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Nineteen pairs of blank, mostly pale-blue eyes looked back at arette drop

"Okay," I said "Chapter one: Matter, Energy, Organization and Life"

"I don’t know if I’ in her kitchen Her kitchen chairs were equipales that took you in like a hug, which I needed My first day had gone as smoothly as anybody could reasonably hope-no revolts, no crises er on what it was, but standing in front of a rooh-school students seey It made me think of those dancers in white boots anddesperately to entertain, flailing around like there was no tomorrow

Emelina, Mason, the baby, and I were all exiled to the kitchen; Viola had taken over the living roo of the Stitch and Bitch Club They were preparing for their annual fundraising bazaar, and as a backdrop to our own conversation we could overhear the exchange of presumably vital information:

"Last year the Hospital Equipment Committee didn’t make fifteen cents on them sachet cushions"

"Well, it’s no wonder They stunk"

"Lalo saw in a azine where you can o around"

Emelina set a cup of tea in front of me I picked it up and let the stea that what I needed most at that moment was to lie in bed with someone as fond of every inch ofback to that school," she said

"Oh, sure It is I didn’t let myself think too much about that part of the job Till today"

Mason was on the floor, coloring, and E around the kitchen in an effortless frenzy, closing draith her hip, cooking dinner, and feeding the baby at the sathe cereal bowl froive you Gra around me a splendid example of Stitch and Bitch enterprise The baby snapped up cereal as fast as I could spoon it in, wasting little ondinner with us tonight, right?"

"No, thanks," I said

"Honestly, Codi, if you think one more mouth to feed is any trouble you’re out of your mind If I woke up one day and had six more kids I don’t think I’d notice"

"No, E in peace"

"You’re not dead yet, hon"

Fro her voice now in Spanish, saying so about peacocks: pavones The other woh to know that they’d moved rapidly onto the subject of fruit trees Dona Althea sounded agitated Her high-pitched voice was easy to recognize, exactly what you’d expect fro-willed woman Emelina raised her eyebrows as she looked under a pot lid "Do you know the boys won’t even speak Spanish to their Gralanced at Mason, as absorbed in his coloring book, though probably listening "Is that a proble on all the traditional stuff She’s real tight with Dona Althea She wants us to raise the boys puro, speaking Spanish and knowing all the stories Seeuys" She shrugged her shoulders "My parents were always so modern, you remember how Mom is, electric can openers all the way I always felt like she wanted row up blonde, you know? My dad told hed "No He was pulling your leg"

"No, he wasn’t And poor Tucker was naer brother who’d died in infancy, before I ever knew the faotten him, in spite of his name passed on to E with hisfor my attention to return to his dinner I poked in the next bite A scattering of loud laughter like a rainstorm came from the other roo of old women staked out such a presence, we felt alathered up his papers and started to go outside

Emelina called him back "Wait a minute, Mason, before you run off, come show Codi your hand Codi, could you take a look at his hand? There’s some kind of bump on it Do you mind?"