Book Excerpts discussion

“The men you love will never love you. And the men who love you, you will never love.” Grandma Lila scanned the table with foreboding eyes that had preserved their vibrant emerald color for nearly a century. When Grandma Lila talked to the girls about men it washed away her beauty like Clairol washed away her gray. She was a stunning mix of Native American, Black, and the usual European blood that trickled in through generations of servitude in America. Her eyes were a gift from her father, a silky-haired, slick-tongued mulatto from Louisiana. Lila passed this entrancing amalgam of beauty down through three generations of women.
“You know we are cursed,” Grandma Lila said. Stormy nodded as she always did when Grandma Lila warned about the perils of Louisiana black magic. “The curse has ruined the lives of every woman sitting around this table. There isn’t a man between you that is worth a plug nickel.” Grandma Lila looked around the table at her descendants. “Except yours,” she said and pointed at Riley. “Yours isn’t half bad but he doesn’t have the good sense God gave a goose. He sits at home by himself while you screw anyone with three legs.”
Once she finished rebuking Riley, Grandma Lila turned to Lourdes. “If your mother were alive, she would be proud that you snagged a rich man. Honey, each of you has a gold mine between your legs, right here.” She spread her legs and Stormy winced with covered eyes. “It’s all in what you make of it.” She pointed her finger at them. “Lourdes did right by marrying that ignorant rascal. He may be a lying, cheating fool, but he’s rich.”
“And you,” Lila turned her body towards Stormy, “pretending you are some fairy tale princess. You love him and he loves you,” she mocked in a child-like voice. “As sure as this scar stretches across my hand, you will end up just like the rest of us. Who do you think you are that you’re going to stay married to one man forever? You better start preparing yourself right now.”
Lourdes’ soft voice cut in, “Ray is my first husband, Grandma Lila.” Everyone turned toward her at once. “What?” She shrugged her delicate shoulders. “It’s not been easy but it counts just the same. I’m still married, aren’t I?”
“Yes dear,” Grandma Lila said to Lourdes. “Well done, Sweetness. When you get tired of raising his bastard kids you’ll take that son of a beet picker for all he’s got. I hope you are putting a little something away for yourself, just in case.”
Riley kicked Stormy beneath the table. Then, Stormy spoke. “Brandon and I have been together since middle school and our five-year wedding anniversary is right around the corner, Grandma Lila.”
“It’s only a matter of time before that boy leaves you. Hell, he’s been screwing you since the eighth grade. Don’t you think he’s tired of that thing?”
“We’ve not been sleeping together since the eighth grade,” Stormy said, with a prideful tone. “I was a virgin until after I went to college.”
Riley snorted with a short chuckle, “Damn, I know your cherry was green with envy after all that time.”
“I’ll tell you one thing,” Grandma Lila continued. “Don’t have any babies. If you have babies, this thing will go on forever. From the time your Nona was small, I told her the same thing.”
Nona interjected, “Mother, let’s just have some cake.” She reached over and grabbed the knife from in front of Grandma Lila.
“Don’t interrupt me.” Grandma Lila snatched the knife back from her daughter. “You’re nearly as old as I am. You think I can’t cut my own birthday cake? Don’t be so damn simple.”
The late autumn sun shined through the window and lit up the tiny dining room. Grandma Lila held the knife in one hand and she flashed her palm to the girls with the other. “Remember, just as sure as this scar stretches across the palm of my hand, we’re cursed. It will continue for the rest of our lives.”
The scar was keloid and ran from the base of her naked ring finger to the bend of her wide wrist. She moved her hand through the air like she was painting their destinies on a canvas. Then Stormy heard something she had never heard before. Grandma Lila explained the mysterious scar that she refused to discuss over the years. Though she constantly used the scar to make her point, she never explained to Stormy how she got it.
“Do you want to know about my scar?” she asked.
“Yes!” Riley said with excitement. “We’ve only been asking for thirty years.”
“Don’t get smart before I knock you in those pecker sucking lips.”
“Grandma Lila!” Lourdes said in a distinctly audible voice, which for her meant she was shouting.
Riley kicked Stormy again under the table. She spoke in a calming tone to refocus the women. “Yes, Grandma Lila, we would love to know about the scar,” Stormy said.
“This here is the heart line,” she said and pointed at one of the many wrinkles that lined her hands. “It’s the highest of the thick lines closest to your fingers. My best friend, Marie Williams, sliced across it when I was seventeen years old. She carved it into two uneven lines. It means love will never run its course in my life. Or yours.”
“Some best friend she was.” Riley turned up her tiny pointed nose.
Stormy spoke up while the others sat with wide eyes inspecting their own palms. “Grandma Lila, how does that affect all of us if she only cut your hand? Our heart lines are still in one piece.”
“That’s a good question from my brilliant thinker,” Grandma Lila said. “When she cut my hand, she whispered a curse in my ear. The same thing I’ve been telling y’all about your whole lives.” Grandma Lila’s voice lowered, both in tone and volume. It was the familiar, raspy admonition. “The men you love will never love you. The men who love you, you will never love.”
“Wow! I didn’t know that was actually the curse. I thought you made that up,” Riley said. “I thought the curse was that everybody got a divorce.”
“Girl, you don’t know your ass from your elbows,” Grandma Lila scoffed. “Divorce is only a symptom of the curse.”
“Can we continue the celebration?” Nona intruded into the conversation. “We are a Christian family and we don’t believe in curses.”
“We don’t?” Stormy and the others said in concert.
“No, it’s just the way the good Lord saw fit to make us. It’s a string a bad luck. That’s all,” Nona said.
“But Nona,” Lourdes’ gentle, rhythmic voice floated across the room. “How can you believe in luck but not in curses? Aren’t they one in the same when it comes to Christianity?”
Nona didn’t answer. “Cut the cake, Mother.”
The four of them sang Happy Birthday to Grandma Lila. Riley stood up and did her rendition of a birthday rap song while she spun Grandma Lila around the dining room in her wheelchair. “Go Granny, it’s ya birthday.”
After an hour or so of celebration, Grandma Lila looked up at Riley and asked, “Where’s your mother?” Then she looked at Stormy and droned. “And yours? Where in the hell are my granddaughters? There is an entire generation missing.”
Riley responded while Stormy quickly shoved a piece of cake in her mouth. “They just put mother on new medication and it’s not really stable yet. I went to see her earlier and she was kind of out of it.”
“Well, be sure to give her a great big kiss the next time you see her. And go often to see your mother. She needs you.”
“I do,” Riley said with a bit of defensiveness in her voice.
***

