The Perfect Place by Teresa E. Harris Read Free Book Online Page B

be necessary. Moe and Joe will get us where we need to be.”
    â€œWho’re Moe and Joe?” Tiffany asks.
    Great-Aunt Grace points down at her two sneakered feet.
    â€œWe can’t walk in this heat!”
    Great-Aunt Grace swats away my words the way a horse swats flies.
    I should take Tiffany and demand that Great-Aunt Grace let us back inside. But even this heat isn’t enough to make me stupid. It’s one thing to suggest to Great-Aunt Grace that walking in weather this hot is ridiculous. It’s an entirely different beast to try to go back inside when she told us to come out. We have no choice but to follow her. This is going to be the Longest. Walk. Ever.
    It is a bit after nine now, the butt crack of dawn in the summer as far as I’m concerned. And yet, people are out. Two old men wearing tank tops and shorts sit on the saggy porch of a white house. When a car drives past, they wave. They don’t wave at us. In fact, they exchange a look and shake their heads. As we pass the house two doors down from Great-Aunt Grace’s, a woman comes flying out the front door, carrying a stack of papers. It’s the same woman who darted in front of Mom’s car on our way here. She’s still wearing her flowered housedress and big sun hat.
    â€œGrace!” the woman calls out.
    I stop. Tiffany does too. Great-Aunt Grace keeps on walking, her cooler banging against her thigh.
    â€œGrace!” The woman comes charging down her walkway and stops beside Tiffany and me. She doesn’t even acknowledge our presence. “I’m talking to you!” she shouts at Great-Aunt Grace’s back.
    â€œAnd that is unfortunate, Dot,” Great-Aunt Grace says loudly, but she stops walking and turns to face the woman. There’s a stretch of dirt road between Great-Aunt Grace and Dot that doesn’t invite conversation, but Dot closes the distance in four huge steps.
    â€œI’ve been robbed. Low-down dirty thief stole my elephant statue with the little flecks of gold in it. Look.” Dot pulls a flier from the top of her pile and waves it in Great-Aunt Grace’s face. Great-Aunt Grace reaches up with her free hand and snatches it.
    â€œA hundred-dollar reward, huh?” she asks.
    â€œYes, indeed. I gotta get to the bottom of this!”
    â€œWhat you
got
is too much dang free time,” Great-Aunt Grace replies, crumpling up Dot’s flier and shoving it in her pants pocket.
    Dot’s nostrils flare. “It’s been nearly a decade, but don’t think I forgot how you robbed my kin all those years ago. Would you happen to know anything about my missing statue?”
    â€œWhy would I?”
    â€œEveryone knows you got a record, Grace, and a knack for getting yourself caught up in the worst type of situations.”
    â€œThat explains me standin’ here talkin’ to you. Come on, girls, let’s go.”
    Great-Aunt Grace strides away, leaving Tiffany and me to stare after Dot, who storms back to her house and slams the door shut behind her. Tiffany runs to catch up to Great-Aunt Grace. I do too, though neither of us walks close enough to rub elbows with her.
    â€œDo you think someone broke in and stole Mr. Teddy Daniels’s clothes?”
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous, girl. Your mama forgot to pack them.”
    Tiffany’s face falls.
    â€œDon’t worry about it,” I tell Tiffany. “When Mom comes back with Dad, we’ll get more clothes for Mr. Teddy D.”
    â€œYou promise?”
    â€œYes.”
    Tiffany smiles. Great-Aunt Grace rolls her eyes.
    When we come almost to the end of Iron Horse Road, Tiffany furrows her brow and looks up at Great-Aunt Grace. “What kind of records do you have?”
    â€œWhat, girl?”
    â€œThat lady said everybody knows you got records.”
    â€œShe means a police record. It means Great-Aunt Grace has been arrested, right?” I say. “Mom and Dad got her out of