Breath of Scandal(11)

"Donna Dee!"

"Okay. Anyway, I read the letter. The dean or someone was congratulating our principal on producing two such fine students at Palmetto High School."

Jade's eyes widened. "Two?"

Donna Dee spread her arms out to her sides and squealed, "Gary got one, too."

They both started squealing then. Clasping arms, they hopped up and down until the glass jars of jelly beans on the counter began to rattle.

"Oh, Lord. Oh, I can't believe it! How much? Did it say how much?"

"It said 'full scholastic scholarships.' Doesn't that mean everything?"

"I don't know. I hope so. Oh, but I'm so grateful for whatever it is," Jade said breathlessly. "I've got to tell Gary. Was he still at school? Did you see him on the track?" The track team was preparing for its season by working out every day after school.

"No. I told Mr. Patterson I felt sick and had to leave. I



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ran to the stadium and looked for Gary. I was going to get him to come with me and tell you together."

"Maybe he was in the locker room."

Donna Dee shook her head. "I asked. Marvie Hibbs said he'd seen him leave."

Jade consulted the pendulum clock mounted on the wall. It was surrounded by cuckoo clocks, all about to strike fivethirty. "Sometimes Mr. Jones comes back before six. I'm sure he'll let me leave a few minutes early today."

"What for?"

"To go tell Gary."

:'Why don't you just call?"

'I want to tell him in person. Will you drive me out to Gary's house? Please, Donna Dee?"

"He might already know," Donna Dee said. "I'm sure the dean sent letters to you, too. You've probably got one waiting for you at home."

"That's true. But the Parkers are on a rural postal route. Sometimes they get mail a day later. Besides, I've got to see him. Today. Now. Please, Donna Dee."

"Okay. But what about your mom? What'll happen when she shows up here to pick you up?"

"Mr. Jones will tell her where I went."

"She'll be pissed if you talk to Gary before you tell her." "Then she'll just have to be pissed. He's got to be the first to know."

The elderly Mr. Jones didn't know what to make of it when he entered his store a few minutes later and Jade Sperry came flying at him with arms outstretched. She hugged him tight and kissed his wrinkled cheek.

"Mr. Jones, something very important has come up. I know it's early, but would you let me leave now? I'll make up the time another night. Please?" She spoke rapidly, the words running together.

"Well, seeing that you're about to bust, I reckon so." "Thank you! Thank you!"

She kissed his cheek again and ducked into the back room to retrieve her school books, coat, and purse. She was too



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Sandra Brown



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excited to be cold, so she bundled the coat against her chest, scooped her chemistry book off the floor, and dashed back to the front of the store. Donna Dee had been momentarily distracted by a new display of frosted eyeshadows. Jade herded her toward the door.

"See you tomorrow, Mr. Jones. When my mother stops for me, please tell her that I went with Donna Dee and will be home in about an hour. And tell her I've got some very good news."

"I'll do it."

"Thanks again. Bye-bye!" "You girls be careful, hear?"

Stumbling over each other, Donna Dee and Jade rushed out the door and down the sidewalk to Donna Dee's car. Jade tossed her belongings into the backseat and got in while Donna Dee slid behind the wheel.

She negotiated the town's few traffic lights and within minutes they were speeding down the two-lane highway. It was a dreary, misty evening, but they kept the windows down, and the radio blaring.

The farther they got from the city limits, the less appealing the landscape became. They passed dwellings so ramshackle they couldn't even be called houses. Roofs and porches sagged. Windows were papered over and shutters gaped in disrepair. Ancient automobiles and unusable farm implements rusted in the front yards and housed flocks of scrawny fowl. It was like this all the way to the coast, a few miles away. Beyond the shore, the Atlantic was dappled with sea islands.

The isolated communities there didn't belong in the twentieth century. Poverty was rampant. Often there was no plumbing. Between the sea islands and the shore were tidal swamps that bred disease-cari-ying insects to further torment a suppressed element of Southern society. Diseases caused by malnutrition and poor hygiene, which had been obliterated in most Western countries, could still be found there.

Jade thought the economic climate in this part of the state was deplorable. It was no wonder that Gary often became despondent over the socioeconomic disparities that existed.

The Parkers were poor by most standards, but they lived like kings compared to many others.

The industries that thrived in the Piedmont, in the northwestern part of South Carolina, were still struggling for a foothold in the low country. Tourism was a major industry along the coast, but often the developers of the resort areas resisted the idea of industry because of the pollutants that might spoil their playgrounds for the rich. Meanwhile, farmers like Otis Parker tried to scrape a living from exhausted and flood-ravaged land, and despots like Ivan Patchett got fat by sucking everyone else dry.