“College professor,” he answered bluntly. “Music history at Tulane.”
Charmaine gasped with surprise.
Tante Lulu nodded as if she’d suspected as much.
Clarence and Rusty appeared already to be aware of his background.
Jimmy would have been more impressed if he’d said rock musician. In fact, Jimmy’s attention centered more on Charmaine now as he inquired, “Is it true you was once Miss Loo-zee-anna?”
“Yep.”
“Holy smoke!”
She chuckled at his raised eyebrows.
Rusty just smiled, knowing she would be irritated under other circumstances by Jimmy’s golly-gee reaction to her as a beauty queen. But he was just a kid.
“Jeesh! You wore a bathing suit and a gown and all that stuff? Like a movie star or sumpin’?”
“For sure, I did.”
“Wow!” He was gaping at her as if she were some dumpy old broad who’d never be able to squeeze her bod into a revealing outfit fit for a beauty pageant. Well, she couldn’t get too offended. To him, a girl of twenty would seem old.
“What did you do fer talent?” Clarence asked.
She brightened. “I sang.”
“You did?” Linc was looking at her with interest. “What did you sing?”
“That old Billie Holiday number ‘The Man I Love.’ ”
“You sang the blues?” Linc’s jaw dropped with shock, that the two of them would have so much in common.
“Yep. I wanted to do a Cajun song, but this is Loo-zee-anna, after all. There were plenty of Cajun and Creole songs, even one girl playing the accordion and another with a frottoir for accompaniment. A frottoir is an over-the-shoulder washboard.” The latter explanation she added for Jimmy’s benefit because he was frowning with confusion.
“But the blues?” Linc was shaking his head with disbelief. “I just didn’t expect the blues from you.”
“Why? Because I’m always so happy?” Just call me Loo-zee-anna Pollyanna.
“Probably because he expected you to do something more outrageous,” Rusty offered. “Like Madonna in a cone cup thingee.”
“Mais oui. Me and Madonna. Like a virgin.” She stuck her tongue out at him, which caused him to grin. Not the reaction she’d been hoping for. “Actually, I thought about doing ‘Twist and Shout’. You know, the one with ‘Shake it up, baby!’ That would have given me an opportunity to dance and strut my stuff.” She flashed Rusty a dirty look before he could add another rude comment—about all the stuff she had to strut, no doubt. Or about her dancing with a mop. “But my coach advised me to go for a less flamboyant persona.”
“I doubt those prissy ass judges, bless their hearts, could have taken yer shakin’ it up, honey,” Tante Lulu said. If it had been Rusty offering that opinion, she might have hit him. Since it was Tante Lulu, she just smiled. Which just encouraged the old broad. “I ‘member the time you and me entered that belly dance contest in Lafayette. Lordy, Lordy, that one geezer on the judging panel about swallowed his false teeth when he saw yer belly button ring.”
Everyone chuckled, except Rusty, who asked, “You have a belly button ring? Can I see?”
“Yes, I have one. No, you can’t see it, Mr. Lech.” But maybe someday. If you’re lucky. If I’m lucky. Oh, boy, I am losing this battle to be pure.
“I’m thinkin’ ’bout gettin’ one myself,” Tante Lulu said. “Did it hurt?”
“Why would anybody deliberately poke a needle in their skin? And, hell’s bells, Louise,” Clarence told Tante Lulu, “I could give ya a piercing and save ya a trip to town. We staple ID rings onto the steers’ ears every day. Can’t be any different than a human skin piercing.”
“Uh, I’ll think about it,” Tante Lulu said with a slight shiver. “Besides, it’s hard ta find my belly button these days fer all the wrinkles in my tummy.”
Not a picture any of them wanted in their heads!
“You never got pierced when you were with me,” Rusty pointed out in a little boy whiny voice.
Geesh! The things he fixates over!
“Did you?”
As if he wouldn’t have known! The man knew every inch of her body back then. Every freakin’ inch. “I got my navel pierced because I was depressed over my second divorce. Justin was the most charming of all my husbands. My oh my, that man could talk a woman into anything. And he was a great dancer. Unfortunately, he was doing the mattress bop with everything that wore a dress.” Charmaine could see that Rusty was annoyed by her bringing up one of her ex-husbands, which pleased her in an immature way. But when had maturity been her strongest point? So, she barreled ahead. “I got the tattoo after I kicked out my third ex-husband, Lester.”