Regina looked down at her husband, Ray, lying half-in, half-out of their car, his face bloodied and swollen, one arm flung up as if he were waving goodbye.
She had picked him up from work in their olive green 1966 Dodge Dart at five pm, after taking the baby in for her six month-old shots. Shots always made babies fussy, so Regina was anxious to get her home and fed and put down for the night. She could hear her whimpering from the car bed on the back seat.
Regina pulled up to the parking lot and waited for Ray to emerge from the maintenance building where he worked on jets bound for ‘Nam. He took his sweet time, walking out with his new best buddy, Tony. Regina took this as a bad sign. Those two had a way of egging each other on, a kind of male one-upmanship that wasn’t easy to be around. She got out of the driver’s seat and into the back next to the baby. It wasn’t seemly for a woman to be seen driving two men around.
She and Ray had gone out once with Tony and his wife, Sunja, who was from Korea and spoke very little English. She had heard Tony tell Ray that night that he would prefer a wife who didn’t speak at all.
Regina leaned over and put the back of her hand on Carla’s warm forehead. Carla looked up at her, kicking her arms and legs, and whined for Regina to pick her up.
“Shush, baby girl. We’ll be home soon. at’s my sweet girl.”
Ray got in and slammed the door, Tony did the same. Neither spoke to her. Ray pulled out of the base, but instead of turning right toward home, he turned left towards the liquor store.
“Ray, honey. I need to get the baby home. She’s runnin’ a little fever. Can you drop me off?” Regina said.
Ray looked over at Tony. “Did you hear something?”
Tony laughed. “Nah.”
They both got out at the liquor store and went inside. Carla was beginning to squirm, Regina knew she was about to start wailing. She picked her up and laid her over her shoulder, saying, “Shhhh. Shhh, little one. Go to sleep now,” as she bounced her. She hadn’t eaten anything since lunch and she knew the baby would be hungry now, too, and most likely needed a diaper change. She had changed her in the doctor’s once, and had exactly one diaper left and no formula. She’d thought they’d be going right home.
Ray and Tony got back in the car with two twelve-packs and that’s when Regina knew she was in trouble. They headed out on the highway away from town. Regina looked out the window at the oil rigs in the distance, the tumbleweeds along the side of the road, and the at caramel-colored fields lying dormant everywhere she looked. The dust that got everywhere, even her eyelashes. Oklahoma was about as different as one could get from her home of Macon, Georgia. She didn’t get out much, with the baby and all, but when she did she marveled at how alien it all looked to her. She’d noticed a cluster of men around the porch of the market in town, looking past her like she was a white ghost.
They drove a few miles, Carla getting more and more upset and beginning to cry in earnest now. She tried again.
“Ray. Carla needs a bottle. Please, can we go home?”
Just then Ray spotted a roadside park with picnic tables where motorists would stop and have their lunches when they were on the road. He pulled the car in sharply and told Regina to get out. She did as he said, and began to walk the baby around, cooing, trying to get her to sleep. Her peach-colored rayon blouse was soon wet and sticking to her chest and underarms, her skirt and nylons making that swishy sound they make when you’re too hot to be wearing them. The air hadn’t cooled at all even though it must be past six by now, and the baby was a little furnace. Sweat beaded up on her temples, and the back of her neck was wet. Regina lifted up her long, dark hair with her free arm and tried to cool herself down.
Ray and Tony commenced playing tiddlywinks with pennies, laughing loudly, chugging their beer when one of them made the penny jump the way they wanted. Whoever lost had to chug a beer as well. Ray looked up from his game at Regina and said. “You look hot, Regina. Take your blouse off. I want Tony to see your tits.”
“No, Ray. I’m not taking off my blouse.” She turned around and quickly headed back to the car.
“God damn it, I said take off your blouse!” Ray bellowed, stumbling as he tried to get his feet out from under the picnic table. His face was bright red. He had that Irish kind of skin that got red easily and stayed red for a long time. Regina hadn’t realized how drunk he was. She slid into the back seat, quickly put the baby into the car bed and shielded it with her body, Carla screaming and thrashing her little body around in protest at being put down.
Ray wrenched open the back seat door and lunged toward her. She leaned forward and grabbed whatever was lying on the floor near her feet and swung it at Ray. It turned out to be the car jack.
Image Credits: Greg Gjerdingen
