Six Miles From Nashville Read Free

white waitress uniform sat slumped in a glider chair in front of the TV. Her mouth hung open and emitted the loudest snore the girl had ever been exposed to.
    “Hey! Who are you?”
    The old waitress shook herself awake and stared at Betty. “Sweetie sent me to watch over you and make sure you stay in that bed.”
    “Why do I have to stay in bed?”
    “Dr. Jim ordered you to be confined to bed for a couple of days. He don’t want you to get up for nothin’.”
    “Dr. Jim?”
    The woman stood and put her hand on Betty’s shoulder after she struggled up into a sitting position on the bed. “He took care of you, Honey. He stitched you up and seen to it that you will recover nicely. I gotta get Sweetie. She wanted to know the minute you woke up.”
    The girl stared at her for a long minute. “Go ahead and tell Miss Sweetie. I won’t leave the bed.”
    It wasn’t long before Miss Sweetie came in and sat on the edge of the bed. It was just the two of them in the room. She looked nervous and her voice shook when she spoke, “Betty, what happened to the baby?”
    Words explaining what happened were hard to come by. She cleared her throat to buy some time. “I...ah took him to the hospital in Springfield.”
    “Was he okay?”
    “I think so. He had a good strong cryin’ voice.”
    Miss Sweetie sat without saying a word for a long time. The electric clock hummed on the bedside table. A nasty fly dove at Betty’s face and she slapped it hard. It died on her cheek. Miss Sweetie snapped a Kleenex from a plastic canvas tissue holder and wiped the fly off Betty’s face. Sweetie  handed her another one to clean her hand. Betty didn’t know what to tell her.
    “I didn’t have a job. I couldn’t work and take care of a little baby at the same time. There was a news story on TV about lots of girls having babies and leaving them in bathrooms or in dumpsters. The girls were hunted down most of the time and put into jail.
    “I can tell you I was scared when I heard that! Then they told about the hospital in Springfield that let girls leave their babies there with no questions and no arrests.”
    Miss Sweetie fr owned and put her hand over Betty’s. Her voice was hoarse sounding like a smoker, “Why didn’t you go to your family?”
    Betty started bawling like a newborn calf separated from its mama. She could hardly catch her breath. “I never did nothin’ wrong in my life. I walked the line. I never thought something like this would happen to me. I had a steady boyfriend for awhile, and I was still a ‘good girl’. We went to church together and stuff.
    “ When we broke up, I didn’t date anybody at all. I didn’t tell anybody that I wasn’t going steady. I was ashamed to be rejected. I didn’t drink or smoke. I didn’t even go to very many movies. I stayed at home and watched TV with my folks. I never rebelled or back talked much.”
    “How old are you?”
    “I will turn eighteen next month.”
    “How old is the baby’s father?”
    She didn’t know for sure. “He is younger. I think he is almost seventeen.”
    “How did you...I mean, you were obedient to your parents. I still don’t know why you don’t go home to them.”
    “It’s just the way it is. Someday, maybe I will go back.”
    Sweetie rose and crossed the short distance to the door. “Please stay in bed and rest until Monday. I will see to it that you get three squares a day, but you have to see to it that you rest.”
    “Thank you, Miss Sweetie.” The girl was relieved that the visit was over. The woman was being good to her, but her questions dragged up bad memories.
    The door clicked closed and Betty was left with her thoughts. She repented of  her first reaction of wishing that she would be alone. Her mind replayed her first attempts at living life as a grown up.

Chapter 4
     
    Maybe she could figure out where she went wrong. Betty had always been a ‘fixer’. If anyone had a problem, she figured out how they got into their mess.