Page 185 - Always Virginia

Always Virginia 173

people walked in those days than they do now ’cause everybody has
cars. I heard somebody holler, “Hello, Pearl,” and I thought, who
is that, and I looked across and there he was. And I said, “Oh...hi,
Francis,” and he said, “Can I come and talk to you?” And I said,
“That’s up to you.” So he did, and that was the last time I saw him.

Jack: But I thought Francis Devine showed up on the porch
at your house one night when you and Grandpa and Uncle John—
when he was a baby—were having supper?
Mary Pearl: Francis did come up. The doorbell rang one night.
We had a long glass door. They used to call them French doors,
and I could see it was him, and I didn’t know whether I should
open the door or not, so I did. I said, “Well, what do you want?”
He said, “I just heard you lived here and thought I’d come by and
see you.” I never let anybody scare me. He says, “Can I come in?”
I said, “That’s up to you. You can if you want to. You’re perfectly
welcome.” So he came in. Then he wanted to see John. John was
about six months old. I went and got the baby and showed it to
him. He said—stayed maybe a half a minute more: “Well, I only
came for one reason, to see if you were happy, and I see that you
are very happy, and goodbye.” And I never saw him from that day
to this. But we went together for over 2 years.
[This story of Francis Devine coming to the porch is the base
of a major dramatic scene in the novel, The Geography of Women:
A Romantic Comedy.

Jack: When you were a little girl in the 1890s, what were some
of your favorite things?

Mary Pearl: I don’t know. I was one that kinda liked anything
that had a little fun to it. I liked to jump rope. We used to jump
rope so much. There was an old French woman used to say: “That
Pearl Lawler she makes my Julie jump 116 times. That’s too much
jumps for my little Julie.” Jack, ’cause I could jump so much, and
Julie’d say she couldn’t and I’d say, “Just go ahead. Keep it up.”