Tea Cups & Tiger Claws by Timothy Patrick Read Free Book Online

is a true honor to welcome you to Skinner’s Mercantile.” Then she tried to curtsy and the two girls looked at her big rump. “How may I help you today?” she asked.
    “Girls, tell this nice lady what you’d like.”
    The girls held their hands together, hopped up and down, and said, “Licorice whips! Corn candy!”
    “Well, Lady Judith, Lady Abigail, we have both of those, and if you’ll come this way, I’ll be more than happy to get them for you.” Dorthea wondered why Mrs. Skinner called them ladies when they were just little girls.
    The girls followed Mrs. Skinner to a glass counter and watched as she waddled to the other side of the counter and put a scoop into the small barrel of candy that sat inside the case. “Now who wants the corn candy?” she asked.
    “Me,” said the quiet one.
    Mrs. Skinner scooped the yellow and white candy onto the scale, looked at their mother, who nodded, and then poured the candy into a white bag which she handed to the girl. “Now for the licorice whip,” she said.
    “Mrs. Skinner,” said Ermel loudly. “You was helping me first and I expect you to finish helping me before runnin’ off to someone else.”
    Dorthea looked around and saw everyone staring at her and Ermel. She wanted to hide in the dark space between the barrels and the counter.
    “Mrs. Railer, in my store I run things —”
    “I’m sorry , Mrs. Skinner. I’m afraid we did come barging in. We’ll wait our turn. Won’t we girls?”
    “Yes , mother.”
    Mrs. Skinner handed the licorice to the girl and then marched over to the cash register. She pushed down hard with both hands on the buttons and it made a loud ringing noise. “A dollar seventy-five,” she said.
    “Would you like a licorice whip , darling?” asked Ermel.
    “Yes,” said Dorthea, surprised.
    Mrs. Skinner breathed in loudly through her nose and went to get the licorice.
    “Look mommy, they have Weatherbird shoes like the ones Nanny’s niece wears. Can we get them too, and then we’ll all match?” said one of the girls.
    “I want Weatherbird shoes too,” said the other.
    While they were still jumping up and down and tugging on their mother’s dress, Ermel walked right past them, grabbed a pair of Weatherbird shoes, and brought them back to the counter. The little girls watched the shoes pass before their eyes and then looked up at their mother.
    “I’ll take these instead,” said Ermel.
    “You most certainly will not, Mrs. Railer. You won’t be buying anything—”
    “Mrs. Skinner,” said their mo ther, “when you have two pair of the shoes in stock, in that same size, can you send them up to the house? Along with the bill for the candy, if it’s not too much trouble.”
    “Certainly , Your Grace, but you can—”
    “I think those shoes will look very nice on you Dorthea. Don’t you girls?”
    They didn’t say anything as their mother led them from the store.
    When the door closed and the little bell at the top of the door tinkled, Mrs. Skinner looked at Ermel and said, “I must ask you to leave , Mrs. Railer. We don’t need customers like you.”
    “And I don’t need to shop where they don’t know how to keep their books,” said Ermel. She grabbed Dorthea’s hand and dragged her out of the shop, without the Weatherbird Shoes and without the licorice whip. The day had turned rotten again.
    On the way back down to their house, as Ermel squeezed Dorthea’s hand and made her walk fast, Dorthea thought about Judith and Abbey, who used to be her sisters. They had pretty dresses and pretty beads in their hair. Why couldn’t they still be sisters? Then she’d get to have a pretty dress and wear pretty beads.
    Judith and Abbey liked their m other, she could tell. Dorthea looked at Ermel. She kind of looked like a mother. Some mothers are pretty and some are ugly, but most are pretty sometimes and ugly sometimes, like Ermel. She was skinny, like a man, and had rashes on her cheeks, but when she put on powder