Dollbaby

Author:Laura Lane McNeal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-05-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

After Emile Rainold left, Fannie came back into the dining room and grabbed Ibby’s hand.

“Come on,” she said. “We’re going for a ride.”

When they got in the car, Fannie tied a scarf around her hair and backed out of the driveway, sending oyster-shell gravel flying in all directions. She turned onto St. Charles Avenue, puffing furiously on a cigarette. Ibby looked over at Fannie, wondering where they were going in such a hurry.

Fannie had kept her hair dyed a soft auburn ever since that day they went to Antoine’s for Ibby’s twelfth birthday, and she’d made a concerted effort to keep up her appearance, wearing smartly tailored dresses that Doll made for her. Today she had on rouge and lipstick. Ibby could tell she was thinking hard about something.

It wasn’t until they got to the river bend, where St. Charles Avenue meets Carrollton, that Fannie finally spoke: “I know you’re probably a little unnerved, hearing your mother might be in town.”

The truth was, Ibby wasn’t sure how she felt about her mother, but she didn’t want to upset Fannie by giving a wrong answer. “I don’t know.”

“Do you like living with me?”

Fannie’s question made Ibby pause. “Of course I do, but . . . wouldn’t I have to go with my mother if she said I had to?”

Fannie flicked her cigarette out onto the street. After a while, she handed Ibby an envelope. “Here. This came for you today.”

Ibby noticed the envelope had been opened.

“I know I had no right to open it, but I was afraid after what Mr. Rainold told me this morning that it might have been from your mother. It’s not.”

Ibby slid the card from the envelope, admiring the blue linen paper with the white embossed lettering. “Oh. It’s an invitation to Winnie Waguespack’s sweet sixteen party. She told me about it on the ride home from school today.”

“You have a birthday coming up, too. That invitation gave me an idea. I’m going to throw you your own sweet sixteen party.”

“A party? For me?”

“Yes, dear. I’ve already arranged for T-Bone to start painting the house.”

T-Bone had just gotten back from Vietnam a few weeks ago and was looking for work. Ibby hadn’t seen him since that day at the True Love Baptist Church all those years ago. She wondered what he looked like now.

“Ibby darling, did you hear what I just said? We need to make a list,” Fannie went on. “I will invite your classmates, of course. And Sister Gertrude.”

Ibby’s head shot around. “Sister Gertrude? Why on earth would we invite Sister Gertrude? She’ll ruin the whole party. No one will come if they know she’s invited.”

“Don’t be silly,” Fannie said.

“It’s true, Fannie. Everyone hates Sister Gertrude.” Ibby crossed her arms and let out a harrumph.

“Now, dear, Sister Gertrude was one of the first people I met when I came to New Orleans. She went out of her way to be nice to me when I didn’t know anybody. It would be rude of me not to invite her.

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.