| Off In The Clouds |
| Summary: | … or so it seems. Leona behaves in a strange and alarming way; Kathleen is effectively freaked out. |
| Date: | 1942-07-21 |
| Related: | None. |
| Players: |
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Cherokee and Pine, Higsi
Fri Jul 21, 1942
A family diner and Piggly Wiggly grocery store fill the last business spaces on Pine Street before it comes to an end at Cherokee Road. The land here slopes gently toward the river to the South, moving uphill as Cherokee Road heads northward. On each side of Cherokee Road are middle-class homes and neighborhoods.
The largest of the homes in this area is the Cooper Mansion. The Cooper Mansion sits off Cherokee Road down a long gravel driveway with a gas lamp that burns beside it at the road. The mansion itself is a stone-masoned, three-story house with a tin roof, featuring two large fireplace chimneys and a two-car carport. The design is simple and square, with a Juliet balcony over the green front door and matching green shutters decorating the windows. It is well cared for and in excellent condition, though it could use remodeling to bring the exterior up to date for the modern 1940s.
Weather:
It is summer. The weather is hot and drizzling.
The rain seems to have let up a bit, just enough to permit folks to run their errands — on foot even, if so desired — without being struck and sodden like drowned rats. The clouds above form an angry line, heavily pregnant with more moisture that shall likely hit in the dead of night.. but for now, this late afternoon (tapering into early evening) it's tolerable. With her sister spending the evening over on Butler with one of her standby little miss friends, Kathleen Wright is free to get a few things done without being ambushed by the preteen girl's latest conquest for new clothes and… god above, even cosmetics. Twelve-year-olds don't need lipstick! It's enough to drive Kitty mad… she's not ready.
So this is a reprieve; this solitary, stalking act of filling a basket with 'necessities' at the good ol' Piggly Wiggly and having time to herself to think. With the taking on of Ernest into one of her rooms to let, for a couple of days… and Wolf Laveau in the other room, indefinitely, it helps to have some extra stuff around the house. She won't let on but Kitty gives a shit about people.. enough to think of them when buying groceries. Hmmph.
Purchases made, the sinuous woman steps out onto the sidewalk in front of the busy store, clad smartly in fitted dark wash denim jeans and a pale blue blouse that sets her golden eyes to glowing. Blue is Kitty's color, even though she could really care less.. it was the first thing she grabbed. Brow furrowed, she digs for her keys.
And out on the sidewalk, she's sure to see a familiar face. Miss Leona Styne, done up in wide-legged pants, a cream and purple flower blouse, her hair pulled under a brown kerchief. There's a purse dangling from her good arm. Good arm is an important phrase, because her right arm has a splint and bandage around the hand, wrist, and forearm. Judging from the mud on her pants, it's clear that she too walked here. Perhaps it was too muddy to get the car out, or perhaps she was tired of being stuck inside.
Either way, she's here now, standing in the middle of the street. That's odd — she's stopped there, and is staring up to the rooftops. Even as a car does come trundling down the lane, and stops where she is, she remains there. Still. The car honks. No movement from Leona.
The carpenter's own hair forms a wild, leonine halo above and beyond her skull, tapering off just at the base of her neck in a 'finger-brushed-while-wet' way. This, too, suits her. Just when she's fishing out the keys to her truck from as unfeminine a purse as she possibly could have bought for herself… a prickle of awareness reaches her. It happens sometimes, to completely ordinary people such as herself; that weird awareness when you know someone familiar is closeby. Eh… regardless, Kathleen is sure to recognize vet Styne out there in the street; her peripherals caught the flare of cream and purple and in the seconds that followed she looked up. Of all things the woman sees the splint first and her guts are immediately filled with a roiling concern.
Did she hurt herself in this weather? Was she kicked by livestock?!
Kathleen's full lips form a moue of concern as she makes to call to the brunette, but sees — like others present, especially the person in the car — that Leona is not responsive as she stares off. Hoisting up the two sacks bearing her groceries, Kitty begins to pad toward the street. "Leona?" She asks suddenly, just after the car honk. Golden eyes glare in at the driver before flitting back to the other woman. "Ya okay?"
