Gilda Joyce: The Ladies of the Lake by Jennifer Allison

Author:Jennifer Allison
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781101562871
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published: 2007-08-15T21:00:00+00:00

My friend must be a Bird—

Because it Flies!

Mortal, my friend must be,

Because it dies! …

It was the same Emily Dickinson poem Mr. Panté had shown Gilda’s English class at the beginning of the school year. That poem is in our poetry textbook, so she must have had some personal reason for copying it in her notebook, Gilda thought.

“Mrs. Lambert, who was Dolores friends with?” Gilda turned abruptly and caught Mrs. Lambert scowling behind her.

“She had lots of friends,” said Mrs. Lambert defensively. “I mean, I think she missed her friends from her old school, but whenever I’d suggest calling them, she’d just tell me she didn’t want to see them anymore.”

“Did she have many friends at Our Lady of Sorrows?”

Mrs. Lambert abruptly took the notebook out of Gilda’s hands and closed it. She stuffed it back in Dolores’s desk drawer. “I’m sorry, Gilda, but I don’t like that poem,” she said. “There’s something so sad about it.”

She doesn’t want to think her daughter was unhappy, Gilda thought, noting with interest that Mrs. Lambert knew exactly why she was asking about friends. She knew Mrs. Lambert was eager for her to leave, but the more time she spent in Dolores’s room, the more questions bubbled in her mind.

“So—Dolores didn’t have friends at Our Lady?”

“Well, I don’t remember all the names. She told me she was friends with some popular girls.”

Something about this statement rang false, but Gilda sensed it would be fruitless to press the issue further with Mrs. Lambert.

“Look,” said Mrs. Lambert, pulling a photograph of her daughter down from its perch high on a display shelf. “This is my favorite picture of her.”

The photograph looked very different from the school picture Gilda had seen in the Our Lady of Sorrows yearbook. With her chin resting in the palm of her hand, Dolores looked pretty—less puffy and anxious. Something caught Gilda’s interest—the purple, heart-shaped stone that gleamed on Dolores’s finger. Gilda felt sure it was the same ring she had seen in the bottom of the teacup in the ruins. “Pretty ring,” Gilda observed, hoping Mrs. Lambert would tell her more.

“It was a real amethyst, and it was gorgeous. I know Dolores felt so bad when she lost it.”

Gilda’s ears perked up at this piece of information. I bet I know where the ring is, she thought. “This might sound like an odd question, Mrs. Lambert, but did Dolores ever mention anything about a club called the Ladies of the Lake?”

“I don’t remember anything like that. What type of club is it?”

“To be honest, I’m not really sure. I only know that it’s a secret club.”

Mrs. Lambert shook her head. “Dolores really wanted to be popular, so I doubt she’d go for something secret.” She picked up the photograph of her daughter, rubbed away some dust using her shirtsleeve, then placed it back in the same spot on the shelf with a gesture of finality. She stood still for a moment, her hands clasped tightly in front of her abdomen. “Gilda,” she said, “I think we’re done now.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.