Read Online Juliet in August by Dianne Warren - Free Book Online

half listens to his wife recite what she expects him to do the next day, he resolves, once again, to cut the tree down before it falls through the roof of their split-level house and lands right on top of them. Thinking about the tree leads him to think about his lawn, and then the hardware store and the new lawn mower he’s been eyeing. It’s not a riding mower, but it is a shiny green electric with many special features. Norval gets great pleasure from the act of mowing grass, which he’s been unable to do since his old gas mower died on him a few weeks ago. It bothers him when he gets home from work and sees that his grass is too long, but he just hasn’t had the time to stop at the hardware store. You’d think the overgrown lawn would bother his house-proud wife, too, but it doesn’t seem to.
    From two blocks away, he hears Mrs. Baxter’s rooster. The rooster has a defective
cock-a-doodle-doo
that makes him more irritating than a fully functioning rooster would be. He’s not even useful as an alarm clock because he has no sense of night and day. His feeble half-crow reminds Norval of the imperfections in everything.
    â€œI’d like to kill that rooster,” he says. “A rooster that doesn’t know the difference between night and day deserves to die.”
    His wife says, “You’re not listening to me, Norval,” and he turns his attention back to
the list
. All of the items on it have something to do with renovations to the church, which Lila sees as necessary for the wedding she is planning for their only daughter, Rachelle. Lila seems to have forgotten altogether their daughter’s age (eighteen), along with the fact that she’s just graduated from high school and has no plans to get an education that will be of use in earning her a decent living, and since she’s marrying Kyle Hoffert, she really ought to have a backup plan. The Hofferts earned their living until recently off their contract to collect pregnant mares’ urine for the hormone replacement industry. Those contracts were canceled when science decided the practice of replacing women’s hormones was not such a good idea after all, and the farms quickly became a thing of the past. The Hofferts run a few hundred head of cattle and are trying to maintain their horse-breeding program, but the mares’ urine had been a lot more valuable than either the cattle or the horses are now.
    And in addition to the worry about Rachelle’s financial security, there’s the notable fact that the bride is pregnant. Lila has decided to ignore this detail until after the wedding, at which time she’ll make an announcement as though it’s news, when everyone in Juliet already knows, and if they don’t they will when they see Rachelle in her wedding dress.
    â€œCan’t you take care of some of these things?” Norval asks in the dark.
    â€œI have my own list,” Lila says. “One person can’t plan a wedding.”
    â€œWhat about the blushing bride?” Norval asks. “Perhaps there are one or two things she might do to help out.”
    â€œDon’t be sarcastic,” Lila says. “She has a job. She’s busy. Anyway, you know how tired she is. Or maybe you don’t. Maybe you have to be a woman to know just how tired pregnancy can make you.”
    â€œI thought we were ignoring her ‘condition,’” Norval says.
    â€œWe’re not ignoring it within these walls. Don’t be ridiculous.”
    â€œWell, she didn’t seem that tired yesterday,” Norval says. “I walked by the swimming pool and there she was, prancing around in a string bikini, her little belly on display. Don’t they have rules of conduct for lifeguards? A dress code of some kind?”
    â€œThey’re not called string bikinis anymore,” Lila says. “You’re so old-fashioned. Anyway, she’s not showing yet. She has no