The Sweetest Thing Read Free

forward and said, “Aunt Josie, wasn’t Mr. Roosevelt’s speech fabulous! ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself!’ He’s going to bring this country around! I just know it! The way he said we have enough, but that we just haven’t been using our resources the right way, is the plain truth!”
    Dobbs sat beside me in her rags and talked on and on about the “religious tone of Mr. Roosevelt’s address” and how he put words to the feelings of the American people. Mrs. Chandler nodded politely but looked as if she were more worried about getting a crick in her neck as she twisted around in her seat to look at Dobbs.
    She’s just trying to impress Mrs. Chandler, I thought.
    I finally shot Dobbs my lightning-bolt look, and she smiled back at me, completely unfazed. “What did you think of the speech, Perri?” When I didn’t respond, even after Mamma elbowed me twice, the three of us sat in silence again.
    Thank heavens we arrived at the Chandler place a few minutes later. I mumbled, “Nice to have met you,” and Dobbs said, “Likewise. See you on Monday at school.”
    â€œWhat a strange person,” I said to Mamma as she drove the Buick toward home and turned onto our street. “She’s a bit dramatic, wouldn’t you say? Babbling on and on about the new president as if she knows it all, in her potato-sack dress and pitiful suitcase. I’m glad we wear uniforms at Washington Seminary. At least the girls won’t have to see her wardrobe. Yet.”
    â€œ Shh now, Perri. Yes, she is a bit different, but I think she’s simply very excited to be here, considering where she came from. She’ll fit in fine, I’m sure. Please try to introduce her to a few girls on Monday. And don’t judge her too soon.”
    Sweet Mamma, she always gave people the benefit of the doubt.
    Dobbs to me spelled trouble.
    We got back home, and Mamma parked the car in the driveway. “Holden, dear. Holden,” she called out lightly once we were in the entrance hall. “I made it just fine in the coupe. Not one bump or scratch. But I left the car in the driveway, as you like. I’ll let you maneuver it into the garage.” She chattered along, walking back to Daddy’s study.
    I had turned to go upstairs when Mamma uttered a tiny shriek and came into the hall with one hand over her mouth and holding a piece of Daddy’s stationery in the other. “Your father . . .” she started. “We’ve got to find your father!”
    She ran out the back door toward the garage.
    I felt my heart pumping strangely in my ears, and my vision went momentarily blurry, taking in the horrible expression on Mamma’s face. Then I followed her out the door and took off at a dash in the opposite direction from Mamma—across the back lawn to the stables where Daddy kept his horses. Riding and fox hunting were his favorite hobbies, and I imagined he had gone on a trail ride. I flung open the door to the stable. The long hallway was empty, save a few strands of hay probably dropped by the stableboy from the morning feeding. The horses, all five of them, were pacing nervously back and forth in their stalls, nickering.
    â€œWhat is it, fella?” I asked, as I ran my hand along the forehead of Windchaser, Daddy’s favorite. Then I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye. I turned and went into the tack room, and there I saw it—Daddy’s tasseled leather dress shoe turned on its side where it had fallen amidst a few strands of hay and shavings. I looked up to see . . .
    Daddy’s lifeless body was swinging from the rafters, a lead shank around his neck, his long legs in their dark gray business slacks, moving almost imperceptibly, one foot hanging shoeless. The guttural scream that issued from inside me seemed to go on forever.
    Then I fainted.
    That was where they found me, Jimmy and