More important than
getting Doni away from the house while Gram took care of serious business was
introducing Doni to Angela, the owner of Divine's Emporium. If there was
something "broken" inside her, Angela would sense it first and get to
work, and give us some clues about what to do to help her.
Granddad always said
Angela was the heart of the town. I was always ready for another excuse to go
to Divine's and look for treasures. Introducing Doni to one of my favorite
places in town was just one more thing I could do to help her settle in and
feel welcome. We had a line of credit at Divine's. There was always something
new and wonderful to find there, and Gram never got mad when I brought home
something. Other girls liked shoes and clothes and makeup. I liked the odd
treasures and books and just digging in the back rooms and dreaming. Mostly
dreaming that one of these days, a sleek new computer like no one had ever seen
outside an electronics show would mysteriously appear on one of the shelves,
and I could bring it home for a song.
It also helped that I
was best friends with Bethany Miller, Angela's goddaughter. Since Bethany
almost grew up there, when she wasn't at her dad's diner, I nearly grew up
there, too.
"You like
books?" I said, about the hundredth question I had asked since we took off
across town on Uncle Jinx's ancient mopeds. The motors were quiet enough we could
talk, and there was hardly any traffic because everybody was either in school
or at work.
About then, I
realized I had missed the Yearbook party. Not good. But on the plus side, I had
missed a lot of boring end-of-the-year activities in my other classes. Some of
our teachers gave us quizzes that didn't affect our grades at all, and they
thought we didn't know it.
"Love
books." A little spark of interest lit Doni's eyes, and I nearly fell off
my moped in shock.
"Great. Angela
has a huge book room. You can take anything you want. But show me what you
pick, because we might already have it at home. Most of the rooms on the third
floor are library."
"Really?" Doni put both feet down and the moped stopped short, whirring a little before the engine shut off. Her eyes were wide and she had color in her cheeks for the first time since her hot bath faded.
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