As you know, Redbone is located a mite past Covington on the East Side of the Appalachians. It sits in all of its southern glory. It is a town of history and age and proudness.

When Steven Forester�s mule tripped over a half buried red colored bone, he had decided that Fate was telling him something. He built his small crude log cabin, traveled to the next farm and traded his last ten dollars for a wife and settled down.

Forester worked hard at raising the finest horseflesh to be found anyway this side of the Appalachians. And as his many sons grew, they too worked hard and gained wisdom and as time passed, a town sprung up around the crude cabin.

With much urging from his tired out wife; Forester built a fine and expensive home in the new and expanding town. As you well know Sonny, their old log cabin became known as a house of Historical Importance.

Well, the new house became a mute witness to terrible indignities thrust upon the townspeople during the civil war. It had housed blasted Yankees on at least one occasion. Many young Redbone men perished under the Yankees.

Those who survived stayed and rebuilt. Wives were courted, married, pleasured and transported from other southern counties and brought home to nest in Redbone. The people of Redbone removed themselves from the rest of the country. Over time roads were built that bypassed this valley and Redbone became just a small dot on the State�s map. Few people took notice of us and as a result, Redbone got very little outsiders. No one minded anyway. People were content in their little southern corner full of history and besides all most everyone was descended from an early settler.

Most everyone in Redbone could trace their ancestry back to Forester himself and were proud of it. In fact, if the truth were told, they were just plain proud.

Okay boy, don�t look at me that way, I'm coming to the meat of the story. I'll tell the rest of it just as I remember it.

It was to this tree lined and green fielded paradise reeking of magnolias, that Ruby Mae wandered into. She�d been driving to California to oversee her daddy�s prosperous import business, when she decided to take a few weeks and explore as much of the United States as she cared to. She took a wrong turn and then another and kept taking wrong turns until she drove into Redbone. Ruby Mae and Redbone were about to begin an adventure.

Even though Ruby Mae possessed a fine southern name, it was the only thing southern about her. Her mother had read the name in a Gothic romance novel and thought what a fine name if she was to have a girl. There wasn�t an inch of grits and fried chicken in the young woman and she wouldn�t say "y�all" no matter how much she was paid. A true blue Yankee was our girl Ruby Mae.

And this true blue Yankee had blue blood flowing in her veins. She was from old money. Grandfather, on her daddy�s side, had inherited his grandfather�s fortune after the old man had made a killing by running the high seas. There followed a line of descendants who branched out into prohibition, gambling and politics.

Massachusetts worshipped them and the rest of the country adored them. All except Redbone who didn�t care much about Northerners comings and goings and who only listened to the sound of ghost horses carrying dead Confederate solders in their dreams.

Ruby Mae took a slow look around and was headed out when a strange moan came from deep inside the bowels of her fine and expensive auto. It was one of those fancy new Jaguars and worth about a zillion dollars. It was fiery red so as to match Rudy Mae�s long free-swinging hair and just as free in the breeze. She drove clanging and moaning, - no, her car, not Ruby Mae - though she felt a bit like doing both, into the only garage in town and got out. It was at this point she got the feeling the town was holding its breath. As she stood beside her car in front of the worn garage, she noticed several curtains swaying in different houses. Faces were peeking out from behind lace and gingham curtains. The top hens of the town were duly impressed.

After looking under the hood and humming and hawing and acting like a real mechanic, Billy Bob informed Ruby Mae her precious toy wouldn�t be ready for at least a week. A very expensive part needed to be ordered directly from the factory.

She rented Glenn's old cabin on the outskirts of town. Though townsfolk thought she might be rich no one wanted her living right in town finding out any secrets - and you do know there is plenty of skeletons hanging around this old town. But, people were curious and summer was here so she began to receive invitations to various functions. After all, everyone just knew she had to be rich, just look at that car.

The very first of those invitations was from none other than Mrs. Elsie Forester.

