“Hot damn!” she cursed, swimming back to where Malisa
now stood. “When are these people going
to put some heat in this water?”
Malisa
laughed. “You know it’s cold for only
the first few minutes, Mama. They’ll have you
sweating up a storm before you know it.”
Miss Etta grunted,
rolling her eyes. Before she could
comment further the familiar faces that made up the early morning class dropped
into the water to join them.
Malisa and her
mother both smiled and nodded their hellos as people began to greet them. Both women didn’t miss that Irene Hill was
the only one who didn’t have anything to say, not even bothering to look in
their direction. Miss Etta had had just
about enough of Irene’s rude behavior and it wouldn’t take much more for her to
say so, she thought.
“Let me tell you a story,” Miss Etta started, leaning
against her daughter’s shoulder. “Now we
done told you a dozen or more times about how your Daddy and I met up but I
don’t remember if I ever told you about me and Beau Hill.”
Malisa shook her head.
“No, I don’t think you did.”
“Well,” the woman
started. “Before I met and married
Gattis, Beau Hill used to chase after me like a chubby kid chases cake. This was before he was married to Miss Irene
over there.” She gestured at the woman
with her head and a raised eye. Wasn’t
my fault old Beau was all worked up over me.
I just had it going on like that!”
She grinned and winked at Malisa as she
continued. “But it didn’t take me long
to figure out that Beau wasn’t worth my energy, so I had to let him go. Hard! You
would have thought I’d broken up with Irene the way she be actin’. The woman still burns hot with spite that I
had him before she did!”
Malisa chuckled, her head waving from side to
side. “And then you met Daddy?”
"That rights.
See, what Beau had to offer didn’t amount to more than a bland
frankfurter with no bun. Two bites and
you were done with it, the taste not even lingering against your tongue. I like a man who comes with the works: chili,
spice, onion, and slaw. A man who leaves
you wishing you had ordered just one more of him with a side of fries and a
thick milkshake. Your daddy was like
that, a full meal with leftovers!”
Malisa laughed heartily.
“And Gabriel Whitman, well, daughter, know it when I
tell you, that man is an all-you-can-eat buffet special with free sweet tea and
banana pudding for dessert. He’ll keep
you fed and fed well for a good long time,” she said with another wink of her
eye. “This is not an opportunity you
want to pass up, Malisa.”
She started to move toward the center of the pool as
she tossed one last look in Irene’s direction.
“Irene’s problem,” Etta concluded, laughing softly as she propelled
herself through the water, Malisa trailing behind her, “is she needs to slip
out and get herself a real meal instead of settling for that snack she’s
married to.” Excerpt from Her Holiday Gifts by Deborah Fletcher Mello
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