The Mortal Groove by Ellen Hart

Author:Ellen Hart
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9780312349455
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Conner’s Mills wasn’t exactly a hat-shopping paradise. After a couple hours of mad searching, they found two hats that Cordelia said she might be willing to wear. One was a battered green St. Patrick’s Day felt derby. It covered her hair, all right, but it didn’t do much to mute her odd appearance. The other was a child’s white yacht hat with gold braids and a black brim. They found it at a garage sale. It didn’t quite cover all her hair, but by then, Jane was losing patience.

“just buy it,” she said. “It’s better than nothing.”

Cordelia tried to rub a stain out of the cloth, then put it back on. “It’s me, isn’t it.?”

“Absolutely.”

“But it squishes my head.”

Jane yanked it off and threw it back on the table. “Come on. You can stay in the car with the top up and the tinted windows to protect you from prying eyes. We’ll drive back to Waldo and I’ll go get you something from the Ben Franklin store. They’re bound to have a better selection than this.”

Forty-five minutes later, Jane came out of the store waving a sack. She’d bought three hats. If Cordelia didn’t like any of them, she could either shave her head or stay at the motel for the duration. Presented with those two options, Jane figured she’d go for at least one of them.

“I’ll close my eyes,” said Cordelia. “Surprise me.”

Jane handed her a pith helmut. She had to give Cordelia the opportunity to say no—and this was the one she was hoping she’d say no to.

Cordelia studied it for a moment, then handed it back and said, “One word. Yawn. I am so over pith helmets.”

“Okay, then how about this.” She pulled out a black beret. Cordelia tried it on. “It fits. I’ve never really been the beret sort. I don’t suppose they have it in gold lame.”

Jane ripped it off her head. “One more,” she said. She’d bought the last one as a joke. “Maybe you better close your eyes again.”

“Why?”

“All right. Don’t.” She took out a red and black plaid man’s hunting cap and held it up.

“Janey, I love it!” cried Cordelia, grabbing it away from her. “This is it! It’s me me me! It’s even got earflaps. How did you know I’ve always wanted one of these? None of the designer shops in the Twin Cities carry them, God knows why.” She placed it on her head with great reverence, pulled down the visor, and flipped up the mirror. “Oh, this is too fabulous.”

“You’re telling me you’ve always wanted to look like an old Minnesota farmer standing in a cornfield?”

“Always!”

Jane wasn’t sure it was a good idea for Cordelia to go wandering around with that hat on her head. On the other hand, red buffalo plaid wasn’t exactly unheard of in these parts. Now that it was attached to her, it wasn’t likely to come off anytime soon.

“It’s not exactly hunting season,” said Jane.

“I’m not a slave to fashion rules, Janey, you know that.

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.