Heathen Girls
"Jump, Charma! Jump into the water! Everybody here loves you. Not a one of us would ever let anything bad happen to you. you're safe. you're strong. you're free. Now jump!" The late afternoon sun glinted off Daddy's broad, tanned shoulders like he was made of pure gold.
And he was.
Golden.
And perfect. And wonderful. And, oh, how I wanted to live up to his expectations of me instead of just standing on the dock clenching my knees tight, trying not to pee in my brand-new hot-pink bikini bottoms.
"Jump wa-a-ay out, Charma Deane," he called. "Jump out past your fear."
I curled my toes against a warped plank.
In the distance Mama and my aunts draped themselves over lounge chairs like damp towels, soaking up the sun, drinking iced tea and listening to the Everly Brothers on the radio. Now and again one of them raised her head and peeked out from under her sun hat to make sure Nana Abbra, my daddy's mother, hadn't started out toward us, intent on spoiling everything.
It was Nana's house, after all. Nana's pond. Nana's queendom. And their husbands were Nana's boys, her princes.
"You can do it, brave girl." Ripples of green-br ... read full excerpt from Heathen Girls ebook
