Chapter 13/ Yeast
Lily’s mother Janet now talked about yeast at the breakfast table. She said things like, “Did you know that yeast is alive? Really! Yeast is a living organism. It’s a microscopic fungus. Yeast eats, breathes, reproduces. When you buy dry yeast for baking, it’s like hibernating. Mix it with warm water and sugar, it wakes up. It literally comes to life. Isn’t that amazing? Steve’s teaching me all about it.”
Charlene said, “Mmm.” It was hard to know if June Mae’s mom found yeast amazing or not. She was working on Janet’s hair, layering it.
Janet was wearing lipstick. She was getting a new hairdo and wearing lipstick and all for Steve, Raven’s dad.
Lily was sitting under the kitchen table with a library book. She was not in fact reading the book, The Princess Academy. She was eavesdropping on her mom’s conversation.
Charlene said Steve was OK if you liked skinny men with big brains. And since he was divorced, it was possible Janet could marry him eventually.
Under the table, Lily grimaced. She didn’t want her mom to marry anyone, not even Raven’s dad.
“His first wife broke his heart. But he’s getting over it. He says it was the worst mistake of his life, marrying her. But at least he got Raven out of the deal. He adores her. He’s such a good father.”
Charlene said, “Mmm.”
“He’s a doctor. Not like a medical doctor. His students call him Dr. Steve. He’s a doctor of biology. Yeast is his specialty. If you’re a science professor, you have to have one.”
“Mmm.”
“I never thought I would care about yeast, but now I do. Yeast is important!”
Lily felt that her mother was altering her basic mom-identity just for Steve. Changing her hairstyle, wearing makeup, talking about yeast. Her mom was even talking about taking courses at the community college. Science courses.
At least her mother did not have to dress up or wear makeup to be the receptionist for the veterinarian where she worked. She sometimes had to hold onto the dogs and cats when they got their shots, so she wore regular clothes and comfortable shoes. And no makeup.
Charlene said, “Girl, what I think is you ought to look into being a dog groomer. Groomers don’t need a license. You don’t even have to pass a test. In practically no time, with minimal training, you could learn to be a groomer. You could even do it right here in your house. You’d make plenty of money, more than you make now. What are you getting? Minimum wage?”
She handed Janet a mirror.
“Look at you! What did I tell you? Gorgeous and sexy! Young and hot! Am I right?”
For her tenth birthday, Lily got a CD player from her dad. It arrived in the mail with a card that said, “I love you! Dad.” She got red velvet cake with cream cheese icing (her favorite) from Gramma Grace and a twenty dollar bill from Mom.
Gramma Grace drove Lily to the mall so she could buy the High School Musical CD at the record store, Sam Goodys. Gramma was under the impression that CDs were cheap. She imagined Lily could buy four or five of them for twenty bucks and was shocked to find out that just one CD was going to consume almost all of Lily’s birthday money. While Lily was holding the High School Musical CD in her hands and gazing happily at the cover (Zac Efron and all the other actors leaping up in the air and looking deliriously happy), Gramma Grace was pulling CDs out of the bargain rack.
“The Beegees! Giant Disco Hits! The Very Best of Sister Sledge!”
A heavyset security guard approached Gramma Grace from behind and loudly accused her of shoplifting. Everyone looked alarmed, even the other customers in the store. Gramma squealed and laughed real loud. It was just Uncle Val.
Lily wanted to run over there and yank Gramma away from him. He was telling Gramma that here at Sam Goody’s they had a huge problem with shoplifters, so he had to come in and out of here every hour just to keep the customers on the up and up.
Lily recalled Charlene saying she thought her brother-in-law would never marry. “He’s got that thing that girls don’t like. Know what I mean? Not like Rich.” Rich was Charlene’s husband. “My Richard has got way too much of what we like. Take my word for it. He’s got it in spades.”
Lily was unable to guess what women like her mom and Charlene liked when it came to men. So far as she could tell, Charlene’s husband and Uncle Val were pretty much the same. Big bellies and bald spots. Who was going to fall in love with that?
“Come on, Gramma, let’s check out.”
Lily looked up at Uncle Val and tried to decide if he looked like a murderer. Sometimes she thought he did. Other times, no he did not. She had only seen murderers on TV, and they were just actors.
“Come on, Gramma, let’s go.”
Uncle Val said Sam Goodys had the worst shoplifting problem of any store in the mall. It was so bad he figured pretty soon the whole chain was going to go belly-up.
“Come on, Gramma. I want to check out. I want to buy this one.”
Uncle Val’s eyes shifted away from Gramma Grace and found Lily. For the first time, the little girl was staring directly into his eyes. They were small and blue, almost grey.
“Don’t be such a pest,” Gramma Grace said. “See you, Val! You have yourself a great day! Catch more of those shoplifters!”
“You bet I will,” Uncle Val said. But his eyes never left Lily’s.
On the way home, Lily wanted to tell her grandmother never again to speak to Uncle Val. She wanted to yell, “Stay away from him!” But she found herself unable to speak.
When she got home, she went to her room, but she did not play the soundtrack to High School Musical on her new CD player. She just lay on her bed and stared at the acoustic tiles on the ceiling.