Is she okay? It's hard to say. She certainly doesn't say. Instead, Leona just continues to stare, her face a blank mask. No emotion, no conscious thought. Even her eyes seem duller, when they're usually a bright blue on sunny days and a dark green on dark ones. Today they're just … cloudy. Due, in part, to the lack of sunlight reflecting in them to show off any particular color. But also, quite possible, it's that Leona doesn't seem to be quite there.
The blare of the horn sounds again, the driver undeterred by Kitty's look. So too is Kitty unnerved to find Leona completely, utterly out-to-lunch AND with an arm laid-up to boot. Not good. Did she fall hard when she hurt herself; was she concussed? Okay, that's reading too far ahead.. no sane person would be out and about with a concussion. Anyway, no use freaking out.. Kitty reaches out with the arm that isn't laden down with groceries and gently touches Leona's elbow. "Miss Styne?" She asks firmly; usually Leona gets after her for being formal. No response. Jaw working the blonde hooks that hand into Leona's arm — the one that isn't hurt of course — and with that careful hold… tries to steer her out of the street.
"C'mon Leona, yer in traffic.." All of one car, but still. It's creating a scene; something Kitty rarely cares about but surely Leona would. If Leona elects to move, Kitty will guide her toward the sidewalk.. if not? If she is, like, rooted there… Kitty will shake her gently. "Leona?" She asks firmly, anxiety arising in her tone.
The physical tug seems to do something to Leona. She blinks, and there's an expression on her face. It's a confused expression, but an expression none the less. This next horn, and the guy really leans into it, causes Leona to blink and look in that direction, as though seeing it for the first time. Like she had no idea the car was ever there or blaring its horn before just now. "Kitty?" Leona asks, surprised and almost indignant as she's led to the sidewalk. Not at Kitty, per say, but just at the situation. "What in heaven's name is going on here?"
Laying into the horn jostles Kitty too, and she pivots on a heel to glare into the windshield. Who cares if this loses her some work? She's worried, and this puts her nerves into a simmer. "Ya want that jammed up yer tan track ya fuckin' dimwit? Give her a second.. ya ain't gotta be anywhere fast! Have a cigarette!" She hollers at the offending car, and the man in the seat leans back. Crazy skirts!
Leona seems to come back and Kitty continues to steer her, turning back to her with a gaze that is simultaneously kind and anxious, though her eyes still crackle with anger at the heavy-handed-honker. "I'm gonna ask ya the same.. ya were just standin' out in the road for awhile, staring at the sky. Are you okay?" Kitty asks quickly, still holding her arm in case she faints or falls. She's obviously very unnerved.
"Staring at the sky? What an odd thing, why on earth would I be doing that?" Leona asks with a chuckle, albeit a slightly nervous one. And a slightly nervous chuckle coming from her is likely unnerving in and of itself. She's the queen of composure, Leona Styne is! All hail! Still, that queen takes another moment to look around her, blinking a few times at the sights. Like she's lost, desperately lost. "I'm downtown? How on earth did I get downtown?" She asks Kitty … or no one. It's all rather a blur still, in the moment.
Holy shit, okay.. yeah, the 'nervous' chuckle doesn't ease Kitty any. But now Leona, who knows what she is doing AT. ALL. TIMES. … she doesn't know why she's here and how she got here and her friggin' arm is hurt. Kitty's eyes round with anxiety and her parcels shuffle and twitch as she moves to face Leona squarely, though she finally lets the vet's arm go. "Y-ya don't remember walking down here?" God she PRAYS that Leona walked and did not drive in that odd haze. Kitty recognizes, too, the look of being unsure of where one is and she guides Leona back toward the façade of the building behind them, so they're not in the way of people walking past.
"How do ya feel? Are ya faint? Headache? Did ya…" Shit, she feels weird asking but she has to. As unnerved as Leona looks, the oddity of a fretful Kitty is also a rare sight to the world. "Did ya walk here, do ya remember?"
Did she walk here? Leona isn't sure. She allows Kitty to guide her, following along easily enough. She takes the question seriously at least, drawing her face slightly and looking at the ground as she goes over whatever is in her head, trying to piece it together. "I don't know," she finally admits, sounding bewildered. Those downcast eyes take in her shoes and the ground. Oh! The shoes, the hems of her pants. "I must have," she finally says. "I'm covered in mud. The car is too … I'd never have driven the car in that state." Nervousness, but no panic. Does Leona really panic ever? If so, it seems like this is the time for it.
