Part 41 (1/2)
I'm not sure whose eyes got bigger first. Mine, Keelie's, or her mother's.
”Please, excuse us, Mrs. Keller. We'll just be off so you can sit and catch your breath. The Iowa heat can be unbearable this time of year. Thank you for the lemonade, Keelie, dear. Tressa? Are you coming?”
I found myself trailing my mother.
”What was that?” I asked. ”What just happened?”
”That was your mother employing restraint,” my mom said.
”Restraint? You might as well have come right out and called her a-.” I stopped.
”What I wanted to do was grab hold of that big ol' hair of hers and give it a good yank.”
”You wanted to pull her hair?” Seriously, what was happening to my cool, calm, CPA mother?
”Don't be ridiculous, Tressa. She's wearing a wig.”
”Mom. About you and Dad-”
She picked up her pace and, given my...er, condition, it was all I could do to keep up.
”Come along, dear. I've got a big dishpan in the RV. We'll fill that with a little hot water and Epsom salts, put it in the shower and make a nice little sitz bath.”
I looked at her.
”How did you know?”
She shook her head.
”Mothers know. Besides n.o.body walks like that-unless they're Duke Wayne or suffering from painful inflammation.”
Crikey! That smarts!
CHAPTER THIRTY.
Ottumwa, The City of Bridges, had decided to go with a Mardi Gras theme. Set along the sparkling waters of the Des Moines River, strings of purple, green, and gold lights provided an air of royal splendor to the street party. Jazz music filled the river walk, and vendors hawked their wares. Cajun favorites such as gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, m.u.f.fulettas, po-boys, and crawfish got top billing alongside traditional Midwestern favorites like corn on the cob, pork chops, burgers, and turkey legs.
In other words, a food lover's paradise.
Dixie and Frankie had volunteered to work the Mobile Freeze, giving my mother time to spend with her two daughters. My mom and I had shared many hours on horseback. She taught me to ride. Taylor, while not exactly a horsewoman, had preferred to admire the beautiful animals from the safety of a zoom lens. She took amazing pictures of the Queen, Joker, and Jack, as well as Butch and Sundance, garnering ribbons from county and state fairs.
But the three of us? Out on the town? It just hadn't happened. I supposed it was because Taylor and I never really had that much in common. Or maybe it was the fact that whenever we were in the same vicinity, we'd end up in a spat.
Rrearr.
But lately, it seemed we'd been able to peacefully coexist. So. Progress!
”It's so nice to have both of my girls here with me,” my mother said. ”When's the last time we spent time together?”
”The oral surgeon when we got our wisdom teeth pulled. Tressa was fifteen, and I was twelve,” Taylor responded.
I stared at her. ”Gee, that's awfully specific. It's like you had the information right there ready to call it up. That's either really impressive or really pathetic.”
”Anyone still hungry?”
I looked at my mother.
”Do you know me at all? When am I not hungry?”
”Taylor?”
She looked at our mother.
”Do you know me at all? When am I ever hungry?”
My mother shook her head.
Ours was a lucky, lucky mother.
I'd already partaken of some (okay, more than some) traditional Cajun cuisine. Hey, how often can you get N'Orleans food in Ioway? Now I was hip to try some authentic Cajun desserts. My highly trained sense of smell led me to a colorful booth. I sucked in the aroma. Heaven!
”What is that?”
I pointed at a jumbo-sized braided pastry, frosted in purple, green, and gold.
”It's king cake,” Taylor said. ”It dates back to the Middle Ages and Twelfth Night.”
”The twelfth night of what?”
”The Twelfth Night after the birth of Christ. You should recall the song, Tressa. You starred in Gram's Twelve Days of Christmas pageant.”
How could I forget? I still had flashbacks.
”Back to the cake,” I prodded.
”Twelfth Night was a time for celebration and gift-giving. The cake was part of the tradition.”
”The young lady is right,” the baker said. ”King cake is a Mardi Gras tradition now.
”What exactly is in it?” I asked.
”The pastry is laced with cinnamon and filled with things like apple, strawberry, cream cheese, or other fruit fillings.”
I felt my mouth watering.
”And, of course, there's the baby.”