a civil rights lawyer in Atlanta, deeded the old house to Mrs. Brown, who continues to work on her plans to make Fannie Lou Hamer a household name. Emma’s helping her, and so is my mom. When the Freedom School reopens in the spring, Sarah and I are going to tutor kids in reading.
When I think about everything that’s happened since school started, well, I don’t think the word “normal” applies to any of it. Verbena is right—I’m way past normal. Only I’ve realized that when you move beyond normal, the road you’re on doesn’t necessarily take you to the land of the abnormal or the weird or the freakish. Instead you might find yourself in a place where people build Freedom Schools and have the courage to live large.
It’s a place where people don’t worry too much when they get a little goat poop on their shoes.
Around six forty-five my mom starts to get seriously anxious. The hootenanny starts at seven—but what if no one shows up? “I’ll feel like a hooteninny if nobody comes,” she declares, which cracks Avery up so much she gets the hiccups. We spend five minutes pouring glasses of water down her throat and jumping out from behind the door in an attempt to scare the hiccups away.
By the time things have settled down, it’s 6:50, and the first set of headlights appears on the horizon, followed by what appears to be a wagon train of minivans and pickup trucks. Someone’s high beams catch the cross leaning against the side of the barn.
I hope people go up and take a close look at it. I hope they read the names.
My dad puts an arm around my mom’s shoulder and says, “You better get your fiddle tuned up. Looks like it’s going to be a hoedown, pardner.”
The great big irony of this hootenanny? My mom doesn’t actually play an instrument. She just likes the idea of a hundred other people sitting around playing instruments while she listens.
Normal so clearly does not run in my family.
By nine o’clock, Sarah and Emma have become the stars of the show. They are backed by the Jam Band and the Manneville Ukulele Orchestra as they lead everyone in a rousing version of “Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof. I’m standing at the edge of the crowd, taking it all in, when Monster comes up beside me, his hands behind his back.
“Why aren’t you playing with the Jam Band?” I ask, trying to sneak a peek to see what he’s holding—because he’s definitely holding something.
“I was, but your mom asked me to do her a favor. So if you’ll just close your eyes . . .”
I laugh, but Monster insists. “Shut ’em tight. I got something that I need to present to you. And you oughta thank me, because I talked your mom out of doing it in front of the whole party.”
I shut my eyes tight. “I’ll do whatever you say.”
Monster places something on my head. I reach up to feel it. Whatever it is, it’s sharp and pointy. “What’s up there?” I ask. “Can I look?”
I open my eyes. Monster’s grinning. “Happy Quinceañera, big girl.”
The crown I pull off my head looks like something out of Snow White, beautiful and shiny, encrusted with all sorts of fake jewels that sparkle in the party lights strung across the barn.
“Your mom made it,” Monster informs me. “She said it took her all week.”
“No way!” I exclaim. “My mom couldn’t make this. This is way beyond her.”
“She said she ruined four sweaters in the attempt.”
“Well, that does sound like her creative process,” I admit.
Suddenly I hear my name called from across the distance. It’s Sarah and Emma. Emma is holding up my bass.
Monster pushes me forward. “Go on, birthday girl. Show ’em your stuff.”
“You come too,” I tell him, suddenly feeling nervous and a little embarrassed, picturing myself in front of a crowd of mostly strangers, playing bass and wearing a fake diamond-encrusted crown.
“It ain’t my birthday,” he says, but he takes my hand and gives me his big Monster grin, and off we go for a little klezmer birthday fun.
Normal, in case you were wondering, is vastly overrated.
Also by Frances O’Roark Dowell
Dovey Coe
Where I’d Like to Be
The Secret Language of Girls
Chicken Boy
Shooting the Moon
The Kind of Friends We Used to Be
Falling In
THE PHINEAS L. MacGUIRE BOOKS
(Illustrated by Preston McDaniels)
Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Erupts!
Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Gets Slimed!
Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Blasts Off!
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One: More Tales of the Amazing Farm Girl
Chapter Two: A Brief History of How I Ruined My Own Life
Chapter Three: Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch . . .
Chapter Four: The Bus Ride of Doom
Chapter Five: Lemmingville
Chapter Six: Lunch Bunch
Chapter Seven: In Which Life Imitates Robert Rauschenberg
Chapter Eight: It’s for a Good Cause
Chapter Nine: Jeremy Fitch: An Overview
Chapter Ten: The Ladies’ Sewing Circle and Anarchist Cookbook Society
Chapter Eleven: A Night in the Suburbs
Chapter Twelve: The Rock ’n’ Roll Diaries: An Afterschool Special
Chapter Thirteen: Future Shock
Chapter Fourteen: In Which My Mother Totally Loses It Once and for All
Chapter Fifteen: The Awful Truth About Jeremy Fitch
Chapter Sixteen: Freedom Riders
Chapter Seventeen: The Girl with the Lizard Tattoo
Chapter Eighteen: Night of the Living Accordions
Chapter Nineteen: How to Make an American Quilt
Chapter Twenty: The Good Old Boy Blues
Chapter Twenty-One: Busted
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Jailhouse Blues
Chapter Twenty-Three: Loretta Lynn: A Love Story
Chapter Twenty-Four: Field of Dreams
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One: More Tales of the Amazing Farm Girl
Chapter Two: A Brief History of How I Ruined My Own Life
Chapter Three: Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch . . .
Chapter Four: The Bus Ride of Doom
Chapter Five: Lemmingville
Chapter Six: Lunch Bunch
Chapter Seven: In Which Life Imitates Robert Rauschenberg
Chapter Eight: It’s for a Good Cause
Chapter Nine: Jeremy Fitch: An Overview
Chapter Ten: The Ladies’ Sewing Circle and Anarchist Cookbook Society
Chapter Eleven: A Night in the Suburbs
Chapter Twelve: The Rock ’n’ Roll Diaries: An Afterschool Special
Chapter Thirteen: Future Shock
Chapter Fourteen: In Which My Mother Totally Loses It Once and for All
Chapter Fifteen: The Awful Truth About Jeremy Fitch
Chapter Sixteen: Freedom Riders
Chapter Seventeen: The Girl with the Lizard Tattoo
Chapter Eighteen: Night of the Living Accordions
Chapter Nineteen: How to Make an American Quilt
Chapter Twenty: The Good Old Boy Blues
Chapter Twenty-One: Busted
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Jailhouse Blues
Chapter Twenty-Three: Loretta Lynn: A Love Story
Chapter Twenty-Four: Field of Dreams