Diary of an Ugly Duckling by Langhorne, Karyn (general ebook reader .txt) đź“•
Read free book «Diary of an Ugly Duckling by Langhorne, Karyn (general ebook reader .txt) 📕» - read online or download for free at americanlibrarybooks.com
Read book online «Diary of an Ugly Duckling by Langhorne, Karyn (general ebook reader .txt) 📕». Author - Langhorne, Karyn
about the surgery and the changes in her look since
she’d last laid eyes on this kid. She jerked her head
at Carlton, nudging him toward a chair in the corner
of the room. “It’s forty-five miles an hour and you’re
doing ninety. Go sit down over there and—”
He was staring at her like she had suddenly
sprouted horns. Audra watched recognition dawn
in his eyes. A second later he burst into laughter.
302
Karyn Langhorne
“Holy shit! Holy shit—” he cried, laughing. “I
don’t believe this shit! You’re—you’re—that butt-
ugly chick—”
“Yeah, I’m the ugly chick.”
His laughing and pointing was attracting atten-
tion in the room. Audra glanced around and
found the noise to have stolen some attention from
the television show some of the men were watching,
along with several checkers games and more than a
few of the quieter conversations around the room.
Only the video rivalry continued without interrup-
tion.
“Damn, girl! What did you do!”
“What I did is irrelevant. The point is what did you
do to—”
“I mean I can understand losing some weight . . .
fixing your hair up a little . . .” He squinted at her,
unsure of how to explain the other changes he was
seeing. He dismissed them anyway by guffawing
and pointing. “But you’ve changed yourself into a
white woman!” He must have felt the eyes of the
room on him, because he shouted out, “Hey y’all,
check this. Remember that fat, ugly chick that used
to work here? One that threw down with Haines
and ripped her pants—”
There were a few nods and murmurs of assent.
“Settle down!” Audra roared over the little swell,
grabbing Carlton’s shoulder. “That’s enough
now—”
“This the same chick!” he said jabbing a finger in
Audra’s direction. “Remember how dark she used
to be? Nappy hair, big old tits and big old butt? This
the same—”
DIARY OF AN UGLY DUCKLING
303
“All right, all right,” Audra repeated, feeling in-
creasingly uncomfortable as the men stared at her,
some laughing, others shaking their heads in disbe-
lief. Audra thought she heard, “Like the King of
Pop!” and “That’s messed up!” along with other
less-than-flattering comments.
“Remember when she threw Haines? Threw him
like a rag doll!” Carlton all but cackled. “Broke two
of his ribs—”
Audra’s eyes shot to Haines, who was staring her
down with a venom that couldn’t signal anything
but bad news. She let her eyes stray to the other
COs, but they seemed content to let Audra handle
the ribbing in any way she chose.
“That’s enough!” Audra roared, as the murmurs
reached higher decibels. “Back to your recreation . . .
or all of you will be back in your cells with plenty of
time to think about it—”
“Oh yeah?” In the few months since she’d seen
him last, Carlton had gained a nasty swagger that
didn’t become him in the slightest. “You said you was
gonna kick my ass. Look at you. You couldn’t kick—”
Audra whipped out her baton, grabbed his right
arm behind his back and pressed the baton tight
against his throat. She jerked him to his feet, feeling
the strain in her body at his weight.
“I told you to shut up, and I mean shut up!” she
hissed, dragging him toward the door, thanking
God and Julienne for the dozens of extra repetitions
of upper body exercises she’d been forced to endure.
“And if you can’t shut up then—”
She stumbled against something unseen—
something that felt like someone’s foot and leg. She
304
Karyn Langhorne
righted herself quickly, but in the tangled moment
of regaining her equilibrium, Audra lost her grip on
Carlton. A second later, he’d whirled around, duck-
ing free of the baton and facing her with a little
smirk on his face, while she looked around for the
obstruction . . . or the obstructor. Princeton Haines
stood nearby, his eyes locked on hers and his usual
sneer curling his features into ugliness.
The other COs converged on the situation now,
and Carlton was handcuffed in an instant, all the
while loudly complaining that he hadn’t done any-
thing, hadn’t said anything, hadn’t been anywhere
near anything ever in his entire life.
“You want to take him back or—”
“Yeah, I’ll do it,” Audra muttered, feeling a sudden
sense of shame suffusing her skin, praying that her
cheeks weren’t flaming with the emotion, but know-
ing with her paler complexion, it was highly likely
that the entire room was witnessing her discomfiture
at being bested by an inmate, if only for a second. She
pulled her features into her game face and let her eyes
skim the room one last time, taking in every face. The
room was silent now except for the blaring TV and
the crashes and whines of the video games. Most
of the men were staring at her blankly, unwilling to
risk the possibility of being ejected in the same
undignified manner as Carlton. But Princeton
Haines was watching her with a funny little smile
curled on his snide lips . . . and Audra had to talk to
herself to keep from shuddering under its scrutiny.
She called Bradshaw that night, but Penny said he
was “out” and launched into her own conversation,
DIARY OF AN UGLY DUCKLING
305
starting into a long-winded series of questions
about her time in Los Angeles, ending with the re-
quest to bring a few of the girls from school to Au-
dra’s apartment to watch Ugly Duckling on the night
of Audra’s Reveal.
Chapter 26
October 4
Dear Petra,
He’s not talking to me.
Okay, he’s talking to me a little. When Penny calls
(which is often, the girl has adopted us!) he’ll come to
the phone for a minute. He answers my questions
“yes” or “no” . . . or he’ll ask me about some movie
that was on the Classic Channel. He called in sick
every day I worked the 7-a.m.-to-3-p.m. shift; didn’t
come back until I was back to nights.
He’s avoiding me, Petra. He’s avoiding me right
when we have so much to talk about . . .
I know I should have told him about the skin
lightening. I don’t know why I didn’t.
Okay, so that’s not true: I do know why I didn’t tell
him. If he’d only let me explain ! All I wanted was to
DIARY OF AN UGLY DUCKLING
307
Comments (0)