"Okay.. okay, then." Kitty says quietly, personally feeling the need to panic. Mind you such a reaction isn't in her repertoire either but this is very creepy stuff. Her eyes glance down at the muddied pants and shoes and somehow that scares her. Leona is almost always clean, too; well, if she's not guiding calves out of cow hoo-hahs… but this is just all sorts of weird. It's no use peppering the vet with questions.
"I'm parked just over on yonder," Kitty gestures to a couple of blocks past the Piggly Wiggly, the rear end of faithful Freida diagonally-parked into a parking stall like the old girl belongs there. "Do ya need me to carry ya anywhere? Do ya need to get home? I'll take ya—" She pauses, and calms herself. She can't stop looking at the splint.. that question is burning the tip of her tongue but she won't bombard Leona.
"Yer arm.. did ya fall? Could that have something to do with this blank spot?" Kitty asks desperately.
"I … really suppose I ought to go home. I can't remember quite the state of the barn. Clyde dealt with it last night and I don't think I've checked on it all day. How very unlike me," Leona admits, frowning unhappily. She seems about to disappear into thought again, but the question about the splint has her lifting her head again. The smile from her is the same as it always is, and Kitty will recognize it. Why in just that moment, you'd never know anything was wrong at all. "I had a little accident on the Fowler farm yesterday. Their creek breached the banks and a few of their herd got trapped, and I had an accident trying to get them clear of it all. You know, I think that must be it. I was so exhausted last night, I must have slept-walked." Yep. Dressed herself and walked all the way into town, asleep. Sure, why not, right?
Just look a Kitty, she… isn't buying part of that. But who is she to grill Leona on what did or didn't happen? Her brow quirks, "Ya must be a damned intuitive sleepwalker, Leona," She says solemnly, taking in the woman's attire and even the set of her hair. The recognizable easy smile is no consolation either, or even just barely. Suddenly all Kitty wants to do is get the woman into her truck and safely home. "Does this happen often? Do ya forget things sometimes? Sorry to be askin' so much of ya but ya were in a tight spot, yer lucky the driver was paying attention." She can't mask the anxiety in her tone there. She listens to details on how Leona got hurt at the farm, and.. there… something that makes a lick of sense. "That'd do it.. maybe.. but ya gotta get home. C'mon, yer comin' with me." She says firmly.
Assuming Leona will accept the ride, Kitty pads toward the waiting pickup truck. "Do ya want me to check in on the barn? I ain't got much to go by with feedin' livestock and how much they get but I don't think yer fit to be outside for too long, after a fall. Bet yer body's still in shock." Says Dr. Wright. Prescription? Sleep and strong booze.
"No, nothing like this has ever happened before," Leona confesses, getting into the truck a little uneasily. Trucks take some climbing up, after all! At least she's in pants, today. "I'm so sorry to make a mess of your truck, my dear. It's impossible to stay clean out there." That, at least, she seems to know. Even if she doesn't remember getting dirty. "Really, I'm sure it's nothing," Leona says, her calm demeanor finally settling back. No more confusion on her features. Just a touch of sadness. "Something to do with what happened yesterday. It has to be related somehow. I was underwater for awhile, and got hit with a bit of debris while I was trying to swim out. Still, I'm sure I'll be fine to look into the barn. I wouldn't want to inconvenience you. How's dear Maddie, and the kittens?" So pleasant! Like nothing in the world is wrong.
The carpenter isn't one to coddle anyone unless they're really bad off, so she will simply pull open the passenger-side door and watch to make sure Leona can get in alright. "Don't ya worry none, should be seeing what I carted around the past few days. It's already a bit of a mess." She admits ruefully.. at least the passenger-side seat didn't bear the sodden, muddy Clifton and Leona's poor cream-colored pants won't be set down into filth. Even though they're mostly a write-off now.
Making sure her friend is settled, Kitty walks around the front of the truck and opens the other door, nestling her groceries into the space between them both and making sure they don't topple. Carefully she eases herself in behind the steering wheel, closes the door, and starts the it up. The sound of well-cared-for truck snarls around both women as Kitty contemplates.
