Read Online Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata - Free Book Online

bandages.” She motioned to her arm. “Apparently, they discussed amputating.” I took a step back in shock, and I didn’teven know what the radius and ulna were. But I knew what “amputate” meant.
    â€œDoes it hurt a lot, Mom?” I asked.
    â€œI’m on painkillers. They’re clouding my mind.”
    Our mother liked to say that smart cookies do not betray their emotions. Marilyn was best at this. I tried hard but failed, bursting into tears. Her face!
    â€œShelby!” Marilyn snapped at me. To our mother, she said, “Mom, you look great. We didn’t know what to expect.”
    Our mother was staring at me. She raised her hand to her face.
    â€œYou look a little put upon,” I said quickly. “Otherwise, you do look great!”
    Our mother was the great denier of all time. So our conversation was laced with talk like this:
    Mom: Marilyn, you’re lovely, dear, but your posture!
    Marilyn: Yes, Mom.
    Mom: Shelby, you’re old enough to start getting your hair cut professionally.
    Me: Yes, Mom.
    Mom: Don’t ever forget, girls, soft skin will never go out of style.
    Soft skin will never go out of style
. My stomach clenchedat the effort of staying calm. Finally, she checked our nails and sent us home. Was there ever a more ridiculous woman than my mother?
    I turned around at the doorway. “But, Mom,” I said, “where do they get the skin to put on your arm?”
    â€œFrom my butt,” she said. “My beautiful butt.”
    We left with our backpacks stuffed with toilet paper from the hospital bathrooms, because we were scared we might suffer from cash depletion in the days ahead. The nurses smiled at us and commented on how “cute” we were. We tried to smile, feeling panicked that the nurses would ask to search our backpacks.
    The doctor had told Mack our mother would recover. That is, she would live, she would dance, she would use both her hands, but her arm and face would have a lot of scarring. She would have to stay in the hospital until they put the plates in, which couldn’t happen until the skin around her arm was completely healed, because if she hurt her arm any further, they would have to amputate it. Every week the doctor planned to put her to sleep to remove tissue that was dying on her injured arm.
    We took the El home, viewing the backs of the same buildings we’d seen from the front as we racedto the hospital in the taxi the previous night. The city was alive again.
    We staggered into the house, exhausted. “Should we powwow?” Marilyn asked.
    â€œI’m pretty tired, but okay,” I said.
    â€œAll right, we’ll make it short.”
    Maddie sat on the floor, leaned her head against her bed, and fell asleep.
    â€œWhat do you think?” I asked Marilyn.
    â€œHalf her face is okay,” Marilyn said. “The right half.”
    â€œBut you said it’s all in the face,” I said.
    â€œShe’ll still have half a face. Hey, how much money do we have?” Marilyn asked. “How much did you bring?”
    â€œAll of it,” I said.
    â€œAll of it?!”
    â€œIt’s three thousand dollars.” Three thousand dollars had seemed like a lot twenty-four hours ago. Now it seemed like a pittance.
    The door burst open, and our babysitter appeared, filling up the doorway. “Aren’t they home yet?”
    â€œThey were in an accident,” Marilyn said. “We’re fine if you want to leave.”
    â€œI can’t leave unless Mack says so.”

    â€œI think he forgot about you,” I said.
    â€œFigures.” He looked at us suspiciously. “If I leave, you’ll vouch that it was your idea?”
    â€œOf course,” Marilyn said. “We can take care of ourselves. We always do.”
    He left, and we just sat there for a moment. I hung a blanket over the window to dim the room, and we got in bed. I lay there for a while, thinking. Our