Читать книгу The Evolution of Crimson - Jerry Aldridge - Страница 18

Matilda Manasco was Winifred’s new suite mate. By some people’s standards, she was as beautiful as Winifred, but there were significant differences. Winifred had her father’s creamy olive skin, was petite, had slender legs, inherited small but perky breasts, and was often compared with Elizabeth Taylor, although she had a Marilyn Monroe mole or beauty mark on her right cheek. Matty was a tall, exceptionally buxom, strawberry blonde with an hour glass figure who was regularly referred to as a Jane Mansfield type. As different as their looks were, their personalities were practically polar opposites. Winifred was frightened by new things, easily intimidated, and hated the fact that she always felt compelled to follow the herd. Because of her fearful nature, she avoided conflict at all costs. In her favor was the fact she could hide her timidity from others rather convincingly. She was a good actor and to those who did not know her well, she exuded an air of confidence. She had a kind heart, an inquisitive nature, and despite her shyness, was open occasionally to trying new things. Mattie was none of these. Matty was confident, arrogant, and made sure she was always the center of attention. She loved conflict and her greatest joy was embarrassing one of her girl friends and even more pleasurable, flirting with men and intentionally castrating them. She had been called a haughty, narrow minded bitch so often that she used it as her mantra. She would laugh and say, “You better believe it. I’m a bitch!”

Matty developed many of these traits because she was the archetype of “daddy’s little girl.” Her parents were Ronald and Ida Louise Manasco from Melba, Alabama, the county seat of Sawgrass County in southeast Alabama. Many years ago, Mattie’s maternal grandfather, Beauregard Jackson had become one of the richest men in Alabama. He was certainly the wealthiest in the southern part of the state, having earned his fortune as a peanut mogul. But truth be told, there were more than a few skeletons in the family closet. Two of those in the family closet were her grandfather and her father.

When Ronald Manasco was a child, his father was an unemployed alcoholic and his mother worked as a maid for the Jackson family. Ronald’s mother was a hard worker and the only bread winner for the family. She insisted that Ronald complete high school, but had no money to send him to college. So after high school, Ronald took a job as one of the Beauregard’s hired hands on his peanut plantation. Ronald was handsome, muscular, and loved showing off his physique. In the summers, he was always shirtless and well tanned from working on the farm. He hadn’t worked long before Beauregard took a liking to him. To make a long story short, Ronald became Beauregard’s lover. While Beauregard’s behavior was unconscionable due to Ronald’s age, Ronald was not an innocent victim. In fact, Ronald, being an opportunist, had intentionally lured Beauregard.

Beauregard sent Ronald to Troy State College and after two years, Ronald returned to Melba, Alabama to marry Beauregard’s daughter, Ida Lou. Eventually Ronald took over the farm and went into politics. He was a fundamentalist, yellow dog democrat whose campaigns were partially financed by the Ku Klux Klan. Ronald loved telling his friends and most trusted constituents that there were two things he hated worse than an egg sucking dog and those were negras and queers. Ronald’s role model for getting elected was former governor of Alabama, Big Jim Folsom. During Folsom’s campaign he hired the Strawberry Pickers, a country band to serenade the people. Folsom carried a mop and bucket during his campaign to show the people that he meant business. He was going to clean up the government. Jim Folsom’s politics were far more liberal and progressive than Ronald Manasco’s. Nevertheless, Manasco liked Folsom’s theatrics and emulated his style. Ronald Manasco was not as charismatic as Big Jim, but he always got enough votes to be elected to the state legislature.

Ronald and Ida Lou Manasco’s only child was their spoiled rotten daughter, Matilda Manasco. Her parents wanted her to go to Troy State College where her father and mother had attended but Matty wouldn’t have it. No sir ree! She was going to the University of Alabama and she was going to be a member of the finest sorority. The compromise reached was that she could go to Alabama, but she would not be allowed to join a sorority. Behind this stipulation was the fact her mother had been blackballed from a sorority at Troy State and did not want her daughter becoming one of those snoody sorority girls. It was actually too late to prevent “snoody” but not the added haughtiness of a sorority.

Matty’s roommate was Cupcake Saunders from Sawyerville, Alabama. Cupcake was actually her given name. She had been head cheerleader at Hale County High School and was Matty’s best friend. All of Cupcake’s friends, including Matty called her Sweet Thing. Matty and Cupcake were perfect for one another, albeit in a pathologically symbiotic way. Matty was the boss and whatever she wanted to do and wherever she wanted to go, Sweet Thing acquiesced and followed.