broad and innocent as a
cabbage and was tied around
with a green head-kerchief that
had two points on the top like
rabbit's ears. She was sitting on
the sofa, feeding the baby his
apricots out of a jar. "The
children have been to Florida
before," the old lady said. "You
all ought to take them
somewhere else for a change so
they would see different parts
of the world and be broad.
They never have been to east
Tennessee."
"I'd smack his face," John
Wesley said.
The children's mother didn't
seem to hear her but the eightyear-old boy, John Wesley, a
stocky child with glasses, said,
"If you don't want to go to
Florida, why dontcha stay at
home?" He and the little girl,
June Star, were reading the
funny papers on the floor.
The next morning the
grandmother was the first one
in the car, ready to go. She had
her big black valise that looked
like the head of a
hippopotamus in one corner,
and underneath it she was
hiding a basket with Pitty Sing,
the cat, in it. She didn't intend
for the cat to be left alone in
the house for three days
because he would miss her too
much and she was afraid he
might brush against one of the
gas burners and accidentally
asphyxiate himself. Her son,
"She wouldn't stay at home to
be queen for a day," June Star
said without raising her yellow
head.
"Yes and what would you do if
this fellow, The Misfit, caught
you?" the grandmother asked.
"She wouldn't stay at home for
a million bucks," June Star
said. "Afraid she'd miss
something. She has to go
everywhere we go."
"All right, Miss," the
grandmother said. "Just
remember that the next time
you want me to curl your hair."
June Star said her hair was
naturally curly.
JOY FEELINGS | DECEMBER ISSUE
230