Freaky Green Eyes by Oates Joyce Carol

Author:Oates, Joyce Carol [Oates, Joyce Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Thriller, Juvenile Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2003-01-27T02:00:00+00:00

TEN

yarrow heights: july 27

“Your mother is in love with another man. No matter what she has told you, she has chosen him over her family. She’ll have to live with her decision. We can never forgive her.”

Dad’s voice was trembling with indignation. But he managed to smile at us. He was holding Samantha’s hand in his left hand and mine in his right hand, and he seemed almost not to know he was gripping us hard, until Samantha whimpered, just slightly. Then he released us.

“I hope you understand, girls. There’s nothing to discuss, really.”

Samantha wiped her nose on the edge of her hand and mumbled okay.

I guess I must’ve mumbled okay, too. Whatever I said, or indicated, it was the right response to Dad’s words.

Because he smiled, happy now. Because he hugged us both.

“My big, beautiful girls!”

Dad introduced Samantha and me to our new housekeeper-cook, a plump, dark-skinned Peruvian woman with a shy smile. Her name was something melodic like Lorita, Loreena. She might have been thirty-five years old, or fifty-five. Dad informed us that she would be on the scene six days a week, with Sundays off. Her specialties were fried bananas, bread pudding with rice, chickpea soup, roasted chicken, grilled sea bass, and “Peruvian pizza.” Dad rubbed his hands together happily. “How’s that sound, girls? Pretty cool, eh?”

We beamed at Lorita, or Loreena, and she beamed at us. She was a short woman, hardly more than five feet tall. Beside her, Dad towered like a giant.

Samantha didn’t ask if the new housekeeper’s six-day schedule meant that Mom wasn’t coming home any longer. Francesca didn’t inquire, either.

In love with another man. We can never forgive her.

Did I believe these words? I don’t know. Did I believe that there was a man in Mom’s life? I don’t know. Did I believe when I seemed to know, no, there was no man, there could be no man, Mom went away to Skagit Harbor to be free? Yet if Dad said there was a man, then there had to be a man.

And we would never forgive her.

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