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"I don’t know I just know he’s not very happy"
Dovey cocked an eyebrow "And there’ll be happiness," she sang, "for every girl and boy" Clint Black, slightly revised
Dellarobia watched Preston tug a pair of water wings onto his sister’s arms over her sweater "You need these so you won’t fall in the water and drown," he advised Cordie flapped her inflated wings and ran from him in loopy circles like some kind ofhorse
Dellarobia said, "I don’t want to play this ga around a fake tiger rug with sad-looking eyes Dellarobia stayed where she was, in Playland, fighting back inexplicable tears as she walked through what seemed like acres of bike helmets and strollers and child safety seats Every a toys around, tentatively cavorting with strangers Older kids were patently bossing the younger ones, shouting, "You’re going to break that!" Or the universal affront, "That’s for babies" She browsed a shelf of one-dollar toys, pausing on an alphabet-learning contraption called Little Smarty It had dials that turned toPreston could play with all day long But the name put her off Obviously it was manufactured in a different era What modern parent wanted her kids to be Little Smarties? The as a rebuke: srandmother-toddler tea out of his stroller in all directions to grab anything he could Every child on the pre conveyed by a Marandson a plastic baseball bat, which he turned around and choked up on like a pro, swinging at nearby shoppers Dellarobia scooted away and found Dovey with Cordie on her hip checking out a throng of baby dolls gathered under a sign: SMALL BABIES 50¢, ALL OTHERS 1 The petite devalued as usual, Dellarobia thought with rancor Poor Preston, if he didn’t start catching up to his classht join Cub in his prayers for their son’s growth spurt "Have it, have it?" Cordelia chanted as Dovey picked up dollies andFew looked like actual babies, and some eirdly sexy, with factory-installed eye shadow and big pouty lips Cordie grabbed the hoator bag
"Baby!" she declared when she saw herhad a potato-like head, created by so and sculpted the eyes, mouth, and cheekbones with a needle and thread
"Sorry," Dovey said, "I’hter the March of Diine?"
Dovey gave the doll a second look before setting Cordie down "Hester could probably s"
"If only she were grandchild-inclined" Dellarobia pictured her own randot away
I wooden crate of fifty-cent sweaters was attracting attention Shoppers surrounded it on all sides like livestock at a trough, churning the contents Winter had dawned on the neighborhood
"Oh, e sweater
"Yikes," Dovey said "You put that on Cub, y’all will look like a solar systehed "It’s not for anybody to wear There are these girls up on themonarch butterflies out of old sweaters"