CHAPTER 19
Mary thought back to the time when she realized the responsibilities at the Leigh' household were more than she could handle. It started after Mary watched the three older children go off to school that morning. The school bus always picked them up before 7:00 a.m. After that, Mary utilized her time by sewing or cleaning the house. Baby Derek usually slept until 9:30 a.m., which allowed Mary plenty of time to do whatever she wanted to do.
Whenever she was home, Mary enjoyed watching television sometimes, but Fred had no television; he had said often that he didn’t believe in them. “Television ain’t for child’n. They can‘t learn nothin’ wit‘ no television in the house,” he would say.
The only time the Leigh' children had the pleasure of watching television was when they happened to be at a relative’s home. Those times were very exciting for them, to say the least.
They enjoyed the different wrestling shows and Tarzan, among other shows. In fact, it didn't matter much what was on television, they enjoyed sitting and watching it just the same. But Fred carried out his belief by never buying a television for his home.
By 11:15 a.m., Mary realized little Derek was still asleep, so she rushed through the house to the far-end bedroom to check on him; she thought maybe he had climbed from his bed and was getting into some sort of quiet trouble. But as she entered the room, she saw Derek was still asleep; she walked over to his small bed and leaned over. His ears and cheeks appeared unnaturally red. As she reached over and touched his forehead, she noticed he was very warm.
“My Lord,” Mary whispered aloud, “this babe burnin’ up!” Upon closer examination, she noticed a tiny red rash on his cheeks; she raised his shirt and saw more rash on his stomach. She turned his warm body and noticed more redness on his small back. “Dear Lord, this babe got the measles!” Derek never woke up during Mary’s examination. She rushed from the room and into the bathroom. She grabbed some ointment from the top shelf on the far wall and rushed back down the narrow hallway to Derek’s bed. By now, he was moving around and fussing a bit.
When Mary re-entered the room, Derek was scratching his face. “Stop, babe, don’t scratch yo face. You got the measles,” she said, knowing that he had no idea what she was talking about. “Let me put this on yo face. This goin’ make it better.”
She removed Derek’s shirt and rubbed the ointment on every part of his small body until he was nearly chalky in appearance. Then she removed him from his bed. She dressed him in a pair of long pants and a long-sleeved shirt that fell far below his tiny hands to keep him from scratching. Then she carried him back to the bathroom and found the baby aspirins and put one in his mouth. “Chew it, babe,” she told him, and he did.
The next three hours were busier than Mary had planned, with Derek fussing and trying to scratch. Still, Mary felt she had a handle on the situation. She remembered back to when Bernice had the measles, then a year later the chicken pox. So she knew the measles would last no longer than a couple of weeks. Silently she felt relieved that Derek was not yet in school; he would be back to his busy self soon.
Later that day, around 1:00 p.m., Mary received a call from the children’s school. Mary Jean was running a high fever and needed to be picked up. Mary had no car; she had passed on her old truck to Bernice when Bernice began college. There was only one way for Mary to pick up Mary Jean and that was on foot. But what was she supposed to do with Derek? He had the measles so she couldn't take him outside. And she could not leave him alone in the house while she trudged all the way to the school; besides, the school was much too far away for that.
Mary’s hand trembled as she dialed the number to reach Bernice at the college. “Lord, Lord,”
she muttered under her breath. “It’s always somethin’.” She left a message with the school’s office for Bernice to call Mr. Leigh’s house as soon as she could. Bernice called 15 minutes later and Mary told her of the dilemma she was facing. Bernice tried to calm Mary down. She assured her she would leave school immediately and pick up Mary Jean at school and drive her home.
“Don’t worry, Auntie Momma. I’ll go get her right now. Just calm down, ok?“ Bernice said to Mary. And one hour later, she walked through the door with Mary Jean in tow. It was easy to see that Mary Jean was feeling poorly because she walked quite slowly and leaned into Bernice as they walked. As soon as they entered the living room, Mary took Mary Jean onto her lap and examined her. Mary Jean had succumbed to measles for sure, just as Mary feared.
After a few minutes of talk between Bernice and Mary, Bernice left and returned to school.
Meanwhile, Mary undressed Mary Jean and rubbed her down with the same ointment that she used on Derek. Then she dressed her in a long-sleeved nightgown. “Now don’t ya scratch,” Mary said to her as she led her to the couch to lay down. She wanted to be able to watch Mary Jean and Derek at the same time without rushing from room to room.
Mary attempted to feed Mary Jean and Derek some vegetable soup but neither of them ate very much of it. They just seemed to want to lie down, scratch and fuss. Mary decided she wouldn’t get much work done anytime soon so she lowered herself into the rocking chair and picked up Derek as she went.
Derek finally fell asleep under Mary’s steady rocking and humming and she placed him at the opposite end of the couch from Mary Jean. Then she went to the bedroom and brought back a sheet and placed it on the floor by the couch. She removed Derek from the couch to the floor to avoid a fall. Then she went into the kitchen to start supper.