Walt raised his eyebrows. “Hey, that’s great!”
“Sure,” Lloyd said. “I see how it is. You tell us to back off, but your sister comes to town and she gets free rein of the place.” He grinned and sucker punched Sophie lightly in the arm. “How long are you staying?” he asked, looking at me.
I squirmed uncomfortably and picked at the Band-Aid on my hand. “I don’t know yet.” I glanced over at Sophie, who nodded and grinned.
“Long as it takes, boys. She’s gonna stay as long as it takes.”
“Well, let me help you out today.” Lloyd nodded in my direction. “She ain’t gonna make very much progress if she keeps using that scraper the way she is. All she’s doin’ is prettyin’ up the grass.”
I frowned. People sure were generous with criticism around here. And I wasn’t too happy about them sitting in here watching me through the front window while I worked. Even if these guys were supposed to know everything. Honestly, it creeped me out a little.
Lloyd ran a thick finger over the space between his nose and upper lip. “You’re going up, down, over, across, backways, and sideways, Julia. You ain’t gettin’ nowhere that way. You gotta keep that scraper going straight. In the same direction.” He mimed the correct way to use the scraper, holding both hands up near his face and then pushing them forward in a straight line. “Nice and straight. Over and over. The whole time.”
Sophie put her hand over my shoulder again. “Go easy on her, Lloyd. She’s just starting out.”
“Oh, come on, now!” Lloyd said. “Startin’ out’s the easy part. You don’t go easy on someone when they’re just startin’ out. You go easy on someone when they’ve got blisters on top of blisters and they’re about ready to throw a hammer at someone.” He grinned. A large silver tooth flashed on the side like a nickel.
Sophie slapped Lloyd gently on the shoulder and winked at me. “We’ll remember that, Lloyd. Thanks.” She gave a wave to the other men. “We’re gonna go eat. See you a little later.”
“Get the special,” Walt said.
“What is it?”
“Ham and gravy with biscuits. It’ll knock your socks off.”
chapter
24
Neither of us got the special. I ordered the pancakes again, with a side of scrambled eggs, two pieces of bacon, and a large orange juice. Sophie decided on two eggs over easy, a homemade buttermilk biscuit, and three sausage links.
“Can I ask you something?” Sophie asked, after we had settled back against our chairs. Her stubby fingers, tipped with blunt, dirty fingernails, were threaded through the handle of her mug.
“Sure,” I said.
“What’s it feel like to be a valedictorian?”
I shrugged and looked down at my placemat. “You have to come first in your class if you want to stand out.”
“Huh,” Sophie said. “I thought you might’ve given me something a little bit more interesting than that, Julia.”
I began to fold the edge of my napkin back origami style. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. Awesome? Incredible? Everything you always dreamed of?”
“Maybe it wasn’t my dream,” I said, folding my napkin more tightly. “Maybe it was someone else’s dream for me.”
Sophie paused, her toast halfway to her mouth.
“My turn,” I said quickly. “I have a question.”
Sophie blinked. Then she picked up her fork and stabbed at the yolk of her egg. Yellow goo bled out slowly. “Go ahead,” she said softly.
“It’s about Maggie,” I said.
Sophie stopped chewing.
“I just want to know what she looked like, Sophie.” I spoke quickly, as if my words might stop her from getting up and running out of the restaurant. “That’s all. Can you just tell me what she looked like?”
Sophie’s jaws resumed working again. She rubbed a piece of toast in the middle of the yolk, and put it in her mouth. “You mean when she was four or when she was a baby, or what?”
“Either, I guess…” I let the words trail off. I hadn’t really thought about it.
Sophie shrugged. “Well, which one? She was around for four years. Do you want to know what she looked like when she was born, when she was one, two, three…”
“Stop it!” The words came out louder than I expected. Walt and Lloyd turned in their seats. I pushed my napkin over my mouth, and lowered my eyes. “Stop it, okay? You’re being a jerk, and you know it.”
Sophie inhaled deeply and then set her fork down. “Listen,” she said. “I’m not trying to be a jerk. If you want to know the truth, I was up all night trying to figure out how to tell you everything, and I still don’t know where to start.”