Read Online Virgin Soul by Judy Juanita - Free Book Online

wasn’t saying much. I relaxed and started to grease.
    â€œSo Pink,” Pink continued, “hungry for Aunt Pat’s Sunday dinner, asked Pat to serve him his dinner on the floor. And you know what my wife told me? As sure as you born, Pat said, ‘Absolutely not. Give in and get up.’”
    This was the cue for anybody with two cents to jump in. Aunt Ola Ray gave it a religious slant, “And, hallelujah, Pat said, ‘Give in and get up.’” Zenobia flavored hers with self-respect: “Patsy couldn’t do it. She told Pink ‘Give in and get up.’” Uncle Boy-Boy said, “Off your knees, brotherman.”
    Allwood muttered under his breath to me, as I showed him where the bathroom was, “Your family is so bourgie.” To me, bourgie means straining up to be bourgeois. “My family,” I growled, “who have all worked very hard to get what they have are, for your information, fun loving, loud, argumentative, boastful, food loving, proud, and,” as an addendum, “they don’t like to eat at restaurants. The women cook.” I don’t know where that came from; they ate out on occasion.
    When I got back in the room, everybody was beginning to line up next to the phone for Buddy’s call. We each got to shout at Boy-Boy’s pride, his son the doctor.
    â€œMy son Buddy is serving in the Philippines right now,” Aunt Ola said to Allwood.
    Pink corrected her without condescension. “Not the Philippines, Ola. Vietnam.”
    â€œWell, over there,” Aunt Ola said. “On a ship. A duty ship.”
    â€œBoy’s not on a ship or we couldn’t talk with him,” Pink said.
    â€œWell, where is he, then?”
    â€œDanang.” Pink repeated it, as if he saw it.
    Allwood repeated the word as if it was unbelievable,
Danang, Danang
. “Your cousin’s in Danang, and you didn’t tell me?”
    I said, “I thought he went to Hawaii.”
    Uncle Boy-Boy talked from the phone. “He’s in the trenches.”
    â€œI don’t think so,” Allwood said, his voice low but clear in the excitement. It was the first time all evening that he didn’t look uneasy. “Medical doctors can’t carry weapons. Geneva Convention.” Pink had heard him.
    â€œHow’s he going to protect himself if he don’t have a weapon?” Pink said.
    I began to help with the cleanup when Uncle Boy-Boy announced, “Buddy wants to speak to Ruby Boogers.”
    â€œRuby Boogers, Ruby Boogers,” the kids began to chant. When I got my nose pierced, I bought a ruby nose ring, and my nose had gotten infected. Buddy had instructed me on what to do and named me Ruby Boogers. By the time I healed I had lost interest in wearing it. The family never let me live it down.
    â€œRuby Boogers with rings in her nose and bells on her toes,” the kids sang louder.
    I took the phone. “Dr. Bud?”
    â€œYeah. Is this the booger queen?” he said, laughing in his Bugs Bunny–Bela Lugosi way. “Still raising hell, Ruby Boogers?”
    Me, the hell-raiser? Buddy was wicked: “I’ll pass gas on your pillow if you don’t give me your Popsicle
.
” Many nights I slept without a pillow. When I took the phone, my voice cracked.
    â€œCome back soon, you hear me, Buddy?” I said. When I handed the receiver to Uncle Al, I felt something strange and tight in my throat. I looked out the picture window. Somewhere between gets I had become a grown-up.
    As I sat with the adults, I noticed the army green canvas strips on Allwood’s combat boots from the Army-Navy store. They looked rough next to the flats, pumps, Oxfords, Florsheims, and slip-ons from Monkie Ward’s, Karl’s, and J. C. Penney’s. All evening I had wavered, thinking Allwood wouldn’t fit in and hoping he might, no way would he like my people and maybe he would. Art Linkletter settled it. I never