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Authors: A Piece of Heaven
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their favorite, and play it like it was karaoke.
“Mom, not everybody jams like you do,” Elaine protested.
“Elaine, darlin’, you’re the best singer of all of us.”
Allie leaned her hand on her chin, looking to Joy like an Afghan hound who lived next door in Atlanta, sleek and pointy and elegant. “I could do tarot card readings.”
Elaine shook her head. Joy felt sorry for her all of a sudden—and she realized that Elaine was a lot like April in a way. They were always trying to be safe.
Maybe Luna had noticed they were teasing her a lot, too, because she reached out and took Elaine’s hand. “What would you like to do, Sissie? Scrabble, maybe? Trivial Pursuit?”
Elaine said, “I think we should ask Joy.”
Joy straightened. “I think …,” she said, looking at Allie, then Kitty, then Elaine and her mom. Elaine was the greatest at Trivial Pursuit, but Allie was tense, too. “Let’s play Trivial Pursuit, but only if Allie will give me a tarot reading after. Will you?”
Kitty’s hand snaked out and touched the back of Joy’s neck, and the touch made her feel important and special. Joy smiled at her.
“Tarot is black magic, you know,” Elaine said. “Every time you give the devil power—”
“Elaine,” Kitty said quietly, sipping from her cup.
Elaine went quiet. Luna said, “Pass another slice of that cheesecake down to Allie, Elaine. She’s been talking about it all day.”
Kitty winked at Luna across the table. Joy beamed.
It was so good to be home.
Taos Events Calendar
7–9 P.M. Coffee House Gathering ,
alcohol-, drug-, and smoke-free concert for the whole family with music by Dan Ingroff, Charlie Whaler, and special guest Blade; coffee, tea, punch, and dessert at the San Geronimo Lodge, 1101 Witt Road, $4, 555-3776.
8 P.M. The Goddess Babes ,
belly dancing performance at The Mad Hatter’s new location across from Smith’s, 229 Paseo del Pueblo Sur, $5, 555-5196 or 555-0632.
7–9 P.M. “The Burmese Harp,”
Taos Mountain Sangha’s Friday Night Film Series continues with discussion following film, $3–5 donation suggested, no one turned away for lack of funds, Taos Mountain Sangha Meditation Center, 107C Plaza Garcia, 555-2383.
If Taos Mountain likes you, times will be good and that which you seek will be found here. If it doesn’t, you’ll be spit out like the used shell of a piñon nut.
Five
To get Joy settled and registered for school, Luna had a few days of vacation time, and she threw herself into the pleasure of having Joy with her, really
living
with her. It was not uniformly easy. Luna discovered that she hated Joy’s music, headbanger-loud, a fact that amused Joy quite a lot. “If it’s too loud, you’re too old, Mom.” Luna didn’t tell her the expression had been around since she was a teenager. Wincing at the sound of bands with names like Slipknot and Disturbed and Mudvayne,Luna did veto a poster that made her feel vaguely sick to her stomach—a collection of white dreadlocked boys with fake blood all over them. And to think people had once thought the Rolling Stones were bad boys.
Joy also could not believe that she had to connect to the Internet in the living room—because that’s where the phone connection was. “Haven’t you ever heard of privacy?” she complained. She was triply horrified to discover that Luna connected to the Internet with something as primitive as a modem and phone line. “You don’t have cable or DSL or
anything?”
Luna laughed. Gently.
They also discovered better things, such as the fact that they watched nearly all the same television shows, and loved to watch movies with a big bowl of popcorn between them. They liked the same foods and neither one much liked to talk first thing in the morning.
The best part was the house. In Luna’s old apartment, they’d always been cramped together during Joy’s visits. Luna had managed to win financing for the house eighteen months before, but it had needed so much
“Mom, not everybody jams like you do,” Elaine protested.
“Elaine, darlin’, you’re the best singer of all of us.”
Allie leaned her hand on her chin, looking to Joy like an Afghan hound who lived next door in Atlanta, sleek and pointy and elegant. “I could do tarot card readings.”
Elaine shook her head. Joy felt sorry for her all of a sudden—and she realized that Elaine was a lot like April in a way. They were always trying to be safe.
Maybe Luna had noticed they were teasing her a lot, too, because she reached out and took Elaine’s hand. “What would you like to do, Sissie? Scrabble, maybe? Trivial Pursuit?”
Elaine said, “I think we should ask Joy.”
Joy straightened. “I think …,” she said, looking at Allie, then Kitty, then Elaine and her mom. Elaine was the greatest at Trivial Pursuit, but Allie was tense, too. “Let’s play Trivial Pursuit, but only if Allie will give me a tarot reading after. Will you?”
Kitty’s hand snaked out and touched the back of Joy’s neck, and the touch made her feel important and special. Joy smiled at her.
“Tarot is black magic, you know,” Elaine said. “Every time you give the devil power—”
“Elaine,” Kitty said quietly, sipping from her cup.
Elaine went quiet. Luna said, “Pass another slice of that cheesecake down to Allie, Elaine. She’s been talking about it all day.”
Kitty winked at Luna across the table. Joy beamed.
It was so good to be home.
Taos Events Calendar
7–9 P.M. Coffee House Gathering ,
alcohol-, drug-, and smoke-free concert for the whole family with music by Dan Ingroff, Charlie Whaler, and special guest Blade; coffee, tea, punch, and dessert at the San Geronimo Lodge, 1101 Witt Road, $4, 555-3776.
8 P.M. The Goddess Babes ,
belly dancing performance at The Mad Hatter’s new location across from Smith’s, 229 Paseo del Pueblo Sur, $5, 555-5196 or 555-0632.
7–9 P.M. “The Burmese Harp,”
Taos Mountain Sangha’s Friday Night Film Series continues with discussion following film, $3–5 donation suggested, no one turned away for lack of funds, Taos Mountain Sangha Meditation Center, 107C Plaza Garcia, 555-2383.
If Taos Mountain likes you, times will be good and that which you seek will be found here. If it doesn’t, you’ll be spit out like the used shell of a piñon nut.
Five
To get Joy settled and registered for school, Luna had a few days of vacation time, and she threw herself into the pleasure of having Joy with her, really
living
with her. It was not uniformly easy. Luna discovered that she hated Joy’s music, headbanger-loud, a fact that amused Joy quite a lot. “If it’s too loud, you’re too old, Mom.” Luna didn’t tell her the expression had been around since she was a teenager. Wincing at the sound of bands with names like Slipknot and Disturbed and Mudvayne,Luna did veto a poster that made her feel vaguely sick to her stomach—a collection of white dreadlocked boys with fake blood all over them. And to think people had once thought the Rolling Stones were bad boys.
Joy also could not believe that she had to connect to the Internet in the living room—because that’s where the phone connection was. “Haven’t you ever heard of privacy?” she complained. She was triply horrified to discover that Luna connected to the Internet with something as primitive as a modem and phone line. “You don’t have cable or DSL or
anything?”
Luna laughed. Gently.
They also discovered better things, such as the fact that they watched nearly all the same television shows, and loved to watch movies with a big bowl of popcorn between them. They liked the same foods and neither one much liked to talk first thing in the morning.
The best part was the house. In Luna’s old apartment, they’d always been cramped together during Joy’s visits. Luna had managed to win financing for the house eighteen months before, but it had needed so much
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