Sullivan's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank

Author:Dorothea Benton Frank
Language: eng, eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 1999-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

BY FOUR O’CLOCK the day Tipa died, we had over fifty Corning-ware dishes in the kitchen filled with the specialties of every housewife on the Island. Livvie was in the kitchen and I was taking turns answering the door with Maggie.

“Oh! Mrs. Dufour! A ham! That’s so nice of you!”

“How’s your momma, honey?”

“She’s all right, I guess, haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Well, let’s not bother her. Listen, sweetie, that’s my best platter, so please tell your momma I’ll be needing it back next week.”

“No problem, Mrs. Dufour. I’ll put your name on the bottom on a piece of masking tape.”

“That’s a good girl.”

I carried the ten pounds of pink meat down the hall past the big mirror in the living room and stopped to give it a look. Nothing. I didn’t see a ripping thing.

“Another ham,” I announced as I entered the kitchen.

“Do Jesus! That’s ten hams now, twenty-two bowl of potato salad, six Jell-O molds with little marshmallows and chop pecan, three chocolate cake, seven pound cake, nine dish of red rice, four dish of chicken pilau and Lawd knows how many casseroles.” Livvie shook her head as she took inventory. “Tape that dish and add she name to the list. Your momma gotta thank all these women. Gimme that thing and I cut the meat off the bone. Shuh. Gone get this family a dog, that’s what. All these bone.”

Livvie began to hum another church song. I pushed aside some of the dishes of food and put down the ham. The table threatened to collapse under the weight of all the food. Who was going to eat it all I couldn’t figure out for the life of me.

“What’s that song, Livvie?” Maggie asked.

“Oh, chile, it’s my favorite, well, one of my favorites anyhow. It’s ‘Amazing Grace.’ Listen up to these words,” she said and began to sing in her rich voice.

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