After that there were lots of picnics. Sometimes Luella and Martin got to sit in the small back seat of the cab, squeezed in next to Grammy, but mostly they liked to ride in the bed of the truck, giggling in the wind as they sped down the road toward Haw Creek. A new ritual began on Saturday afternoons when it was time to wash and clean the truck. Luella’s job was to work on the inside, polishing the dash and cleaning the windows while Martin and her father scrubbed and waxed the outside. That way, it was always sparkling clean for church on Sunday morning.

Lu well remembered the two of them bouncing, hot and dusty, with their cane poles, net, and bait box in the bed of the truck as their father navigated the ruts in the old road to Haw Creek. Momma rode in the front seat with Daddy, and Grammy Mayetta scrunched in the seat in the back of the cab, the carefully packed picnic supper beside her. She had to agree, it was just about the best season of their lives. Or, it would have been if Momma hadn’t gotten sick. The memory darkened and Lu forced it from her mind. She turned her attention to what Martin was saying.

“…just find out about selling the place,” he said, rising from the table.

“Well, then,” Lu breathed, “I guess we’ll see you in the morning, right?”

“Sure, in the mornin’,” he replied. The two families walked out into the parking lot, the night air cool and the breeze gentle. Lu grasped his elbow, pulling him back from the others.

“Hey, I know we haven’t seen each other in quite a while,” she whispered, “but where do you get off dumping all the work on me?”

He stopped and stared at her. “In a while?” he asked. “What the hell you thinkin’? Try twenty or more years! That ain’t no damn ‘while’, woman.” He stared skyward and exhaled loudly. His eyes swept the parking lot. His voice was low. “Boy, if you aren’t the sister of the Prodigal Son, I don’t know who is! I took care of Daddy all these years while you was off livin’ your high life up in D. C. I got kids to raise, too, and I still got here to check on him. But you couldn’t even do that. So, yeah, Luella, I think you can do something now!”