back that Grandma was kind of a battle-ax, which was why Mom spent so much time reading as a kid. She needed to get away from her mother’s constant harping and criticism.
Still, even if your mom was a total beeyotch, you wouldn’t want to hear your dad going around calling some other woman the girl of his dreams, as Gramps often calls Kitty.
“What this town needs is a rec center for you kids,” Mom went on, “so you don’t have to spend your Saturday nights cruising up and down Main Street, or sitting on that wall, or lying on that hill with all the chiggers. If Gramps really wanted to be a philanthropist, that’s what he’d have built, not a planetarium.”
“Observatory,” I corrected her. “And I get what you’re saying. But are you and Dad really not coming to the wedding?”
Gramps’s wedding to Kitty is going to be the event of the year…half the town has been invited, and Grandpa already confided it’s costing him fifty thousand dollars. But he says it’s totally worth it…since he’s marrying thegirl of his dreams.
Except of course, every time he says this, my mom’s lips get all small. “Kitty Hollenbach never gave him the time of day before,” I once overheard Mom complaining to my dad. “Now he’s a millionaire, and suddenly she’s all over him like sweat on a horse.”
Which isn’t a very nice description of Kitty, who is actually a very cool lady who always orders Manhattans when Grandpa takes her and me and Jason out for dinner at the country club. Grandma, from what I understand, thought it was a sin to drink alcohol of any kind and frequently told Grandpa, who is not what you’d call a teetotaler, so.
“We’ll see,” was what mom said in answer to my question about her going to the wedding.
I know what “we’ll see” means, though. Around my family, it means “no way on God’s green earth”—in this case, no way is Mom going to her dad’s wedding.
I guess I can see why she’s so mad. It really hurts small, locally owned businesses when places like Super Sav-Mart—which sell the same products for much less, and all conveniently located under one roof—move into town.
On the other hand, Super Sav-Mart’s going to need someone to manage the book section of the new store, and who better than my mom?
Except that Mom says she’d rather eat her own young than don a red Super Sav-Mart apron.
“Well, good night, honey,” Mom said, getting up frommy bed with effort and waddling to the door. “See you in the morning.”
“See you,” I said.
I didn’t say what I wanted to, which was, “If you just asked Grandpa for the money to expand the store into the Hoosier Sweet Shoppe, which has closed down, so we can have a café, which is exactly what Courthouse Square Books needs to blow Super Sav-Mart out of the water, he’d give it to you. And then you wouldn’t need to worry about having to wear that red apron.”
Because I know if she took the money, she’d feel like she had to be nice to Kitty.
And that would just about kill her.
----
Wait! Your hair and wardrobe may be perfect, but your makeover’s not complete without this:
The one thing you can wear this or any season that’s always going to be in style and look great is confidence .
Having confidence in yourself is the one accessory no one can afford to leave at home.
People are naturally drawn to leaders, and leaders are those who have confidence in themselves.
----
Eight
D - DAY
MONDAY , AUGUST 28, 9 A . M .
“Good morning, Crazyt—What happened to you ?” is what Jason said when I climbed into the backseat of The B this morning.
“Nothing,” I said innocently as I closed the door. We’d moved on from the 1977 compilation mix CD, I realized immediately when the sounds of the Rolling Stones assailed me. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“What happened to your hair?” Jason wanted to know. He actually turned around in his seat, as opposed to just looking at my reflection in the
Still, even if your mom was a total beeyotch, you wouldn’t want to hear your dad going around calling some other woman the girl of his dreams, as Gramps often calls Kitty.
“What this town needs is a rec center for you kids,” Mom went on, “so you don’t have to spend your Saturday nights cruising up and down Main Street, or sitting on that wall, or lying on that hill with all the chiggers. If Gramps really wanted to be a philanthropist, that’s what he’d have built, not a planetarium.”
“Observatory,” I corrected her. “And I get what you’re saying. But are you and Dad really not coming to the wedding?”
Gramps’s wedding to Kitty is going to be the event of the year…half the town has been invited, and Grandpa already confided it’s costing him fifty thousand dollars. But he says it’s totally worth it…since he’s marrying thegirl of his dreams.
Except of course, every time he says this, my mom’s lips get all small. “Kitty Hollenbach never gave him the time of day before,” I once overheard Mom complaining to my dad. “Now he’s a millionaire, and suddenly she’s all over him like sweat on a horse.”
Which isn’t a very nice description of Kitty, who is actually a very cool lady who always orders Manhattans when Grandpa takes her and me and Jason out for dinner at the country club. Grandma, from what I understand, thought it was a sin to drink alcohol of any kind and frequently told Grandpa, who is not what you’d call a teetotaler, so.
“We’ll see,” was what mom said in answer to my question about her going to the wedding.
I know what “we’ll see” means, though. Around my family, it means “no way on God’s green earth”—in this case, no way is Mom going to her dad’s wedding.
I guess I can see why she’s so mad. It really hurts small, locally owned businesses when places like Super Sav-Mart—which sell the same products for much less, and all conveniently located under one roof—move into town.
On the other hand, Super Sav-Mart’s going to need someone to manage the book section of the new store, and who better than my mom?
Except that Mom says she’d rather eat her own young than don a red Super Sav-Mart apron.
“Well, good night, honey,” Mom said, getting up frommy bed with effort and waddling to the door. “See you in the morning.”
“See you,” I said.
I didn’t say what I wanted to, which was, “If you just asked Grandpa for the money to expand the store into the Hoosier Sweet Shoppe, which has closed down, so we can have a café, which is exactly what Courthouse Square Books needs to blow Super Sav-Mart out of the water, he’d give it to you. And then you wouldn’t need to worry about having to wear that red apron.”
Because I know if she took the money, she’d feel like she had to be nice to Kitty.
And that would just about kill her.
----
Wait! Your hair and wardrobe may be perfect, but your makeover’s not complete without this:
The one thing you can wear this or any season that’s always going to be in style and look great is confidence .
Having confidence in yourself is the one accessory no one can afford to leave at home.
People are naturally drawn to leaders, and leaders are those who have confidence in themselves.
----
Eight
D - DAY
MONDAY , AUGUST 28, 9 A . M .
“Good morning, Crazyt—What happened to you ?” is what Jason said when I climbed into the backseat of The B this morning.
“Nothing,” I said innocently as I closed the door. We’d moved on from the 1977 compilation mix CD, I realized immediately when the sounds of the Rolling Stones assailed me. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“What happened to your hair?” Jason wanted to know. He actually turned around in his seat, as opposed to just looking at my reflection in the
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