Perfect Girl - Weebly
Perfect Girl - Weebly Perfect Girl - Weebly
“The basics! Thank God!” I clap my hands. Aunt Marty begins. “Number One, never forg—” “Yoo-hoo!” My neck pivots toward the open window. Five heads are crammed into the space, all grinning. “Martha! Remember me?” It’s Mrs. Fannerife, the woman who now lives above Taylor’s—though Taylor’s is long gone. She’s almost as old as Mr. Arthur—and almost as deaf. I used to wonder why they never hooked up until Mr. Arthur once said, “That Betty Fannerife will talk your ear off!” Walter Maynard’s mom is next to Mrs. Fannerife in the window. She looks like her son. Was there a sale on blackrimmed glasses? Mrs. Latanza is pressing her pointy nose up to the screen. Hovering above all of them are my geography teacher, Mr. Sheeak, and his “friend,” Kyle. Both men wear polo shirts with the collars flipped up. “We’ve come for the reveal!” Kyle says, practically bursting. Aunt Marty howls. Without grunting (like my mom does), she rises up from the couch, slips back into her shoes, and glides to the front door. “Come on in!” she says. Come in? Hey! I want to scream, What happened to the Perry Plan?! Kyle pushes in ahead of the group and shrieks. “Periwinkle blue walls! They’re fabulous!” 92
Aunt Marty steps back and watches our neighbors ooh and aah over her efforts. I sit slumped on the white couch like a sullen kid. Mrs. Maynard sighs and says, “Remember your sweet sixteen party in this room, Martha? Well, of course you wouldn’t remember.” “I remember,” Aunt Marty says. “That pink dress! My, you were beautiful.” Aunt Marty in a pink dress? In our Odessa living room? No way can I picture that. Obviously, Aunt Marty is having trouble picturing it, too, because she gets a faraway look on her face and says, “That was a lifetime ago.” The group follows my aunt to the back of the house. I get up—not grunting, but moaning impatiently a little— and tag along. Once we enter the sunporch, my jaw drops just as it had when I first came through the front door. “Goodness,” Mr. Sheeak says. “Finally,” adds Mrs. Latanza. The walls are painted a soft red. “Persimmon,” offers Aunt Marty. “Apparently, colors that start with a P are my prevailing passion,” she adds, giggling. “It’s so pretty!” Mrs. Fannerife says, one hand on each cheek. The old Astroturf carpet in the sunporch is gone. The wood floor is painted in a white-and-apple-green checkerboard, the peeling windowpanes have all been scraped, repaired, and repainted. Again, I’m stunned that this 93
- Page 49 and 50: “WE CAME ALL THIS WAY FOR A DAY ?
- Page 51 and 52: “Who told you?” my mother asked
- Page 53 and 54: The last thing I saw were Aunt Mart
- Page 55 and 56: Far back in the corner of my closet
- Page 57 and 58: emember it. Like the soft, warm com
- Page 59 and 60: asking Aunt Marty for advice about
- Page 61 and 62: un both hands down the front of her
- Page 63 and 64: Mom is speechless. Her hair is a kn
- Page 65 and 66: She slams the freezer door shut in
- Page 67 and 68: WE’RE TOO LATE. BY THE TIME I BRI
- Page 69 and 70: “We have company!” he exclaims.
- Page 71 and 72: ack). He’d round a corner, wearin
- Page 73 and 74: I’d say, “Sure,” without worr
- Page 75 and 76: I wiggle my freshly painted toenail
- Page 77 and 78: “Thanks,” I say, calling after
- Page 79 and 80: But—and this is a humongous but
- Page 81 and 82: Arthur turned into a puppy. I kept
- Page 83 and 84: IF AUNT MARTY WEREN’T SMACK IN TH
- Page 85 and 86: the wall that separates the living
- Page 87 and 88: about your birth.” “What have y
- Page 89 and 90: “She was the only member of my fa
- Page 91 and 92: Quietly, she repeats, “There is o
- Page 93 and 94: Swiveling, she turns her back on me
- Page 95 and 96: corn. I want to bury my face in it
- Page 97 and 98: “Check this out,” Perry says, s
- Page 99: We sit. On the white couch. Like tw
- Page 103 and 104: “I want my daughter to be prepare
- Page 105 and 106: AUNT MARTY’S CAR SMELLS LIKE HER
- Page 107 and 108: loop of their relationship going. I
- Page 109 and 110: “I know.” Truth be told, it’s
- Page 111 and 112: sunscreen, and something I can’t
- Page 113 and 114: Only, when I see Frankie, she hands
- Page 115 and 116: IT’S THE SMELL OF CINNAMON AND BU
- Page 117 and 118: Aunt Marty beams. She races ahead,
- Page 119 and 120: Lilah impatiently asks, “What siz
- Page 121 and 122: “Nothing,” I say. “Good. Now
- Page 123 and 124: Shop, the Gap, Tower Records, Banan
- Page 125 and 126: Serrano is as excited to see Celest
- Page 127 and 128: “A Cosmopolitan, please,” Aunt
- Page 129 and 130: Celeste and Frankie excitedly bob t
- Page 131 and 132: ultimate ego trip.” Caressing my
- Page 133 and 134: oth heart and soul. Trust me. That
- Page 135 and 136: “That’s why I’m here in Odess
- Page 137 and 138: IT’S ABOUT NINE O’CLOCK WHEN WE
- Page 139 and 140: fill my daughter’s head with garb
- Page 141 and 142: “You don’t hate me, Fay. You ha
- Page 143 and 144: My mother moves even closer to me,
- Page 145 and 146: something in Wilmington, but the st
- Page 147 and 148: I can barely breathe. “You busy S
- Page 149 and 150: “Props?” “You know, setting s
“The basics! Thank God!” I clap my hands.<br />
Aunt Marty begins. “Number One, never forg—”<br />
“Yoo-hoo!”<br />
My neck pivots toward the open window. Five heads are<br />
crammed into the space, all grinning.<br />
“Martha! Remember me?”<br />
It’s Mrs. Fannerife, the woman who now lives above<br />
Taylor’s—though Taylor’s is long gone. She’s almost as old<br />
as Mr. Arthur—and almost as deaf. I used to wonder why<br />
they never hooked up until Mr. Arthur once said, “That<br />
Betty Fannerife will talk your ear off!”<br />
Walter Maynard’s mom is next to Mrs. Fannerife in the<br />
window. She looks like her son. Was there a sale on blackrimmed<br />
glasses? Mrs. Latanza is pressing her pointy nose up<br />
to the screen. Hovering above all of them are my geography<br />
teacher, Mr. Sheeak, and his “friend,” Kyle. Both men wear<br />
polo shirts with the collars flipped up.<br />
“We’ve come for the reveal!” Kyle says, practically bursting.<br />
Aunt Marty howls. Without grunting (like my mom<br />
does), she rises up from the couch, slips back into her shoes,<br />
and glides to the front door.<br />
“Come on in!” she says.<br />
Come in? Hey! I want to scream, What happened to the<br />
Perry Plan?!<br />
Kyle pushes in ahead of the group and shrieks.<br />
“Periwinkle blue walls! They’re fabulous!”<br />
92
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