Turtle in Paradise Read Online Free PDF

the babies to their loving mothers. The boys sit on the front porch of the house on Curry Lane eating their sweet pay while I watch.
    “Why don’t you work for money?” I ask.
    “Who’d pay us?” Beans says. “Most of the island’s on relief.”
    “Here, you can have some of mine,” Kermit says, holding out a piece of homemade papaya candy.
    “Thanks,” I say, but Beans snatches it right out of my hand.
    “That’s Diaper Gang candy,” Beans says. “Don’t be giving it to her.”
    Termite barks and Beans tosses the candy at the dog.
    A bell starts ringing and Kermit exclaims, “Jimmy!”
    Out on Francis Street, a throng of kids jostles around a man selling ice cream from the back of a horse-drawn wagon. Each kid takes an empty tin can and a spoon from the back of the wagon, and then waits in line.
    “I want some ice cream,” Beans declares.
    “We ain’t got no nickels,” Pork Chop points out.
    “Don’t need nickels,” Beans says, bragging. “I got charm. You watch.”
    Beans saunters right to the front of the line, holding out his empty can. The other kids don’t seem to mind; it’s like he’s king.
    “What flavor, Beans?” the ice cream man asks.
    “Sour sop, Jimmy,” Beans says, and the man deposits a scoop of ice cream in his empty can.
    “That’s a nickel, Beans,” Jimmy says, holding out his hand.
    “Can you spare me a nickel, Jimmy?” Beans asks.
    “Can’t do it, Beans,” the man says, and takes the ice cream out of Beans’s hand. “You still haven’t paid me back from last time.”
    “But you know I’m good for it, Jimmy,” Beans says, an edge of whine to his voice.
    “Sorry, Beans. Business is business.”
    I could’ve told Beans that charm only gets you so far. You gotta have smarts, too. And I got smarts aplenty.
    The boys slink off back to the house. I pick up a can and wait my turn in line. When I reach the front, Jimmy smiles.
    “You must be the cousin from New Jersey,” he says.
    “I’m Turtle,” I say.
    “I’m Jimmy. What can I get you?”
    “Do you have strawberry?” I ask.
    He reels off the flavors. “I got tamarind, mango, coconut, sour sop, and sugar apple.”
    “I’ll try the sugar apple,” I say, and Jimmy puts a big scoop in my can. I’m walking away when Jimmy says, “That’s a nickel, young lady.”
    I hold out my ice cream. “The nickel was in the bottom of the can, mister.”
    “In the bottom of the can, you say?” Jimmy asks skeptically.
    “I’m gonna have to eat my way to it,” I say. “Might take a while.”
    “Oh, go on,” Jimmy says. “You can only get away with that once, though.”
    The boys are sitting glumly on the front porch when I come walking up the lane with the ice cream.
    “How’d you get that?” Pork Chop asks in an unbelieving voice.
    I stick my spoon in and take a bite. “Used my charm,” I say.
    Beans watches the ice cream drip down my chin and licks his lips.
    “Say, you ain’t gonna eat the whole thing by yourself, are you?” he asks.
    I hold my spoon out to the side, and Smokey walks up and gives it a lick.
    “Sorry. Can’t share with you,” I say with a smile. “After all, I’m not in the Diaper Gang.”

6
The Truth of the Matter
    Kids lie. We have to or we’d never get anything. But grown-ups lie, too—they just do it differently. They leave things out; they don’t give you the whole story.
    I’m sitting on the porch with Buddy playing with my paper dolls. They’re Kewpie dolls—baby girls wearing diapers, with big wide eyes. Mama gave them to me for my last birthday.
    “These were mine when I was your age,” she told me.
    Buddy’s not very interested in the dolls.
    “Don’t you want to play marbles?” he asks.
    Aunt Minnie pokes her head out the front door,saying, “Buddy, don’t you get to playing and forget to go—I’m tired of washing your pants,” and then lets out a shriek. Smokey’s so startled she leaps off the porch and runs under the house.
    “Where did you get