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"Oh, Gabriel," Mama said, shaking her head and fixing her eyes of pity on me.

"Everywhere I go, in town, to church, stores, every time I turn, I see her gaping at us. I won't have it, I tell you," Gladys said, her voice coming almost like the hiss of a venomous snake. It reminded me of what happened.

"If I wasn't there today, Paul might have been bitten by a cottonmouth. Go on, tell it all," I said with defiance. "Tell Mama how your nanny doesn't pay attention to the baby."

"That's none of your affair," Gladys replied, but a lot less firmly.

"The baby was almost bitten by a

cottonmouth?" Mama asked.

"She exaggerates. There was a snake in the yard. My girl had plenty of time to protect the baby. Besides, it's none of her business," Gladys insisted. "We paid to keep you away and I intend to see that the deal is kept. The next time your wild daughter is seen on my property, I'll have her arrested, do you understand? And if she continues to follow us around wherever we go, I'll go see a judge and get a court order that will slap the lot of you into jail."

"I don't follow you around," I moaned.

"You've got nothing else to do with your meaningless life than seduce grown men and then follow their wives around," Gladys continued. "You should be in a convent, away from good and decent people."

"That's quite enough," Mama said. "You've made your point. Gabriel will never again set foot on your property, and if she sees you people in town or in church, she will look the other way."

"That's more like it. If you kept a tighter grip on her in the first place, we all might not be in this situation," Gladys added, her face flushed with satisfaction.

"I think you have it all a bit muddled," Mama said softly. "If you had given your husband the loving home a wife should provide her man, he might not have wandered into the swamp to rape my daughter."

"What?" She raised her shoulders. "If that's not the pot calling the kettle black . . . Why, your husband is probably the worst degenerate in the bayou."

"At least he doesn't pretend to be a saint and put on false faces in church," Mama retorted.

Gladys Tate's face reddened. She pressed her lips together and then lifted her right arm slowly to point her long, thin forefinger at me, the fingernail a silver shade.

"Keep her away or else," she warned, pivoted, and marched back to her car.

I couldn't swallow. I felt numb and incapable of movement. It was as if my feet had been nailed to the gallery floorboards. We watched her churn the lawn with her tires and then spin out and away.

"A horrid woman," Mama said. "It's like she has a snake eating away her heart." She turned and looked at me. "Gabriel, you have got to let go, honey. It's over; he's gone."

"Yes, Mama. I'm sorry."

"It's all right, honey," she said, embracing me and petting my hair. "It's all right. Let's have a good dinner and think about tomorrow."

I nodded. In the distance we could hear Gladys Tate's car squeal around a turn and accelerate. With it went my hopes of ever really knowing my own baby.

We never told Daddy about Gladys Tate's visit. He would have just ranted and raved and threatened reprisals. He might even have seen it as a new opportunity to extort some money from them.

He surprised us the next day anyway when he brought home a new dress for Mama and a new dress for me. Now it was her turn to think he was

extravagant, for she could make a dress as good or better than any store-bought one.

"And what did you do, Jack Landry," Mama asked with suspicious eyes, "win a big pot at bourre?'

/> "No. This comes from all honest work, woman." He poured himself some lemonade and sat at the dinner table, smiling widely.

Mama gazed at me, looked at the new dresses, and then shook her head. "Something's up."

"Nothin's up. I was just thinkin' it was about time I took you and Gabriel out for a night. We should go to the fais dodo at the Crab House this Saturday night."

"Fais dodo? A dance? You want to take me to a dance?" Mama asked with amazement.

"And Gabriel. It's a good place for her to meet someone. I been thinking I ain't done enough to provide the opportunities for her."