Who Loves Them? (Who--? Series) Read Online Free PDF

he knew this!  He was a smart, intelligent man!  She frowned.  No, this was not going to happen, no matter how much he, and her family, protested that it would.  She was not some old chew toy ready to be given away to a new owner.
    W hy was her mother so happy about the situation?  She was her only daughter!  Surely she didn’t want to give her away so soon.  Christina began to cry.  Had she always known?  Of course she had….it was silly to think her mother ever had her best interests in mind.  She rolled over and screamed into her pillow and fell into a restless sleep, punctuated by dreams of her in a white dress, standing in a giant church with a priest marrying her to a faceless man.
     
    ****
     
    Mardi Gras that year, was of course, uneventful, Chris was usually lively with excitement, yet this year all her hopes and dreams faded away.  Fat Tuesday was more of a sombre occasion that Chris would have liked, despite the fact that the Kings Cake party was quite lively and exciting.  Chris wore a purple and pink taffeta dress and tried to stay away from her mother as much as she could.
    On the streets were:  men and boys, women and girls, white and black, yellow and brown, grotesque, quizzical, diabolic, horrible, strange masks, and disguises.  They appeared with heads of beasts and birds, beasts and birds with human heads; demi-beasts, demi-fishes, snakes' heads and bodies with arms of apes; man-bats from the moon; mermaids; satyrs, beggars, monks, robbers.  They paraded and marched on foot, on horseback, in wagons, carts, coaches, cars, and in rich confusion, up and down the streets, wildly shouting, singing, laughing, drumming, fiddling, and all throwing flour while they broadcasted screams in high pitch voices as they went their reckless ways.
    Despite the rich excitement, Chris felt like she was a bird trapped in a cage.  She smiled and spoke only when she was spoken to, and danced only when she was asked.  She hardly ate anything, and tried to avoid her mother as much as she could.  She felt like crying the whole entire time, and yet the day seemed to go on without anybody taking any notice.  Nobody asked how she was feeling, since she hid her feelings so well.  How was she supposed to be excited when she was soon to be married to a man she didn’t even know?  She sighed.  She only had a few years left of freedom…she had better make the most of it while she still could.
    Suddenly, her hands were full of drinks .  She ate hardly anything, so the alcohol went straight to her head.  She wondered whether she should eat some of the cake, but every time she hovered near it, her mother swatted her away.
     
    ****
     
    She didn’t notice she was drunk until she began having trouble standing up.  All of a sudden the world started to lean over, and she had to focus to balance.  She vaguely heard her mother tell her to lie down, but she ignored her and continued drinking.  She couldn’t remember speaking to anyone, but she remembered laughing a lot, mainly to stop herself from crying.  After a while she found herself slouched on the lounge, an empty wine glass in her hand.  She stayed there for a while, watching everyone laughing and celebrating.  No one seemed to notice her, which made her feel even more depressed.  Was this how her life was going to be?  Cast into the shadows and no one to care about what she was doing or how she was acting, or whether she spoke to anyone at all?  She sighed.  She’d better get up and wash her face and return to the party. 
    Her mother was telling everyone about Chris’ engagement, and Christine sullenly followed her around, smiling when she was supposed to, and hugging great aunts who probably didn’t even know her name .  She felt like a slave and wished she could jump on a steamboat that would carry her down the Mississippi and away from her chaotic life.  She imagined finding a flat in the Quarter and creating a whole new identity for