Heavenly Days
A mile later Don promises to have a talk with Alpha. He'll tell her that she must leave the provost alone, let her be. Enough with all these politics. That's not why she's going to school.
Appealing for some sort of help, Lou casts her eyes up to the heavens - in this case, the BMW's ceiling. THree or four ladybugs are crawling along a seam. "Lord, no, Don, you can't say that to her. All I meant was that she shouldn't use your house to... This is all your mother's fault. I never wanted a maid in the first place and now..."
"Leave my mother out of this, Lou." He slaps his freckled pate, where a ladybug has landed.
"Don, you simply must find Alpha another job somewhere."
"Yeah, fire her. That would look great, wouldn't it?" Another slap.
"A good job, I mean. Get her a real good job in computers."
"Look, I can't even get myself a job. How am I supposed to...?"
With a sigh, Lou folds her hands in her lap. "Dear, will you please stop killing those ladybugs?"
"They're flying in my face."
"Of all people you should know how good they are. Father always called them Marienkafer. You know what that means?"
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
"In France, they're les vaches de la Vierge. They eat things that are bad for plants."
"I don't believe there are any aphids in the car."
"Open your window. Just let those little cows fly out, dear. Now what? What are you doing?"
"Counting the spots. Tells you whether they're Adalia bipunctata or ..."
A Saturn pulls out of the Piggly Wiggly warehouse and starts to cut right into their lane. Without looking up from the Virgin's vache pinched between his fingers, Don manages to swerve onto the shoulder, avoiding a collision by an inch or two. Lou's scream, Watch out! is stillborn, utterly silent.
I must admit that there's nothing good I can say about this book besides "It's easy to read." I didn't like the characters, I didn't care for the plot. I found the dialogue annoying like the characters. I am amazed that this was written by a writing professor. Pretty depressing to know that. |
