Dancing In Cadillac Light by Kimberly Willis Holt

Author:Kimberly Willis Holt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

15

Secrets

MOMMA SHOOED US OUTSIDE, ARMED WITH RC Colas and a package of Oreos. I would have rather stayed in the kitchen and listened to her and Daddy discuss Grandpap’s funeral with Aunt Loveda and Uncle Floyd. What if they picked the wrong hymns and asked Eunice Otwell to sing? Grandpap had once told me he didn’t like sad songs, even for funerals, and that he thought Eunice sounded like a cross between a freight train and fingernails scraping down a chalkboard.

I watched Little Floyd try to show us how to do the Walk the Dog trick with his new yo-yo. The yo-yo wobbled on our walkway and flopped over. “I could do it a million times at my house,” he said, “but your walkway is bumpy.”

I rolled my eyes. “Hmmph.”

Little Floyd wound the string around the yo-yo and threw it in my lap. “You try then.”

I stood and slipped my finger through the loop. I wasn’t much better. All I could think about was Grandpap, so I quickly tossed the yo-yo back to Little Floyd. “I never wanted to play with your dumb yo-yo anyway.”

“I sure will miss Grandpap,” Racine said, reaching around Little Floyd for an Oreo. “Me being his favorite and all.” My face stung.

Sweet Adeline wiped viciously at the chocolate wafer crumbs surrounding her mouth. “You weren’t his favorite. I was. He called me Puddin‘.” I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

“Big deal,” Little Floyd said. “He called me Frog Man.”

Sweet Adeline fell back on the grass and laughed. “That’s because you step on frogs all the time.” Then she sang, “Toot, toot, toot! Stin-ky Lit-tle Floyd.” Racine joined in. “Stin-ky Lit-tle Floyd! Stin-ky Lit-tle Floyd!”

Little Floyd stood and turned around. Then he bent all the way over so his rear end aimed straight at us.

The girls squealed, rushing to the other side of the yard. “Frog Man! Frog Man!”

I headed to the Cadillac. It didn’t seem to bother Racine none that Sweet Adeline and Little Floyd made the same claim to be Grandpap’s favorite. But I was spitting nails. They knew I was Grandpap’s favorite. That’s why I didn’t bother saying a word. Besides, I had secrets. I was the only one who knew about the Pickenses living at the homeplace. That made me special. And I knew about Grandpap getting lost at the lake. No one would ever know those secrets. I would never, ever in a million years let anyone think Grandpap had been crazy.

As I reached the Cadillac, Little Floyd rushed up to me. “What do you think you’re doing, Miss Smarty-Pants?”

I opened the driver’s door. “What does it look like?”

Little Floyd folded his arms across his chest and glanced back at the house as if he might tell on me.

“Oh, all right, get on in,” I told him. “But I’m driving.”

“I get a turn too.” He climbed in and slammed the door.

Racine and Sweet Adeline appeared out of nowhere. “We get a turn too!” they hollered.

“After me,” Little Floyd said.

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