The Devil You Know Read Online Free PDF Page A

Mama would call Grandma and Grandpa, and Ginny would get to talk to them, but only after she’d promised not to say anything about Dwayne.
    Sometimes Ginny would get out her old deck of cards and lay them out on her bed and make up stories. She would be the Queen of Clubs, who was so smart and brave that she used all of her clubs to rescue the sad Queen of Hearts from the Jack of Spades. Then the two Queens went to a witch, who sent them back in time to live happily ever after in a castle with the King of Hearts, who had been away for a long time but hadn’t died after all.
    Before they had moved away, Debby and Grandma argued a lot—sometimes on the phone and sometimes in person. When Grandma came over to argue, Ginny was supposed to sit in her room and listen to the radio. Ginny would do as she was told, but she’d lie on the floor with her ear at the space under the door and try to make out the words. Ginny was glad her grandma and Mama weren’t yelling at each other now that they were back.
    â€œDo you know how much we missed you, sweetie?”
    â€œDon’t be sad, Grandma. We came back to see you.”
    â€œGinny, can you tell me what happened? Why you had to leave?”
    â€œMama said I wasn’t supposed to say anything.”
    â€œI don’t want you to tell me anything you don’t want to, Ginny. But it might help you feel better. And I promise I won’t let on to your mama.”
    So Ginny told her grandmother about the night before they left, when Dwayne had gone out with his friends and come home late and drunk. How he’d crashed through the door and started yelling and knocking things over and woke Ginny and Mama up. How he and Mama shouted at each other and Ginny watched out the window as Dwayne ran outside and tried to drive off in the van and was yelling at Mama to give him the keys and she wouldn’t, so he picked up a wooden sawhorse and threw it at her. She jumped out of the way, but it hit her on the leg and made her fall down. And then Dwayne pried the keys out of Mama’s hand and drove away and Ginny ran downstairs and helped her mother inside. Mama had put a bag of frozen hash browns on her leg and gave Ginny a Tylenol and put her back to bed, then woke her up a few hours later and helped her put her clothes and her teddies in garbage bags as quietly as they could.
    â€œAnd then we took it all outside to the van and Dwayne was sleeping on the couch and we had to walk right by him without waking him up. And then we drove all day to come here.”
    â€œMy poor little dolly. No matter what happens, I’m not going to let you get hurt any more.”
    â€œBut I didn’t get hurt, Grandma. It was Mama who got the bruise on her leg.”
    Grandma sighed and shook her head. “I know you didn’t, sweetheart, not like that. But you’re still a little girl, and you need to be with people who can look after you and take care of you.”
    â€œBut Mama takes care of me.”
    â€œAnd she’ll keep taking care of you, baby. But what I mean is…I don’t want you to move away ever again. Do you want to leave your grandma and grandpa again? Or do you want to stay near us?”
    â€œI want us to stay here. Virginia was okay, but I missed my friends and I missed you and Grandpa and Sunday school and our old house.”
    â€œWell, then, that’s settled. No more going away from each other, right?” Grandma smiled and patted Ginny’s hand and then the kettle whistled and she made hot chocolate with marshmallows on top for both of them and told Ginny about how to make stuffing.
    Joe and Debby returned from the store and Ginny ran out to help them with the bags. She loved Grandma’s Thanksgiving dinner: turkey and stuffing and biscuits and gravy and sweet potato casserole with browned marshmallows on top. She could hardly wait for Thursday, just the four of them, eating a big dinner together that Ginny