Brightleaf Read online

  Baby George says, “We’re a team, and we stick together! Plus, if I go on a cruise without them, Jimmy will fire me.”

  “True,” says Jimmy.

  Don’t ask me about Eleanor or Manchild. I expect one’s in jail and one’s workin with the Salvation Army. Which is doin which? I do not know. Ain’t it funny how life is?

  Speakin of funny. We got us a new boarder. His name is Newman, and he’s sweet on old Mavis, here. He’s my age, about six feet tall, and skinny as a broken pencil. I could tell he took a shine to me when he’d creep out to the front porch and offer me cigarettes and Krispy Kremes all shy-like. Anyway, he’s invited me out for Bingo two or three times, over to the old Harlan Hotel downtown. Somebody turned it into a senior center a few years back. So if you’re ever lookin for the old folks of Brightleaf you’ll find them all up in the Harlan Hotel. I mean they’re packed in there and lovin every minute of it. But last time he invited me to Bingo, I drew the line. I says, “Newman, if you want me to be your girl, you’ve got to think of somethin more interestin for us to do than sit around and play Bingo till we croak.”

  Newman may be shy, but he ain’t stupid. Right off, he started plannin excursions for us. Since neither of us owns a car, we always take the Greyhound. So far we’ve been to High Point to see The World’s Largest Chest of Drawers and Winston-Salem to visit The Giant Salem Coffee Pot (which I don’t recommend because it ain’t as giant as I hoped). Next we’ve got us an all-day field trip comin up. We’re takin the bus to the Pamlico Sound to see the Belhaven Memorial Museum! It’s a of museum packed full of shit somebody hauled out of this dead crazy lady’s house, like a two-headed kitten, several mummified squirrels, and a dress worn by a seven hundred pound woman. I caint wait! But best of all, it’s got a flea bride and groom that you get to look at through a magnifyin glass. And Newman thought this up just for me.

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to the following people for helping me craft this novel, everything from editing to advice on publishing: Will Rand, Mark Ari, April Gray Wilder, Laura Vigen, Alex Pucher, Megan Weigel, Buzzy Porter, Torborg Davern, and Cogitate Studios.