The Hole in the Wall - Lisa Rowe Fraustino [38]
Boots Odum leaned toward Ma, his face all sympathetic, and touched her arm gently. “You’re right to love your home, Claire. But there’s nothing wrong with change, either.”
Ma got up from the table and turned her back as he went on.
“The land changes all the time, everywhere, in floods and fires and big winds, sometimes for the worse, sometimes for the better. And yes, sometimes you have to tear down the old to build a better new. Why, I can do more with my new hand than I could with the one I lost!”
I wondered how he’d lost his hand, but I didn’t let myself ask.
Pa nodded. “Didn’t Frank Edwards build himself a mini-mart with the money he got for his little shack in the gore?”
“Indeed,” replied Boots Odum. “Also, the Pauleys opened a McDonald’s, Elsa Beck opened a Montessori school, and some of the others are pitching in to build a mall. They’ll start construction this summer.”
“Did you say mall?” Barbie blurted. She’d finally finished putting the groceries away and was shoving me aside to get a seat on the bench.
“On the road to Exton. In fact, I can recommend a lovely new development near there that has homes for sale in your price range. Four bedrooms, two and a half baths . . .” He lifted the rucksack. “Take this money, Claire, and buy yourself a better life on the other side of town. Heck, set up a shop in the mall.” His voice was sincere. Patient. Enticing.
The rucksack emptied out onto the table. Wads of Bens spilled in all directions, a mass of green faces.
“You’ve sold me,” said Pa.
Ma turned an angry look on him, shook her head, and ground out her cigarette.
Odum kept talking. “What’s your dream, Claire? Can you look me in the eye and tell me you don’t have a dream that can come true when I wave this magic wand?” He picked up a stiff hundred, waved the bill around, and handed it to Pa.
Pa sniffed it. “Abracadabra and presto!”
“Here’s what I think of your dirty money, Mr. Stanley O-dum Mud-o,” I whispered in Barbie’s ear as I folded one of the bills into a paper airplane. Then I looked at Pa, scared he would flip, but he hadn’t seen me. Too busy staring at the bill in his own hands.
Ma ignored the money, glowering at Odum as she paced along the kitchen counter, trailing her hand along the edge.
“If you don’t want to live in that development near the mall, Claire honey, we could move to that lake on the other side of Exton, closer to your work,” Pa said sweetly. “Remember how much fun we used to have taking the kids camping at the state park over there?” He gave Ma the ol’ Daniels eyebrow. Then I felt like a real jerk for using it on Miss Beverly.
For once the brow failed. Ma worked her jaw like a baseball player getting ready to spit a wad of chew.
“We can’t afford to move to that yuppie neighborhood. It’d take a fortune just to pay the property and income taxes. This is a pile of cash, but it’s no dream come true.”
Boots Odum shifted his chair to the side, opening the circle to Ma. “There’s more where this came from.”
“Really!” said Pa.
“You think everyone has a price, don’t you?” Ma said disgustedly. Her hands trembled as she knocked her pack of cigarettes on the counter and took one out. Boots Odum offered a lighter but she waved it away and lit her cigarette on the flame of the gas stove. “Stan, how about you just pay to send your nasty mine water somewhere else? Then replace my laying hens, repair the water damage to our home, and leave us alone.”
“Yeah!” I blurted without thinking.
Pa looked up at me in surprise, as if I was a boil on his bottom he’d forgotten existed until he sat down. “You kids get outta here right now! This ain’t none of your business.”
Barbie was already on her feet. I started to go with her, but then I saw the phone on the wall and remembered Jed. If we moved, he’d have no place to come home to. We’d have no castle to remember building with Pa. No way to get to the Hole in the Wall ever again. Ma was right. No