Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist

Morrell’s army. I have pictures of many of my ancestors. They were never slaves…you sure you want to hear all this?”
    â€œYeah, I want to know who I’m going to bed with.”
    â€œYou talk some. You have a turn.”
    â€œI have two sons. They go to school in Virginia. They’re real wild. Everyone in my family’s wild. It’s a huge family, a network over five states. I love them but they don’t have any power over me anymore. Not that they ever did. I think I’m the first person in my family to ever really escape from it. It’s taken me a long time to do it. Now I’m free. I might learn to fly. I might teach in a grade school. I might be a waitress. I might move to Europe. I might learn to sew and take up hems. I don’t know what I’m going to do next. But right now I’m going to go home and fuck you. I’m tired of waiting to do it. I’ve been waiting all day.”
    â€œSo have I,” he said and pulled her closer to him.
    â€œAnother thing,” she said. “I stole that money from you. I sold that diamond ring you paid me for. I sold it to this fat piggy little Jewish boy on Melepomene. He paid me in cash and told me I could file a claim. I’m thinking of reporting him to the Jewish temple. Well, he thought it up. But I’m the one that did it.”
    â€œDid you see that mule?” Earl said. “That mule flying by. That’s the damndest thing. A gray mule with black ears.”
    â€œI stole the money from you,” she said. “The money for the diamond. Don’t you care? Don’t you even care?” She moved his hand from around her waist and put it between her legs.
    â€œThat’s the damndest thing about those mules when they get to town,” he said, turning down the street to her house. “You can’t keep them on the ground. They’ll take off every time. Also, I am married. I guess we might as well go on and get that on the table.”
    â€œWhat mule,” Rhoda said. “I don’t see any mules. They don’t allow mules on Saint Charles Avenue.”

Crazy, Crazy, Now Showing Everywhere

Looking Over Jordan
    LADY Margaret Sarpie felt terrible. The city of New Orleans was covered by a mile of clouds. The bathroom scales said 134. Her cousin, Devoie, had decided to stay another week. And the phone kept ringing. It had been ringing all morning. First it would ring. Then Lady Margaret would answer it. Then nothing.
    â€œHello,” Lady Margaret would say. “Hello. Hello. Who’s there? Who is it? Why are you calling me? Why are you doing this to me?”
    Lady Margaret’s father had been a brigadier general in the army. People weren’t supposed to call Lady Margaret and hang up. They weren’t even supposed to look at her unless she told them to.
    She got a dial tone and called her mother to see if she could borrow the house in Mandeville for a few days. “It’s that Anna Hand that’s doing it. Or some of her friends. Her friends could be anybody. She could know gangsters.”
    â€œThen what did you write about her for? If you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas, Lady Margaret. I’ve told you that. Those people at the newspaper only want to use your name. They don’t care what happens next.”
    â€œI didn’t write about her. I reviewed her book. It could be the beginning of big things for me, Momma. When they called and asked me to do it I was bowled over. You could have knocked me over with a broomstick.”
    â€œAnd now these gangsters are calling you up and you have to go and hide in Mandeville? Well, we reap what we sow.”
    â€œCan I have the house or not? Devoie’s here. She’s going with me.”
    â€œArmand’s there. You can’t go until he leaves.”
    â€œWhy did you let Armand go? He sold his half. Every time I want to go Armand’s there. I mean, what’s wrong with