Read Online Growl Power! by Deborah Gregory - Free Book Online Page B

shuffling some papers, then she returns. “We have Diamonds in the Ruff—they are so cute—older girls than you, I think. Um, Miggy and Mo’, Moody Gardens, and—oh, that’s it. Funny, I thought there were five….”
    “Well, Mrs. Fenilworth,” I say, sounding professional, “while we were waiting to audition, we had the pleasure of hearing this amazing blues group, Fish ’N’ Chips.”
    “Uh, yes, I remember them,” Mrs. Fenilworth says, hesitating. “We thought they were very good, but perhaps … not appropriate as an opening act for, um, the Karma’s Children audience.”
    “Well, Mrs. Fenilworth, we are only thirteen, and we
love
them. My generation isn’t just interested in R & B, rap, and pop music—we love the blues, too!” I try not to look at Angie, who is making me laugh, hopping around with her hand over her mouth.
    “Of course,” Mrs. Fenilworth says, like she’s trying not to say anything to offend me. She
is
nice.
    “And you know Houston does help its own—everyone is real proud of Fish ’N’ Chips at the Montgomery Homeless Shelter—where they
live
, tirelessly helping the other residents and cheering them up with their music.”
    “They
live
at Montgomery?” Mrs. Fenilworth asks, surprised. “They never mentioned that.”
    “Well, they are proud, fine musicians first of all—so I’m not surprised they didn’t say anything about living in a homeless shelter.”
    “Let me see what I can do—because your point is very well taken, young lady. If I can pull a few strings here, we’ll contact the gentlemen ourselves, okay?” Mrs. Fenilworth says. “Um … do you have any
more
requests?”
    “Oh, no, ma’am!” I reply quickly. “We, um, the Cheetah Girls look forward to seeing you at the rehearsal, Mrs. Fenilworth—and we can’t thank you enough!”
    “
OMIGOD
!!” Angie and I hug each other like two cuddly teddy bears.
    “That was real nice what you did, Nettie One,” Ma says to me—and now I’m beaming, because I’ve made her proud, too.
    The phone rings
again
. “Well, pick it up. Don’t look at me—I just live here,” Ma says, half smiling. I think she’s afraid to pick it up, to tell you the truth—’cuz it might be bad news about Uncle Skeeter.
    “Hello?” I say apprehensively.
    “Anginette?”
    “No, it’s Aquanette,” I say to Big Momma, who sounds upset.
    “Put Junie on the phone,” she says quietly.
    Ma sees the fear on my face as I pass her the phone. “What is it?” she asks, while we look on. “On Sycamore Road? Yeah, that’s all we can do now, sit and wait.”
    Ma hangs up, and we can feel her heaviness. All the excitement about performing at Karma’s Children Benefit Concert has flown out of the room like fairy dust.
    “We’ve got to go on with our lives until we know more, Aquanette,” Ma explains, calling me by my full name, which she only does when she’s being real serious. “You’d better call Galleria and get this rodeo in motion.” She hands me the phone to call New York.
    “Yes, ma’am,” I say, trying to shake the bad case of the spookies that has come over me.
    “Houston is boostin,’ baby!” Galleria exclaims excitedly when I tell her the good news. “Now I know that dreams do come true in the jiggy jungle, because I’ve been
praying
for a way to get out of Dodge for Thanksgiving!”
    I try to calm my nerves down as I tell Galleria all about Fish ’N’ Chips, Mrs. Fenilworth, Mr. Paddlewheel …
    All of a sudden, Galleria interrupts, blurting out, “Miz Aquanette, what’s wrong? You don’t really sound like yourself. If you don’t want us to come and perform with you … we’ll understand.”
    I am shocked that Galleria thinks we don’t want the rest of the Cheetah Girls to come down and perform with us. “Oh, no! It’s not that,” I reassure her. “But there is something wrong. Our uncle Skeeter hasn’t come home for five days. He hasn’t even called his kids—our cousins Egyptian and