The Help, Page 49

  off to do.

  While Miss Leefolt’s gone, I get to work on Miss Hil y’s silver. Miss Leefolt’s got it laid out on the kitchen table from the luncheon yesterday. I

  wash it and spend the next hour polishing it, wondering how one-arm Ernestine do it. Polishing Grand Baroque with al its loops and curls is a two-arm job.

  When Miss Leefolt get back, she put her purse up on the table and tsk. “Oh, I meant to return that silver this morning but I had to go to Mae

  Mobley’s school and I just know she’s getting a cold because she was sneezing al morning long and now it’s almost ten o’clock…”

  “Mae Mobley getting sick?”

  “Probably.” Miss Leefolt rol her eyes. “Oh, I’m late for my hair appointment. When you’re finished polishing, go ahead and walk that silver on

  over to Hil y’s for me. I’l be back after lunch.”

  When I’m done, I wrap al a Miss Hil y’s silver up in the blue cloth. I go get Li’l Man out a bed. He just woke up from his nap and he blink at me

  and smile.

  “Come on, Li’l Man, let’s get you a new diaper.” I put him up on the changing table and take off the wet one and Lord almighty if there ain’t

  three tinker toys and one a Miss Leefolt’s bobby pins in there. Thank the Lord it was just a wet diaper and not the other.

  “Boy,” I laugh, “you like Fort Knox.” He grin and laugh. He point at the crib and I go over and poke through the blanket and sho nuff, there’s a

  hair rol er, a measuring spoon, and a dinner napkin. Law, we gone have to do something about this. But not now. I got to get over to Miss Hil y’s.

  I lock Li’l Man in the strol er and push him down the street over to Miss Hil y’s house. It’s hot and sunny and quiet. We strol up her drive and

  Ernestine open the door. She got a skinny little brown nub that poke out the left sleeve. I don’t know her wel , except she like to talk a fair amount.

  She go to the Methodist church.

  “Hey, Aibileen,” she say.

  “Hey, Ernestine, you must a seen me coming.”

  She nods and looks down at Li’l Man. He watching that nub like he scared it’s gone get him.

  “I come out here fore she do,” Ernestine whisper and then she say, “I guess you heard.”

  “Heard what?”

  Ernestine look behind her, then lean down. “Flora Lou’s white lady, Miss Hester? She give it to Flora Lou this morning.”

  “She fired her?” Flora Lou had some bad stories to tel . She angry. Miss Hester who everbody think is real sweet, she give Flora a special

  “hand wash” to use ever morning. Ends up it was straight bleach. Flora showed me the burn scar.

  Ernestine shake her head. “Miss Hester pul that book out and start yel ing, ‘Is this me? Is this me you wrote about?’ and Flora Lou say, ‘No

  ma’am, I didn’t write no book. I ain’t even finished the fifth grade’ but Miss Hester go into a fit yel ing, ‘I didn’t know Clorox burned the skin, I didn’t know the minimum wage was a dol ar twenty-five, if Hil y wasn’t tel ing everybody it’s not Jackson I’d fire you so quick your head would spin,’ so

  Flora Lou say, ‘You mean I’m not fired?’ and Miss Hester scream, ‘Fired? I can’t fire you or people wil know I’m Chapter Ten. You’re stuck working here for the rest of your life.’ And then Miss Hester lay her head on the table and tel Flora Lou to finish the dishes.”

  “Law,” I say, feeling dizzy. “I hope…they al turn out that good.”

  Back in the house, Miss Hil y hol ers Ernestine’s name. “I wouldn’t count on it,” Ernestine whisper. I hand Ernestine the heavy cloth ful a

  silver. She reaches out with her good hand to take it, and I guess out a habit, her nub reach out too.

  THAT NIGHT, there’s a terrible storm. The thunder’s booming and I’m at my kitchen table sweating. I’m shaking, trying to write my prayers. Flora Lou got lucky, but what’s gone happen next? It’s just too much not knowing and worrying and—

  Thunk thunk thunk. Somebody knocking on my front door.

  Who that? I sit up straight. The clock over the stove say eight thirty-five. Outside, the rain is blowing hard. Anybody who know me good

  would use the back door.

