The Book Man by Peyton Douglas

Author:Peyton Douglas [Douglas, Peyton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Castle Bridge Media
Published: 2020-06-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

As Frannie and Saul pondered the Book Man and waited for his next move, the Legionnaires became obsessed with one thing: the luau.

There were bonfires all the time, Frannie knew, but the luau was something else: a night-long ritual of debauchery and song. Frannie knew almost nothing at first.

She ducked into the office at Café Monstro and found Newp, Betty and Truly deep in conversation. Frannie figured they were talking about Ed Sullivan, but she heard the word luau and she perked up like crazy.

Newp tried really hard to look bored. “Don't worry about it.”

“Oh, come on,” Betty said. “Don't be such a drip. Let’s go shopping, Frannie. I'll fill you in.” This sounded wild coming from someone wearing a flannel nightgown because she couldn’t handle any other threads. Frannie was dying to see what shopping would be like with her.

Betty saw Frannie’s glance. “Oh, honey. I know I'm a piece of work, but I can still shop.”

An hour later Betty, Truly and Frannie were downtown rummaging through racks of dresses. Betty turned out to have a good eye despite her sleepwear. She was holding up a polka-dot blouse that reminded Frannie of Daisy Mae in Lil' Abner and said, “The thing is, Newp doesn't want you to come to the luau. If you haven't guessed.”

Frannie felt the blood prickle at her cheeks. “I thought he liked me.” It sounded absurd. She wanted to find a hipper way to say it, but none came. For the love of Pete, she had spent all Saturday night fighting a man made of origami sparrows with the guy.

“It's not that,” Truly said, as she picked up a jeweled head cover that looked like something a flapper would wear in The Great Gatsby. She put it on her head, then looked sheepish as the lady behind the counter cleared her throat to let the three of them know that they were being watched. Truly smiled and put the headdress down, sliding her hands over it and caressing the jewels.

Frannie asked, “You're going to the luau, right?”

“Ha!” Truly laughed. “I'll be there singing, and that's the only reason I'm going. Listen, you may think we have a really great integrated beach here, but the truth is it's not all that comfortable for me. I kind of get the impression some of the locals don't want me to get off the bus.”

“They bring girls in for this party,” said Betty.

“They what?” She didn't follow that. “What do you mean bring them in?”

“I mean,” Betty said, dipping her head so the ribbon in her hair seemed to be talking for her, “they will literally have a van going to the local universities and bringing girls in for this party. College girls.” She said this last word knowingly.

“Aren’t you a college girl?”

“Not as much as some of these fellas would like,” Betty said. “Besides, I think they’re a little put off by the flannel.”

“You just keep bein’ you, Bets.” Truly said.

“And what?” Frannie was incredulous. “Are you

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