Page 13 of Carnival Queen

“Yes, sir,” she smirked. “I’ll start with helping with the floats. Then, I’ll focus on making myself pretty. Inside out.”

“Sounds like a great plan,” nodded Razor. She turned to see Irene standing in the doorway.

“I owe you an apology, Miss Irene. I didn’t mean to be rude to you that day. I was nervous and scared and just wanted it so badly. I shouldn’t have said those things about you. I’m sorry.”

“I know, child.” She touched her cheek, smiling. “I raised six girls of my own, granddaughters, great-granddaughters, and a whole bunch of girls that became mine. We all get outta sorts sometimes.”

She waved at the men in the room, leaving them staring after her.

“What was that all about, Mama? Do you think it was sincere?” asked Gaspar.

“I think it was. She called me this morning, crack of dawn, and asked if she could have breakfast with me at the café. Said her folks didn’t know she was coming. When she saw me walk into the café, she started crying. Apologized right away for her behavior and asked if she could see y’all.”

“What do you think changed?” asked Baptiste.

“I don’t know, son. Let’s hear what Deanna has to say after today.”

“I’m really sorry, Miss Deanna. I acted like a child, and I didn’t mean to. No. That’s a lie. I did mean to, but I shouldn’t have done it.”

“I think you showed great maturity here, Lottie. I appreciate your apology, and we’d love your help with the floats.” Lottie turned to see the other girls and some kids she didn’t know laughing as they worked, dancing to background music on the float. They were having fun. They weren’t complaining. They weren’t doing anything except enjoying themselves. Lottie nodded.

“I have one more thing to do.” Deanna watched the young girl approach Louisa Pollock. She asked her to step aside with her as the other girls watched with curiosity.

“Hi, Lottie,” smiled the girl. She had a pretty smile, thought Lottie. She wondered why she hadn’t noticed that before.

“Hi, Louisa. If you have a minute, I need to speak with you about something.” The other girl stopped what she was doing, setting down the glue gun. “I-I owe you an apology.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I said some terrible things about you and how you shouldn’t be queen of the carnival. I was upset that I didn’t win and that it was you. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean any of it. Can you forgive me?”

“Lottie, I had no idea you said anything,” she smiled. “I would have never known if you hadn’t told me. Truth is, I thought you were gonna win. I was as shocked as you were.” Lottie laughed, shaking her head.

“Can I help?” she asked.

“Of course! We need a lot of help on this one. They had a whole crawfish theme going on. We thought we’d give it a bit more pizazz.”

“Let’s do it,” said Lottie.

Deanna watched as the girls worked together all afternoon, laughing, talking about school and boys, college and their fears. It was wonderful to see. She was ashamed of herself when, for a moment, she worried that Lottie was planning something devious. It seemed she’d developed some self-awareness and was using that to her advantage. Deanna only hoped that it would actually stick with her.

“Time to lock up, everyone,” said Deanna.

“Can we come back tomorrow, Miss Deanna?” asked Lottie.

“It’s Sunday. Don’t you guys want to enjoy your weekend? Maybe your families have things planned for you.”

“This was fun,” said one of the other girls. “It was great doing something that will help the parade.” Deanna laughed, nodding at the girls.

“Alright. Tomorrow then.”

CHAPTER NINE

Sunday came and went. For Deanna, she still had so much to do she could barely catch her breath. The girls had to be fitted for custom gowns and crowns that would be worn on the floats. Cases of beads, doubloons, and other fun things to throw needed to be picked up from another warehouse on the other side of town.

All of this, and she still had her regular everyday job.

“Hey, Deanna,” said Angel, walking into the warehouse with Bull. “We’re your nighttime guards.”

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