Fannie Flagg - Standing in the Rainbow

"Dear Neighbor Dorothy,

"I met my husband at Alcatraz. No, he was not a criminal he was a prison guard. My church group was on a tour and when he saw me and I caught his eye, he followed us back to the tour bus and found out where we were staying and called me that night for a date. Although he was a guard he was handsome in his uniform and we have four grown children".

"Well, Mrs. Carroll, you win the prize hands down, so look for your certificate for a free five-pound bag of Golden Flake Flour." After Beatrice sang and Dorothy did a few more commercials, she made her announcement.

"You know I'm always looking for good entertainment for you and while Doc and I were in Memphis I was lucky enough to see and hear a wonderful singing group, the Oatman family, and they will be here live on our show next month. I'll keep you posted on the exact date for all of you out there who love gospel music. Be sure to tune in, because you are in for a big treat."

Some of Neighbor Dorothy's audience in the towns may not have been aware of the Oatmans, but many others out in the country were happy to know they were coming. Particularly Norma's Aunt Elner Shimfissel, who had heard them on Gospel Time, U.S.A. She was just beginning to lose the hearing in her right ear and loved a group that sang loud. After the show, as Dorothy was in Anna Lee's room admiring her new saddle oxfords and hearing all about how impossible Bobby had been while they were gone, Dorothy tried to find a way to gently drop the news about the houseguest that was coming next month. She pretended to be preoccupied with fluffing the curtains. She started off with a casual "And oh, by the way…" but it did not work.

"A Church of Christ gospel singer?" Anna Lee screamed. "In my room for an entire week? I can't believe it!"

"Now, sweetheart, I'm sure you will like her when you meet her. She seemed very nice," said Dorothy hopefully. Anna Lee wailed and fell back on her bed in agony. "Oh, Mother, how could you do this without even asking me?"

"Well, it just sort of happened. Mrs. Oatman asked me if we had an extra bed… and you weren't there to ask… I thought you wouldn't mind. She's about your age and, besides, you might enjoy meeting someone a little different."

"Different! Mother, those people don't even go to the movies or dance or wear makeup or anything!"

Dorothy remembered what they had looked like and had to confess, "Well, probably not. But that's their religion, so we'll just have to respect the fact. You can give up going to the movies or a dance for just one week, can't you?"

Anna Lee looked at her mother in horror. "Why do I have to give it up? I'm a Methodist."

"I just don't think it would be very nice to do something that she couldn't do."

"How am I supposed to entertain her if she can't do anything?"

"You can introduce her to some of your friends. I'm sure you can find a lot of things to do."

"Name one."

"Well, take her to the swimming pool or… maybe we can plan a little party for her in the backyard. Take her on a picnic."

"What else?"

"Oh, I don't know, Anna Lee, I'm sure you'll come up with a lot of things to entertain your guest while she's here."

"She's not my guest I'm just the one who's going to be stuck with her night and day. What if she goes through all my things?"

"Don't be silly. She's not going to go through your things. She's a very sweet girl and I'm sure it will all work out just fine and it's not going to kill you to be nice to someone for one week. We'll talk about this later. Right now I've got to go and get supper started."

Dorothy was almost out the door when Anna Lee added, "All right, but if she shows up here wearing some tacky homemade dress I'm not taking her anywhere. She can just stay home."

Anna Lee had not really meant it but that last statement stopped Dorothy cold. Her mother rarely got upset with her but Anna Lee knew in an instant she had gone too far. Dorothy turned around and looked at her for a long moment.

"Anna Lee, don't tell me that I have raised a daughter who has turned out to be a snob. If I thought for one minute that you would ever be unkind to anyone, much less some poor girl who is probably looking forward to coming here and meeting you, it would just break my heart. I told that girl you would be happy to have her here but I guess I was wrong."

Anna Lee immediately felt terribly ashamed of herself "I'm sorry, Mother, I didn't mean it."

Dorothy stood there thinking about what to do, then said, "I'll get in touch with Mrs. Oatman tonight and tell her they will have to make other plans…"

"No, don't… I'm sorry, Mother."

But Dorothy turned and left the room. Anna Lee ran after her mother, pleading, "No! Please don't. Mother, please!"

"I'm not having that girl come where she's not wanted".

"But I want her to come. I promise I'll do anything she wants. Please let her come! I'll kill myself if you don't let her come." With that she collapsed on the floor in full-blown teenage-girl hysteria.

"Please! Please! She can have my entire room, she can wear all my clothes, I'll sleep with Grandma. I'll entertain her night and day, I promise, please don't call!"

Dorothy had seen these histrionics before and was not convinced. "All right, Anna Lee, get up. I won't call today. But I'm not promising anything. Let's just see how you feel about it tomorrow."

From that day forward Anna Lee made it a point at dinner to mention that she was so looking forward to Betty Raye's visit and just couldn't wait for Betty Raye to get there. Although it was not quite true, Anna Lee would rather walk through fire than ever disappoint her mother again.

A month later, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, a dusty old four-door green Packard, packed full of people, song books and clothes, with sound equipment piled up on the top and on the running boards, drove up to the Smith house. A hand-painted sign on the back read:

THE OAT MAN FAMILY TRAVELING FOR JESUS.

Dorothy called out from the living room, "Anna Lee, Bobby, Betty Raye is here." All day Anna Lee had practiced smiling and looking happy for the arrival but when the beat-up car pulled up she secretly hoped nobody would see it.

The car door opened and three people stumbled out, and just as Anna Lee had feared the girl was wearing a light blue homemade dress with some sort of ugly green zigzag piping around the neck and sleeves. One of the Oatman boys untied a small brown cardboard suitcase from the running board and handed it to her and got back in the car.

Minnie was in the front seat by the window waving her handkerchief "Here she is, Mrs. Smith," she said, then looked up at the house and exclaimed, "Oh, just look at what a pretty place you got. Look at all them nice shrubs and your pretty little flower beds this is probably the nicest house she's ever stayed at."

Dorothy thanked her. "Won't you and your family come in and have a cold drink or a sandwich? I've made cookies for you."

"Oh no, honey, we can't, we just drove all the way from Oklahoma packed in here like sardines and my legs is all swelled up so bad I need to get where we're going. Besides, if we was to all get out now, no telling when we'd get everybody back in. The boys is bad to wander off whenever we stop… but we will take us a sack of them cookies if they're handy."

"Of course," Dorothy said. "Anna Lee, you and Bobby run in and put some wax paper around the cookies and wrap up the sandwiches." Minme motioned for Dorothy to step over to the car and whispered, "Mrs. Smith, like I say, she won't eat much The only trouble you might run into is that she's a-liable to sit in a corner and not talk but don't take it personal. She's just real timid like and I don't know why or where she gets it from. Lord knows none of the other Oatmans is one whit timid. We've been praying she'll get a healing… but no luck so far."