Free On Agate Hill by Lee Smith Page A

boyfriend, Victoria said, and Mama doesnt like it.
    Mary White peered at her. A real boyfriend?
    Oh yes. Victoria sat back down in the straw and smiled. A real live man doll .
    But where did you get him? I asked, for there is nobody like that around here.
    He is working with his uncle over at the Bledsoes, Victoria said. They got hired on when Mister Bledsoe got so sick. He’s got red hair, she said.
    How old is he? I asked.
    Seventeen. She grinned at us.
    What is his name? Mary White asked.
    His name is Declan Moylan. Victoria said it slow like it was something important. He is Irish. I like the way they talk, it is kind of like music.
    Mary White and I stared at her as though she had come from another world. Her black curls fell down all around her long face.
    His uncle plays the fiddle for dances, she said. I snuck out and went to one.
    You DID? Mary White said.
    How do you know how to dance? I asked.
    Victoria laughed like her mother. Anybody can dance, she said.
    Is that why Selena hit you? I asked.
    She doesnt even know about the dance, Victoria said. She never knows where I am anyway, she is over here all the time now. She hit me for something else. Her eyes got big and she leaned forward.
    What? Mary White and I said together.
    I reckon she caught us, Victoria said.
    Caught you what?
    Nothing. Victorias face was full of scorn. Just about nothing at all. He come over for a visit and I was showing him my boobies, that is all. That is the only thing that has happened so far. And after all Mama done, I dont know why she even cares. But she started crying and hit him on the shoulder and drove him from the house and said, Oh Victoria I am raising you for better things honey. And then she started in hitting on me. But I am going to get her back . Victoria said this in a way you would not doubt.
    We sat very still looking at her.
    What are you going to do? Though I hate Victoria, I humbled myself to ask. Never you mind, she said darkly.
    It was hot and still in the barn. I was covered in sweat all over. We sat in silence in the straw.
    Suddenly Mary White said, Can WE see your boobies? For our collection of phenomena, she added.
    Sure . Victoria sat up straight. She pulled up her blouse and chemise andthere they were, with pink pointy tips on them. Do you want to touch them? she asked.
    No, Mary White said, but thank you very much anyway.
    Victoria pulled her clothes down and tucked herself back in again. Ive got to go, she said.
    Good bye, we said together as she got up and shook the straw off her skirt and ran out through the wide sunny door, in a big hurry like always.
    Mary White and I looked at each other. I felt light headed, like I was excited about something and getting sick all at once.
    You know, I believe there is something to all that, Mary White said after a while.
    Both our chests are flat as pancakes, flat as boys, at this time.

August 16, 1872
    Dear Diary,
    Please excuse me for I have no time to write as we are going in to Hills-borough today. Aunt Cecelia is dragging us with her to have a fancy lunch with the widow Muriel Brown who keeps a great house overlooking the river and knows how to live in style. You girls are perfect bumpkins in spite of my efforts! Aunt Cecelia said. So Mary White and I have had many lessons about the lunch. I am sick to death of it all ready.
    Aunt Cecelia is the bane of our existence, I have recently read this phrase which surely applies to her. She makes us sew and do sums and raps our knuckles with a ruler if we get them wrong. Personally, I prefer literature. I take after my father, a poet and a gentleman, I told her. She turned up her big nose and sniffed.
    Well Molly I sincerely hope that will not be the case, she said. Nor should you wish to follow your mothers example, though luckily there is no one here to spoil you the way they all spoiled Alice. Its a good thing Alice is dead, in fact, she could not exist in this new world. And as for you, you had best get your feet on