Sweet Voiced Emmy Lou

Chapter 25

Right back to the 1970's

Carol helps Karen catch a retro look as she accompanies Madison to the Orange Buffoons concert.

There’s a young man that I know,

his age is twenty one

So blow you ol’ blue northern,

blow my love to me –

Ian Tyson Someday Soon Judy Collins The Very Best of Judy Collins


Sweet Voiced Emmy Lou

“Carol, where is Walnut Ridge?”

“Walnut Ridge is even less of a place than Franklin. It’s just west of the highway. Lee would have gone to the same school my sons did.”

“All the food here has been beyond exceptional, thank you. I’m going to get dressed for tonight, it is like working for the ‘Rolling Stone’. You are going to drive us down aren’t you Karen, they’ve got concrete and Pete has given us a parking space. We can come in, ninety minutes before the gates open.”

“Yes Madison, I will not deny you a moment ‘– giving a little wave as Madison bounced upstairs.

“Aunt Carol would you come down and then we could come back here, maybe leave Madison the truck?”

“You don’t want to listen to the most fabulous guitar player ever?”

“I do, but I want to talk to you more, without Madison. I feel like I need to hear more of your life story. You are not just a woman who made a successful business on the family farm. I feel like you are the mother I should have known.”

“I can drive down. They always leave my space by the office. I could leave Madison the truck, Pete won’t let her drive drunk. Of course, if she runs off with Lee, she won’t need a truck. Try to get her to make sure she texts you, wouldn’t want to have to put up missing posters. She shouldn’t simply drop out and run away for two years like I did.”

“You were a runaway for two years?”

“I thought I was just living my life, but I was out of touch for a little over two years.”

“How old were you Aunt Carol?”

“I was far older than I am now, I was sixteen, barely.”

“Was this with the worthless hippie boyfriend?”

“Yes, it was, but the experience did teach me hard lessons. I’ve used here on the farm. I couldn’t tell Madison not to run off, without being a hypocrite like so many old people become. She should stay in touch, nevertheless. I do regret the anguish I must have caused. Also, with your damn smart phones you only have to touch a screen.”

We both had expected Madison to take even longer to get ready; she was back with looks to kill at any concert. “Karen get ready while I upload my photos and store today’s sketches.”

“Aunt Carol what would you have worn to a concert when you first lived here.”

“Jeans with a proper well-worn look, long boots, a peasant blouse of some kind, and my leather fringe jacket. I loved those jackets I’ve had several I still have one. You want the retro look?”

“Yes, I would.”

“The jacket will fit of course. I have long boots; I still wear when Ruth coerces me to ride one of her cantankerous beasts. I’m sure I still have a peasant blouse. I also have a special pair of jeans that might fit you. We’ll be back Madison, maybe fifty years back.”

“See if the boots fit first, yes same size’- Carol took down a box from a shelf in the closet. “I wore these jeans when I got married and then boxed them. Try them on.”

“Wow I love the stitching and embroidery.”

“I would say they fit well, snugly to highlight the gangly frame.” Carol sorted through another closet, “here this blouse is almost like the one I wore the day I wore those jeans.”

I started to try it on. “Karen I never wore a bra with it. You’re young you won’t need it. There was a reason they called us bra-burning man-haters.”

“Did you hate men?’

“No, and most us didn’t. We hated the hateful things many men did, not men as a whole.”

“Ah perfect, brush your hair out and we’ll add the jacket. It’s in the closet downstairs.”

“Did you use make up?”

“No not much, nothing bright and gaudy, we were all natural then.”

Karen slipped on the jacket; Carol thought, was I ever this attractive? “I thought fringe jackets were so hot, and I loved boots. Here look in the mirror and check out your whole retro capture. My sons gave me this mirror, possibly in the hope that I would take a moment to look at myself before rushing out into the world. “

“I like it, the fringe is cool.”

“You two go make an impressive entrance; I will come down after a while in the truck. No one will even notice me they will still be dazzled by my young guests.”

As I looked at myself in Carol’s clothes it was like I was becoming her, remembering experiences long forgotten. I wanted to listen and find this remarkable woman. My relative, my new mother, I felt more at home than at any time in my life. Yet as Carol said, I was just a young guest. I knew I wanted to learn and tell her story. A life more complicated than I knew, but one I was now determined to uncover. This was the moment the college paper about a rural businesswoman became a secondary thing. As I looked at myself, I knew I had just begun to unravel the yarn ball of our intertwined lives. I would become her, and then let a world hear her pure heart. We all walked out together.

Madison popped out her phone. She took photos of Carol and me beside the car, then Carol took some of Madison and I posing. Madison then did a video selfie that transitioned to her beside the car telling about how she was going to see the Orange Buffoons.

Carol said, “See you a little later. Seeing you drive off in this hot rod reminds me of the time JB convinced me to ride in that deathtrap he said was a muscle car. It did have a cute horn. It was also orange, but we had to be the buffoons.”





photo gui