“I don’t care if you come or not,” I told them. “I’m just asking because I promised I would.”
“We’ll be there,” said Dunlap. And he nodded at me and smiled.
Sweetie Pie was very excited when I invited her.
“What’s the theme?” she asked.
“Well, there isn’t one,” I said.
“You got to think of a theme,” she told me. She stuck her knuckle in her mouth and then pulled it back out. “It ain’t a party without a theme. Is this dog coming?” she asked. She wrapped her arms around Winn-Dixie and squeezed him so hard that his eyes almost popped out of his head.
“Yes,” I told her.
“Good,” she said. “You could make that the theme. It could be a dog party.”
“I’ll think about it,” I told her.
The last person I asked was Otis. I told him all about the party and that he was invited and he said, “No, thank you.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“I don’t like parties,” said Otis.
“Please,” I begged. “It won’t be a party unless you come. I’ll give you a whole free week of sweeping and arranging and dusting. If you come to the party, that’s what I’ll do.”
“A whole week for free?” Otis said, looking up at me.
“Yes sir,” I told him.
“But I don’t have to talk to people, right?”
“No sir,” I said. “You don’t. But bring your guitar. Maybe you could play us some music.”
“Maybe,” said Otis. He looked down at his boots again real quick, trying to hide his smile.
“Thank you,” I told him. “Thank you for deciding to come.”
Chapter Twenty-One
After I got Otis convinced to come, the rest of getting ready for the party was easy and fun. Me and Gloria decided to have the party at night, when it would be cooler. And the afternoon before, we worked in Gloria’s kitchen and made egg-salad sandwiches. We cut them up in triangles and cut off the crusts and put little toothpicks with frilly tops in them. Winn-Dixie sat in the kitchen and looked at us the whole time. He kept on wagging his tail.
“That dog thinks we making these sandwiches for him,” said Gloria Dump.
Winn-Dixie showed Gloria all his teeth.
“These ain’t for you,” she told him.
But when she thought I wasn’t looking, she gave Winn-Dixie an egg-salad sandwich, without the toothpick.
We also made punch. We mixed together orange juice and grapefruit juice and soda in a big bowl. Gloria called it Dump Punch. She said she was world famous for it. But I had never heard of it before.
The last thing we did was decorate the yard all up. I strung pink and orange and yellow crepe paper in the trees to make it look fancy. We also filled up paper bags with sand and put candles in them, and right before it was time for the party to start, I went around and lit all the candles. It turned Gloria Dump’s yard into a fairyland.
“Mmmmm-hmmm,” said Gloria Dump, looking around. “Even somebody with bad eyes can tell it looks good.”
It did look pretty. It looked so pretty that it made my heart feel funny, all swollen and full, and I wished desperately that I knew where my mama was so she could come to the party, too.
Miss Franny Block was the first person to arrive. She was wearing a pretty green dress that was all shiny and shimmery. And she had on high-heeled shoes that made her wobble back and forth when she walked. Even when she was standing still, she still kind of swayed, like she was standing on a boat. She was carrying a big glass bowl full of Littmus Lozenges. “I brought a little after-dinner treat,” she said, handing the bowl to me.
“Thank you,” I said. I put the bowl on the table next to the egg-salad sandwiches and the punch. Then I introduced Miss Franny to Gloria, and they shook hands and said polite things to each other.
And then Sweetie Pie’s mother came by with Sweetie Pie. Sweetie Pie had a whole handful of pictures of dogs that she had cut out of magazines. “It’s to help you with your theme,” she said. “You can use them to decorate. I brung tape, too.” And she started going around taping the pictures of the dogs to the trees and the chairs and the table.
“She ain’t talked about nothing but this party all day long,” said her mother. “Can you walk her home when it’s over?”
I promised that I would, and then I introduced Sweetie Pie to Miss Franny and to Gloria, and right after that, the preacher showed up. He was wearing a coat and tie and looked real serious. He shook Gloria Dump’s hand and Miss Franny Block’s hand and said how pleased he was to meet them both and how he had heard nothing but good things about both of them. He patted Sweetie Pie on the head and said it was good to see her outside of church. And the whole time, Winn-Dixie was standing right in the middle of everybody, wagging his tail so hard that I thought for sure he would knock Miss Franny right off her high heels.
Amanda Wilkinson came and she had her blond hair all curled up and she looked shy and not as mean as usual, and I stood real close to her and introduced her to Gloria Dump. I was surprised at how glad I was to see Amanda. And I wanted to tell her I knew about Carson. I wanted to tell her I understood about losing people, but I didn’t say anything. I was just extra nice.
We were all standing around smiling at one another and acting kind of nervous, when a real screechy voice said, “Gertrude is a pretty bird.”
Winn-Dixie’s ears went straight up on his head, and he barked once and looked around. I looked, too, but I didn’t see Gertrude. Or Otis.
“I’ll be right back,” I said to everybody. Me and Winn-Dixie went running around to the front of the house. And sure enough, standing there on the sidewalk was Otis. He had his guitar on his back and Gertrude on his shoulder, and in his hands, he was holding the biggest jar of pickles I had ever seen in my life.
“Otis,” I said to him, “come on around back, that’s where the party is.”
“Oh,” he said. But he didn’t move. He just stood there, holding on to his jar of pickles.
“Dog,” screeched Gertrude. She flew off of Otis’s shoulder and landed on Winn-Dixie’s head.
“It’s all right, Otis,” I told him. “It’s just a few people, hardly any people at all.”
“Oh,” said Otis again. He looked around like he was lost. Then he held up the jar of pickles. “I brought pickles,” he said.
“I saw them,” I said. “It’s just exactly what we needed. They will go perfect with the egg-salad sandwiches.” I talked to him real soft and gentle and low, like he was a wild animal that I was trying to get to take food out of my hand.
He took one tiny step forward.
“Come on,” I whispered. I started walking and Winn-Dixie followed me. And when I turned around, I saw Otis was following me, too.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Otis followed me all the way into the backyard, where the party was. Before he could run away, I introduced him to the preacher.
“Daddy,” I said, “this is Otis. He’s the one who runs Gertrude’s Pets. He’s the one who plays the guitar so good.”
“How do you do?” said the preacher. He stuck his hand out to Otis. And Otis stood there and shuffled his big
