Читать книгу The Magnetic Girl - Jessica Handler - Страница 12

CHAPTER FIVE

MY FATHER CHOSE A SUNDAY IN NOVEMBER FOR MY parlor tests. All the guests would be men. Women frighten easily. Just look at Dale, he said. She was a prime example. Men protected ladies, and if men believed what they’d seen was too alarming for ladies, more men would want to come see what the fuss was about. Eventually the ladies would get their way.

The fact that Mrs. Wolf, when she was alive, was a lady—as was I—didn’t escape my notice. In her writing, she hadn’t seemed frightened at all. Momma was a lady and she didn’t rattle easily. But Leo would, after all, someday be a man, so I might as well practice on men. Still, I didn’t see why I couldn’t captivate a wife or mother when I did a test.

After church, I waited in the wagon while Daddy invited Mr. Rogers, up from Atlanta visiting family, and Mr. Shepherd, the husband in a young couple Momma had deemed “charming” because they were new and he was in business with the Iron Furnace. I picked dirt from my boot heel and watched my parents stroll with Colonel Furman, who owned The Appeal. Nearly everyone who had fought in the war was called Colonel, no matter what their rank. My father was called Colonel by some. Drummer boys were old enough by now to get themselves called Colonel, and I guessed that was all right.