  I tiptoe to the front. They knock again, and I bout jump out a my shoes.

  “Who—who is it?” I say. I check that the lock is on.

  “It’s me. ”

  Law. I let out a breath and open the front door. There’s Miss Skeeter, wet and shivering. Her red satchel’s under her raincoat.

  “Lord have mercy—”

  “I couldn’t make it to the back door. The yard’s so thick with mud I couldn’t get through.”

  She barefoot and holding her muddy shoes in her hand. I close the door quick behind her. “Nobody see you, did they?”

  “You can’t see a thing out there. I would’ve cal ed but the phone’s out with the storm.”

  I know something must a happened, but I’m just so glad to see her face before she leaves for New York. We ain’t seen each other in person

  in six months. I give her a good hug.

  “Law, let me see your hair.” Miss Skeeter pul back her hood, shake out her long hair past her shoulders.

  “It is beautiful,” I say and I mean it.

  She smile like she embarrassed and set her satchel on the floor. “Mother hates it.”

  I laugh and then take a big breath, trying to get ready for whatever bad thing she got to tel me.

  “The stores are asking for more books, Aibileen. Missus Stein cal ed this afternoon.” She take my hands. “They’re going to do another print

  run. Five thousand more copies.”

  I just look at her. “I didn’t…I didn’t even know they could do that,” I say and I cover my mouth. Our book is setting in five thousand houses, on

  they bookshelves, next to they night tables, behind they toilets?

  “There’l be more money coming. At least one hundred dol ars to each of you. And who knows? Maybe there’l be more.”

  I put my hand on my heart. I ain’t spent a cent a the first sixty-one dol ars and now she tel ing me they’s more?

  “And there’s something else.” Miss Skeeter look down at the satchel. “I went to the paper on Friday and quit the Miss Myrna job.” She takes

  a deep breath. “And I told Mr. Golden, I think the next Miss Myrna should be you.”

  “Me?”

  “I told him you’ve been giving me the answers al along. He said he’d think about it and today he cal ed me and said yes, as long as you

  don’t tel anybody and you write the answers like Miss Myrna did.”

  She pul a blue-cloth notebook out a her satchel, hand it to me. “He said he’l pay you the same as me, ten dol ars a week.”

  Me? Working for the white newspaper? I go to the sofa and open the notebook, see al them letters and articles from past times. Miss

  Skeeter set beside me.

  “Thank you, Miss Skeeter. For this, for ever thing.”

  She smile, take a deep breath like she fighting back tears.

  “I can’t believe you gone be a New Yorker tomorrow,” I say.

  “Actual y, I’m going to go to Chicago first. Only for one night. I want to see Constantine, her grave.”

  I nod. “I’m glad.”

  “Mother showed me the obituary. It’s right outside of town. And then I’l go to New York the next morning.”

  “You tel Constantine Aibileen say hel o.”

  She laugh. “I’m so nervous. I’ve never been to Chicago or New York. I’ve never even been on an airplane before.”

  We set there a second, listening to the storm. I think about the first time Miss Skeeter came to my house, how awkward we was. Now I feel

  like we family.

  “Are you scared, Aibileen?” she asks. “Of what might happen?”

  I turn so she can’t see my eyes. “I’m alright.”

&n
bsp; “Sometimes, I don’t know if this was worth it. If something happens to you…how am I going to live with that, knowing it was because of me?”

  She presses her hand over her eyes, like she don’t want to see what’s gone happen.

  I go to my bedroom and bring out the package from Reverend Johnson. She take off the paper and stare at the book, al the names signed

  in it. “I was gone send it to you in New York, but I think you need to have it now.”

  “I don’t…understand,” she say. “This is for me?”

  “Yes ma’am.” Then I pass on the Reverend’s message, that she is part of our family. “You need to remember, ever one a these signatures

  means it was worth it.” She read the thank-yous, the little things they wrote, run her fingers over the ink. Tears fil up her eyes.

  “I reckon Constantine would a been real proud a you.”

