Coconut Queen 6
Guess what, Invisible Friends! My book, The Twelve Tales of Christmas, is now available through Amazon.com! Check it out today! After all, it’s never too early to start shopping for Christmas! For more information on my book, check out my Published Works page.
And now, for the Coconut Queen!
For previous editions of the Coconut Queen, see my NeverEnding Stories page.
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“Time for what?” Essie May asked, eyeing at Miss Louise nervously. Miss Louise smiled, her pale blue eyes twinkling.
“It’s time, Essie, for you to learn the secret,” Miss Louise murmured. She disappeared behind a rack of satin evening gowns.
“The secret?” Essie May blinked. “The secret of what?”
“The secret of the Coconut Queen, of course,” Mrs. Drew answered, raising a eyebrow that looked like a hurricane had rolled over it. Hair stuck out in every possible direction, tangling with her eyelashes so she was forced to blink rapidly.
“What secret?” Essie May asked, her forehead wrinkling. Miss Louise returned, holding a thin leather address book. Flipping it open, she ran her finger down the pages.
“There,” she cried in triumph, thumping her finger against a scrawled name on the page. Essie May stood on her tiptoes, but Mrs. Drew’s shoulder blocked her view.
Befuddled, she watched as Miss Louise scurried over to the ebony dial phone that sat on a small wooden table. The dial twirled and spun as her thin finger rapidly dialed. Essie spotted a nine and a two before Mrs. Drew blocked her view again, wagging a finger.
“Nosiness is not becomming of a Coconut Queen,” she lectured, shaking her head. “Coconut Queens are to be docile, yet engaging. They must be friendly, but reserved. Gorgeous, but not vain. When I was a Coconut Queen…”
Mrs. Drew’s words faded to a dull drone as Essie May tilted her head towards Miss Louise’s conversation. Huddled against the wall with her hand over the mouthpiece, she could hear only whispered snippets.
“You’ll be right over? Good. It’s time she knew.” Miss Louise was silent for a few moments. “Sure. You can take my car.” After another moment of quiet, a grim smile crept over her face. “I’m sure.” Unfolding herself from the wall, she hung up the phone and smoothed her linen dress. Mrs. Drew was still rattling on about the Coconut Queen, her shrill voice pounding into Essie May’s skull.
“Mrs. Drew?’ Miss Louise interrupted, laying a hand on Mrs. Drew’s arm. “Our guest will be here shortly. Would you go ask Myrtle to make some refreshments and bring our guest up?”
Mrs. Drew’s eyes widened. Without another word, she nodded and ran out of the room, her orthopedic shoes thumping against the wooden floor.
Essie May was terrified. “What is going on?” she asked, her voice rising to a near squeal. “What secret? Who’s coming over? What is all this about?”
Miss Louise blinked her pale eyes. Gesturing to an overstuffed leopard settee and a matching chair, she suggested, “Why don’t we sit down?”
Hiding her shaking hands by smoothing her skirts, Essie May sat with her sweaty palms on her knees. “I want to know,” she blurted out. “I deserve to know.”
Miss Louise draped into the leopard chair like a silk cloth over a lovely women’s neck. Even the tiny flick of her wrist was elegant. Placing the tips of her fingertips together, the light blue eyes locked onto Essie May.
“Let me remind you that if I didn’t like you so much and despise Queenie as much as I do, I wouldn’t be doing this,” she pointed out. “Your two families have fueded since Coconut began. That’s nothing new.”
“You hate Queenie’s family?” Essie May cocked her head. “I never knew that.”
A thin smile spread over Miss Louise’s face. “Her father is big enough in buisness here that it pays to not let my true feelings be known.”
Essie May nodded in understanding. Her father often said the same thing. Her mother, on the other hand, went out of her way to harass Queenie’s mother.
“The thing is, dear, being a beauty queen is more than most people imagine,” Miss Louise informed her. “Most people think being a beauty queen is about beauty.”
Essie May blinked. “It isn’t?”
Miss Louise shook her head. “Like most things, it is nothing about what everyone thinks it is about.”
“Then what’s the point of it then?” Essie May asked. She wiped her slick hands on the hem of her skirt, jiggling her ankles so her heels tapped against the floor.
“When the contest first began, it was simply a way for girls to get ahead,” Miss Louise drawled. “They could use the cash prize to get married or go to school or help their families, if they needed. Back then, girls didn’t work once they got married, so only a few of them started a business or went to school. Later, it turned into a calling card for the city and draw for tourism, then morphed into what it is today.”
Essie May waited expectantly. When Miss Louise stayed silent, she leaned forward. “So you’re saying that all these judges, all these classes and dresses and appointments are basically just for a beauty contest?”
“It’s tradition,” Miss Louise countered, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. “But that’s not the secret.”
Essie May blinked. “Well what is the secret? I mean, I’ve only got a few weeks left until the pageant. And I want that scholarship.” She didn’t add her desire to crush Queenie with her tiara.
“I can’t tell you,” Miss Louise replied. “Only she can help you find it. And once you find it, you’ll win for sure. Very few Coconut Queens have ever learned the true secret of being a Coconut Queen. You’ll hold sacred knowledge that most people would do anything for.”
Essie May gulped. “She? Who’s she?”
Before Miss Louise could answer, the attic door burst open. Myrtle carried a tray of tea sandwiches and a pitcher of iced tea. Mrs. Drew rushed into the room, red spots coloring her cheeks and her eyes dancing with eagerness. “She’s here!”
“Who’s here?” Essie May asked again, a cold shiver trickling down her back. With a beaming grin, Myrtle stepped to the side. In the dim light of the attic, the woman’s features were muted and her face was shadowed. Narrowing her eyes, Essie May leaned closer. The woman took another step into the light. Essie May shrank back and gasped.
