Read Plantation for Free Online Page B

weakness and one thing the women in this family were not was weak. I would tell her so as soon as she returned my call, for which I was not holding my breath.
    I closed my eyes again, thinking I might nap. Then, since I already had the cordless phone in my bed with me, I decided to call my dearest friend, Sweetie. She would tell me what to do.
    “Sweetie? Listen up! I got trouble!”
    “Whatever in the world is wrong, Lavinia? Have you been crying?”
    “Certainly not! Allergies! Listen to me, damn it! Caroline is getting married in just weeks to that old man Richard fellow and I’m so upset with her I could just slap her face!”
    “Lavinia? You listen to me, darling. Caroline is a grown woman and it’s time for you to be gracious about it. If she wants to marry this man, there’s not a single thing you can do about it. Not a single thing in this world!”
    “He’s older than her by eleven years.”
    “You were a hundred years older than Bob the UPS man and that didn’t stop you.”
    “Well, aren’t you the sassy one today? Sweetie? Do you know he’s Jewish?”
    “Why on God’s earth would that matter to a woman who holds Sufi ceremonies and has a five-foot statue of Shiva with ten arms in her bedroom?”

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    D o r o t h e a B e n t o n F r a n k
    “I use it to hold my handbags and you know it. Nevil and I bought it in Nepal.”
    “I happen to remember that you bought it from a Christie’s auction, dear.”
    I hated her for her memory. “Whatever. Oh, Sweetie! My heart is so heavy! What am I to do?”
    “What can you do? You pack your things, put a smile on your face, and get on a plane.”
    “You know I don’t fly.”
    “Then call Amtrak! You make sure Caroline has everything she needs. You have a word with Richard about his sincerity and commitment and then you wish them well. That’s all she wrote, sister.”
    I sighed so hard into the telephone I probably messed up Sweetie’s hair. “Nobody needs me, Sweetie. It makes me so sad.”
    “Get over yourself, Lavinia, and shape up. I need you to be my friend—exactly why on occasion, I wonder—and Caroline needs you to be her mother.”
    Well, I guess she thought she had laid me out in lavender. “I suppose I’ll get Jenkins to drive me down to Charleston. Maybe I’ll have a facial and shop for shoes. That always resurrects my spirit.
    And, I saw in the Post and Courier that Bob Ellis is having a sale.”
    Yes, that would cheer me.
    “Lavinia?”
    “Hmm?” Her voice had a sharp edge again and I hated it when she reprimanded me. I truly did.
    “Please don’t forget to buy them a gift!”
    She made me fume! “You know what, Sweetie? Some days there’s just no pleasing you! Good-bye!” I hit the End button and slammed the receiver on my mattress. Honest to God! Everybody could just go stew in their own juices. Yes, they could.

    Please join us for dinner!
    THE POST HOUSE
    On Sixty-third Street at Park Avenue Friday, February 25, 1987
    Eight o’clock
    Caroline Boswell Wimbley
    and
    Dr. Richard Case Levine
    Rsvp 212-781-4462

    M i s s L av i n i a ’s J o u r na l Millie and I have just checked in to the Pierre Hotel. She’s in the room next door.Trip and Frances Mae are arriving at five.
    My room is very satisfactory. I have a small sitting room and an ample bedroom.There is a lovely view of Central Park and I sincerely hope the muggers stay there.The little man who brought my bags to my room was very nice for a Yankee, although I think he was from somewhere else, like Turkey.
    Maybe it was Albania. He told me but I couldn’t understand a word he said. I gave him three one-dollar bills. He brought me ice. Come to think of it, almost everybody I have seen so far seems to be foreign. It must be sad for them to be so far from home. God knows, New York City is one noisy place!
    And what in the world are all these people racing around for?
    Somebody bumped into me at Penn Station and I thought they were trying to grab my purse! Turned out