This is what he said to me: “I have good news and bad news, Dora.” I sat down on Mrs. Bailey
White’s wrought-iron furniture. Moments before I had been thinking what a lovely garden this must
have once been. Someone had been working on it—Plain Jane, maybe. “What?” I said. “Just say it.
What is it?” “What do you want first?” Robbie-Lee asked. “The good news or the bad?” “I don’t care!
Just say it!” He cleared his throat and looked me straight in the eye. “My mother is the woman who
gave you up for adoption,” he said. He waited for it to sink in. “What are you talking about?” I
shrieked. My voice came out so shrill that I would never have guessed it came from me. “Robbie-Lee,
that can’t be right! How do you . . . What makes you think . . . That’s just not possible!” But, truth be
told, anything was possible. I felt like my skin had been bitten by a thousand fire ants, and I very
nearly upchucked. I stood and turned my back on Robbie-Lee, just in case. I never, ever thought I
would find out who my mother was. Once I collected myself I turned around, tears flooding my eyes.
“Was this the bad news?” I asked, confused. Robbie-Lee chuckled. “Well, a lot of people would think
so. You know she’s not exactly Betty Crocker. I doubt very much that she’s the type of mother you
would have hoped for.” “Oh,” I said. “Well, honestly? No.” “Okay, now I’m going to tell you the
good news. Do you know what that is? This means that you’re my sister!”
Despite everything else that was happening, I had to smile. This was good news. I’d always
wanted a sibling. And Robbie-Lee would be the best. He was smart, funny, and an all-around great
guy. We were friends. And now we were siblings, too. “I have a brother,” I said slowly, trying it out to
see how it sounded. A wondrous thing, having a brother. My friends growing up complained bitterly
about their brothers; Jackie’s twin daughters seemed to dislike Judd heartily. But I always wanted to
tell them, You are luckier than you know. Suddenly I felt a little strange, like I couldn’t breathe. I sat
down again, trying to calm myself enough to find the right words. “Robbie-Lee, I thank you,” I said
finally. “I mean, thank you for telling me.” Robbie-Lee smiled a little sadly. “Well, I knew you had to
know. I mean, she finally confirmed it. And you’re an heir now. You and me both.” “Why didn’t she
tell me?” I asked. “Because she was scared,” he said simply. “I was scared, too, but not as much as
her.” “How long have you known?” “Oh, I’ve had some suspicions for a long time,” he said.
“Something she said once or twice when she was drunk.” I waited a moment, then, “Do you think we
have the same father?” Robbie-Lee surprised me by laughing out loud. “Not a chance,” he said,
adding quickly, “Does it really matter? I’m not sure we want to know any more secrets from the past,
even if we could find out. I think we have enough to contend with.” “You’ve never known who your
father is, right?” I asked. “I’ve been walking around for years thinking that Montgomery Witherspoon,
wherever he is, is mine. So it’s something else I have to acc ept.” “I’m so sorry, Dora,” Robbie-Lee
said softly. I shrugged in response. “Dora, I know this must come as a shock to you,” he continued. “I
know she’s not a, um, conventional mother but she’s a great person, she really is. She’s a little rough
around the edges, but if you give her a chance . . .” He hesitated. “I surely do hope that you give her a
chance. Maybe not right away—that would be understandable—but maybe once you get, well, used to
the idea.”
What could I say? That my newly found mother scared me to death? That I was r epulsed at the
idea that my mother had been a dancer in a nightclub? That I was embarrassed by her? And that I
wondered what this meant about me? I had thought I was a higher-class person than that. Mama and I
were poor, I knew that, but Mama had been a nurse and I had two years of college. “Want to hear
something funny?” I said finally. “After I learned I was adopted I started dreaming that maybe I was
Eudora Welty’s secret love child. I was aiming high, wasn’t I?” “Well, now, that would have been
something!” he said. “But that’s the problem with real life, isn’t it? Life can’t live up to your dreams.
I’m not saying dreams can never come true; sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. But one thing’s
for sure, once you start trying to make a dream come true you’d better be pr epared that anything could
happen. You find out you’re adopted. You dream that your mother is a brilliant writer but she turns
out to be, well, a stripper—or fan dancer, or whatever—turned alligator hunter. Good grief, Dora, I
can see why you feel let down.” “I wouldn’t say I feel let down,” I said quickly. “That sounds too
mean, and I’m not a mean person. I just need time.” Robbie-Lee nodded. “Let’s go inside and get
something to drink,” he said, standing up. He took my arm and gently led me back indoors.
• • •
“ARE Y’ALL GOING TO TELL us what’s happening?” Mrs. Bailey White demanded. I realized,
once we were in the pantry, with Robbie-Lee chopping some ice for our drinks, that even a short
person like her could get a peek at the garden as long as she stood on her tippy-toes. “Mrs. Bailey
White, were you spying?” I said with fake outrage, yet she reacted with guilty shame. “Well, we all
were,” she said. “Jackie and Plain Jane, too. Only they ran off to the living room to pretend they
weren’t in here watching you from this here window.” Robbie-Lee and I looked at each other and
grinned. After fixing lemonade for all of us, we commenced to finding the others, with Mrs.
Bailey White trailing behind. Jackie and Plain Jane were in the parlor pretending to play cards.
“What have you two been up to?” Jackie asked. “Dora and I have an announcement to make,”
Robbie-Lee said. “I have just informed her that we are brother and sister.” Jackie had been reaching
for her lemonade and nearly knocked it over. Plain Jane let out a little gasp, and Mrs. Bailey White
said, “Did I hear that right?” “Yes, you did, Mrs. Bailey White,” I said, following Robbie-Lee’s
courageous lead. “We have the same mother.” Jackie gulped. “Dora, your mother is . . . ?” “Yes,” I
said, realizing that my face was starting to flush. “Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle,” said Mrs. Bailey
White. “And here I thought he was proposing to you!” “What? You know he’s not the marrying
kind!” Plain Jane said loudly. “Well, just because he’s not a man’s man and not interested in women
in the Biblical sense doesn’t mean he might not get married,” Mrs. Bailey White said defensively. “I
mean, it happens all the time, doesn’t it?” Robbie-Lee seemed a little amused. “All y’all are something
else!” he said. “Now let’s go see Mom. She’s upstairs resting.” But all we found was an empty room.