"What should I wear?" I whined, standing near the gas stove where she moved the spoon she held in neat circles around the inside of the skillet, stirring the eggs.
"Wear whatever you want," she said.
"Anything?"
"Yes.....I mean no, not just anything, but one of your new dresses will be fine."
"Ok, can I wear the green one, the one that I tore the waist on?"
"No......I mean, yes. I guess so. I repaired it, and your waist won't show in the picture anyway. So if you want to, it's okay."
"Oh good. All the kids will be surprised that I can wear it again. I wouldn't wear it, you know, because it is kinda dressy, but this being picture day and all, I just wanna wear it one more time to school."
"Well, wait until after breakfast to put it on so you don't get anything on the bodice," she said, taking crisp bacon strips out of the heavy castiron skillet. "The biscuits are just about ready, so get Jan and Susan and I'll call the older kids, and let's eat so everyone can get to school on time. Daddy ate earlier, and he's already gone to work at the gin."
Once we were all seated around the yellow formica table, Mother said a short prayer. Then someone started each of the breakfast foods around in a clockwise pattern until everyone was served.
Some of the biggest arguments we kids ever had started over which way, clockwise or counterclockwise, various foods were supposed to be passed. These arguments usually took place only when there was confusion at the table and more than four items of food.
Someone would start something at one end of the table, and someone else would start something in another direction at the other end, disobeying the rules. When they met in the middle, the commotion started. No one ever wanted to take the blame for starting the food the wrong way.
"Elton, you need to eat more slowly," Mother admonished. "You'll choke!" She laughed after she said this for some reason. Then, as if another, more intrusive thought had crept into her brain,her expression became more somber, and she looked at 13 year-old Stephen. "Stephen, today is picture day. I don't guess you plan to dye your hair green or anything of that sort, do you?"
Stephen picked up his milk, took a drink, and grinned, the milk forming a white rainbow over his upper lip. "No. I didn't like it green anyway. And that was several years ago. I didn't even have my picture taken with it that color."
"I know, but I just want to make sure I have a good picture of the six of you. You know I like to frame them all in one frame, so I can remember how each of you looked in each successive year. And Elton will graduate this year, so it will be the last picture with all five of you in school."
A second of introspection followed, but she wouldn't let it last, so she said brightly, "One in first grade, one a senior."
"Thanks for breakfast, I've gotta get to school," Elton said, standing up quickly. "Ya'll coming with me?" he asked, looking at Neila and Stephen.
"Yeah, just a second. We'll meet you outside," Neila told him, standing up as she dabbed at her mouth with a napkin.
I was just finishing my third biscuit when I heard the old black Plymouth start up and drive a little faster than it should have out of the long driveway. A jolly honk meant they had exited the driveway or seen someone they wanted to acknowledge.
Mother was only halfway through her meal. I hopped up as Susan left the table, and left Jan and Mother sitting there.
I had to put on my green dress. It looked fine, the seams repaired so perfectly it looked as though it had never suffered at my hands. I felt happy; the little buttons and thin organza in the bodice would make a lovely picture.
Susan wanted to wear a white shirt and a plaid skirt Mother had made. Mother started to say something, but thought better of it.
"You look pretty in white," she said from her place at the table. Since our bedroom was a former dining room, it opened directly into the kitchen, so she could monitor our progress in getting ready for school while finishing her breakfast.
Jan hopped down from her chair with a little help. She had to sit on a Mrs. Tucker's lard can in order to sit high enough to reach the table.
"I wanna picture," she said to everyone. "I put on my pretty dress, and I getta picture."
"In a few years, when you start school, you can," Susan said.
"Ok," she said agreeably.
"You're too young," I added, unhelpfully.
"No!", she said loudly, crossing her arms and pouting, her blue eyes spitting sparks.
"I'll take a picture of you today," Mother called from the kitchen where she was washing the dishes.
"Ok," Jan said, running off to find an appropriate dress.
"Bye Mother," we called. She dried her hands and followed us to the front of the house, where we went out the living room door. Holding the screen door open, she leaned to kiss both of us. "Smile your best smile."
"We will," we chimed together.
"How are you going to smile?" I asked Susan as we walked.
"Like this," she said, looking toward me,smiling demurely.
"Ok, how should I smile?"
"Just like I did," she said, a little impatiently.
"Well, I don't know if I can do that. So I'll just smile like this", I said, putting my index fingers in the corners of my mouth and stretching my lips gruesomely.
"Don't you dare! That is awful. Mother is worried enough about what Stephen will do. He always does something on picture day."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three weeks later the pictures were in. My green dress shone, as far as I was concerned. Susan appeared studious, which she was, in her white shirt and black glasses, her large brown eyes serious and mystical looking. Mother took our picture packages from us as soon as we crossed the threshold in the afternoon.
"Oh girls, these are so good." she enthused. "I can't wait to see the others."
Neila came in next, and Mother actually started putting 5x7 pictures of each of us in a special matted frame with six cutouts for pictures. She'd had a studio photo made of Jan to place inside.
Neila had brought Elton's senior pictures, and he had gone to work at the gin after school. They were doing repair and maintenance, getting ready for late summer and fall ginning. Mother seemed to hold his pictures an extra second. She was not given to cheap sentiment, so we hardly noticed.
"Where is Stephen?" she asked. "Did he leave school with you and Elton?" She turned to Neila.
"No, he said he wanted to walk. Isn't he here?"
Just then, we all glanced through the open living room drapes to see Stephen dragging himself into the yard. He walked slowly, his jacket slung haphazardly over his back, and he was intently looking at his picture packet. Once he grinned broadly, then he seemed seized by something that wiped the grin right off his face. The walk up the steps seemed to take forever, and Mother met him at the door.
"Yours is the last picture to go in the frame," she said.
"Oh, ok," he said, holding onto the package of pictures.
"Give them to me, please." It seemed a demand as she extended her hand.
"You're not gonna like them." He seemed so sure.
"Why?" Mother asked even as she took the pictures and slowly opened them.
"Wh...", she started. "Wh...What is this?" she asked, staring intently at his picture. "And where did you get it and" her voice started to rise a little, "why in the world would the man taking the pictures let you wear it?"
Stephen seemed a little proud, but very unsure what her ultimate reaction was going to be, so his demeanor was somewhat muted.
We all clustered around her trying to see the picture, as she sank onto the sofa. Atop Stephen's head sat a tiny, perfect white derby hat with a shiny black band, about six inches in diameter. He had won it at the Halloween carnival at the school gymnasium last October and carefully saved it for five months.
It sat jauntily on the rightfront portion of his head. He explained how he had "deftly" put it there at the last second, just before the camera flashed.
Mother didn't say anything. She just held the picture like it was a dead thing, staring at it. Once I heard a little sniff, but when I looked up, there were no tears. Then she took the picture and resolutely put it in the frame beside the others.
"There will be other years," she said quietly.
"Yeah, and I can't wait!" Stephen enthused.
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