Elsie, as everyone called her, no matter how many times she tried to get them to call her Mrs. Forester, had decided to be the first one to invite Ruby Mae. Billy Bob, the mechanic, had told everyone that Ruby Mae talked like a Yankee, but Elsie wouldn�t believe such a thing. She reasoned that Ruby Mae�s ancestors must have been southern at one time but had probably been uprooted during the War.

After all, Ruby Mae was such a fine southern name she argued with her husband, but your grandfather knew the only thing his wife was interested in was knowing how rich Ruby Mae�s daddy was. Besides, she wanted to show off her fine home to someone who had never seen it before.

Oh! what a home that was. It burned down years before you were born but Elise's home was like no other in town. In fact it was like no other for a few hundred miles around. It had been a large plantation that supported over three hundred slaves, produced tons of cotton, thoroughbred horses and womenfolk. The house boasted nine bedrooms, seven bathrooms, eight fireplaces for heaven�s sake, live-in slave quarters for the butler and maids, two living rooms, a formal dining room, library, parlor and a kitchen large enough to put most houses in. It was pretenses. It was big. It reeked of old southern money and it came with two hundred acres.

Elsie liked to believe that she was the delight of Redbone and always made sure everyone knew it. Elsie prided herself on being not only the Matron of Redbone but also the richest. Your grandfather's grandfather had made it big on the sale of slaves, owned several plantations, held deeds of trust on at least five others, and had invested wisely in certain land deals in the North. Generations of succeeding male Foresters had done likewise and when the Civil War marched its way through town, the family of Foresters was not financially hurt, or left homeless. The color of money overruled any ideologies that any old Northern boy or officer ever had. The rest of the townspeople and plantation owners who had lost everything whispered that old man forester must had made a pact with the Devil.

Devil or no, Elsie liked to remind the town about how important the Foresters were by hosting several dinner parties a year. Elise's dinner parties were well known and just about anyone who was anyone got invited. A body hardly knew what to do if not invited. Not being invited was akin to social suicide.

The written invitations Elsie sent out were engraved with the guest�s name, address, and important information about the dinner. Time, date and RSVP if you please. The invitations were written in gold foil and edged with black. Black was in remembrance of the Big War and the Confederate soldiers who died.

The fancy and expensive invitations were placed in just as fancy and just as expensive gold and black trimmed envelopes and hand dressed to the lucky recipients.

Like me, Ruby Mae was one of them lucky people and received an invitation, so I was there at that party when IT happened.

Your grandmother was impressed when Ruby Mae answered in writing instead of calling or running over in blue jeans and an old straw hat to say yes. If there was one thing Elsie liked in the world, it was manners and she figured that Ruby Mae was as full of manners as she was of money. The party was for one week to the day that Ruby Mae had driven into Redbone.

For six days Ruby Mae stayed to herself in the small log cabin nestled deep in the woods among the ghosts of fallen Confederates. She enjoyed the solitude and not being a dumb girl also understood that staying out of the way of the town folks would only pique their curiosity. She had not been surprised at the invitation.

The day of the party arrived and guests showed up in all their finery. They were all a buzz about Ruby Mae and just as full of curiosity as a milk cow full of milk in the early morn.

Oh your grandmother was a sight to see! She wore her new and very expensive palsy silk French pants suit, size four of course. Her blond hair swept into a mighty French bun with a string of pale pink pearls laced throughout her silken strands. A pair of magnificent matching pearl earrings dangled from delicate ear lobes and further down a breathtaking three strand pink pearl necklace adored with minute white diamonds were draped around her slightly flaccid neck. Her five-foot four-inch frame was a sight to see and not a bad one at that.

Elsie was not only the wealthiest wife in town but the most attractive. She possessed deep southern charm and fading beauty. I saw the way the old boys were looking at her and I know they were remembering her in her youth and they remembered themselves in their youth and how, if a boy talked right enough, Elsie would go off into a haystack and let herself be kissed.

