Dancing on the Edge Read Free Page B

figures.
    â€œYour window’s the best chance I’ve got of getting a good shot.”
    â€œWho are they?” I asked. “What’s that they’re doing?”
    â€œShh, I’ve got to get out on your roof without them noticing me. Here, you can hand me my sack once I’m out.”
    Gigi handed me the marbles and silently lifted my window. Someone outside lit a torch and I ducked, thinking they could see us, but Gigi kept on moving through the window and out onto the roof, as easily as a black cat in satin slippers. She had always been light on her feet even though she was heavy, her movements graceful, careful.
    I could see the figures real well now. Two of them held torches while three others sprinkled something along the edge of our lawn.
    â€œAre they spooks?” I whispered through the window, remembering how some of the kids at school had said our house was full of them.
    Gigi turned her head to me and put her finger up to her mouth. “Shh. They’re just people up to no good.” She signaled for me to hand her the marbles.
    I passed the sack through the window and held my breath. So far no one had noticed her. Gigi selected her marble, placed it in the sling, and aimed. I knew it would hit its marie as soon as she drew back the sling. Dane always said Gigi had a dead-straight aim. She let go of the sling and in a flash one of the bodies out there, a woman’s, let out a scream, and dropped to her knees.
    â€œI’ve been shot! Lord, Ray, I’ve been shot, right between the eyes,” she howled. “I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die!”
    The others stopped what they were doing and stood over the woman on the ground.
    Gigi took aim again and shot another marble through the air.
    â€œDang!” came a man’s voice. He grabbed his head and fell on his knees. “They’re shooting at us! I’ve been shot in the back of the head.”
    Another voice said, “I didn’t hear anything.”
    â€œIt’s that voodoo stuff,” the man hit with the second marble said. “Now, let’s get out of here. The bullet’s probably lodged in my brain, set to explode any minute.” He trotted beside the others, keeping low, as they lugged the fainted woman out to the truck.
    Gigi didn’t say anything until they drove out of sight. Then she stood up on the roof and let out a wolf howl.
    I stood next to the window clapping, proud to be granddaughter to such a fine person as my Gigi.
    The next day, I came home to find Gigi and Aunt Casey packing and saying we had to leave Alabama.
    â€œBut didn’t we win?” I asked. “Didn’t they run off?”
    I looked at both of them. Aunt Casey’s eyes were red. I wondered why she had been crying.
    â€œIt wasn’t about winning, sugar pie,” Gigi said, her back to me. She leaned over her table of glass figurines and wrapped one of them for packing. “I just didn’t want them trespassing on my property. But it’s time we move on now, with Dane melted and people around here so excited.”
    â€œBut what if Dane comes back? We wouldn’t be here. He could come looking for us and we wouldn’t be here!”
    Gigi shook her head and turned around, but she still didn’t look at me. She looked at Aunt Casey, who held her head down, staring at her red-painted toenails, red, the color of rage.
    â€œI can’t raise you up around this. You need an accepting environment. You’re special, aren’t you, sugar pie?” She looked at me then and said, “Weren’t you born from the body of a dead woman?”
    I shook my head. “I’d better go pack,” I said, rushing for the stairs and keeping my head turned away so they couldn’t see my face.
    â€œCasey will bring you some boxes,” Gigi called after me.
    I ran to my room and closed the door. I didn’t want to hear their voices. I didn’t want to hear the