"Jesus.." She utters gently, looking stricken. "I know ya ain't needin' me to tell ya what ya need, but please stay home tonight.. tomorrow too. Somethin' got rattled yesterday, I'm sure of it. Ya got my number, if ya need anything ya can call." Kitty implores, still anxious despite the vet's return to her easy, peaceful way. "I ain't easily inconvenienced tonight.. Maddie ain't with me. She's over with a friend…. doin' well, turning into a real miss." She looks saddened, briefly. "It's creepin' up on me, how scary it is. The kits, we found homes for most of them.. kept two. Growin' up with a big idea of themselves."
"Oh, how wonderful. That's excellent news," Leona says, smiling warmly over at her friend, the mid-Atlantic accent in her speech going strong. She continues to watch Kitty for another moment, and then tilts her head to the side, reaching over to pat the woman's leg. "Don't you fret about me, Kitty. I'm sure it's just a little something that's been knocked askew, as you say. And I promise I'll do as you recommend. Not very much I can do on my own with this arm anyway. I'm right handed, isn't that just nuts?" She shakes her head, good natured even in discussing her broken arm.
"May I ask … you seem a little forlorn about Maddie growing up. Does it bother you, to see her changing? I've never had a sibling, or a child for that matter."
The brief contact catches Kitty's attention for a brief second; she's not used to someone touching her out of familiarity. There's either the loving sisterly hugs of Maddie, or the other 'moments' that Kitty typically initiates herself, on her terms, that are not meant for conversation with a proper lady. Leona bids Kitty not to fret and she will nod, albeit reluctantly… something just doesn't feel sound here. "That's really a bother… do ya need help with any heavy work? I can at least help ya there.. if anything needs to be mucked, requires two hands and a shovel.. whatever.." She coughs, twisting slightly so that she may peer out the back window as she reverses. Knowing each and every vein of road in this town, Kitty is soon setting her trajectory for Leona's neck of the woods.
The ride is smooth, unassuming, and it's easy for the blonde to divide her attention. "I'm happy on account of having gotten her there, to this point, without her being too big for her britches.. but it's scary all the same. I ain't the best on what she's headin' into.. I was at my daddy's hip all through those years. I know the basics but what Maddie is on about… the clothes, the pretty stuff.. I.. don't know what to do with that. Ma is long dead. I let her have overnighters with her friends so she can see a proper family unit. IT's the best I can do."
"Oh, I shouldn't think so. Clyde Walker was out in the barn for at least an hour if not more last night, shoring things up. He usually does good work. I'm not terribly worried about it," Leona assures the other woman, sitting back in the car and closing her eyes. Her façade of calm and peace cracks, ever so slightly, for a moment as she takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out, as if to calm herself internally. But then her eyes open, and she watches the flood-infested town go by, and the conversation continues.
"You can always send her over to me sometime," Leona says. "I'm told I tend to be rather feminine in my styles. We can give her a little makeover, or something of the like. Nothing beyond what's appropriate for her age, of course, but something to give her a taste of the fun of it. It can be fun, you know."
"The Walkers always seem to do good work.. pity the town uses 'em as their collective toilet." Kitty says outright, though she will now drop the matter of helping in the barn if Leona had help yesterday. The reassurance worked! Golden eyes flit sideward in time to see Leona lean back with her eyes closed, and breathe deep. Kitty marks this, intends to address it, but will politely field other questions on Maddie first. An expected 'question' turns out to be an offer that strikes Kitty between the eyes and it's to help with something so very, very important.
"W-would ya.." She blinks hard, and looks to the road quickly. "Ya would do that for her? Some of the mothers of her friends, or, a-ah.. women in general in this town.. I don't know how to get on with them either. Or keep conversation with 'em at length.. yer one of few that I actually trust." She admits, fingers twitching on the wheel. "I would like that very much and I bet she would, too.. she would lose her mind, I reckon." Kitty concedes, the corner of her mouth twitching with the beginnings of a grin. A glance back to Leona.
"Ya still seem rattled. Do ya want me to sit with ya for awhile til yer sure yer okay?"
