by Keziah Frost
They were leaving, then.
Carlotta applauded, with all her heart.
Mabel and Walter’s wedding reception doubled as their send-off party. The Club felt nostalgia for all the fun times Mabel had brought them, but regardless of their urging the couple to come back and see them, they all fervently hoped that they would never see Mabel again. They longed for tranquility and intellectual stimulation. In short, they longed for Carlotta to resume her role as Leader of the Club.
And Carlotta, knowing her Club as she did, knew all of this.
While Walter and Mabel were feeding each other onion rings, at their own table, Lorraine, Margaret, Norbert and Birdie wanted to brainstorm their next Big Idea with Carlotta. As they turned to her, she felt their appreciation for her years of dedication to them. She and all the Club members had their home in one another. They created for each other that sense of belonging that all people strived for. Carlotta was deeply touched. She looked around at all of them with a loving heart and glittering eyes as she thought, Tomorrow, I’ll take them all firmly back in hand again.
While Carlotta had softened enough to become mentor and champion of a child she hoped to mold and shape, and while she had learned to hold the reins of leadership more loosely, she was still herself. Carlotta Moon. And always would be.
“What about that Oscar Wilde reading group you mentioned a while back?” asked Lorraine, conciliatory. “That was a real good idea. We all love Oscar Wilde. He’s funny.”
“There are so many possibilities,” said Carlotta, non-committal. Once an idea was rejected, it was never a good idea to return to it.
“Or French,” said Margaret, amiably. “We could go back to our French.”
Dear Margaret. Everyone knew she hated French with a passion. They were all being so careful of Carlotta’s feelings.
Norbert said, “Or, what if we all started working on our memoirs? Then we could get together to critique and encourage each other.”
Now, that was an idea with real possibilities. But again, did any of them really care about writing their memoirs, or were they just trying to placate Carlotta?
“Birdie?” asked Carlotta. “Do you have any ideas?”
Birdie smiled through the haze of her thoughts and said, “The Idea is coming. When it is here, we will all know. You will probably be the one to channel it.”
Queen waltzed up to Carlotta and gave one spin. “How do you like my pretty dress? It’s good taste, isn’t it? I asked Hope if I could wear it to school, but she said no, it’s too fancy.”
“And right she is,” said Carlotta, making a mental note to speak to Hope about this. Children outgrew clothes so fast; why not let them wear the best ones for every day? And where was Hope? Carlotta scanned the room and saw her laughing with Arnie Butler. Was there another wedding in the future? Hopefully, a more conventional one?
The bartender had agreed cheerfully to play Mabel’s CD’s and she was swirling and shimmying and singing along, and encouraging everyone to sing with her. She sang a song inviting everyone to fly up in a hot air balloon with her.
The chemistry of this party was heady and celebratory. Everyone was relieved to see Mabel leave town, whether by balloon or space ship, it mattered not a whit.
Mabel, clutching her dress with one hand so as not to trip over it, made the rounds, slapping everyone on the back, as Walter, starting on the other side of the room with his hands folded around his jacket lapels, did the same.
Mabel cornered Carlotta as the latter was fleeing to the restroom to escape the back-slapping banter.
“Hey, Carlotta! I wanna talk to you!”
Carlotta froze, caught.
“I don’t like to leave with a bad smell in the air, you know? Listen, you and me, maybe we didn’t always get along, but that’s only because we’re two peas in a pot. That’s how I see it. We’re just two women with strong characters. There’s no reason to get our panties twisted in a wedgie.”
Carlotta, trying not to envision a wedgie, agreed. “Mabel, I’m sorry if I wasn’t always friendly to you. The fact is, now that you’re leaving, I’ll be sad to see you go.” That was going too far, but what did it matter? She paused. “You are leaving, aren’t you? I did understand that right, from the speeches Norbert and Margaret gave?”
Mabel lit up with anticipation.
“We bought a camper! We’re going to live like nomads, out in nature, hit all the national parks. It’ll take us the rest of our lives to get to them all. All night, everyone’s been saying, be sure and come back. But to be honest, I don’t know if we ever will.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” said Carlotta. She experienced a sense of gratitude to what Birdie would call “the Universe.”
“But you never know. Ha ha! Life can surprise you! One day, you might be sitting in your back yard, enjoying the peace and quiet, and all of a sudden, you’ll look up and see my face over the top of your fence. You just never know.”
Carlotta’s sense of gratitude to the Universe soured, just a little bit.
“Oh, hey!” said Mabel, “I have a parting gift for you. Don’t go anywhere.”
Mabel bustled across the bar and bustled back with her Yankees cap. She plunked it on Carlotta’s head with an admiring smile.
“Looks good on you! Gives you personality! Something to remember me by!”
Carlotta tapped the brim of the cap. “Thank you, Mabel. It is a touching gesture. But there was no need. I would never be able to forget you. Your image is forever seared into my brain.”
Mabel’s blue eyes became soft and teary. “That is so sweet of you to say,” she sniffed. “And now I realize something. You and me—we’re a pair, Carlotta. And we will always be friends forever and ever. I promise you that.”
THE END
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR
GETTING RID OF MABEL
Explore the theme of belonging. How are Carlotta, Mabel, Hope and Queen all trying to get a secure sense of belonging? How do they all learn about belonging along the way?
How does Carlotta grow and change in the course of the book?
What does Carlotta learn from Mabel about leadership?
Discuss the parallel between Carlotta’s desire to get rid of Mabel and Queen’s desire to get rid of Mr. Butler. Compare how Carlotta sets Margaret up to how Queen sets Arnie Butler up.
Mabel is Margaret’s physical reflection. Is she in another sense Carlotta’s reflection as well? If other people can serve as mirrors to show us aspects of ourselves, consider also the mirroring going on between Carlotta and Queen.
Queen’s superpower of choice would be to “know everything about everybody.” Why would she choose this?
Discuss foreshadowing in this book, including how Carlotta explains it to Queen, and how Queen understands it.
Choose a character to invite for lunch at the Good Fortune Café. Who would you choose, and what would you talk about?
Acknowledgements
I wish to give deep thanks to my beta readers and informal advisors: Claire Smolinski, Tom Davy, Rosemary Davy, Susan Davy, Hilary Ward-Schnadt, and Jon Payne. I thank you all for your encouragement and your sharp attention to detail.
I am grateful to Maura Vivona for perspectives on adoption and to Sarah Lael for information on foster care-to-adoption.
Thanks to Rosemary Davy for assistance in getting this manuscript ready for readers.
Deepest thanks to all of the wonderful booksellers who have supported me in my writing and let readers know about my work, including Mary O’Malley, Jordan Arias, Alex Yount and Don Hailman at Anderson’s Bookshop; Georgette Coan at Barbara’s Bookstore; Pamela Klinger-Horn at Excelsior Bay Books and Valley Bookseller; and BrocheAroe Fabian at Riverdog Books.
I am grateful to the authors who have helped me on my way: Rhys Bowen, Lucy Burdette, Mary Kubica, Lynda Cohen Loigman, Benjamin Ludwig, Fredric W. Meek, Louise Miller, Phaedra Patrick and Lee J. Williams.
My agent, Danielle Bukowski, has my humble thanks
for her early edits of the manuscript and for her belief in Getting Rid of Mabel.
A note from the grateful author to the esteemed reader:
Dear Reader,
If you enjoyed Getting Rid of Mabel, please review it on Goodreads and/or Amazon.
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Keziah
