She nodded and slung her black cross-body bag to her front and opened the zipper, pulling out a twenty-dollar bill.“I would like this, please.”
“Would you like it wrapped?”he asked.
She shook her head as he gave her the change.“No.That will offset your costs and income even more.I can put it in here just fine.Thank you.”
He glanced at me again, and I simply shrugged.“She’s a practical kid.”
We continued down the rows of vendors, and even though she hadn’t said anything, I could tell my kid was starting to feel overwhelmed.Anytime someone bumped her elbow or squeezed in close next to her to look at something in a booth or at a table, she’d take a big step back and glare at the back of their head.
We turned a corner to head into the next row, and she froze.“That’s her.”
I looked up, and the hair on the back of my neck stiffened.Jolene Dandy was busy sniffing a candle at a booth.
“Spinosaurus?”I asked quietly.
She shook her head, but didn’t move her feet.
Jolene hadn’t seen us yet.She was too busy chatting with the candlemaker to notice.
Mabel pulled a deep breath into her lungs, puffed up her chest, and lifted her chin into the air.“She doesn’t deserve to win.Ideserve to win.Wedeserve to win.”Then my kid marched right up to The Island Mouth, and I had to unglue my feet from the grass and chase after her.
“Hello,” Mabel said to an unaware Jolene.“I believe you have wanted to meet me.”
Jolene put the candle back down on the table and looked up at my daughter, since Mabel had at least two inches on the woman.For a moment, Jolene seemed confused, then she saw me coming up behind Mabel and her penny-colored eyes widened in surprise.
“Wh-why yes.Hello.It’s nice to meet you.”
Mabel didn’t respond the way I’d taught her to, with a similar, cordial reply.
“Why did you want to meet me so badly?”my kid asked instead.
“B-because as an Island Elder and the official Island Welcome Wagon, it is my duty to get to know all new residents—and their children.Your father is the new principal.He is working daily with our island children.It is imperative that we know all about him.And in turn, you.”
“I disagree.The previous principal kept it a secret that his grandson went to the school.And from what others have told me, he played favoritism with his grandchild, forsaking other students.”
Jolene’s mouth hung open, but no sound came out.
“Do you think snooping around my house and banging on our door is an appropriate way to meet me?”
Jolene’s face was getting redder by the second, and it had nothing to do with the sun overhead, since she was wearing a big, floppy, straw sun hat.
I came to stand beside Mabel so I could get a better read on her face.A muscle ticked in the corner of her jaw, and she was stimming a bit with her fingers, rubbing her thumbs and the pads of her middle and index fingers against each other like she was trying to snap her fingers.Jolene noticed, and her brows furrowed a little in confusion.
“Well, now you’ve met me,” Mabel said.“You can stop harassing us now.”
“I-I w-was not harassing you.”
“My dad had to drive to your house to ask you to leave us alone.You were harassing us.”
Jolene glanced at a few people who seemed interested in her interaction with my kid, then plastered on a big, fake smile and focused on Mabel again.“I’ve heard you’re thirteen, dear.Correct?”Her eyes flicked to me.“And how old is your father?”
Mabel didn’t flinch.“Does it matter?”
Jolene looked up at me, and all I did was lift my brows, driving home my daughter’s question of why my age mattered.“W-well, the island is just curious.”
“The island?Or The Island Mouth?”Mabel asked.
The woman behind the candle table snorted and had to cover her mouth with her hand and turn away.
