Little Altars Everywhere Read Online Free PDF

Sleepyhead! like Mama does.
    Jewel walks over to the curtains, and then Charlene always says, Oh Jewel, will you please just sneak those drapes open real slow-like?
    And Jewel pulls those curtains open little by little, keeping an eye on Charlene to make sure she isn’t doing it too fast. (Jewel told me one time that there was too much light for Miss Charlene in New York, and that was why she had to come back home. Jewel said she was not fixing to add any more to Miss Charlene’s heartache if she could help it.)
    Finally, Charlene sits up and lifts that sleep mask up off her eyes and uses it like a headband to push back her hair. (I have been begging Mama for weeks to buy me a sleep mask, but she says, Absolutely not! You’re too damn dramatic as it is.) Then Charlene looks over at me and smiles her big lazy just-waking-up smile and asks me, Want to climb in, Sidda?
    I hand her the coffee-milk and let myself up on the bed very gently so I won’t disturb her. The air conditioner is always pumped up to high all night long, so it is freezing in that room.
    Charlene pulls the comforter up over me and says—like it’s something tragic: Oh, Sidda! You’ve got goosebumps!
    Then Jewel goes over to Charlene’s big console stereo and says, Miss Charlene, what tunes you want to start your day with?
    And Charlene says, Oh I don’t know, Jewel, why don’t you ask our guest?
    And I blurt out, South Pacific! No, no, no, play Carousel , yeah, Carousel! Let’s listen to Julie Jordan!
    Charlene yawns and starts humming, and when Jewel has the volume just right, Charlene says, Jewel, how come you’re so good to me?
    Every single time Jewel says back: Cause your Mama gonna take care of Jewel in her old age.
    Everything in that world is pure heaven. I just get lightheaded with all the attention I get from Charlene. But then I start to worry that she’ll notice how dumb I am and not like me anymore. I just have to hold myself back from dancing and singing and turning backflips to show Charlene what a fantastic child I am so she will love me forever.
    Then my Aunt Jezie comes home from college for the summer. She moves into her old room at my Grandma Buggy’s house and immediately she starts making fun of everything Buggy does. When Buggy tells me it’s time to wash my hair, Aunt Jezie will say: Mother, the word is“wash” not “warsh.” And while we’re at it, the word is “rinse” not “rinch.” Say it, Mother: wash and rinse .
    And Buggy repeats it after Aunt Jezie, but then she goes right back to her old ways of talking.
    Aunt Jezie also thinks Buggy’s shoulders are too rounded. She will go over and slap her hand between my grandmother’s shoulder blades, and Buggy will stand perfectly straight for a minute. And Aunt Jezie will turn around and say to us, There, doesn’t Buggy look less countrified?
    It is thrilling to have Aunt Jezie home because she lets me show her all my dance routines. Mama never wants to hear anything about my lessons. When I try to show her Charlene’s numbers from The Pajama Game , Mama just says, God, I’ll be relieved when you get off this Charlene Parks jag.
    One time me and Mama got in this gigantic fight because she wouldn’t let me wear the rhinestone tiara that Charlene sent me home with because I was Queen for the Week. All of Charlene’s students get to take turns being Queen and it is a very big deal. But Mama said, That tiara is the tackiest little thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on. You will not wear that piece of trash on your head!
    Well, I am not about to let anything connected with Charlene get criticized, so I said, Mama, you’re just jealous because you can’t dance like Charlene.
    Mama said, Shut your filthy mouth.
    Then I said, Shut your filthy mouth.
    Which was not like me to say, but I just was not about to let Mama put down Charlene right in front of me. Even though it meant I couldn’t go to dance class for a week because of the marks on my legs where Mama hit me