She had been a beauty few women could�ve matched. Blonde silky hair, ebony eyes and creamy white skin. Small, well-formed breasts, petite waist, and well-formed legs. Though a woman in her fifties, she still received admiring looks from old flames. Those old men would covertly eye Elsie and then glance at her husband as if they were wondering how her flaccid and fat husband could keep such a rare creature satisfied. The guests came as much for the food, drinks, and social chatter as they did to view Elsie.

As the tall grandfather clock chimed dinnertime, Ruby Mae floated in. The men, who just a few minutes before had had immoral thoughts of their hostess, looked with slack jawed awe at the feminine creature who entered with feline grace. She was wet dream come to life.

Ruby Mae was a northern peach among thorns. Tall with flaming red hair and a neck that stretched from here too there and a pair of legs that didn�t seem to end. Apple blossom skin with not a blemish to mar such perfect beauty. Nice wide set feline iridescent colored eyes with a look in them that made men secretly adjust their shorts and women breathe faster. She was pure animalistic sensuality packed into 42-23-32 and perched on black high heels. Yes, there was something about her that drew both men and women to her side. Some of the old men were having trouble breathing.

Old man Carruthers had to be helped to his seat after it was noticed a pair of erect nipples trying to push their way through the St. Laurent blouse. Not even the flies moved.

I was standing in the middle of the room by the tables spread with all that delicious food and was the best spot in the whole dang room to see and overhear everything.

"Well, I never." Whispered widow Hartley.

"No ma�am, I don�t guess you ever did." Spoke her nephew to her in a breathless whisper.

"Look at that will you." Said another old Matron.

"Never saw such beauty myself." Spoke the Judge. "And I�ve traveled all the way to Jackson and back."

"Hey Joe Boy, how �d y�all like to show her the hay loft?" Whispered Billy Bob.

Joe Boy was speechless. In fact, Elsie was speechless. However, being the Matron of Redbone and the Hostess one did have certain responsibilities.

"Hello, you must be Ruby Mae. My, what a fine name. I�m Elsie Forester."

Ruby Mae, with what she liked to call her faux bonhomie smile, extended her well-manicured hand. Elsie, of course, affected her faux angelic smile and grasped the hand of your grandmother.

She had expected Ruby Mae�s hand to be cool and limp but a tingle much like one gets when seeing half naked men working in the cornfield spread through Elsie. She didn�t want to let go of this delicious creature.

"Glad to make your acquaintance." Purred Ruby Mae as she pulled her hand away.

After that, the tension was broken and the rest of the guests milled around Ruby Mae. There was just something about her that drew both sexes to her side. She was a magnet. A sort of sexual mob mentality took hold and Ruby Mae was dogged everywhere she went that night. But, it was in the upstairs bathroom where Rudy Mae made her first and last mistake.

She had married young and became Mrs. Ella Joel Parker and had a problem. A problem that her husband didn't know about. A problem that had followed her since she was fourteen years old when she took her first good look at her naked basketball team mates in the shower. She got feelings she couldn�t describe. All those wonderful budding bodies, wet glistening thighs covered in soap suds, and when one of those young things reached up and shampooed their hair - well- on at least on occasion Ella Joel went and fainted dead away. Took nine stitches to close the wound in her head.

She tried to tell her momma and daddy, but after getting locked in her room and several sessions with the Baptist minister, she realized her feelings weren�t normal and settled down. Of course the fact that daddy, being the second richest man in town, threatened to cut her from his will, may have played a vital role in her decision.

Ella Joel grew up, married the boy next door, snuck looks at his girlie magazines, daydreamed and became one of Redbone�s more prominent citizens. Ella Joel thought she had died and gone to girl heaven when she met Ruby Mae. When Ruby Mae went to the bathroom upstairs, Ella Joel followed.

Elsie had watched Ruby Mae ascend to the upstairs bathroom and she had felt compelled to follow. How surprised she was when she opened the door and caught her friend and the Yankee in a somewhat compromising position. In fact, Ruby Mae had her hand where it shouldn�t have been unless she was Ella Joel�s doctor. Some said they thought the scream could be heard clear into Atlanta.

