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Show -119- Peppermint Monday I had tried to quit thinking about my imaginary dress. Most of the time it was easy because I would think about Russ instead. But lately, especially when I saw Renae and Matt, I would wonder about the dress. I had $279 plus the extra interest Mrs. Anderson had not been able to update in my book. I wouldn't spend all of it, pa would kick me out of the house if I did. I would just spend enough to find a beautiful dress similar to the one in my mind. That was if I got a date though, and that was not likely. Pa was an advisor for the junior class, so he had to help organize the prom. He hated it too. Every time ma asked him about it he would get this awful look on his face and shake his head. It was getting worse as the dance got closer. He didn't even enjoy the chicken in sauce that he usually loved. "This dance is driving me crazy," he told ma at dinner. "The girls on the decorating committee want hot pink roses. They plan on making them out of crepe paper. They want black plastic for the ceiling too. Hot pink and black. We'll all be blind before the night's over-" "They look very nice together, dear. I saw them at a wedding reception once. It isn't near as bad as it sounds." Ma was using her head to calm pa down. Ma always used her head except where Jake was concerned. "That's not all." Pa hadn't heard her. He never listened to anyone when he had something on his mind. Jason was the same way. I hoped I was more like ma. "They want an expensive band from St. Louis. I don't think we can afford the damn roses, much less a noisy rock band. Why can't they dance to records like we used to?" Ma just smiled at me and didn't try to answer. Pa didn't stop talking long enough for anyone else to get a word in. He was getting worked up like |