Page 17 of Driftwood Daffodil
Knox pushed over a blue hatted gnome and clapped his little hands as the streetlight in front of our place flickered. Shadows danced across his face making the thicker patches of dark hair on the sides of his head look like curled horns. Turning my nephew from a cute one-year-old into some kind of creepy gnome killer with like four teeth and an innocent giggle.
There was a sight to make someone shiver. Mind you it could also be the remnants of my hangover. My headache was gone, but every once and awhile the world would spin.
I’d still be in bed if Veda hadn’t decided to turn into the cling master 3000 when we got home. She’d been holding onto Knox ever since she picked him up from Sue and Winnie’s down the street.
I felt bad for the kid. He needed some air. Especially after spending the day with those two busy Betties.
If there was an official gossip column for this part of town then it was Sue and Winnie LeBeau. But it had its bonuses. Mrs. Devereux’s affair with the milkman was important information to have. It gave me a reason to badger Maw Maw. I didn’t even know milkmen were still a thing. Why the hell was I being sent to the store if we could have milk delivered?
Knox chomped down on the gnome’s hat and burbled, “Gnaw flinx.
“That’s right Knoxy,” I gave him a small nod. “You show those beady eyed bastards who’s boss.”
“Novalee Nadine Ford.”
Oh crap.
I tipped my head back to see Maw Maw’s unimpressed face eyeing me from the other side of the screen door.
“Did you just cuss at that baby?”
Technically no.
“Maw Maw, I hate to inform you of this but the days when bastard was whispered in secret died long before the first phone booth.”
Not all phone booths were gone. Not on the east side of Soiree anyway. Though the last time we drove past it I was pretty sure I saw a family of squirrels sacrificing a crow, but hey, we still had one. How many towns could say that?
Maw Maw’s response was one I’d heard so many times that it played in my mind along with the words that came out of her mouth. “Not in my house, it didn’t.”
The lecture continued as I rolled my head back to watch Knox happily continue to chew on the gnome.
“This is a God fearing Christian house…”
“I go to church.” I argued.
Every Sunday I was dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn, except for today. Mark Winslow had to fill in for Father John and Maw Maw didn’t like him. His shifty eyes disturbed her. Or so she claimed.
“You need to take your prayers more seriously young lady.”
That line was always followed with…
“God sees everything, Novalee.”
“Great,” I grumbled. “Maybe he’ll see the answers to my calculus exam.”
Having to spend my senior year in St Agatha’s was bad enough, then Maw Maw had to go and sign me up for advanced calculus.
“I’m tired of watching you waste your potential…”
That was her reasoning for sending me to the private catholic school.
“If I were you, I’d be questioning the merits of this so-called educational institution.”
“Don’t sass me missy,” she waved her finger at me. “You used to be an honor student…”
“My point exactly,” I interrupted. “Clearly they have low standards.”
Why else would they give me a scholarship? I was not the prime candidate. The highest mark I got last year was in art, and that was only because I got bored one night and actually put some effort into my year end sculpture.