“You!” she cried.
To be continued…
Stay tuned, Invisible Friends! Tomorrow we have a new delicious recipe that is a staple in the Pond. Friday we have a new Twirl and Saturday, a new Critter Confession!
June 10th, 2009 at 3:07 am
Ohhh! After today’s small taste of your writing i’m off to look check out Amazon.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:46 am
how awesome about amazon!!!!! who is she??? i will stay tuned!
June 10th, 2009 at 3:52 am
Congratulations on your book. How terrific! I am going to check it out. Good for you!!
June 10th, 2009 at 3:55 am
Congratulations on the book! That is wonderful news. I will definitely check it out!
June 10th, 2009 at 4:34 am
Who is it!!!! Yay on the book!!
June 10th, 2009 at 5:01 am
That is so exciting – congrats!!
June 10th, 2009 at 5:01 am
That is so exciting – congrats!!
June 10th, 2009 at 5:26 am
Congratulations on the book! I’m off to check it out!
June 10th, 2009 at 5:47 am
I am sooo going to be getting your book! Congrats to you!
June 10th, 2009 at 5:54 am
Congrats!!! Just wonderful news!
XXXX’s
June 10th, 2009 at 6:23 am
WOW, congratulation my dear. I’ll go check it out!
June 10th, 2009 at 6:23 am
WOW…that’s terrific news! I’m going to (try hard to remember to) post about it on my blog tomorrow!!
I want to know how you keep all these different story lines in your head. I can barely remember my own kids’ names (and I only have 2 of them) and their birthdates.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:45 am
Oh, the suspense! Who is it?!?
A big congratulations on getting your book to Amazon!!
June 10th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Wednesdays are my favorite day of the week because I love this story so much! I can’t wait until next week!
June 10th, 2009 at 7:42 am
i am so jazzed for you that your book is on Amazon. You’ve got me with this installment.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Can’t wait to find out who she is!!
June 10th, 2009 at 7:57 am
If we didn’t alreay have the book, I would order one right now.
Congrats.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Congratulations!!!!! I love that leopard chair!
June 10th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Congrats on the book! That is fantastic news and soooo exciting!
But, who is SHE??!!
June 10th, 2009 at 8:36 am
YOu are amazing! Congrats!
June 10th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Congrats on the book, hurray! The snake farm freaked me out just looking at those things, the goats were adorable tho!
June 10th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Hooray your book is on Amazon. How exciting!!! If I buy it can I get it autographed…hehe:)
June 10th, 2009 at 9:26 am
You?! You who?!
Miranda – congratulations on your published works being on Amazon!!!!!!!!
I am just reading The Little White Horse for book club, reminds me of your works.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Congratulations! Amazon is a big deal! Whoo hoo!
June 10th, 2009 at 10:11 am
I knew your book would be on Amazon in no time. Cograts!
I wonder who it is?
June 10th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Congratulations Duckie. I have your book – and we all LOVE it! I am loving this story Duckie. It is getting so good!
XOXO
Jen
June 10th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Thanks for posting, I’ll definitely be subscribing to your blog.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Who it it, who is it? I have to know…oh..I want more!!! I’m going to go on a hunger strike until you tell me the entire story. Tee-hee.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I forgot to say Congratulations for being on Amazon!! That’s so awesome, I’m so happy for you!!
June 10th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Yeah!! You are so cool!! I’ll see if my book club will put it on the calendar for December
I looked on amazon but didn’t see a synopsis. Can you send me a link to one? Right now we are reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society?
June 10th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Oh, and the “Love Tank” theory may be from the 5 love languages or from Love & Respect. Both great books for a strong marriage!!
Oh and showering together helps a marriage a lot too!!
June 10th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Congratulations!!
June 10th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
So cool about your book!
Now tell me who it is!!!
June 10th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Wow, congratulations on the book! Going to check it out on Amazon now!
June 10th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Woohoo! Congratulations on being sold on Amazon!
June 10th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
How incredible to have your book on Amazon! How excited are you?
June 10th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Thanks so much for coming by!!
June 10th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Congrats on your book! How wonderful. It’s my dream to be published.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Congratulations on your book!!!
I’ll explore the site!
June 11th, 2009 at 10:10 am
*gasp* It must be the even crazier old lady down the road! Poor Essie Mae, having to learn even more secrets!
June 11th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Darn! I KNEW you weren’t going to tell me but I HOPED you would!
~ingrid
June 11th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Congrats on making the big time! I will definitely check it out.
Darn you Duckie! I’ve been craving coconut cream pie all week thanks to this story. I have no time to bake one and I’ve gone to numerous stores and not been able to find one. I feel as if I could beat up my own mother for a coconut cream pie and they’ve disappeared off the face of the earth!
June 11th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Congratulations on the Amazon deal! Hooray!!!!
Crikey!!! Who is it????!!!
June 12th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Yeah! I’ll have to go on over and check out your Christmas book at Amazon. Congratulations!
And for the ending of this weeks story- how dare you leave me hanging! I can’t wait to find out how she knows her- boy you’re good!
Oh yeah, I tagged you over at Creative and Curious Kids. (7 unimportant things that make you happy)
Here’s the link: http://raisingcreativeandcuriouskids.blogspot.com/2009/06/ive-been-tagged.html
Have a good day! My day has been filled with naseau- morning sickness, cleaning, and two wild little girls!
Jen
Creative and Curious Kids!
June 12th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Great! A book! Congrats!
I love how you have the Coconut story marked with the house. I can search it out and have a read! Thank you.
June 13th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Great post! I’ll subscribe right now wth my feedreader software!