Read Online Little Gale Gumbo by Erika Marks - Free Book Online Page A

find Dahlia laying down mulch on a rose bed.
    â€œDaddy’s home,” Josie said. “Didn’t you hear?”
    â€œSorry. I don’t have the news on out here.”
    Josie frowned at her sister’s filthy hands and thighs. “He’s gonna hit the roof if he finds you out here looking like that.”
    â€œI’m sure. Only thing worse than being a convict is getting dirty on Thanksgiving. Maybe I should be the one going to jail.”
    â€œDahl, please don’t start,” Josie whispered. “Momma’s made a really nice meal, and Daddy seems happy. Don’t ruin it. Let’s try and be like a real family today, huh?”
    â€œWe are a real family,” Dahlia said, annoyed. She rose to her feet, wiping her hands on her seat. “It’s when he’s here that we’re not.”
    â€œJesus Christ, girl.” Charles appeared behind Josie, zipping up his fly. “What the hell you doin’ out here? Diggin’ a goddamned well?”
    â€œDahlia grew roses, Daddy,” Josie said. “You should have seen them when they were blooming. They were so beautiful.”
    Charles looked at Dahlia. “Get on inside and wash yourself up. Your momma needs help settin’ the table.”
    Â 
    Ten minutes later, the table was set and the sisters and Camille were seated. The turkey sat in the center of the table, its crinkled skin gleaming.
    Camille looked around, shifting from side to side. “Where’s your father?”
    Josie shrugged, answering brightly as she reached for her milk, “Maybe he’s bringing some food to the lady in the car.”
    Camille looked up.
    â€œWhat lady in the car?” demanded Dahlia.
    â€œThe . . . lady,” Josie said weakly, panic filling her as she looked between them.
    Dahlia jumped up, and before Camille or Josie could stop her, she lunged across the table and scooped up the turkey in her arms like a drowsing cat.
    â€œDahlia Rose!” Camille cried, struggling to free herself from her chair to chase after her. Josie followed, steering around the slick trail of juice that Dahlia was leaving in her wake, and both mother and daughter arrived on the porch just in time to see Dahlia reach back and hurl the shiny bird at the black DeVille’s windshield, where it exploded like a squeezed boil.
    â€œYou forgot your precious turkey, asshole!”
    A scream came from the passenger seat, where a blond woman recoiled, her red-nailed hands covering her eyes.
    Charles tore out of the driver’s side, wild-eyed. “Jesus H. Christ!”
    â€œCharles, leave her alone!” Camille pleaded, trying to barricade the doorway after Dahlia had run back inside, but Charles just shoved her roughly aside, shouting, “You come back here, goddamn it!”
    Josie helped Camille to her feet and they raced inside. Charles slipped on the path of turkey grease, catching himself on the back of a chair before continuing his chase. “You get your ass out there and you apologize to that woman, girl! What she ever done to you, and you go and try and kill her with my goddamned turkey?”
    Dahlia stopped at the table, spinning around to face him from the other side. “If I wanted to kill her, I would have aimed for the open window!”
    Charles considered the answer a moment, his eyes narrowing; then he lunged across the table. Camille and Josie arrived, screaming for him to stop, but his rage was blinding. He swung the chairs out of his way, scrambling around the table as Dahlia dove beneath it.
    â€œCharles, stop it!” Camille cried, dropping to her knees to pull Dahlia to safety, but Charles’s hand wrapped around Dahlia’s ankle and tugged her back. “Charles, no!”
    Dahlia twisted onto her back and kneed his stomach, forcing him to free her, but he recovered quickly, catching her arm as she got to her feet. He managed a strike across her cheek, then another, harder. He had