The Book of Bright Ideas (18 page)

Aunt Verdella was wearing a nice cotton dress. She had her hair done too, and a bit of rouge and lipstick on. “Give Auntie her hug,” Aunt Verdella said.

“Whose white car is that, Button?” Aunt Verdella asked as she let go of me.

“Aunt Stella's.”

“Oh! I didn't know she was joinin' us today.”

Daddy, who was busy carrying out the bag of paper and plastic stuff, balanced on another cooler, said, “She's not.” And he grinned.

Freeda looked as pretty as the first day I'd met her, dressed up in a sleeveless yellow shift that fit her like a banana peel. Her hair was piled up on her head in big curls. She was wearing her rhinestone sunglasses, and she smelled like a bed of roses. “Hi there, princess,” she said to me. “Your hair
is
growing, kiddo. Before you know it, it will be down to your cute little butt.” I grinned when she said that.

“Look at me and Button!” Winnalee squealed, as she held her ma tight and ran to stand next to me, her shoulder and hip pressing tight against mine. “Now we really do look like twins, don't we? We got the same shirts and the same skirt, and we even both got on the same color sandals. Hey, where'd you get that cool headband?”

“From my ma. She got one for you too. Come on!”

Uncle Rudy held the door open for us and gave us each a pat as we passed him. He smelled like that good-stink stuff men put on after they shave, and he was dressed up in new work pants and a button-up shirt. He looked real nice but for the black speckles on his teeth and the snuff lump on his bottom lip.

Everybody was talking at once when we got inside. “You must be Jewel's sister Stella,” Freeda said, pulling her sunglasses off and looking at Aunt Stella through narrowed eyes.

“Yes, I am,” Aunt Stella said. She took her purse off of the table and slipped the strap up her arm. “Well, Jewel, I see you have plans, so we'll take off. Thanks for the use of the bathroom.” She went to Ma and pecked her on the cheek. I smiled on the inside when I saw Aunt Stella standing next to my new ma, because my ma was the prettiest. I leaned over then and whispered into Winnalee's ear, “Is my aunt Stella a gray person?” and she nodded. “I thought so,” I said.

Aunt Stella said to Ma, “We brought a bag of clothes for Button. Things the girls outgrew. I'll have Cindy bring them in.” She gave me a peck on the cheek, then hurried out the door.

“I want to show you my dress quick before we leave. It's finished,” Ma said to Freeda and Aunt Verdella, as soon as Aunt Stella and my cousins went outside. “Button, you go get those clothes,” Ma said, as Freeda and Aunt Verdella tagged behind her down the hall.

I'd barely gotten to the door when Cindy stepped inside. She handed me the grocery bag, then hurried back out the door. “Let's see what's in there,” Winnalee said, as she grabbed the bag out of my hand and set it on the floor. While Winnalee dug out one giant dress or shirt after another, I looked down the hall and wished Ma would hurry so we could go.

“Button, look!” Winnalee shouted. “Dancing costumes!” I turned to see two long, skinny costumes dangling from Winnalee's hands by straps as skinny as shoestrings. “Aren't they cool? One for each of us! I like the fur up at the top, do you?”

“They're too big,” I said.

“Oh my! What do you have there?” Aunt Verdella asked.

Winnalee held up the costumes and ran to Aunt Verdella. “Can you fix them to fit us? Can you?”

“Of course I can, honey,” Aunt Verdella said. Me and Winnalee cheered.

“I wish they had dancing skirts on them, like real ballerinas,” I said. The stick-out little skirt is the best part. Winnalee gasped, “Hey! Hey! My pink slip! It's big. Real big! Aunt Verdella, could you make two little skirts from it, for our dancing costumes? Could you?”

Aunt Verdella ha-ha-ed. “Of course I could!” And we both cheered.

Winnalee was so excited about those costumes, Marty Graw, and her new headband that Aunt Verdella had to put her headband on her head because she was hopping so much I couldn't reach her head to do it. “Put the flower on the same side as mine,” I told her.

Finally Daddy stubbed out his cigarette and said, “Are we gonna go, or are we gonna sit here all day and talk about dresses?” He looked at Uncle Rudy and shook his head. “At this rate, there won't be a beer left in all of Dauber by the time these women are ready to go.”

