Dovey Coe Read Online Free PDF Page A

meanness flowing beneath. “Now maybe if you give me a dollar each, I might let you help out some, but otherwise, you’re flat out of luck.”
    Of course there weren’t no one who had a dollar to give. Parnell and Paris Caraway were the only children in Indian Creek who ever had much spending money. The rest of us had pockets full of jacks and marbles and the smooth stones you could find up by Cane Creek, but not a dollar bill to save our lives. And Parnell known it, too.
    â€œYou let me play with your trains, I’ll help you clean up when you’re done,” I said, coming up with the idea on the spot and thinking it a fair offer.
    Parnell laughed. “Didn’t know you was a cleaning lady, Dovey Coe. I’ll tell my daddy forthe next time he’s looking to hire someone to sweep up in here.”
    I looked Parnell straight in the eye. “You’re a sorry one, Parnell. I ain’t offering to be your maid, I just want to mess with them trains.”
    â€œToo bad they ain’t your trains, now ain’t that right?” Parnell said, the grin still spread across his face. Then he turned back to the track, flipping the switches all by himself, them children just staring with their mouths open, dying for the teeniest chance to play. Amos got so frustrated, he kicked the side of the soda cooler a couple of times.
    â€œAin’t y’all trained that little monkey yet?” Parnell had asked without even looking up from his trains. “Or is he too stupid to be made civilized?”
    I grabbed Amos’s hand and pulled him out of there before I gave in to my deep desire to aim a can of peas straight for Parnell’s head.
    Remembering just how evil Parnell could be, I was right scared that Caroline might lose her senses and take the boy up on his offer of marriage. There was more than a couple reasons the prospect bothered me, the least of which was that I couldn’t stand the thought of being related to Parnell, even if it was just by law. But more thanthat to me was the worry he’d take a notion to send Amos away. I decided I had better have a talk with Daddy, especially after he done told Caroline that Parnell could call on her regular, if that’s what she wanted.
    It was warm that night, the breeze floating real gentle over everything, like it were a mama putting her babies to sleep. Daddy was out on the porch with his guitar, picking one of them songs that about makes you want to cry even if you were right happy before you heard it. I waited for Daddy to finish his picking before I commenced to speak.
    â€œDaddy, I ain’t so sure about this business of Parnell calling on Caroline,” I said flat out, the way I’m like to do.
    Daddy strummed a few chords. “Now, why might that be, Sister?”
    â€œYou know how Parnell is, Daddy. He’s bad news for everyone concerned.”
    â€œI admit it can take a while for Parnell to grow on a man,” Daddy said, measuring out his words slow the way he did whenever he was giving some thought to a topic. “But this ain’t got to do with my feelings on the matter. Caroline’s just about a grown woman now, and I reckon it’s up to her who she passes an evening with. When you turnsixteen, I won’t tell you your business, either.”
    â€œBut, Daddy,” I said, a little panic creeping into me, “what if she goes and marries Parnell?”
    Daddy laughed. “Then I reckon we’ll start having Sunday dinner with Homer and Lucy Caraway. That’s a good way for a man to lose his appetite, now ain’t it?”
    â€œI’m serious, Daddy.”
    Daddy took a long look at me. “By your face, it appears you are. Well, tell me this, Sister. How likely you think it is that Caroline will break down and marry old Parnell? He’s been coming around here on and off for a full year now, and she ain’t never took much notice of him before. I reckon