Very random. but refreshing. its very different from anything i've read recently. i LOVE the anaolgies!!!!!!! ass from ur elbows????? did u make that up?! fabulous!

LOL! Thanks. I have to give my grandmother credit for that one. She was full of sayings and this was one that I heard quite often in my quest for independence.

It's plain to see from this excerpt that the book will chronicle the eventful lives of a formidable group of women in a highly entertaining fashion. Grandma Lila has a similarly blunt temperament to my own, although Lila is considerably more vulgar. The smile inducing tone of Par for the Curse is nicely set in this snippet.

I found this piece interesting. I did have a certain reservation and went back to find something that niggled me all though m read.
"“The men you love will never love you. And the men who love you, you will never love.” Grandma Lila scanned the table with foreboding eyes that had preserved their vibrant emerald color for nearly a century."
The second line gave the impression Grandma did something different before she scanned the table; the reader doesn't know what. Then maybe she scanned the table with emerald eyes in order that the reader knows she has eyes of that colour. Is it all for the benefit of the reader that they know the colour of Grandma's eyes. It might have been better using short sentences to get into the story quickly. Grandma looked at the table(and maybe picked up a pen or a knife or did something).
The setting is good and I like the characters. Go to it and keep on writing.
Best wishes.

Cleveland wrote: "I found this piece interesting. I did have a certain reservation and went back to find something that niggled me all though m read.
"“The men you love will never love you. And the men who love you,..."

Cleveland, you used one of my favorite words. I know we all have them but "niggle" is a bronze favorite of mine. Thanks for the feedback.

so hello? when do we get 2 c the end? the suspense is killing us here...............

I don't want to spoil it for folks that have the book. So I can't give up the ending.