When She Regretted Her Lies novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Prettiest Mom
"My mom is the prettiest mom in the whole county," Birdie said into the microphone. "That's honest."
The gym did not make a sound.
I sat in the second row of the folding chairs, with Gil's hand in mine and my face getting hot from the collar up.
"I did research," Birdie went on. "I looked at all the moms at the luncheon. I looked at the moms at the library, and the moms at the bus loop, and one mom at the bank."
A father in the back row said "Aw," and was shushed.
"Mom has a spot on her cardigan, and her hair does a thing," Birdie said. "She hums when she's scared, and she burns the toast. But when she laughs, her whole face goes up. Nobody else's face goes up that far."
She stopped to think about it.
"So I moved her. She's not the ugliest anymore. She isn't even in the top hundred."
Mrs. Tandy, in the third row, shot to her feet.
Her finger went up, rigid and joyful, and aimed straight at me.
"That one!" she said. "That's the one! Everybody, look at her!"
Forty parents looked.
I put my hands over my face, and Gil laughed beside me in a low, shaky way.
"Mom?" Birdie said, from the stage. "You have to say something. It's the rule. If somebody says something nice, you can say something back."
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