  Miss Skeeter smile and I see how young she is. After al we written and the hours we spent tired and worried, I ain’t seen the girl she stil is in a long, long time.

  “Are you sure it’s alright? If I leave you, with everything so…”

  “Go to New York, Miss Skeeter. Go find your life.”

  She smile, blinking back the tears, and say, “Thank you.”

  THAT NIGHT I lay in bed thinking. I am so happy for Miss Skeeter. She starting her whole life over. Tears run down my temples into my ears, thinking

  about her walking down them big city avenues I seen on tee-vee with her long hair behind her. Part a me wishes I could have a new start too. The

  cleaning article, that’s new. But I’m not young. My life’s about done.

  The harder I try to sleep, the more I know I’m on be up most a the night. It’s like I can feel the buzz al over town, of people talking about the

  book. How can anybody sleep with al them bees? I think about Flora Lou, how if Hil y wasn’t tel ing people the book ain’t Jackson, Miss Hester

  would a fired her. Oh Minny, I think. You done something so good. You taking care a everbody except yourself. I wish I could protect you.

  It sounds like Miss Hil y’s barely hanging on by a thread. Ever day another person say they know it was her that ate that pie and Miss Hil y

  just fight harder. For the first time in my life, I’m actual y wondering who gone win this fight. Before now, I’d always say Miss Hil y but now I don’t know. This time, Miss Hil y just might lose.

  I get a few hours’ sleep before dawn. It’s funny, but I hardly feel tired when I get up at six. I put on my clean uniform I washed in the tub last

  night. In the kitchen, I drink a long, cool glass a water from the faucet. I turn off the kitchen light and head for the door and my phone ring. Law, it’s early for that.

  I pick up and I hear wailing.

  “Minny? That you? What—”

  “They fired Leroy last night! And when Leroy ask why, his boss say Mister Wil iam Holbrook told him to do it. Holbrook told him it’s Leroy’s

  nigger wife the reason and Leroy come home and try to kil me with his bare hands!” Minny panting and heaving. “He throw the kids in the yard and lock me in the bathroom and say he gone light the house on fire with me locked inside!”

  Law, it’s happening. I cover my mouth, feel myself fal ing down that black hole we dug for ourselves. Al these weeks a hearing Minny sound

  so confident and now…

  “That witch,” Minny scream. “He gone kil me cause a her!”

  “Where you now, Minny, where the kids?”

  “The gas station, I run here in my bare feet! The kids run next door…” She panting and hiccupping and growling. “Octavia coming to get us.

  Say she gone drive fast as she can.”

  Octavia’s in Canton, twenty minutes north up by Miss Celia. “Minny, I’m on run up there now—”

  “No, don’t hang up, please. Just stay on the phone with me til she get here.”

  “Is you okay? You hurt?”

  “I can’t take this no more, Aibileen. I can’t do this—” She break down crying into the phone.

  It’s the first time I ever heard Minny say that. I take a deep breath, knowing what I need to do. The words is so clear in my head and right now

  is my only chance for her to real y hear me, standing barefoot and rock bottom on the gas station phone. “Minny, listen to me. You never gone lose

  your job with Miss Celia. Mister Johnny told you hisself. And they’s more money coming from the book, Miss Skeeter found out last night. Minny,

  hear me when I say, You don’t have to get hit by Leroy no more.”

  Minny choke out a sob.

  “It’s time, Minny. Do you hear me? You are free. ”

  Real slow, Minny’s crying wind down. Until she dead quiet. If I couldn’t hear her breathing, I’d think she hung up the phone. Please, Minny, I think. Please, take this chance to get out.

  She take a deep, shaky breath. She say, “I hear what you saying, Aibileen.”

  “Let me come to the gas station and wait with you. I tel Miss Leefolt I be late.”

  “No,” she say. “My sister…be here soon. We gone stay with her tonight.”

  “Minny, is it just for tonight or…”

  She let out a long breath into the phone. “No,” she say. “I can’t. I done took this long enough. ” And I start to hear Minny Jackson come back

  into her own self again. Her voice is shaking, I know she scared, but she say, “God help him, but Leroy don’t know what Minny Jackson about to

  become.”