"Don't even think on it any more, Kitty. Consider it done. You can send her to me, or bring her, any time you feel the need, day or night. You know my door is always open for you." Leona looks over and gives a warm and truly sincere smile to the other woman. Then she turns to look out the window again at some of the flooded farmland. Corn fields have turned to rice fields. "Harvests are going to be awful this year now. A lot of people are going to have a hard winter. Bet we'll see a lot of sons signing up for the war, just to get away," the brunette sighs. She considers, and then shakes her head. "No, Kitty. I'm alright, there's no reason for you to waste your precious daylight, such as it is, sitting with an old so and so like me. I promise I'm entirely well, and I won't leave the house at all."
"Thank ya all the same. We'll look into it in a few days when, hopefully, this mess settles down." Kitty glances skyward from beneath a fringe of dark lashes, wincing at the broody clouds. "I been here lifelong and seen some bad summer storms, but this is really something. I can't imagine what the farmers and their kin are dealin' with." She says quietly; she may be a little gruff but Kitty does try to empathize. "The town is already pretty low on sons.." She trails off, looking a bit bothered. Not for the loss of eligible menfolk with which to settle down, but the sheer loss of life. "Ladies are gonna have to move out of town to find a fella at this rate." She observes, it's a very real plight. She inwardly thanks God above that she's not 'looking'.
"i ain't got much to do with my daylight currently. If anything I'm enjoying a bit of downtime because once this becomes tolerable, I'll be up to my ears in work. I got old Ernest Roberts set up in my guest room for a few days til' his house can be figured out. The old tobacco farmer who lives out on Willowby? Fished him out the other day." Kitty recollects, worriedly. "That is old, Leona. Not you. I ain't inclined to ever consider you old."
"Older than I look, perhaps. Or at least in spirit. But of course I welcome any company, if you've a mind to give it," the brunette says, turning to look out the window for another few long moments. "You'll find someone, Kitty," Leona says at last, perhaps slightly out of the blue. "It'll come as a shock to you, I bet, when it happens. But it'll all happen in a hurry and you'll be glad for it. I'd wager any amount on that." She turns to look back at her friend, to see how the news hits her.
Blink.. honest-to-goodness, Kitty never considers it. Is it impossible? No.. but when someone like Leona says it, the blonde's cheekbones dust pink only barely. It being said out of the blue was a quick, nimble shot and it caught her off guard. "Poor bastard better be patient." She quips, but gently.. she's not making light of, or fun of the vet's comment… but just really pushing home that she isn't rushing. "It's more likely you'll find the right sort, someday.. I ain't believin' age has a hand in when someone can or cannot find what, and whoever they need. I think it's the best way to look is to just not look." She admits with a shrug of lithe shoulders, lips quirking.
"For now, I'm likin' the spinster club. Just me, my truck, and my gun. Nobody to answer to." Kitty concurs, the land changing as they draw close to Leona's property… becoming instantly recognizable. Kitty noses the truck into the driveway and makes to creep along toward the vet's house.
"It's more complicated than that, Kitty," Leona says with a wistful sigh. There is some weight there, something upon her that can only be seen in teensy flashes. Perhaps this little episode has made her more vulnerable. But then, just like that, it's gone again, and she's the same Leona again. Whatever it was, it's buried back deep, and won't be up again. "Shall I set us up some tea, then?" Leona asks once they've stopped, smiling like nothing in the world is amiss as she moves to get out of the car and walk into the house.
The carpenter is no Empath *cough*; but she is watchful and smart in her own way. She's seen Leona in top form enough to know a difference when she sees it, and the tiny bits of 'something' in the vet's countenance causes Kitty to glance for a bit longer than comfortable now that the truck is stationary and not running the risk of plowing anything or anyone over. She kills the engine, and it's ticking sedately as she looks at her parcels. "Only got eggs, just gotta keep 'em in yer fridge while I'm here. Don't let me forget 'em." She grins. Sorry Leona, she's staying.. even for a little while.
Even to just sit, with tea, to make sure Leona does not collapse or fade out again. Yes, that suits Kitty fine.
Only then, when she is sure, will the blonde woman leave. Too many weird, weird things are happening.