The Orange Blossom Special by Betsy Carter Read Free Book Online Page B

just like his father. But she didn’t say any of that. Instead, she placed her hands together, as if she were trying to cup raindrops, and buried her head in them. When she spoke again, the anger was gone. “Well, darlin’,” she said with surprise in her voice. “I can’t remember the last time you and I went at each other like this. That was really something, wasn’t it?”
    That was an awful night, thought Victoria as she left J. Baldy’s. By that time the storm had passed and the steamy streets smelled like early morning. Her heart and head were running at different speeds, as if the two were disconnected.

FIVE
    She had to know she’d hit the cat.
    Dinah lay in her bed, puzzled over why her mother hadn’t even stopped the car. God, she was weird. No friends, all the drinking and smoking, talking to her dead husband. And now this! Her mother was a liar; worse even, she was a coward. Dinah stared at the moon, so round and pale it looked like Khrushchev’s head out her window. She thought about whether she’d tell Crystal what had happened. Adults weren’t to be trusted, that was for sure. They’d disappear on you, just like that, or try to make you believe something that happened really hadn’t. Would Crystal think that was interesting, she wondered, as she concentrated on not listening to her mother talking to her father in the next room.
    The next morning, Tessie woke up with a fiery rash. Prickly little blisters ran down her arms, behind her neck, and across her stomach. It felt as if there were pine needles inside her trying to get out. Her bed sheets were soaked.
    The heat, that’s what this must be about, she thought, rubbing her fingers over the nubby terrain of her arms. The books never mentioned the humidity. Tessie constantly felt as if she were wrapped up in a coat that was too heavy. It made her steps cumbersome and herthoughts sluggish. The air in Carbondale was brisk; it didn’t try to sink you. Here the heat took root and strangled everything in its path. Staying cool was the biggest accomplishment. They had fans in every room, but fans just moved the hot air around. Sometimes Tessie took three cold baths in one day.
    She stood in front of the bathroom mirror dabbing Calamine lotion on her skin. “Look at this,” she said to Dinah, who had just woken up. “All over me, just like the measles.” Dinah considered the little eruptions and saw the tension in her mother’s face as she tried to keep from scratching. “Don’t I look attractive today? How ever will I go to work like this?” Dinah wondered if it wasn’t as obvious to her mother as it was to her: it was the cat, scratching back. What Dinah didn’t know was that the night before, Tessie had placed a piece of paper in the Jerry Box. “Should I tell Dinah the truth?” she had written in a shaky hand. Now the answer was written all over her.
    â€œDinah, honey,” she said, rubbing the Calamine into the crook of her arm. “We should talk about what happened last night.”
    â€œForget it, Mom. I’ve got to get ready for school.”
    Suddenly Dinah couldn’t wait to get to homeroom. She knew Eddie Fingers would be in his seat when she got there. Without realizing it, Dinah had come to rely on him. She felt safe in his presence and took comfort in their silent dialogue.
    When she got to her seat, Eddie was waiting. She flashed him a quick four.
What about the cat?
He considered her message before responding. For the first time, he used all six fingers on his left hand to signal back. Maybe he smiled, Dinah couldn’t tell. She carried the number six with her through Phys. Ed, through Civics, English, and to the cafeteria. As she was looking out the window of Mr. Nanny’s Geometry class, the six words revealed themselves to her:
The answer is clear as glass.
    It made her smile to hear her dad’s voice as she