Fruit Read Online Free PDF Page A

wearing too much perfume. I started gagging.
    “We’re here looking for my daughter’s prom dress,” my mom smiled.
    “Oh, how exciting!” the saleswoman said. She clapped her hands together and I noticed she had silver rings on every one of her chubby fingers. “A young woman’s most important night! We just got some new styles in the other day! Hold on for one minute!” Then she went to the back of the store. I was glad to see her go because I could breathe again.
    “I want to leave,” Nancy said.
    “Don’t be silly,” my mom said. “You heard the lady. They just got some new styles in. Maybe something you’ll like.”
    She was trying to sound cheerful. Nancy looked like she was going to puke.
    “Please,” she said. “Let’s just go, okay?”
    She started walking towards the door but then the saleswoman came back with an armful of dresses in plastic bags.
    “Miss!” she called out in a loud voice, so that all the other women in the store turned to look. “There’s one here that I’m sure you’re going to love! What size are you? Sixteen? Eighteen?”
    Nancy practically ran out of the store.
    “I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately,” my momsaid while we were driving home. “I mean, honestly, Nancy. That was terribly embarrassing, leaving your brother and I just standing there.”
    “You’re right,” Nancy said, looking out the window, “I’m just so incredibly insensitive.”
    Nancy didn’t end up going to her prom, even though my mom said she’d regret it. Instead, she and André went for dinner at the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet on Confederation Road.
    Nancy’s boyfriend is fat, too, so they have that in common. They met through her job at Tim Horton’s. He wears Orange Tab Levi’s and drives the ugliest, loudest car I’ve ever seen or heard. He’s not very friendly, either, and always has a wad of pink bubble gum rolling around in his mouth. I don’t know what Nancy sees in him, but they got engaged last Christmas. They haven’t set a wedding date yet. Nancy says it’ll be soon. I’m not sure why, because lately all they seem to do is fight.
    “You might want to hold off on things for a while, Nancy,” my mom said once. “You know, until André manages to find a job and all that other trivial stuff.”
    Neither of my parents likes André very much. Nancy says the only reason they don’t like him is because he’s French.
    “That’s not true!” my mom gasped. “How can you say something like that when I’ve been friends with Mrs. LaFlamme next door for years?”
    “You watch Another World together and drink Pepsi,” Nancy said. “If she didn’t have air conditioning, you wouldn’t give her the time of day.”
    “I don’t know where you come up with this nonsense!”
    I think the real reason my parents don’t like André is because he’s poor. He lives in the south end of town, right outside Chemical Valley. I was over at his house once and the living room had wood panelling on the walls. That’s a sure sign of poverty. Plus, the house smelled like cigarette smoke and mildew and I’m almost positive I saw mouse poop on the floor next to the sofa.
    Nancy always tells my parents that André has things lined up. “It’s just a matter of time. He’s not just going to rush into anything. We’re talking about his life here.”
    “What does André want to do?” my dad asked once. “Does he have an interest in anything?”
    “He can draw amazing unicorns,” Nancy said.
    “Well, in that case,” my mom said, “let the wedding plans begin.”
    Christine is refusing to go to the Conch Shell for my mom’s birthday.
    “Can anyone think of me for once?” she asked the living room wall. “If it’s not too much to ask, that is.”
    “Where else do you want to go?” my dad asked.
    “I don’t know,” Christine said, like she was insulted he asked the question. “How about a place where they don’t slaughter living creatures so that pathetic