Because of Winn-Dixie - Kate DiCamillo [22]
“Daddy,” I said, “I’m telling you because you’re invited.”
“Oh,” said the preacher. He rubbed his nose. “I see.”
“Can you come?” I asked him.
He sighed. “I don’t see why not,” he said.
Miss Franny Block took to the idea right away. “A party!” she said, and clapped her hands together.
“Yes ma’am,” I told her. “It will be kind of like the barbecue at Twelve Oaks in Gone with the Wind. Only it’s not going to be as many people, and we’re going to serve egg-salad sandwiches instead of barbecue.”
“That sounds lovely,” Miss Franny said. And then she pointed at the back of the library and whispered, “Maybe you should ask Amanda, too.”
“She probably won’t want to come,” I said. “She doesn’t like me very much.”
“Ask her and see what she says,” Miss Franny whispered.
So I walked to the back of the library and I asked Amanda Wilkinson in my best-manners voice to please come to my party. She looked around all nervous and stuff.
“A party?” she said.
“Yes,” I said. “I sure would like it if you could come.”
She stared at me with her mouth open. “Okay,” she said after a minute. “I mean, yes. Thank you. I would love to.”
And just like I promised Gloria, I asked the Dewberry boys.
“I ain’t going to no party at a witch’s house,” Stevie said.
Dunlap knocked Stevie with his elbow. “We’ll come,” he said.
“We will not,” said Stevie. “That witch might cook us up in her big old witch’s pot.”
“I don’t care if you come or not,” I told them. “I’m just asking because I promised I would.”
“We’ll be there,” said Dunlap. And he nodded at me and smiled.
Sweetie Pie was very excited when I invited her.
“What’s the theme?” she asked.
“Well, there isn’t one,” I said.
“You got to think of a theme,” she told me. She stuck her knuckle in her mouth and then pulled it back out. “It ain’t a party without a theme. Is this dog coming?” she asked. She wrapped her arms around Winn-Dixie and squeezed him so hard that his eyes almost popped out of his head.
“Yes,” I told her.
“Good,” she said. “You could make that the theme. It could be a dog party.”
“I’ll think about it,” I told her.
The last person I asked was Otis. I told him all about the party and that he was invited and he said, “No, thank you.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“I don’t like parties,” said Otis.
“Please,” I begged. “It won’t be a party unless you come. I’ll give you a whole free week of sweeping and arranging and dusting. If you come to the party, that’s what I’ll do.”
“A whole week for free?” Otis said, looking up at me.
“Yes sir,” I told him.
“But I don’t have to talk to people, right?”
“No sir,” I said. “You don’t. But bring your guitar. Maybe you could play us some music.”
“Maybe,” said Otis. He looked down at his boots again real quick, trying to hide his smile.
“Thank you,” I told him. “Thank you for deciding to come.”
After I got Otis convinced to come, the rest of getting ready for the party was easy and fun. Me and Gloria decided to have the party at night, when it would be cooler. And the afternoon before, we worked in Gloria’s kitchen and made egg-salad sandwiches. We cut them up in triangles and cut off the crusts and put little toothpicks with frilly tops in them. Winn-Dixie sat in the kitchen and looked at us the whole time. He kept on wagging his tail.
“That dog thinks we making these sandwiches for him,” said Gloria Dump.
Winn-Dixie showed Gloria all his teeth.
“These ain’t for you,” she told him.
But when she thought I wasn’t looking, she gave Winn-Dixie an egg-salad sandwich, without the toothpick.
We also made punch. We mixed together orange juice and grapefruit juice and soda in a big bowl. Gloria called it Dump Punch. She said she was world famous for it. But I had never heard of it before.
The last thing we did was decorate the yard all up. I strung pink and orange and yellow crepe paper in the trees to make it look fancy. We also filled up paper bags with sand and put candles in them, and right before it was time for the party to start, I went around and lit all the candles. It turned Gloria Dump’s yard into a fairyland.
“Mmmmm-hmmm,