On the way out the door, Ma stopped Daddy by putting her hand on his arm. “Reece, thank you for saying what you did to Stella. I know you don't like her, and that's the reason you said it, but thank you, anyway.” I think Daddy was going to say something back, but Ma was already hurrying to the car.

 

We watched the parade first, and every time a clown or a man reached into his bag of candy, Winnalee ran out into the street, her mermaid hair flapping just like her jaw, and she waved both hands and screamed, “Throw some over here! Throw some over here!” And they did. Every time. We giggled as we ran to pick up the candy that pinged on the pavement, only half-hearing Aunt Verdella yell at us to back away from the floats.

The minute the parade was over, me and Winnalee wanted to hurry to the carnival, because just hearing the carnival music and seeing the top of the Ferris wheel out past the bridge was making our bellies excited, but we had to stop on our way to the car about a hundred times, because the grown-ups got stopped by this or that person to talk about dumb things like crops that needed rain and bad hearts and backs. At least three people told Ma right out that they didn't recognize her at first and then went on and on about how good she looked, and Aunt Verdella too. “We can thank Freeda for our new looks,” Aunt Verdella said, and then whoever they were talking to had to yap to Freeda about their bad hair, or wide hips, or whatever. Freeda scooted right over to them then and started picking at their hair and touching their cheekbones and eyelids until their men got done talking about cows and the weather and hauled them away. Just before we got to the car, I heard Ma say, “Looks like Dauber's about to experience a population boom!” and the three of them laughed and laughed.

As soon as we got to the park, Winnalee and I jumped out of the car, and Winnalee started running. “Hey! Get back here, you kids! We have to find a picnic spot first and eat!” Me and Winnalee groaned as we headed back to the car.

“Why can't we go on the rides before we eat?” Winnalee begged.

“Jesus H. Christ, Winnalee,” Freeda said. “That carnival isn't going anywhere. Everybody's hungry. We're gonna eat first.” Winnalee started to argue, and Ma flashed Freeda that kind of look that says, “Remember what I told you?” and Freeda gave a little nod, sucked in a breath, then stared Winnalee right in the eye. Then, without even a bit of a smile on her face or a cussword on her lips, she said, “Winnalee. We're gonna eat first.”

“I'm not even hungry! I'm going on the rides!”

Freeda made a pointy finger at Winnalee. “If you don't want to eat, fine, but you won't have any treats at the carnival either. Your choice. But whether you decide to eat or not, you'll sit quietly and wait until the rest of us are done. Then we'll go to the carnival.”

Winnalee blinked and hoisted her ma up higher. She opened her mouth to argue, but Freeda put her hand up. “It's not up for discussion, Winnalee,” Freeda said, then she hurried to help grab things out of the trunk.

Winnalee did decide to eat but said she was only going to eat the good stuff. When Winnalee and I were done eating, Winnalee watched Uncle Rudy stab another piece of Aunt Verdella's fried chicken, and her mouth got frowny. “Do we have to wait for
everybody
to get done eating?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“You better hope not, girls,” Uncle Rudy said, “because with food this good, I might just keep eating till I pop.” Winnalee groaned extra loud when he said that.

“Oh, he's teasin' you, girls,” Aunt Verdella said. “You eat a few more bites, then we'll go on the rides.”

Uncle Rudy said Winnalee's ma could sit with him under the shade tree while he took a nap and we went on the rides, so Winnalee set the urn down next to him. As we headed toward the rides, Daddy headed for the beer stand and Ma stepped on Aunt Verdella's heel because she had her head cocked as she watched him go. Freeda grabbed Ma's elbow. “Keep your eyes on where
you're
goin', Jewel Peters,” she said.

My stomach was a bit scared because I'd never rode on the big-people's rides before, but scared or not, I was determined to ride them.

“Let's go on that one!” Winnalee shouted, pointing to the ride that said
Tilt-A-Whirl
on the sign above the steps leading to it.

“Auntie will buy you tickets, girls. You wait in line.” Then Aunt Verdella ran off to the little wooden booth where the tickets were sold. She came back with two white rolls of them. She split one in half and handed them to Winnalee and me.

“I'll watch,” Freeda said. “I puke on these things.” And Winnalee added, “She does too!” She didn't have to wait by herself, though, because right then someone shouted, “Freeda!” and we looked to see Mike Thompson coming through the swarm of sweaty people, his little nephew propped on his shoulders, Mike's twin and his wife and baby tagging behind him. They stood next to Freeda while the rest of us climbed the metal steps to give our tickets to the carny guy.

