Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek) - By Tina Leonard Page 0,85
spelled Hotter than Hell Nuts on the side of the float in huge, can’t-miss glory. “Yeah, I don’t care. The military prepared me for blowhards.” She beamed at her artwork. “I love this float. It rocks.”
Maggie looked at the float. “I’m a bit nervous.”
“Don’t be.” Lucy hugged her mother. “You let Vivian intimidate you, and I always thought you couldn’t be intimidated by anyone.”
“I’m at the age where I don’t like waves.” Maggie stuck a hand through her puffed hair. “I know she’s got it in for my girls, and that makes me mad.”
Lucy sat down by Maggie and Sugar. “Let me tell you how I see ol’ fire-breathing Viv. Viv admires good-hearted hos.”
Sugar turned to stare at her sister. “Good-hearted hos?”
“Yeah. Ladies who do what they have to do to survive. The first clue to Vivian’s soul is the décor in our house.” Lucy grinned. “You have two rooms that are an ode to good-hearted hos, Belle Watling of Gone with the Wind, and Mona Stangley, Dolly Parton’s character in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Neither one of those ladies was from the acceptable side of society, but both of them were very admirable characters. And they were pillars of their communities, albeit perhaps not from the right side of the tracks. But everyone knew they were doing good.” Lucy looked at them. “Vivian admires good-hearted hos because she saw herself as doing what she had to do to raise Jake after his father abandoned them. Hence, her own version of the Chicken Ranch in Pecan Creek. Only she couldn’t let it seem as if she was one of those kinds of women, so she pulled the reins tight on the town and makes sure everyone toes the line of purity and honesty. It’s pretty clever, if you think about it, even if she’s doing it subconsciously. It shows she has a good heart, underneath all the iron-fist-in-the-lacy-glove stuff.”
Sugar and Maggie glanced at each other. Sugar could tell her mother was as dumbfounded as she was.
“So what about the other two bedrooms as windows into Vivian’s soul?” Maggie asked.
“Those are the ‘guy’ characters, neither of them entirely honorable, counterpoint to Belle Watling and Mona Stangley,” Lucy explained. “Neither J.R. Ewing nor the American Gigolo were particularly interested in anything but their own pleasure.” She got up to toss some glitter on the letters. “They were not heroes. They were,” Lucy continued, “Vivian’s vision of the way she came to see men—selfish, self-involved and sexual beasts. Therefore, all discussion of sex must absolutely be avoided in Pecan Creek. Trust me, there’s a lot of sex going on, but nobody is ever going to bring it up, or Vivian’s carefully constructed image of Pecan Creek will no longer exist. Most folks are pretty happy with the primness here, because except for the random freak occurrence like our dead guy, the town is safe. Locked in its bubble.”
“Yowza,” Sugar said, “I would never have spent so much time analyzing Vivian Bentley’s psyche.”
Lucy laughed. “It was fun to pick her apart. She’s not really a villainess. Anyway, the real poop she’s going to have is when she sees what I’m doing to her bedroom. I’m staying with the theme of famous characters in entertainment, but I’m classing up the joint.”
Sugar blinked. “Lucy, I might be scared.”
“I figured Jake out too. Remember when he told us that he and his mother had a huge debate over the American Gigolo room, but he wouldn’t tell us if he was for it or against it?”
Maggie and Sugar nodded.
“Guess,” Lucy said.
“He designed it,” Maggie guessed.
“I don’t care,” Sugar said. “But I’m guessing it was Vivian’s idea, and Jake wasn’t on board.” She got up to plug in the lights, and the float exploded with twinkly, winking colored lights. “I base my hypothesis on the fact that what I know of Jake makes me believe he would have either gone with a James Dean Rebel without a Cause room or a Star Trek room. He has some rebel going on, and I wouldn’t put him past some trekkie fantasy.” She thought about her theory for a few seconds, then nodded. “Probably more James Dean, though.”
“Exactly.” Lucy laughed. “He’s a traditionalist. I think American Gigolo would have been too hard-edged and contemporary for Jake. And it is. People love the over-drama of the other three rooms, but the AG room is just too overt.” Lucy sat down again, staring at the float. “If Vivian had a Gere thing