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when I say, “Maybe you could come back later, Mrs. Latanza, when Aunt Marty is finished.” “Oh, I will,” she says. “The whole town has been waiting for this.” With a wiggle of her fingers, Mrs. Latanza says goodbye and exits the same way she came in. “The nerve of that woman,” Mom says. “She thinks she owns this town.” “Yes, well—” “As if it’s my civic duty to maintain my home the way she’d like it to be! Who does she think sh—” “Mom!” Startled, Mom glares at me. “What about my birth?” I ask. “Oh, yes. Where was I?” I groan. “You were ready to tell me about your lie.” “I never lied to you, Ruthie. I just never told you the whole truth.” “MOM!” “Okay, okay.” Mom swallows. I try to, but my mouth is spitless. “I said I was alone that day,” Mom begins. “I wasn’t.” “My father was there?” “No. Martha was.” The electric current now shoots down my legs. “Your aunt was my birthing coach,” Mom continues. 80
“She was the only member of my family who didn’t disown me for having you.” I knew I had a deeper bond with the Goddess of Love than mere aunt and niece! Her face was probably the first face I saw as I entered the world. Maybe I imprinted on her, like those ducklings who think a dog is their mother when a dog is the first animal they see after they’re hatched. “Did Aunt Marty, by any chance, carry me to you the moment I popped out?” I excitedly ask my mother. Mom doesn’t respond and gives me an exasperated look. Which exasperates me, too. Why can’t she ever tell me what I want to hear when I want to hear it? “Is that the big secret?” I ask, incredulous. My mother’s nostrils flare. “She left.” “What do you mean, she left?” “Marty moved to New York to become Martine.” I wait. “And?” “And the last time I saw her, I told her I never wanted to see her again.” “That’s it?” My eyes bug out of my head. “You haven’t spoken to your sister in fourteen years because she moved ?” “Three years,” Mom corrects me. “We spoke that weekend in New York. Which cemented my feelings about her. Martha married Richard, told everyone her name was Martine, became someone I don’t even recognize, thinks she’s an expert on men, for heaven’s sake, and left me in 81
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Mary Hogan
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15 IF AUNT MARTY WEREN’T SMACK IN
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SHE WALKS INTO CLASS TEN MINUTES AF
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“DUCK.” That’s the first word
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“Wasn’t the president’s daugh
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“If it isn’t P. Nerdy in his ga
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IT WAS DELICIOUSLY WARM OUT, ONE OF
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The two of us were trapped in a mat
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you see all four of them? They’re
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MOM HAS HER FEET PROPPED UP ON OUR
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Mom—her kinky reddish-gray curls
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ping powerhouse, Odessa, Delaware,
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when I’m in love with a boy who h
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four, but it felt like forty. We le
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a giant looping ramp. Suddenly, I s
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and Destruction” lectures. “Eve
Page 37 and 38: Before I could figure out what to s
Page 39 and 40: I laughed, too. Tried to look as ca
Page 41 and 42: “Do you have these in red?” she
Page 43 and 44: what everyone else did. “These cr
Page 45 and 46: sure they’d been ironed. Everythi
Page 47 and 48: in front of other males, about not
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: about your birth.” “What have y
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 and 100: We sit. On the white couch. Like tw
Page 101 and 102: Aunt Marty steps back and watches o
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
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fill my daughter’s head with garb
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“You don’t hate me, Fay. You ha
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My mother moves even closer to me,
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something in Wilmington, but the st
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I can barely breathe. “You busy S
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“Props?” “You know, setting s
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your nose, one eyebrow or the other
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“Tell your mother the truth.” M
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THROUGH THE BUS WINDOW, WE BOTH WAT
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“Let’s jam!” he shouts. The G
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scope out each mouth-watering possi
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“We’ll make it,” Perry says w
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appears on the pay line, an astrona
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“We can’t.” “We must!” I
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completely. My body jingles like a
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fantasies. The reality of it is . .
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that. Things are flying smoothly ag
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twenty minutes, then twenty-five. I
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the blood throbbing through my temp
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Aunt Marty brings my mother Little
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speaks to the coroner about Mr. Art
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emember most about Mr. Arthur. It d
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“Me?” At that moment, I realize
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of the talking.” Then she added,
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my head: For fourteen years, I’ve
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As I look at my mother standing the
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This year, three weeks after Mr. Ar
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last pool of syrup with my last for
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much smaller) head. “So do I.”
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WE HAVE ONE LAST FAMILY DINNER—TH
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makeup somehow remains perfect), Au
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in Dover Mall as often as Mom will
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“Hey,” he says to me, nodding a
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ETERNAL THANKS TO THE AMAZING Amand
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THE SERIOUS KISS PRETTY FACE
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Copyright PERFECT GIRL. Copyright
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