Chapter 20 #2
Marge pushed off her thighs and rose slowly, grimacing as she finally straightened. “Never leave a man behind.” Then she tipped her head. “Or, I guess in this case, you left us behind, but… well, just glad you’re safe.”
They folded into a brief hug. Then Doris let go and spun back toward the towering showgirl watching us with her hand pressed to her chest.
“This is Diamond”—she gestured to the tallest queen, magnificent in silver and white—“and Coco and Starlight and Valentina, and this is Ruby and Barb.” Each queen gave a wave or a nod or a small curtsy. “They found me when I got separated and made sure I was safe. Isn’t that sweet?”
“Thank you so much for taking care of her. We got separated and had no way to find her.”
“She was a joy,” Ruby said, tipping her head and giving Doris a sweet smile. “She’s been teaching us how to repair our costumes.”
“It’s all in the tension.” Doris wagged a finger. “Just remember to take your time and practice. It will come in handy if you have a blowout right before a show.”
Doris and Ruby continued talking about stitches like Doris hadn’t just been lost in a sea of people and we’d feared her dead and dismembered. As I listened to them, Starlight stepped toward me.
Something shifted in her expression as her eyes raked the length of me. Confusion and then… recognition. “Wait,” she said slowly. Then she pressed both hands to her chest. “You’re Gammy.”
The group went very still, all those feathered heads spinning toward me.
“It’s you, isn’t it? I… it is. It’s Gammy. I would recognize those legs anywhere.”
She pointed down to my legs, exposed in my short dress.
The other queens dropped their gazes to them too. Then Coco gasped and Valentina grabbed Ruby’s arm.
“Hello,” I said simply, giving them a little wave. “Yes. I’m Gammy.”
A sharp gasp traveled through them.
Diamond stood up to her full spectacular height, her gloved hands covering her mouth. “Gammy. Is standing. Next to our float.”
They erupted into shrieks that destroyed my eardrums as much as they filled my heart.
“It’s Gammy! Oh my God! Gammy!” Barb cried out. “We LOVE you! We went and saw your show two years ago, and girl… you ate!”
I furrowed my brow. “I ate? On stage? I don’t remember that. No, I wouldn’t eat on stage.”
They laughed, shaking their feathered heads. “No. Ate as in killed it. Crushed it. Were amazing! In fact, you inspired us to dress as showgirls!”
They stood back, spinning around to show me the full effect of their costumes.
That ache in my chest returned as I remembered how it had felt to wear mine, and how sad I’d been realizing it was time to retire.
I was ready, yes, but there would always be a part of me that wanted to kick across the stage, every eye on me as I drank in their awe.
“Get outta here!” Marge slapped her thigh. “That’s awesome! Well, this is Gammy right here in the flesh.”
“She’s something, isn’t she?” Sylvie turned and smiled at me, and the queens exploded into compliments and praise as they fawned over me.
“Oh my God!” Diamond said, spinning to the girls. “Do you know what I’m thinking?”
They all looked at each other, faces igniting with excitement as they nodded.
Diamond turned back to me. “You have to be on our float. Please, oh please, please, please! It would be epic. We would be the envy of every other queen in the quarter. You’re an icon, you know. The Cher of showgirls. Will you? We have extra costumes. I’m sure we could find something that fits.”
I looked at the widows. Marge was grinning like the Cheshire cat. Doris just nodded, sipping her Hurricane.
“Alice,” Sylvie whispered, “do it.”
I looked at the float in all its impressive, glittery wonder, and imagined being up on it. Imagined the people in the crowd screaming. Getting to feel that rush once again.
I turned back to Diamond. “I’ll do it, but only if my widows can join.”
“Done!” Diamond clapped, and the other queens squealed with joy.
Ten minutes later, I was strapped into a fabulous showgirl outfit—a little too large, so it was pulled tight together with pins as Doris quickly sewed me in.
After the outfit was fitted, Ruby handed me a headdress—pink and gold and trailing feathers that fluttered in the breeze. When it settled onto my head, it made me feel like I was reclaiming something that had always been mine.
I looked at myself in the small mirror Coco produced.
The woman looking back was magnificent.
Not despite being over seventy. Not in a remarkable-for-her-age way that had always been the most condescending possible compliment. Just magnificent.
Period.
“Well,” Marge said from behind my reflection, her voice slightly rougher than usual, “there she is. Our showgirl.”
“There she is,” Sylvie agreed softly.
Doris simply pressed her hands to her mouth and said nothing, which said everything.
They remained in their street clothes but were draped in boas and sparkly crowns, and we all climbed up onto that float just before the massive thing surged forward.
“Places, everyone!” Diamond called out as we headed toward the street. The queens all raced to their spots, poses struck as they waited.
“Where should I go?” I asked.
Diamond just smiled. “Right there in the center where you belong. Slay it, queen.”
My heart ignited as I stepped into the center of the float, the widows on either side by the rail with their buckets of beads and matching grins.
We turned onto the main parade route, and the world exploded.
Thousands of people—a sea of faces, all looking up, all screaming for beads, for life, for a moment of the magic we were carrying.
The roars and cheers erupting as we started down the street were the kind of noise you didn’t just hear but felt in the center of your chest.
I stood in the center and let New Orleans come at me, the wind catching my pink feathers.
The queens burst out into their routine, high heels flying through the air as they kicked and spun. I realized instantly it was my routine from Gammy, and my own little feet fell right into that old rhythm, my body moving without thought as the music moved through me.