Read Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere for Free Online Page B

you gettin’ worried about the hurricane, Daddy?” I asked.
    â€œWe need to keep an eye on it,” Daddy mumbled mostly to hisself. Then he looked up at me and smiled. He folded up the map. “But we’ll be fine.” He stuck the folded map chart in his back pocket.
    â€œLord willing,” Mama said to no one in particular. She was standing at the sink with Kheelin holding onto her leg.
    I started bringing the dirty lunch dishes to the counter by the sink. Daddy came up behind Mama, careful not to step on the baby, and put his arms around her waist. She looked at me and shook her head. A sweet smile lit up her face. Daddy buried his face into her neck. She squirmed a little, and I seen the rose-color creep into her cheeks. But she kept right on washing dishes, and he kept right on nuzzling her neck.
    TayTay sat on the kitchen stool with her glass of sweet tea resting on her bottom lip, just grinning with dreamy eyes, like she was watching magic. I smiled inside and out, loving my parents so much right then I could’ve burst.
    Mama cleared her throat and said, “Mr. Curtis, I am trying to wash dishes.”
    He rested his chin on her shoulder and said, “Mmmhmm.”
    Mama grinned and shook her head again.
    â€œYou know,” Daddy said, looking at me but talking into Mama’s ear, “we don’t have time to worry about that storm. Tomorrow’s a big day. Someone I know is making ten, and we’re not going to let some storm ruin one of the most important days of the year.”
Finally
, Daddy was talking some sense.
    He reached in front of Mama and dipped his finger into the soapy dishwater. She playfully slapped the back of his hand, but a clump of bubbles still clung to his finger. He stretched out his arm and put the glob on the tip of my nose. It tickled.
    â€œDaddy,” I whined with a giggle.
    TayTay quiet-laughed behind me.
    Mama grabbed a dry dishtowel and gently wiped the bubbles off my nose. Daddy kissed the top of my head and gave Mama a play-slap on her backside before he left the kitchen.
    When I looked down, I seen Kheelin sound asleep, still holding tight to Mama’s leg.

    Me and TayTay grabbed pickles from the giant jar on the counter and went outside. The wind had picked up. We found us a shady spot in the crabgrass, under a peeling crepe myrtle. We tried hard not to move around too much while we finished our pickles, ’cause it was hotter than a jalapeño bathing in Tabasco, and muggy as all get-out. The wind wasn’t helping none, neither. It just felt like swirling hot oven air.
    I noticed TayTay sitting there doing nothing while I picked through the grass trying to find a four-leaf clover. “Hey, are you okay?”
    â€œYeah,” TayTay shrugged. “Me and my dad had a huge fight.” She went to picking at the grass. “I love being around your mama and daddy.” She lifted her head, and the wind caught hold of the hair coming loose from her braid. I scooched over behind her and took her braid down so I could fix it.
    â€œSomeday I wanna marry someone who looks at me the way your daddy looks at your mama.”
    â€œYeah, I guess,” I said, trying to get her uneven ends to stay put up inside the braid. “But sometimes it’s embarrassing, y’know?”
    She tried to turn her head to look at me, but I nudged her back around to the front so I could finish fixin’ her hair.
    â€œSo, what did y’all fight about this time?”
    She shrugged again. “I don’t know. He just yells and screams. He don’t need a reason. He could start an argument in an empty house.”
    â€œYeah, he’s a mean ol’ snake, all right,” I said, tapping her shoulder in a way that let her know I was finished messing with her hair.
    â€œAnd ugly too.” TayTay tried to hide a grin behind her hand.
    â€œYeah, an’ his breath smells like armadillo poo!” I said, with real