Another carny guy, filled with tattoos, held the half-circle cage in place while we got in. After we sat down—Ma and Aunt Verdella on each end, and me and Winnalee in the middle—the carny guy flipped the metal-pole thing we were supposed to hang on to toward our bellies. “Here you go, ladies.” He gave a wink, then rapped on the roof of the cage and went off to help some other ladies get into their seats.

“Did you see him wink at you, Jewel?” Aunt Verdella ha-ha-ed, and Ma rolled her eyes, but she was grinning.

When that ride started up, clanking and rumbling as it went over the wavy, wooden ramp, I felt scared. I held my breath as the ride started going faster and our seat started twirling. “Lean!” Aunt Verdella shouted. So that's what we did. We leaned to whatever side the ride headed in (usually Aunt Verdella's side) so that we'd twirl faster and faster. I screamed right out loud, just like everybody else, when it spun real fast, but not those real scared kind of screams, just the happy-scared kind. By the time the ride started slowing down to stop, I was yelling, “Again! Again!” just like Winnalee.

We rode on the rides until our tickets were gone and Winnalee was sick to her stomach. We packed the food cooler back in the truck, rounded up Daddy and Uncle Rudy and Winnalee's vase, and took our blankets and the cooler with drinks in it down to the riverbank. Mike Thompson came along with us, and I wasn't sure if Freeda liked that or not. Sure, she smiled at him, and she laughed when he made a funny, but I noticed that when he tried to put his arm around her or take her hand, she moved away from him, though I wasn't sure why.

It seemed to take forever for the sky to get dark enough so the fireworks could start, but finally the first big boom came, telling us that it was time.

Me and Winnalee sat on our knees and watched the fireworks, screaming out when our favorites burst in the sky. Across the whole riverbank you could hear little kids squealing and big people saying “ooooh” and “ahhhhhh,” till each firework hissed its way down, fizzling out just before it landed on the lit-up floats skimming along the water.

All too soon, though, it was over. From the park, we could hear the twang of guitars through amplifiers. Not playing songs, but tuning up. “Oh, a dance!” Freeda shouted.

Ma looked worried. “I don't know if we should stay. The girls—”

“But we wanna dance too!” Winnalee said. “How come we can't dance?” Winnalee whined, bouncing a little, like she always did when she begged.

“How about if they stay for a couple songs, Jewel? Then Rudy and I will take the girls home with us, if the rest of you want to stay.”

I was real happy when Ma said, “Okay.”

Freeda kicked off her shoes the minute the music started and headed out to the dance floor. She didn't seem to care if Mike followed her or not. Verdella hurried behind Freeda, dragging Ma right with her. And Winnalee grabbed my hand and drug me out there too.

I couldn't believe my eyes when Ma danced right along with Freeda and Aunt Verdella. And I suppose Ma couldn't believe her eyes when she saw me dancing right along with Winnalee. “Look at Button!” Winnalee shouted. “She's really dancing!” And I was too. And so was my ma. So for five whole songs, while the music thumped from black speakers and the rides whirled and blinked on the other side of the park, we danced, bunched up with other people on the cement floor, like no one was watching. All of us rocking our arms, and shaking our butts, and stomping our feet, and tossing our heads, and laughing and laughing.

I knew the second the singer announced that it was time for a little break that we'd have to leave. Ma gave Aunt Verdella a look, so Aunt Verdella put a hand on each of us to steer us toward the parking lot, when the guy who had been singing told everybody that while they took a break, their good friends Reece Peters and Owen Palmer were going to play a couple numbers. Nothing was gonna make Aunt Verdella leave just then!

I glanced at Ma quick, and my teeth went right to my cheek all by themselves. Ma was watching Daddy, and she seemed to be thinking hard, but she didn't say anything.

While Daddy and Owen put their heads together, talking about what song to do, I suppose, Freeda yelled out, “‘Jailhouse Rock'!” Daddy nodded, and suddenly his voice came bursting out, till it was the loudest thing in that whole park. The crowd hooted and hollered when Daddy started singing the first words, and by the time the music started behind him, the drummer from the band forgot all about his break and leapt up on the stage and started pounding his drumsticks.