Choosing Charleston by T. Lynn Ocean

Author:T. Lynn Ocean
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-10-22T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

I found her at the luggage carousel, surrounded by a pile of bright yellow baggage. A skycap was in the process of loading it all onto a cart.

The twins each toted their own wheeled bag and Hunter lugged Jenny’s matching makeup case, carefully, as though it contained diamonds instead of mascara. My twin had probably lectured him on the important job he had, being the protector of the case. She’d rather lose a garment bag full of clothes than her makeup.

“Aunt Carly!”

Through the kids’ hugs and chatter, I heard a familiar sound. It was Precious, growling from within the confines of a pet carrier as she was hoisted onto the cart with the rest of the luggage.

“I’m going to wait until we get outside to take her out,” Jenny explained. “I wouldn’t want her to run away.”

“I would.”

“What?”

“I said, ‘that’s good’.”

“Oh.”

“Where’s Stephen? And why did you bring the dog?”

“Stephen had a meeting with some of the sponsors, so he had to stay in Atlanta. But I couldn’t leave my little Precious behind, could I? The girls would miss her!”

“No we wouldn’t,” the twins said, their voices melding into one.

“We want a horse, or maybe a potbellied pig,” Sherry said.

The dog’s growl, low and steady, only paused when it had to stop for a breath. The skycap made sure to keep his fingers well out of snapping distance.

“Or even a nice doggie, like Taffy,” Stacy said.

“Taffy never growls,” Sherry added. “Precious growls at her own poop.”

My sister rolled her eyes and pulled a ten dollar bill out of her purse for a tip.

“What are you doing back in Charleston?” she demanded in a low voice so the kids couldn’t hear.

“Later,” I mumbled back, picking up Hunter and getting whacked in the hip with her makeup case for my trouble. It was even heavier than it looked.

When we got home, Daddy took over as skycap and Jenny demanded an update. I told her I’d much rather talk about the fire and asked if the cameras had been rolling at the time, because if so, I’d love to get a copy of the video. She glared at me but she also stopped giving me the third degree.

Everyone situated themselves around the kitchen table to eat. Mamma served sweet potato biscuits and shrimp jambalaya, Jenny complained that flying first class wasn’t what it used to be and the twins thoroughly laid out their case as to why they should have a horse with the number one reason being that horses whinnied and didn’t ever growl.

Jenny was sensitive about the fire, since she’d been the one to insist that the show peddle the flammable vacuum against the advice of the In Home Now buyers, so Mamma and Daddy carefully avoided any subject of conversation that made reference to heat or flames.

“You know, I wouldn’t mind going to RiverDogs game one night,” I said.

The Charleston RiverDogs were a minor league affiliate of, ironically, the New York Yankees and their baseball stadium sat on the banks of the scenic Ashley River.

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