[Part Opener] Birdie
Chapter 29
In 1812, the seemingly impossible happened: The Mississippi River, one of the longest and
strongest rivers in the world, suddenly began to run backward. This was the one and only story
my father told at parties, how an earthquake along the river shook the ground so hard that church
bells rang in Boston some 1,300 miles away, the rumbling woke up Dolley Madison in the White
House, and the mighty Mississippi began running in the unfathomable direction of north. I
figured if a river as hell-bent as the Mississippi could change its mind, then, evidently, so could
I.
It wasn’t quite an earthquake, but it did feel like I was on some sort of wild, unreasonable
ride. The argument with Charlie had left me very angry, which climbed to a state of red-hot fury
before dropping into a spiral of terrifying disappointment, leaving me plain ole sick to my
stomach—for my family, for Mrs. Tartt and Frances, for Charlie, for Meg. The list of lives
wrecked was long.
Yesterday, before I’d run into Garnett at the post office, I’d come across Charlie’s ledger.
Still furious, I’d thumbed through it, not able to stop myself. The numbers had practically
sparkled on the page. The biggest earnings came from what she called Tricks, and while I didn’t
have to wonder what those were, I saw they ranged from four dollars and fifty cents up to fifteen
dollars apiece. What in the world did a woman have to do to earn that? After Tricks, there was
also the income from the Upfronts; then came Room & Board, Liquor Drinks, Admission, like it
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