Ruby Mae left the most social event of the year with a slight snicker on her lips and the smell of Ella Joel�s perfume in her nose. On her way out of the house, she stopped long enough to grab a glass of champagne and turned to me and said in that throaty kind of voice, "What a delightful treat that was." She took a sip of the bubbly and then looked me straight in the eye and said, "I guess I better pick up my car and get out of Dodge before I�m shot."

After that incident Ruby Mae decided that no one in her town was going to even so much as talk to that northern female loving hussy. Another war was brewing between the South and North but its outcome was more than anyone had ever foreseen.

Well, when Elsie went to the garage the next day, Billy Bob informed her, in none too polite terms, the car wasn�t ready and might be several weeks until the part came in. After all, it was one of those foreign things.

Now Ruby Mae could have done one of several things: called daddy, rented a car, flew to California and had someone else pick the Jaguar up or stay where she was and see what happened. She stayed where she was to see what was going to happen.

The townfolk could be unkind when they wanted, and they wanted when it came to Ruby Mae. At least the men did. At first the women did nothing but gossip about her. The old biddies in town whispered behind fans on their verandahs while sipping lemonade, but it was the young women, like me, who began to thaw a bit and figured that maybe Ruby Mae was the way she was because of some Northern man who done her wrong. But, Elsie was the biggest mouth of all against the girl.

Over the next week Ruby Mae learned a valuable lesson about small town morality. No one spoke publicly to her. She wasn�t invited to any more social events. In fact, she was snubbed.

Ruby Mae had never been snubbed in her entire life and she usually always got what she wanted. But she couldn�t get what she wanted in Redbone; she couldn�t get respect for her money.

Ruby Mae�s brain went into overdrive and a plan was formed. There were a lot of soft dewy petals full of pollen to be collected and she figured she was the bee to do it.

Ruthie called me three days after the party and was pretty upset. Ruthie was my sister, bless her soul. In fact she was my twin sister. Something happened between her and her new husband Billy Bob when he came home for lunch. This is what she told me took place and what he said and all.

"Oh, come on Ruthie, you know why I comes home for dinner. We haven't never had a meal yet on this old table in the middle of the day. You knows what I like at noontime." Begged Billy Bob to his bride of just six weeks. �Oh Lordy, oh Lordy, I cant abides by this. Come here woman."

Billy Bob's buddies later said they never thought a feminine hand could wield so much force when coming in contact with skin. Of course Ruthie was holding the cast iron frying pan at the time.

Now all the men blamed Ruby Mae for anything that took place in their homes. They just couldn't figure out what was happening to the young girls and new brides. Most of all no one could figure out what was wrong with Elsie. Her husband began to become pale looking and on several occasions was seen muttering to himself. There's nothing like a mystery to get southern blood moving fast. But I knew what it was and so did several other of the young women. We just weren't telling.

It took thirteen more days before Ruby Mae could finally get her car back from Billy Bob and that was only after she threatened him with her expensive lawyers and such. She headed back to the cabin to load the car and drive out of Redbone when her car phone rang.

"Hello. Hello?" Answered Ruby Mae as we flew past Magnolia trees.

"Ruby Mae, I just got to know. I done heard that y�all got that fancy car this morning and is maybe leaving town. That true Ruby Mae." Asked a sweet talking feminine voice but I recognized right away who it was.

"Afraid so. It�s been fun knowing you."

"You can't go and leave me like this. What am I to do after y�all gone?"

"Now Ruthie, you�ll settle down with that nice husband of yours and grow peanuts or something. Look, I really must go and yes, I�ll miss you. Goodbye."

I sat there stunned and then it hit me what Ruby Mae had been doing for the last thirteen days way out in that isolated cabin she had rented and why most of the young women were being secretive.

Elsie asked me if I was mad about her sister and after thinking it over, I said no. I told her it weren't any of my business what she did and that I was going away to a northern college anyway and had to learn to be sophisticated. Else then asked if I wanted to go the cabin and help her pack the car. So, being curious about her and all, I went. Lord, what an education that was. From the time we entered that small two room cabin, the phone never stopped ringing. And then someone knocked at the door and for some reason I couldn't explain I hid myself in the closet. I heard Elise's voice and was she mad.