  My heart jumps. “Minny, you can’t kil him. Then you gone be in jail right where Miss Hil y want you.”

  Lord, that silence is a long, terrible one.

  “I ain’t gone kil him, Aibileen. I promise. We gone go stay with Octavia til we find a place a our own.”

  I let out a breath.

  “She here,” she say. “I’l cal you tonight.”

  WHEN I GET TO Miss Leefolt’s, the house is real quiet. I reckon Li’l Man stil sleeping. Mae Mobley already gone to school. I put my bag down in the

  laundry room. The swinging door to the dining room is closed and the kitchen is a nice cool square.

  I put the coffee on and say a prayer for Minny. She can stay out at Octavia’s for a while. Octavia got a fair-size farmhouse, from what Minny’s

  told me. Minny be closer to her job, but it’s far from the kids’ schools. Stil , what’s important is, Minny’s away from Leroy. I never once heard her say she gone leave Leroy, and Minny don’t say things twice. When she do things, they done the first time.

  I fix a bottle a milk for Li’l Man and take a deep breath. I feel like my day’s already done and it’s only eight o’clock in the morning. But I stil

  ain’t tired. I don’t know why.

  I push open the swinging door. And there be Miss Leefolt and Miss Hil y setting down at the dining room table on the same side, looking at

  me.

  For a second, I stand there, gripping the bottle a milk. Miss Leefolt stil got her hair curlers in and she in her blue quilted bathrobe. But Miss

  Hil y’s al dressed up in a blue plaid pantsuit. That nasty red sore stil on the side a her lip.

  “G’morning,” I say and start to walk to the back.

  “Ross is stil sleeping,” Miss Hil y say. “No need to go back there.”

  I stop where I am and look at Miss Leefolt, but she staring at the funny L-shaped crack in her dining room table.

  “Aibileen,” Miss Hil y says and she lick her lips. “When you returned my silver yesterday, there were three pieces missing out of that felt

  wrapper. One silver fork and two silver spoons.”

  I suck in a breath. “Lemme—lemme go look in the kitchen, maybe I left some behind.” I look at Miss Leefolt to see if that’s what she want me

  to do, but she keep her eyes on the crack. A cold prickle creeps up my neck.

  “You know as wel as I do that silver’s not in the kitchen, Aibileen,�
�� Miss Hil y say.

  “Miss Leefolt, you checked in Ross’s bed? He been sneaking things and sticking em—”

  Miss Hil y scoff real loud. “Do you hear her, Elizabeth? She’s trying to blame it on a toddler.”

  My mind’s racing, I’m trying to remember if I counted the silver before I put it back in the felt. I think I did. I always do. Law, tel me she ain’t

  saying what I think she saying—

  “Miss Leefolt, did you already check the kitchen? Or the silver closet? Miss Leefolt?”

  But she stil won’t look at me and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know, yet, how bad this is. Maybe this ain’t about silver, maybe this is real y

  about Miss Leefolt and Chapter Two…

  “Aibileen,” Miss Hil y say, “you can return those pieces to me by today, or else Elizabeth is going to press charges.”

  Miss Leefolt look at Miss Hil y and suck in a breath, like she surprised. And I wonder whose idea this whole thing is, both of em or just Miss

  Hil y’s?

  “I ain’t stole no silver service, Miss Leefolt,” I say and just the words make me want a run.

  Miss Leefolt whisper, “She says she doesn’t have them, Hil y.”

  Miss Hil y don’t even act like she heard. She raise her eyebrows at me and say, “Then it behooves me to inform you that you are fired,

  Aibileen.” Miss Hil y sniff. “I’l be cal ing the police. They know me.”

  “Maa-maaaa,” Li’l Man hol er from his crib in the back. Miss Leefolt look behind her, then at Hil y, like she ain’t sure what to do. I reckon she

  just now thinking about what it’s gone be like if she don’t have a maid no more.

  “Aaai-beee,” Li’l Man cal , starting to cry.

  “Aai-bee,” cal another smal voice and I realize Mae Mobley’s home. She must not’ve gone to school today. I press on my chest. Lord,