Graceland by Nancy Crochiere

Author:Nancy Crochiere
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

Olivia lifted a spoonful of her chicken noodle soup and let it dribble back into the cardboard bowl. She was pissed that I’d insisted on Subway for lunch. Well, excuse me! I thought we were in a hurry.

I’d nearly finished my Veggie Delite sub when an ancient woman in a wheelchair burst through the door, pushed by a round-faced priest. The old woman had huge eyes and a pencil-thin body, like a gecko’s. She stared at Olivia, then whispered to the priest, who bent to listen.

The priest pushed the wheelchair close to our table. “Sorry to bother you,” he said to Olivia. “By any chance, were you on TV?” When Olivia nodded, the man clapped his hands together.

“You were right, Mom,” he shouted into the gecko’s ear. “That’s Andromeda!” He turned back to Olivia and me. “My mother watched The Light Within every day at three o’clock.”

The old woman raised a knobby finger that shook as it hovered. “Very bad woman!”

“No, Mom! That was her character.” The man giggled, his cheeks rosy. “She’s a little confused.”

“Very bad!” spat the woman.

I flashed Olivia a look that said, Time to get out of here, and crumpled my sandwich paper.

“I’m so sorry,” the priest stage-whispered to Olivia. “It’s a tribute to your acting. She believes you really are Andromeda.”

“No worries.” Olivia smiled as she stood to collect her trash. “At times, I was confused myself.”

The priest pushed the chair toward the counter, but the gecko twisted to keep a wary eye on Olivia, who stuck out her tongue and wiggled it devilishly. The woman clutched at the priest’s jacket.

I held the door for Olivia. Once we were outside, I laughed. “You shouldn’t be so mean to your fans.”

“They expect it,” she said. “They love Andromeda because she was evil, not in spite of it.”

I wanted to ask Olivia more about that once we got going. When I climbed into the Bug, though, she was reading something on her phone and grimacing, like she was in pain.

Olivia said, “Not possible. She can’t do this to me.”

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