Angels Unaware

gently. “But life’s going to be very lonely for you if you never tell anyone what you’re thinking, or what makes you happy, or the things that keep you awake at night.”
Old Sam came in then and put his head in my lap to have his ears scratched.
“What are you thinking, Darcy?” Jewel persisted. “What goes through your mind when you’re sitting out on the porch stroking that old dog?”
“Nothing.”
“You must be thinking something when you’re so quiet like that.”
“I’m not Jolene,” I snapped. “I don’t think about things twenty-four hours in a day just to give my brain exercise.”
“Are you thinking that life’s been unfair making your sister shine so in school when you’re not even going to graduate? Are you thinking how come is it that boys flock to Caroline when you’ve never even been asked?”
“No.”
“Then what are you thinking?”
I looked up at her. “I was thinking that Old Sam’s got a big blood-gorged tick in his ear and I should pull it out now before it falls off on the furniture.” I rose up in my chair to do just that. “You’re always thinking I’m thinking something lofty and important and you’re always disappointed to know I just think ordinary things.”
“You’ve got qualities too, Darcy, even if they’re not as obvious as your sisters’. You know that you’ve always been my favorite. God knows, I love your sisters, but you’re special.”
I laughed a little. “What a wily piece of baggage you are, Jewel Willickers. I’ve heard you tell the very same thing to Caroline and Jolene at different times when you thought I couldn’t hear.”
“Well, every child should believe she’s her mother’s favorite. But with you, Darcy, I really mean it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “It’s no use.”
“Trouble with you, Darcy, is you see things too direct. Sometimes you need to soften the edges a bit. That’s why clever people are never cheerful. They see everything at angles.”
“Nonsense. Jolene’s the smart one.”
“I said ‘clever,’ not smart. And poor Jolene’s so smart, she’s dumb. And Caroline? I can only wonder what’ll come of her. She’s plenty in demand now. Why wouldn’t she be? Underneath that face is nothing but clay, just waiting to be told what form to take. What man could resist that opportunity? It’s like Pyg… that Greek man. But afterwards, when she marries, as girls like her always do, what then? What happens when her husband finds out that instead of a wife, all he’s got is an ornament to hang on his Christmas tree?”
“Are you saying I’m lucky to have been born with qualities that aren’t as obvious?” I asked sarcastically. I can’t deny that I enjoyed seeing her get herself into knots of deception and then try to wriggle out of them.
“Did I hurt you when I said that, Darcy? I didn’t mean to.”
“Nothing hurts me,” I answered.
“How could it when nothing touches you?”
It wasn’t really a question and so it didn’t require an answer and after a while, Jewel fell asleep with a cigarette still burning in the ashtray. I woke her up to tell her to go to bed before she lit the house on fire.
I stayed awake to wait up for the girls, wanting to get another look at their dresses and moreover to admire my own handiwork. It was after midnight when they came home, and Caroline burst in the door crying. Her dress was all muddy, like she’d been rolling around in dirt. Luca’s vest was torn, and blood streaked his white shirt front. “What the—?”
“Luca got in a fight,” Caroline blurted out, collapsing into a chair, while Jolene calmly said goodnight to her date and kissed him dispassionately on the cheek. Jolene never upset herself over things that did not directly affect her. Luca muttered foreign words I figured were curses. Blood trickled from his nose and I went into the kitchen to get a towel, wondering how Mr. Popularity could wind up a bloodied mess. I pressed the towel to his face, but he pushed me away. It was clear that his beautiful nose was broken and wasn’t ever going to be perfectly straight again. I knew I’d never get a good report from Luca, so I left him to bleed on the carpet and went to Caroline.
“What happened?” I demanded. “I could take a strap to you for getting your dress dirty after all my sewing.”
“Oh, Darcy, it was awful,” Caroline began. “When Aaron punched Luca in the nose, he fell into me and I fell into a big puddle.”
“Aaron?” I felt the blood leave my face. “Aaron Hamilton?”
“None other. Turns out he wasn’t away. He came back a while ago and was hiding at home, not going to school or seeing anybody. They say he’s the one who found his father swinging from the roof. And tonight— Oh, Darcy, I told Luca to stay out of it.”
“Stay out of what?”
She swallowed hard. “You know Clary, the millworker’s daughter?”
“Some.”
“Well, before he took off, Aaron and her were keeping company. She’s loose and wild. Everybody knows that, and she’s certainly not worth getting in a fight over.” She paused to give Luca a poisonous look. “We were coming out of the dance and we heard somebody yelling at Clary. She was crying and I told Luca we should move on and mind our own business. But Luca had to be a newsy Esther and he hung back to hear what they were fighting about. Well, it was Aaron and he was all liquored up, calling Clary a whore, and if you ask me, he’s right. Then he smacked her across the face with the back of his hand, and that’s when Luca stepped in and swung at him.” She gave him another poisonous look. “Missed him by a mile and Aaron swung back and knocked Luca unconscious. It took us five minutes to revive him, and by that time, Aaron and Clary were gone.”
Hearing Caroline repeat what had happened, and now knowing nobody’d died, I laughed