The Rock and the Secret

Old Southern beliefs broken by young girl's determination to get out of the small town in which she lives.

The early morning light shone upon the house, and inside Lana quickly finished dressing. After buckling her scuffed black shoes, she arose from her bed and reached between her mattresses for the multi-colored rock that rested safely there. She crossed the hallway and looked upon her sister and baby brother who were still sleeping. Looking at Aunt Jonnie would prove less pleasant for Lana had not yet told her aunt of the plans she had made.

 

"Good mornin' child" Aunt Jonnie gave her usual Mississippi flavored greeting. In the kitchen it floated among the scents of bacon and coffee and Karo syrup and hung like smoke waiting for Lana's response. Only this morning Lana wanted to run out of the back door and not look back until she had reached the city. "Well ain't cheya gonna say anything for yerself this mornin'? If you ain't gonna talk you could least pick up a towel and start helpin'. When your mama was a . . . " her voice dribbled into a mumble.

 

Lana continued to stand at the entrance of the kitchen for several minutes before she spoke. Air pushed through an opened window sighing secrets and bringing new smells. Lana’s thoughts drifted with the unseen as she grasped for her mother’s essence and struggled to restrain tears.

 

"Lana Mae King!” Aunt Jonnie’s exclamation startled Lana. “Don't stand in doorways. How many times did your mama tell you, God rest her soul, it’s just plain rude. Now come in here."

 

"I'm sorry." Lana crossed to the coffee pot and poured coffee. “I’m going to town,” she had finally said it. Lana sat at the kitchen table and awaited a reaction. None came.

 

“Did you hear me, ma’am?”

 

“Oh, I heard you. Guess you think you grown and you don’t have to be axin no mo. Like Aunt Jonnie not gonna needs somethin from town.” This was the unpleasant part that Lana had anticipated. Aunt Jonnie seemed to revert deeper into an ancient dialect as her anger ascended.

 

“Yes ma’am, I’m sorry, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to pay for my ticket until yester . . .”

 

“Ticket? Where do ya think yer goin, Jackson?”

 

“Well, Yes Ma’am, my bus leaves in about 20 minutes.” Lana walked towards the door.

 

Aunt Jonnie chirped wildly as Lana tried to explain, but she would not hear it. She ranted until the children, Susan and Ben, came outside looking curious. Some of the neighbors had even come onto their front porches pretending to drink coffee. But Lana kept walking until she reached the bus stop at corner store.

 

In all of her 19 years of living, she had never traveled outside of Edgar, Mississippi. The small town encompassed her life until that day. As the bus pulled her away, Lana starred at the open fields with large houses and those with abandoned shacks.

 

The memories of her mama filled the spaces of the open road and the guilt gathered with each passing mile. She had made a promise to her mama, and now she had broken that promise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Yes, Mama, I know. I will not tell anyone about the rock. I promise, not another living soul. But Mama, who told you not to tell anyone?” Lana begged her mama again. She did not understand her mama’s ways, her odd behaviors. Nina Louise King believed spirits spoke to her, objects had special meanings and signs lighted the way to other realities. Upon her passing to the heavenly reality, as she called it, mama, only wanted Lana by her bedside.

“Tell me the promise.” Nina breathed a raspy command.

“Mama, I promise,” Lana could not withhold the tears, “but why.”

“Lana, it does not matter. This rock is a God-sign; it has strength, especially after your father died. This, I will tell you. The rock fell from the sky upon a night just before Aunt Jonnie was born. It fell right here on King property. This is your land now. You must protect the secret, just as I have.”

 

The bus stopped at the University; Lana stepped onto the sidewalk, and entered a world her mama had never known. Professor Thomas Kraige, head of the Geology department, met Lana exactly where he had promised -“the bench in front of the Magnolia tree.”

 

“You must be Miss King?” a tall man with a wide smile arose from the bench.

 

“Yes, I - uh, Professor Kraige?, I, well, you . . .” Lana failed to sound mature.

 

“Did you expect someone more scientific looking, maybe with glasses?”

 

“Oh no, Thank you for meeting me.”

 

They walked to the geology building and Professor Kraige’s easy nature calmed Lana’s anxieties. He explained some rock classifications and chemical compositions. At the school's lab he introduced her to students busy working at dusty tables with books and microscopes. 

 

They walked toward a small group of students; the professor looked back at Lana and smiled. She hesitated at first, looking at the professor, still unsure about unveiling her family's secret.  But then he spoke again, he was talking about the expertise of the graduate students who would be testing her rock. He assured her of their qualifications.  She just smiled feeling like the lab dust had misted her mind.  She gave them the rock and they starred in wonder for a moment.  Then words came and books opened; the professor turned to Lana and gently lead her out of the lab.

 

They ate lunch at a nearby cafe and Lana smiled while he told rock stories. She never knew intelligent people could funny.  They talked for quite awhile.  Lana told him a little about her small town.  He said he had been raised in a small town up North. 

 

Upon their return the lab results showed exactly what Professor Kraige had expected.

 

Oil.

 

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The driveway rocks vibrate as the diesel engine machines climb their way to the King's property. Lana helps Aunt Jonnie prepare breakfast and pours herself another cup of coffee. She walks onto the back porch and looks at the dusty pink clouds in the sky. The engine noise swells like songbirds and the road dust rises higher and higher like a gulf breeze of hope.

 

Walking into the backyard toward the live oak tree, vivid memories sting Lana's mind. The noise and the dust disappear as she remembers her mama reading books to her underneath this tree and telling stories about long ago tales.

 

A loud thud startles Lana into the present. She takes a long sip of her coffee not realizing it has collected dust particles while she was daydreaming. She grimaces and tries to delicately spit out the tainted coffee. Then she stands deciding it is finally time to tell Aunt Jonnie the truth about her mama and about the rock.

 

Turning to go inside, Lana nearly collides with Professor Kraige. She had not seen nor heard anything except the thud; but as she looks at her now empty cup she knows that he has probably seen her spitting out the coffee. Lana tries to portray herself demure, but presently cannot think of much to say. As she looks at him and again at her cup; they both smile and move toward the house.

 

 

 

 

THE ROCK AND THE SECRET by Janay C Kimble