Turtle Rock

Whenever Ohmer started drinking, Granny made the girls sleep with their clothes on and shoes next to the bed in case they had to get up in the middle of the night and run out of the house during a drunken rage. Well liked by everyone outside of the family, no one had any idea how abusive he was to family members and even his own work animals.

When one of his mules wouldn’t obey him, Ohmer picked up a pitch fork and hurled it at its hind quarters. The mule then reared up and kicked him clear across the barn where he landed in unconscious. Jeanette ran into the house to tell Granny. She was unphased and told Jeanette that he would be okay. When Ohmer regained consciousness, he walked that mule over the hill, away from the house where he shot and killed it.

During a casual conversation with one of their neighbors, Jeanette learned that Gordon wasn’t her biological father. The neighbor told Jeanette that her mother didn’t know him long enough for him to be her dad. “Do the math,” she said.

Jeanette once again began thinking about her younger, half brother that Sugarloaf gave away. She has continued looking for him wherever she went. Not knowing his name, she could only look for a boy with familial features to no avail thus far. Everyone in her family continued denying knowing anything about such an incident. She continues wondering about his welfare and whether or not he needed her. Jeanette was always the one who took care of her younger sisters. Dinah and Darlene were only one year apart. They had each other. Because Jeanette was so much older than they were, she felt like she had no one for herself. Her half brother could fill that void if only she could find him.

Entering high school, Jeanette realized a natural talent for basketball and wanted to play on the school team. Knowing that Ohmer would never allow that, she moved in with Uncle Bullpuncher and his wife. That arrangement unexpectedly caused some friction between Bullpuncher and his wife when Jeanette decided it best to leave. With just enough money for bus fare to DC and her few clothes in a grocery bag, she was on her way to her mom’s house. A taxi drove her from the bus station to Sugarloaf’s apartment where she asked the driver to wait while she got the money from her mom to pay him. Sugarloaf was quite surprised and none too happy to see Jeanette at her front door and proceeded to complain about the cost of the taxi, saying “he must have driven you all around town before bringing you here!”

She constantly mocked Jeanette in front of Cheryl and Susan, her two daughters by her current husband, CB. One evening while going to bed, by habit, Jeanette said, “don’t forget to cut the oil lamp off before you go to bed,” just as she did back in the holler. The apartment was small, and Jeanette felt like a bull in a closet as Sugarloaf constantly criticized her for being clumsy. It was tight quarters for five people, soon to be seven.

CB knew nothing about Jeanette, Dinah, and Darlene before her arrival. When Sugarloaf had to spend a night or two in the hospital, he asked Jeanette how her two other sisters were living. She proceeded to tell him that they didn’t have running water or electricity and had to work whenever they weren’t in school. Leaning forward in his chair, CB buried his face in his hands and cried, promising her that they would all soon be united following Sugarloaf’s return from the hospital.

CB ordered Sugarloaf to find a bigger place for them to live and bring Dinah and Darlene home. After they were all united, Sugarloaf set up a date for Jeanette with a man she had known. She informed Jeanette about it only moments before his scheduled arrival. Jeanette wasn’t a bit happy about such short notice and she was even more upset when she opened the door to a short, much older man who she didn’t think was the least bit attractive. Immediately closing the door on him, Jeanette ran to her room. Suagarloaf, not far behind, told her that he was a “man with money and you will go out with him and you will be good to him!”

Knowing exactly what that meant, Jeanette was determined not to cross that line regardless of her mother’s demand. When she returned later that evening, Sugarloaf told her that he was going to ask her to marry him and she was to “accept his proposal or else.” Jeanette knew exactly what “or else” meant and she didn’t like where this was going, but she knew there was little if anything she could do about it. It was crystal clear that her mother wanted nothing to do with her. Only 16 and feeling hopeless, she decided that she would marry him just long enough to get out on her own then divorce him.

He took her to a party where all his colleagues and friends were in attendance. Mixed drinks were flowing freely and there was a peculiar odor in the smoke filled rooms. As soon as they walked in, everyone began offering her drinks and other things that he wouldn’t allow her to accept. Once again, she felt very out of place and they didn’t stay long. As they walked together on the downtown sidewalk, she was struck by all the storefronts with Christmas decorations in the windows unlike anything she had ever seen back home.

Their dates always lasted throughout the weekends and he always remained a gentleman. The only rule that Sugarloaf held them to was that she be home in time to go to school Monday morning.

Jeanette took her fiancé up to the holler to meet Granny. On the trail, they came across Ohmer, passed out and mumbling profanities. Embarrassed, with no place to hide, she tried just ignoring him as they continued their journey to the house. Upon arriving, Jeanette told Granny about Ohmer and she said that he’ll be home when he’s back up and around.

Not long after they had been married, Jeanette doctor informed her that the rabbit died following an examination. Still so innocent, she asked him what that meant. Learning that she was now pregnant, she thought to herself that she had just escaped a very controlling mother only to learn she now was pregnant, compounding her troubles. When she told her husband the news, he expressed his disapproval, explaining he never wanted children.

Her husband owned his own business and spent much of his time away from home, occasionally out of town. He often attended work-related conventions while Jeanette stayed home. Sometimes, he would call her when the convention was over to tell her that he was going to stay an additional week before coming home. Even though this sort of thing happened rather frequently, Jeanette never suspected anything was wrong.

Not long after Jeanette had her baby, she received a phone call in which an anonymous voice told her that the problem with her marriage was her husband’s secretary, identifying her by name. When she asked who was on the phone, the connection was lost. Confronting her husband when he came home, he explained it by telling her that when everything is going well between a couple, there’s always someone trying to break it up, assuring Jeanette that there was nothing more to it.

When Sugarloaf invited Jeanette to a dance, she was excited to get out of the house. Arriving with her at the club, Sugarloaf introduced her to a couple of men that she had obviously prearranged for the evening. Jeanette was not happy about the arrangement and never got up from the table after initially sitting down. When they returned home, Jeanette told her husband what had happened and he just laughed it off, upsetting Jeanette even more.

When Jeanette decided to take Pam out for a walk in the stroller, she dropped in on her husband unexpectinlgly. Opening the door to his office, there was his secretary sitting on his desk in a short dress taking dictation. Jeanette immediately turned around and stormed away, marking the beginning of the end between them.

Not long after he came home from work, he told Jeanette that he was leaving, went directly to their bedroom and began packing. When she asked him when he was going to be back, he explained that he wasn’t coming back. Not wanting to be left behind without transportation, she asked him to take her and Pam to Granny’s. Jeanette gathered some things together for Pam and herself, before the three of them were on their way back to the mountain. He dropped them off where she used to get dropped off by the school bus and walked the rest of the way carrying Pam and a suitcase.

More to come