Annie Flanigan Love and a Bad Hair Day (pdf)

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Norris strolled up to Ry s side. Planting his feet wide, he
shook his head, folded his arms and laughed again. Looks
like you got woman trouble from all sides, son.
Not anymore. Ry pulled up his shoulders. The demo-
lition crew will be here at 7 A.M. I expect you to uncuff your-
selves by then, or I will personally borrow a wire cutter and
do it for you.
L ove and a Bad Hair Day 239
But Daddy. . .
No but Daddy. No getting around it. He reached into
his jeans pocket to retrieve the keys to the Starliner and
found with them the quarter I had told him was his sign.
He gripped the coin for only a second before taking it,
along with the keys, and pressing them into my hand. I
wish things could have turned out differently.
I ve wished that for a long time myself. I closed my fin-
gers around the keys and coin.
Enjoy your little protest while you can, y all. Tomorrow
the South Winds is coming down.
He walked toward the lobby door without a single back-
ward glance.
So that was it. That was my reward for rushing headlong
into things and thinking I could keep a level head, maintain
control of something so clearly beyond my capabilities.
I dragged my fingers through my hair and when I took
my hand away couldn t help but notice that a few thin
strands clung to my trembling knuckles.
I d lost my focus.
I d lost my dignity.
I had lost the tenuous sense of security I had always strug-
gled to hold on to in my life and for my home in Verbena.
I also suspected I had most assuredly lost a good mea-
sure of my mind over these last few days.
And now I was losing my hair.
I no longer wanted to be like Esther Williams, movie star
or motel icon. I just wanted my life back.
Chapter 19
{ Say keys ! With the first rays of morning warming
the eastern sky, I fond my subjects framed in perfect light,
if not in perfect form. I raised my camera and held my
breath to steady it.
Granny Missus and Sugar Anne stretched their lips into
cheesy grins but they could not dispel the shadows of
weariness under their eyes. Still, ever game, black thatches
of hair brushed against gauzy poofs of white curls as they
pressed their cheeks together. Each extended her arms as
much as the circumstances allowed and showed their
hands still cuffed to the dull steel fence. Ke-ee-ee-zzz.
Despite one totally sleepless night, too many issues
weighing down upon me and the pressure of knowing I had
three minutes to get this photo before Ry showed up to
chafe at my already raw-edged nerves, I had to laugh at the
pair. They hadn t backed down an inch under Ry s tirade,
but then, how could they? No one seemed to have any way
to free them from handcuffs they d slapped on so cavalierly.
L ove and a Bad Hair Day 241
I had searched all night for a means to undo the simple
latches. I hadn t even gone home long enough to do any-
thing but get Dylan ready for school.
As soon as I d put him on the bus a few minutes ago, I d
grabbed my camera and headed over to record this event
for my memory books. I had not even run a comb through
my hair or gulped down a cup of coffee. I looked a total
wreck, for sure, but hardly had the time or energy to worry
about it now.
You going to take that picture before our faces break in
two? You are not looking at a couple of natural-born super-
models, you know. Granny Missus twitched her cheek and
made a sound like she had just sucked a kernel of corn from
under her dentures.
Yeah, hurry up, Jolie. I haven t smiled this long since I
was four and Mama entered me in the Miss Pretty Petite
pageant.
Oh, that ain t nothing, Granny groused. I ain t smiled
this much since 1962, when I had all my real teeth.
Sugar Anne laughed and a light came over her whole
face.
Whatever this experience had cost me in beauty sleep
and personal comfort, seeing that brief, genuine smile went
a long way toward making it all worthwhile.
You both should smile now. I snapped the picture, then
another, the flash made more brilliant by the subdued
morning light. I swear I don t know what either of you has
to act so sour about all the time. My mama always told me
that an affable appearance is a girl s best offense.
Must be true. I sure find that statement offensive
enough. Talking from the corner of her mouth, my grand-
242 Annie Flannigan
mother spoke up loud and clear, adding, Gets that pretti-
fied crap from my mother s people, you know.
I don t know where she gets it, Sugar Anne snarled.
Well, not so much snarled as slurred with a superior atti-
tude, yet lacking real animosity. But from what I ve seen
and what you ve told me, Granny Missus? I d say Jolie s
best offense is Dippity-Do and denial.
You taught her that! I pointed at Granny Missus.
She s way too young to even know what Dippity-Do is on
her own.
Truth is truth. Granny scooted her lawn chair over. The
metal frame scraped and screeched against the chain-link
fence. Right, Sugar Anne?
The young woman did not say a word. Just looked at me
with big, searching eyes.
Of course, right. She didn t have to say it to send me the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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