{"id":247,"date":"2016-01-05T01:11:58","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T06:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=247"},"modified":"2016-01-07T23:55:36","modified_gmt":"2016-01-08T04:55:36","slug":"see-that-woman-with-the-red-pants-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=247","title":{"rendered":"SEE THAT WOMAN WITH THE RED PANTS ON…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_0023\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Faye holding her latest book HALLEY\u00a0 and wearing the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction.<\/p>\n

My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction. Awarded the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction. \u00a0 (see the following web address for more information)\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.newsouthbooks.com\/pages\/2015\/10\/20\/halley-wins-moonbeam-awards-silver-medal\/\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Available at: NewSouth Books:\u00a0www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley and Amazon<\/p>\n

In mountain Georgia of the nineteen-fifties women did not wear pants. It was considered almost indecent.\u00a0 Girls could get away with regular jeans until maybe twelve.\u00a0 So you can imagine how stunned we were when my father\u2019s cousin Floyd showed up with his new yankee wife.\u00a0 Dorine had on skin tight, red jeans with rolled cuffs and a white blouse tied at the waist and unbuttoned enough to reveal cleavage.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t a small woman either.\u00a0 She was half a head taller than Floyd and must have been at least two hundred pounds.\u00a0 She carried herself confidently, however, and I think my mother resented that.\u00a0 Mama had always been pretty and she knew the basic rules of ladylike attire, and yet she never dared present herself as confidently as Dorine.<\/p>\n

As soon as Dorine and Floyd were out of hearing, Mama commented that Floyd had sure picked a big one.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I always have liked women with meat on their bones,\u201d Daddy replied.\u00a0 He liked stirring up Mama\u2019s jealous heart.<\/p>\n

As kinfolk on hard times felt free to do in those days, Floyd soon made it known their stay would last a few weeks.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll take a look-see at jobs around Dalton.\u00a0 Dorine can look too.\u00a0 She\u2019s done about everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that so?\u201d Mama said, which meant she didn\u2019t doubt it one little bit.<\/p>\n

It turned out that Dorine\u2019s most recent job had been cooking at a boarding house.\u00a0 She watched with a keen eye each time Mama cooked. \u201cI put more lard in my biscuits,\u201d she\u2019d say.\u00a0 Or, \u201cI cook my cabbage longer.\u201d Mama didn\u2019t have a refrigerator and except in gardening season, lacked anything more than basic grocery staples like flour, coffee, sugar, meal, and evaporated milk.\u00a0 Still, she was a good cook with what she had, and nobody could beat her biscuits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I cook different than where you\u2019re from,\u201d Mama answered several times, more coldly each time. Dorine ignored hints.<\/p>\n

Several days into the visit, Dorine said she would make biscuits. She did.\u00a0 They were nearly as big as saucers and as crisp as pastry.\u00a0 Grease oozed from them onto the platter, but to my surprise, they didn\u2019t taste bad.\u00a0 Daddy bit into his biscuit while Mama watched expectantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow this is good,\u201d\u00a0 he declared, and Dorine smiled at Mama.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll learn you how I do it,\u201d she offered.<\/p>\n

Dorine wore the same red pants and white blouse every day she and Floyd went out job-hunting.\u00a0 Friday evening rolled around with no jobs in sight.\u00a0 At supper I could tell that Daddy and Floyd had been doing more than just talking.\u00a0 I could smell liquor on their breath.\u00a0 Daddy was in a good mood.<\/p>\n

When Dorine joined us at the table she had on more lipstick than usual and she had a huge button pinned on her right breast.\u00a0 \u201cI like Ike,\u201d it announced and showed the smiling face of the Republican presidential candidate.\u00a0 When Dorine plopped down next to Floyd the button bobbed up and down with the cleavage.<\/p>\n

The bobbing bosom seemed to hold the attention of everyone around the table except Jerry and and John, whose eyes were glued to the fried bologna platter in the middle of the table.\u00a0 They were waiting for company to serve themselves first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI warned you \u2018bout that button,\u201d Floyd muttered. \u201cThis is ain\u2019t\u00a0 Dudleyville, Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToo bad,\u201d Dorine hissed.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll wear what I please.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grinning, Daddy leaned closer to Dorine\u2019s bosom and suddenly his smile vanished. \u201cThat\u2019s an Eisenhower button!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou exactly right,\u201d said Dorine, reaching for a biscuit and two slices of bologna with one hand and grasping her button with the other.\u00a0 \u201cIke\u2019s got my vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot as long as you\u2019re in my house.\u00a0 I ain\u2019t having no Hoover-loving, Depression-loving Republican under my roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat so?\u201d\u00a0 said Dorine, standing. I noticed she kept a tight hold on her biscuit and bologna. \u201cReckon I know when I ain\u2019t welcome.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go. Floyd.\u201d<\/p>\n

Floyd turned beseeching eyes to Mama.\u00a0 \u201cI hate to have hard feelings in the family.\u201d\u00a0 he said, playing his trump card.\u00a0 He wanted Mama to smooth everything out.\u00a0 I could tell Mama was struggling with the hospitality expected of a southern woman as opposed to getting rid of Floyd and Dorine, perhaps forever.\u00a0 \u201cPass the bologna,\u201d she said at last.<\/p>\n

Dorine and Floyd left in a huff.\u00a0 In a few minutes they had gathered their stuff and were throwing everything into the car.\u00a0 As they got in and and started the motor Daddy yelled, \u201cBy the way, them greasy biscuits give me a heartburn!\u201d<\/p>\n

Mama smiled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faye holding her latest book HALLEY\u00a0 and wearing the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction. My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction. Awarded the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction. \u00a0 (see the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}