Part Nine
Driving back to Monroe, Louisiana from Dallas, Texas refreshed James Michael's memory of his first time to drive at the young age of nine. Late into the night on the way to Dallas, he recalled his mother and his mother's friend Evelyn both passing out at the wheel. Somehow James Michael managed to get his mother to slide over in the seat so he could drive, they'd to be in Dallas by 8:00 a.m. Too short to drive, James Michael took an empty, wooden coca-cola case from the back seat and positioned it in the driver's seat so that he could sit up high enough to see the highway over the steering wheel and dashboard. Virginia and Evelyn both had drank until they were too drunk to drive so James Michael knew he had to drive to make it to the children's heart hospital on time. After several hours of driving late into the night, Evelyn awoke and was in shock when she realized James Michael was driving She asked him if he was tired or sleepy and of course he said yes. He'd discovered driving to be quite stressful, especially with large eighteen wheeler trucks passing him all night as he'd wobbled, trying to stay in his lane. Evelyn got him to pull over on the side of the highway so she could take over driving. Eventually Virginia woke up and was quite surprised to learn James Michael had been driving all night. She and Evelyn took a couple of snorts of whiskey and chased with a few beers apiece. The sun came up and it wasn't long until they arrived at the children's heart hospital. James Michael shook his head, trying to remember if he'd been driving or dreaming. No matter now for they were finally on ther way back home and he was happy to be alive.
Arriving home safe was a huge relief for James Michael, his mother, and Evelyn. After coffee, Virginia thanked Evelyn for her help before Evelyn left to return to her home. Later that day, Arlis came home from work in an uproar. Holding an empty whiskey bottle he'd found in the car, he was screaming at Virginia from the top of his lungs. If noone knew before, everyone knew now that Virginia was pregnant with her sixth child on the way. Every day after Arlis's temper had blown apart, Virginia called Evelyn to come by, pick her up and they'd go to drink together. Many evenings Virginia would arrive home late and Arlis's anger grew and grew. Some drunk guy from the bar had followed Virginia to her home, he got out and knocked on the door. He asked for Virginia and Arlis's anger turned fire red. Arlis threatened to beat the guy to death if he ever saw him again. The fighting between Arlis and Virginia went on half the night like usual, it was late before anyone could get any sleep. The next afternoon when Arlis arrived home from work, he was sitting in his lazyboy chair when Evelyn stopped by to pick Virginia up to go drinking. Calmy Arlis presented a pistol and began shooting into the floor near Virginia's feet, making her jump and dance all over the place. Needless to say, Evelyn made a hasty departure and Virginia stayed home to fight with Arlis half the night again. The next day Virginia took all the children and moved out, moving in with Evelyn.