Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause by Mignon F. Ballard Read Free Book Online Page B

their time.”
    The room came to attention as Miss Dimple rested her fork on her plate. “I don’t believe any effort to support our country could be considered a waste of time.”
    Silence like a blanket of snow descended on the diners as Lily flushed and reached for her water glass with a trembling hand. Charlie wanted to stand and cheer for Miss Dimple’s stand, but she couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for Lily, who never seemed to think before she spoke.
    To her relief, Velma Anderson spoke up. “Well, I can hardly wait to see it. That new coach, Jordan McGregor, has talked our own Froggie Faulkenberry into being the maid of honor.”
    “That I have to see!” Geneva said, thinking of their stuffy school principal parading down the aisle in lace. She turned to Annie. “What do the younger girls plan to sing?”
    “We’re working on a little dance routine to ‘Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.’ I think it should be fun—if Sebastian has the patience to put up with us,” Annie said.
    Sebastian Weaver, who was the lone man at the table, folded his napkin and stood. “If I can tolerate seven high school couples … how do you say it … jitterbugging … to ‘The Two O’Clock Jump,’ I don’t think I’ll have a problem with that little group.”
    Odessa thumped a tray down on the sideboard. “You not leaving now, are you? You gonna miss dessert.”
    Even with sugar being rationed, along with just about everything else, Odessa continued to work miracles in the kitchen and usually managed to provide a sweet of some kind.
    “I hate to miss that, but I have a class in half an hour and will have to hurry to make it.” The high school was almost a mile away, and almost everyone walked to save on gas. Eyeing the dessert, Sebastian hesitated on his way out. “Looks good. What is it, Odessa?”
    “I found this here recipe for War Cake in one of them ladies’ magazines. Here, you can take a piece with you.”
    “Why do they call it War Cake?” Velma asked as Sebastian left, happily munching.
    “’Cause it ain’t got no sugar in it,” Odessa explained. “Just honey. Be a lot better with a good lemon sauce, but we don’t have enough sugar for that, either.”
    Charlie found the dessert delicious even without the sauce. The new choral director had seemed to enjoy it, too. She wondered how he got along with the rowdy teenaged boys under his supervision as he was basically shy and had been raised in Austria, so his accent was sometimes a handicap because of the war with Germany.
    Sebastian Weaver had been gone only a minute or two when he reappeared with a handful of letters. “The mail just came, so I thought I’d bring it in,” he said, depositing the small stack by Phoebe’s plate.
    Annie jumped to her feet. “Oh, is there anything for me?”
    “Just some old letter from a Cadet Frazier Duncan, but you wouldn’t be interested in that,” Geneva, looking over Phoebe’s shoulder, pretended to toss it aside.
    Miss Dimple received a letter from her brother, Henry, and Velma, one from her sister in Augusta. Charlie finished her dessert and excused herself from the table, intending to wait on the porch for Annie to read her letter before walking back to school together, but Phoebe brushed suddenly past her, dropping several pieces of mail in her hurry.
    Charlie stooped to collect what appeared to be a water bill, a postcard from a former roomer who had moved away, and an advertisement from Rich’s department store in Atlanta. “Wait, Miss Phoebe. You dropped something!” she called after her.
    But her hostess had already disappeared down the hall to the back of the house, and there was only one word for the look on her face. Fear.

C HAPTER F IVE
    Dimple Kilpatrick seldom worried. It did no good to dwell on conditions one could not change, but if there was something she could do to improve a situation, she believed in doing what her father had referred to as “stepping up to the