of ripe peaches, and it framed her face in an angelic sort of way. As the ferry drew closer to the dock, he could also see that she had a pretty face and a wicked smile just for him. Shifting restlessly, he kept his eyes glued to the girl as she stepped off the ferry. Her daddy's car pulled off of the boat and she lingered next to him before joining the family. "G'morning." he said as he tipped his hat to her. Georgie looked down in embarrassment and then right straight back into those gorgeous blue eyes, mesmerized. "Hey." she said shyly. "Whatcha doing hanging out here?"
Eddie told her about his love of the Mighty Mississippi. He had grown up entranced by the dangerous swirling undertow in the muddy water that sucked swimmers under in a heartbeat. Fed by numerous smaller rivers up north, the Mississippi was prone to flooding most every spring. When that happened, the fields surrounding the river went under the murky overflow as farmers waited for it to recede so they could plant cotton and soybeans. The giant concrete and steel bridge linking Tennessee and Missouri had been under construction for a year now, and was almost complete. Eddie couldn't wait to take his Dad's car across the brand new bridge and observe the river from that high up vantage point. "I hear that bridge will be open in a couple of months." Georgie said. "Why don't you come over for supper sometime when it's done?" She told him how to get to their farm, and strolled up to join her family in the car.
The courtship that followed was intense and passionate. Prior to the opening of the bridge for car traffic, Eddie would take the ferry over to Tennessee when the weather permitted, scanning the banks for the familiar figure that waited eagerly for him on the other side. It was as if crossing the river that lay between them added fuel to the constantly smoldering fire. Georgie gave her virginity to him one summer evening as fireflies winked against the giant concrete span beside them. She was sure it would last forever.
Many years later, Georgie still visited the bridge, long after Eddie had become a distant figure in her life. His family had insisted that he attend college in St. Louis while she stayed behind working in the diner. The last she heard from him, he had met a city gal whom he planned to marry. She had taken it hard, very hard. For months on end she mooned around the house with tear streaked cheeks and swollen eyes, wondering how life could be so cruel. Time and distance dulled the pain, but it never went completely away.
This was her between time, a healing that would prepare her for real love...the lasting kind. After work, she would drive out to the bridge in her second hand junk heap, kick off her shoes and sit staring into the dark water below. On more than one occasion she wondered how hard it would be to just jump into the darkness and end the heartache once and for all. Something stopped her though, every time. As she watched the twinkling lights on the barges move slowly through the mist over the river, she thought about how it would hurt her Mama and Daddy and Anna Lee. And she dreamed about her future with a man whose love would be constant and true. It would happen, in time. Of that she was sure.
I liked your story..i could see Georgie sitting on the bridge, swinging her feet.....
Good Luck in the final 7.
Posted by: kim | July 20, 2006 at 01:10 PM