"Ruby Mae I want to talk to y'all. I know you in there. Open up you hear?"

Footsteps sounded as Ruby Mae went to the door and opened it. She invited Elsie in. I peeked out of a knothole in the closet door and saw that Elise's usual perfect self was looking a mite ragged.

"What do you want Elsie?" Asked Ruby Mae as she walked back to the bed where her suitcases were.

"I demand to know just what you have been doing?

"What are you talking about?"

Elsie moved around and leaned against a dresser and spoke so low I could barely hear her, but hear her I did.

"Well, I was heading out to go to Clark�s yearly sale when the phone rang. It was Vicky and she was upset."

Ruby Mae held up a sheer nightie in front of her and then placed it into the suitcase. She turned her back on Elsie and said, "so, what did Vicky want?"

"She said she needed to talk to me and her voice was quivering and everything. I asked her if she was crying and if I could help. I guess I was babbling for she told me to just hush up and listen."

I watched as Ruby Mae turned a slow feline turn and looked at Elsie. The way she stood with her chest thrust out and with her legs spread apart in those skintight jeans, Elsie almost forgot why she was there.

"She told me her and Bobby Joe had had a terrible row. An affair of some sort and that Bobby Joe had left her."

I was stunned Sonny. Why Vicky and Bobby Joe had been sweet on one another since grade school and had married right out of high school. Everyone knew how much Bobby Joe loved her. An affair! Imagine that - Bobby Joe bedding down someone else. I pressed my ear as close to that hole as I could get and listened some more. I heard Elise's tone of voice change and knew that something was coming .

"I told her how shocked I was that Bobby Joe could do such a thing to her and all. Then she told me that I didn't understand nothing at all. I asked her how anyone found out about the affair and this is what she told me, - ' It was all there. A letter stuffed behind the washer. I pulled the washer out to grab a sock and the letter floated to the floor. The letter was read and then a horrible fight between us. Y�all aint never heard such language that was spoke between us. Then, he left. My husband is gone Elsie, gone.' - Well, I told her that men were like that."

I heard her blow her nose and when I peeked out of the knothole I saw that her eyes were red and swollen. Ruby Mae was now sitting on the bed folding clothes and there was the slightest suggestion of a smile playing around her cupid shaped lips. I was now entranced and listened as Elsie continued.

"I told her all the usual things one tells a woman when she catches her husband cheating. I should know them all by heart. But, Vicky stopped me and then she told me that the letter was from her to her lover. She was the one who was messing around. I asked her who it was and know what she said?"

Silence.

"She named you. How could y'all do this? I thought I was the only one."

No one spoke for a few minutes and then I heard a snicker. It was Ruby Mae. The snicker turned into a laugh and Ruby Mae was laughing so hard she choked. When she caught her breath she stood up and faced Elsie and began to tell her that Vicky hadn't been the only one and did she really think that after making her into some sort of horrid monster of the community that she would not get revenge?

"You ain't nothing but trash." Hissed Elsie at Ruby Mae.

"Me? What about you? You were ready to leave your husband and your house and everything. What do you think the town will say if they found out about us? Do you think anyone would forgive you? Now, if you will excuse me I have to finish packing and leave this town of morality behind."

Ruby Mae turned her back on Elsie and after a second or two of staring at her back, left. I waited a few more minutes and came out of the closet.

Ruby Mae gave me a lift home that evening and was about to leave town when she remembered she had forgotten something pretty important.

Later that evening I was sitting on the verandah when Ruby Mae's car drove by with it's top down. She slowed down in front of the porch and waved and as she headed out of town I could hear a tape of k.c.lang playing player where it drifted gently across the warm summer evening and blended with the sad notes of katydids.

And you know Sonny, I think that maybe it's time the whole town knew what happened to Ella Joel. Ruby Mae weren't alone in that fancy car of hers, snuggled against her was my best friend Ella Joel.