placed in the center of the gable which said, “RAZ’matazz.” Ella wondered what type of place RAZ’matazz might be since there was no other indication. She thought it could be anything. After all, Manteo did have a bonsai store, for goodness sake. Ella opened the navy blue door and a little bell rang signaling her entrance. Inside the store the walls were lined with vivid paintings, while the center of the store was filled with jewelry, sculptures, and metal art.
Seated behind a counter covered with a glass mosaic mermaid, sat a woman with long auburn hair and fair skin. Ella thought to herself that this woman, who also had piercing green eyes, looked exactly how Ella had always pictured a mermaid, but a little older. She had a dainty nose and a wide smile with large, but not obnoxiously so, teeth.
The lady behind the counter must have noticed that she was being sized up and looked at Ella and said, “Hi, I’m Roz.”
Shaking herself from the exhausted trance she was in, Ella replied, “Hi Roz, I’m Belle.”
“Well I cannot believe it!” exclaimed Roz.
Ella stood frozen. Can’t believe what? She thought. That I look like the spitting image of Blythe Beatty? Ella prayed this woman hadn’t recognized her as being kin to the Beatty’s. After all, folks in Biloxi used to say, “Sweetheart, you look like you crawled right out of your mother’s butt.” After hearing this a few times as a child, Ella stopped taking it literally as children do, and she looked forward to hearing it. She’d always thought that BeBe Barrantine was beautiful and secretly hoped that she would favor her when she grew up.
Ella shook herself from her daydream. “You can’t believe what, ma’am?”
“You said ROZ. When I introduce myself, because of my accent, most Southerners think I’m saying RAZ. When I moved here, I got so tired of correcting people that I just started going with it, hence the name of my shop, RAZ’matazz. You’re the only Southerner who understood me say Roz.”
“Oh,” laughed Ella. “I’m not southern. I’m just kind of southern. My Mom was from the South.”
“Girlie, don’t you know there’s no way to be ‘kind of’ southern. It’s like being ‘kind of’ pregnant. It just isn’t possible. I hear the accent so in my eyes and ears you’re southern. Where’s your Mom from?” asked Roz. Although Roz had only lived in the South for five years, she’d fallen into the habit of asking people where their momma was from which apparently was a mandatory question in the South when meeting someone for the first time. This question would be guaranteed to be followed with, “And where’s your daddy from?”
Ella gave her standard answer, “My mom’s from Biloxi.”
“Oh,” said Roz. “Trading one coast for another?”
“I guess you could say that. I’m a Pisces,” She explained.
“Ooooohhh! So am I! We’re going to get along just fine!” Ella was indeed a Pisces and fit the description to a tee. It would only be fitting that she enjoyed living near water. She was also selfless, introspective, and artistic. Even though BeBe believed that there must be something to astrology since she was convinced every person’s astrological sign described them perfectly, she forbade Ella to read a horoscope.
“Honey, you can use it to try to figure out if you and a Taurus would be good together and stuff like that, but I think those horoscopes are evil just like the Bible says. They might persuade you to act in a way you wouldn’t, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. You just deal with what the Good Lord gives you,” BeBe would say.
Ella was anxious at this point to steer the conversation away from her. “So where are you from, Roz?”
“Sedona, Arizona. I used to have a pretty lucrative gallery out there displaying my own art and a few others, but I unfortunately fell in love with an art investor who used to frequent my
Seated behind a counter covered with a glass mosaic mermaid, sat a woman with long auburn hair and fair skin. Ella thought to herself that this woman, who also had piercing green eyes, looked exactly how Ella had always pictured a mermaid, but a little older. She had a dainty nose and a wide smile with large, but not obnoxiously so, teeth.
The lady behind the counter must have noticed that she was being sized up and looked at Ella and said, “Hi, I’m Roz.”
Shaking herself from the exhausted trance she was in, Ella replied, “Hi Roz, I’m Belle.”
“Well I cannot believe it!” exclaimed Roz.
Ella stood frozen. Can’t believe what? She thought. That I look like the spitting image of Blythe Beatty? Ella prayed this woman hadn’t recognized her as being kin to the Beatty’s. After all, folks in Biloxi used to say, “Sweetheart, you look like you crawled right out of your mother’s butt.” After hearing this a few times as a child, Ella stopped taking it literally as children do, and she looked forward to hearing it. She’d always thought that BeBe Barrantine was beautiful and secretly hoped that she would favor her when she grew up.
Ella shook herself from her daydream. “You can’t believe what, ma’am?”
“You said ROZ. When I introduce myself, because of my accent, most Southerners think I’m saying RAZ. When I moved here, I got so tired of correcting people that I just started going with it, hence the name of my shop, RAZ’matazz. You’re the only Southerner who understood me say Roz.”
“Oh,” laughed Ella. “I’m not southern. I’m just kind of southern. My Mom was from the South.”
“Girlie, don’t you know there’s no way to be ‘kind of’ southern. It’s like being ‘kind of’ pregnant. It just isn’t possible. I hear the accent so in my eyes and ears you’re southern. Where’s your Mom from?” asked Roz. Although Roz had only lived in the South for five years, she’d fallen into the habit of asking people where their momma was from which apparently was a mandatory question in the South when meeting someone for the first time. This question would be guaranteed to be followed with, “And where’s your daddy from?”
Ella gave her standard answer, “My mom’s from Biloxi.”
“Oh,” said Roz. “Trading one coast for another?”
“I guess you could say that. I’m a Pisces,” She explained.
“Ooooohhh! So am I! We’re going to get along just fine!” Ella was indeed a Pisces and fit the description to a tee. It would only be fitting that she enjoyed living near water. She was also selfless, introspective, and artistic. Even though BeBe believed that there must be something to astrology since she was convinced every person’s astrological sign described them perfectly, she forbade Ella to read a horoscope.
“Honey, you can use it to try to figure out if you and a Taurus would be good together and stuff like that, but I think those horoscopes are evil just like the Bible says. They might persuade you to act in a way you wouldn’t, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. You just deal with what the Good Lord gives you,” BeBe would say.
Ella was anxious at this point to steer the conversation away from her. “So where are you from, Roz?”
“Sedona, Arizona. I used to have a pretty lucrative gallery out there displaying my own art and a few others, but I unfortunately fell in love with an art investor who used to frequent my
Similar Books
