Mama McCray

If the story was to be believed, there was a time when every man in town wanted Molly McCray. That was before almost every man in town had her. The story reached its coda with a graffitied promise of for a good time, call Molly... scrawled across the water tower on the east side of town.

By the time she was nineteen, it was clear high school was the furthest she would go in the way of academic education, and any number of truck stops and strip clubs as a career. She was already fond of cheap gin. The men came and went without much thought. That story followed her like a shadow, backed by obvious sad facts of her continued promiscuity.

"Molly?" Grandfather Maximilian once snorted. "Magdalene is a better name for the likes of her."

It was no secret that Molly and Grandfather Maximilian did not like one another at all. And Molly was the type who made enemies for life. The only person she despised more than Grandfather Maximilian was his daughter, Jessica. That hatred arose one fateful night in the Blacksnake Cantina when Ezekiel Raitt was preforming.

"I just met the woman I'm gonna marry, ya'll!" Ezekiel announced to the crowd, speaking of Jessica. "Oh, I am in the mood!"

And he launched into a cover of I'm in the Mood. Elijah remembered, albeit uncomfortably, how at their twenty-fifth anniversary dinner, Mom mentioned that cover was simultaneously the raunchiest and most arousing cover of the old John Lee Hooker song she had ever heard. Anytime he heard the song, he thought of his parents.

Ironically, with Molly hating both Grandfather Maximilian and Jessica, she found her only son, Jessup, became dear friends with Elijah. She wasn't sure who was Jessup's father, and, with days at whichever truck stop and nights at some strip club, Ezekiel and Jessica Raitt offered more of a stable environment. Molly's attempts at motherhood were almost always on the fringe.

It wasn't that she didn't try. She really did care for Jessup and wanted the best for him. She even tried to make Elijah feel welcome when he would be in the McCray house, despite the overflowing ashtrays and empty gin bottles.

"Eli, it's okay if you call me Mama McCray," she told him once. "In fact I'd really like that."

"But I already have a mom, Miss McCray," Elijah, at the age of eight, told her. Molly never forgave him for that.

Molly would still go see Dad preform. Often, horribly drunk. It was no secret she was pining for Ezekiel when Jessica, to Molly's mind, stole him away with a bashful glance and shared tumblers of whiskey. But Dad knew better. When Molly was making her way around the local musicians, he wrote a song about her, named Gin Woman.

Heartless woman
livin' your life of pure sin,
You don't want
no man in your life,
Unless that man brings you
a bottle of gin...

Years and years later, Molly McCray looked far older than she really was. Dad would say she looked like she was rode hard and put away wet. The men were no longer as frequent and she didn't work in strip clubs, but pulled doubles at one of the truck stops, pouring coffee and telling stories of her bygone days, which read like cautionary tales. Although the story of once being wanted by every man in town and her number being scrawled on the water tower had become apocrypha.

Elijah couldn't remember how many years had passed since the last time he had actually seen Molly, but he knew it was at least one or two before he met Alabaster. Even then, she would still try to get him to call her Mama and he would politely decline by calling her Miss. There civility was maintained because of Jessup, and the forms of affection the held for him.

It was a slow weekday afternoon when Elijah walked into the truck stop and showed himself to the counter. As he picked up the menu, he was delighted to see that mint tea was offered as a beverage. He wondered if the proprietor of the establishment knew Grandfather Maximilian.

Elijah spied Molly as he sat down. What was once fire-red hair was now the color of rust that consumed the metallic hunks rotting away in the salvage yards. Her skin seemed to be drawn across her bones like parchment. It was her brilliant emerald green eyes that hinted at the beauty that was spoken of in her story.

"Well, look at what the cat dragged in," Molly's said as she stepped up to him. "Eli Raitt."

"Hello, Miss McCray," he said politely, his deep-set dark eyes locking with her's. "May I have some mint tea, please?"

"Your spic grandfather used to love that stuff," Molly muttered not bothering to hide her disdain.

"Grandfather Maximilian was Spanish and Berber," Elijah corrected.

"So, part sand-nigger," Molly grunted as she brought him his tea. "Why are you back in town? Is your dad in the hospital again?"

Elijah gritted his teeth and took a sip of steaming mint tea, which he found mediocre, but excused it, given the environment. He was worried this was not going to be easy. Molly would not allow it to be. Part of that was his fault, being of the one possessed of an odd driving curiosity that compelled his desire for going places and experiencing different things. Another aspect was simply his family; Grandfather Maximilian and Mom, both of which molly harbored that pathological hatred of.

"My dad's fine, Miss McCray, but thank you for asking," Elijah said, as he leaned forward. "But Dad did tell me Jessup's not been around lately." He stopped to take a long and thoughtful sip of tea. "Seems he's left town."

"He might have," Molly said. "Jess and I don't talk much, you know."

This was true. Jessup was more likely to talk to Mom and Dad than his own mother. It had been that way since he and Elijah were children. Even when Dad would send him back to Molly. Although she never said anything about it, it was safe to say she resented that too.

"All things considered, I figured he might have said something to you," Elijah mused.

"What if he did?" Molly snapped, pushing herself closer. Her face hardened and her eyes narrowed. "You think you can just waltz in here to see me after god-knows-how-many years and expect me to just open up to you about my son? Hell, you hardly even talk to him anymore! You just go wandering around, living out your daddy's songs and shooting people spooky looks like your mutt of grandfather used to!"

People were beginning to look over. The other staff of the truck stop were exchanging nervous glances. Elijah noticed for the first time the hint of gin on Molly's breath. Part of him wanted to ask her if she was already drunk, or just a little buzzed. Instead, he took a deep breath and another sip of tea.

"Miss...Mama McCray," Elijah began calmly. "This isn't about my mom or dad, or even my grandfather. It's about Jessup, because, no matter where I've ever gone, anywhere in the world, and no matter what, he's always been my friend. Now he seems to have left. I just want to know where my friend might have gone."

Something in Molly's face changed. Her eyes began to moisten. Slowly, she reached out, running her hand down Elijah's cheek.

"Oh, Eli," she cooed. "You sweet, dear boy..."

He wanted to tell her to stop touching him. To pull away. He wanted to snidely tell her to go sneak herself another bit of gin and stop making a scene. People were still watching the two of them. Someone who looked like a manger was slow inching closer, as if to end the exchange at any time.

"Where's Jess?" Elijah asked.

"I don't know. I really don't" Molly said. There was a certain desperate sincerity in her voice. The kind that all but begged to be believed, but knew not to push.

"Dad said no one knew," Elijah said. "I guess he's gone, gone, gone."

"That cantankerous Old Man Mitchell might know something," Molly offered. "That was one of his places Jessup was living at, you know."

Elijah considered that. Although Dad mentioned he had heard from Old Man Mitchell that Jessup was gone in the first place, and that he had perhaps left town, he hadn't given much further detail. It was possible the old man knew something he hadn't bothered to mention to Dad because it'd either slipped his mind or it just didn't come up in conversation.

Quickly, Elijah finished his tea and set some money down to pay for it. Molly suddenly seemed disappointed that he was leaving so soon. Much to his comfort, people were no longer so interested in either him or Molly.

"Thank you for the tea," he said politely. "It wasn't horrible. My grandfather might have not minded it."

"How long do you think you'll be in town?" Molly inquired.

"I don't know," Elijah said. "I'd like to get some idea of where Jessup went."

"Do you think you could come and see me before you leave again? I'd like that."

"I'll see what I can do," Elijah said with a bit of smirk, the type that denoted he might know a secret, or was on his way to learning one.