Georgia Bottoms (30 page)

After that the trip went smoothly, except for all the whining
about the radio in the Honda, which had stopped working a couple weeks ago. You’d think it was cruel and inhuman punishment for Brother and Nathan to have to listen to silence or each other.

“I ain’t buleeh dat,” Nathan said.

“What did you say?”

“I ain’t buleeh you ain’ gonno music innis car,” he said. “Whuh kinda crazyass woman ain’ gonno music inna car?”

“The closer we get to New Orleans the less able you are to speak English? I thought we had worked that out.”

Nathan grinned. “If you had a radio you wouldn’t have to hear me talk.”

“You’d just fight with Brother over the station,” she said. “Anyway, this is Mississippi. I don’t think they allow radio stations over here.”

“Now Georgie,” said Brother, “remember the eleventh commandment.”

“Yeah, what the heck was that, anyway?” Georgia said.

“ ‘Be sweet,’ ” Brother said.

“Ah, that’s right,” Georgia said.

“That’s a good one,” said Little Mama. “That’s what I used to tell y’all.”

Georgia settled back in a pleasant daze, the miles rolling under her wheels. This part of Mississippi was a straight road lined with pines and more pines. Georgia imagined the desert was something like this, so blank it made the miles fly by.

Little Mama said, “I wish to God you would tell me where you think you are taking me.”

“Mama,” said Georgia. “We’re going to New Orleans, like you did with Daddy on your honeymoon. We’re taking Nathan back
to his grandma, then we’ll turn around and go home.” Nice thing about somebody who can’t remember: you can try out different versions of the truth, to see which one works best.

Georgia didn’t tell Little Mama about the sticky notes on the furniture. Most of the stuff legally belonged to Mama, but Georgia had power of attorney and that’s all you need.

Nathan tapped Georgia’s shoulder. “What you mean go home? I thought you was gonna stay down here.”

“Oh no, we have to take Mama straight home,” Georgia said, finding his eyes in the mirror to give him a wink.

He nodded, relaxed in his seat.

It was late August, hot as hell in Mississippi. The A/C in the Civic was doing its best with four people crammed in there plus Whizzy snoring at Brother’s feet.

Georgia flipped on her blinker approaching the I-10 bridge. From the map, she had learned there was no way to enter New Orleans without driving over that long, long bridge crossing Lake Pontchartrain.

Georgia took a deep breath. She could do it. Look at all she’d done that she never thought she could do!

At the on-ramp, an arrow pointed the way to NEW ORLEANS. She gripped the wheel and pressed the accelerator.

In a moment they were up on the highway, flying at seventy miles an hour. Georgia wondered what on earth she had been afraid of. After a day of twisty two-lanes, interstate driving felt like flying down a smooth black runway.

Both lanes on the other side were filled with cars headed out of New Orleans. Could this be rush hour already, three o’clock in the afternoon? Unbelievable. What a city!

There were hardly any cars on Georgia’s side of the highway.
What a stroke of luck, a wide-open road to welcome her home. Everything was going better than she could have hoped, considering how dark things had looked only yesterday.

If she followed her heart, Georgia knew she would come out ahead. Look where she was now! Free! Rolling down the road toward a brand-new life. A city emptying out just to make room for her.

Georgia smiled. Her new life was calling. She couldn’t wait to get started.

A NOVEL BY

Mark Childress

Georgia Bottoms
is a comic novel that tells the story of a tough Southern belle whose dodgy and tenuous world begins to fall apart in the aftermath of
9
/
11
as residents in her small town start to learn about her secret life: her discreet income from married men, the real source of the folk quilts she sells as her own, and the ramblings of her delusional family members. We caught up with the author at his home in Key West to ask about the new novel.

You were born in Monroeville, Alabama. That’s also the hometown of two of the South’s most famous writers: Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Did you ever know them or have any connections with their families?

I have met them both, but it wasn’t really through any family or hometown connection. My family moved away when I was eighteen months old. Monroeville has been claiming me ever since I got a book published, and I’m thrilled to death that they do, but I can’t claim to have any deep knowledge of Monroeville and her people. Harper Lee did write me a very nice letter after my first novel was published. I followed Truman Capote around trying to interview him, but it was right around the end of his life. He
kept agreeing to interviews, but he wasn’t able to deliver on that. I talked to him, but he wasn’t really a good interview: let’s put it that way. Monroeville has a writer’s conference every spring, and I guess because I’m the fiction writer from Monroeville who will attend, they invite me a lot. I’m no Harper Lee. I’m no Truman Capote. But I will show up.

Did you have a town in mind when you were writing about the isolated Alabama town of Six Points in your new novel?

No. It’s a blend of several places where I’ve lived. I guess the idea of imagining a town that doesn’t even have cell phone service really attracted me. I was just trying to get way back up in the woods somewhere. But that may be in the realm of the fabulous. I wonder if there even is such a place.

How did you think up the character of Georgia? What drew you to writing about her?

This is my seventh book, and each one starts differently. I keep waiting for there to be some consistency in how it starts. In most cases, a little bell rings or there’s a moment of dialogue that you hear and you go, “Oh, I could get a whole book out of that.” In this case, it happened right in the aftermath of
9
/
11
. A friend of mine told me about his grandmother, who was a mayor in a small town in Alabama. He told me that on
9
/
11
, she sent the deputies over to protect the water tower. I did just what you did: I laughed. But then I thought: If you were the mayor of that little town on that afternoon, that wouldn’t have been a funny precaution to take at all. Remember how hornswoggled we all were. For some reason
there was something noble about it. In my mind, she took her own gun over there to protect the water tower from al Qaeda. I think that was the birth of the whole book. I wanted to write a scene where that happens… and as you can tell, the plot thickens.

Why do you think the South is home to so many eccentric women?

Well, I suppose it would start with the eccentric men that they marry. I don’t know. I get the feeling from the reading I’ve done in the culture that women were in charge of things pretty much since the Civil War. I think the war was left to the men, and we screwed that up so severely that the women in the South had to take things over and they’ve been running things ever since. Most people I know come from a family with a strong matriarch at the top.

You read at the Margaret Mitchell House. What are your thoughts about Ms. Mitchell and
Gone with the Wind
?

One of the cool things is that when you read there, they give you a little tour of her living quarters. When I lived in Atlanta, that place was in ruins and it burned. It’s just sort of cool to be able to go back in and envision the conditions she wrote that book under. I honestly think it’s an underrated novel as fiction. It’s not underrated in any other way, but I think it’s a really well-written book. I enjoy rereading it every couple years. My mother was a huge fan, too. When I was about six years old, they rereleased the movie, and I’ll never forget we had to sit in the front row it was so crowded, and my mother said, “They burned Atlanta in our laps!”

  1. How would you describe Georgia’s reaction when her September luncheon goes awry due to outside events? Is she justified in feeling this way? Do you see any parallels between Georgia’s reaction to the events of that day and the reaction of America as a whole?

  2. Georgia often refers to the Ant Connection. Why do you think she is so concerned with how ants are like (or unlike) humans?

  3. Little Mama’s attitude toward race is very pronounced. As Georgia says, “Not liking colored people was Little Mama’s big thing. It cut to the heart of who she was” (
here
). Do you think Little Mama’s position changes through the novel? Why or why not?

  4. Why does Georgia prevent herself from becoming emotionally involved with any of her suitors? Are there any men she does let her guard down with?

  
5. What does Brother bring to the cast of characters? What do you think motivates him to seek out trouble? Does he also undergo a transformation throughout the book?

  6. Georgia considers many stereotypes for women: “A woman without a husband isn’t supposed to be happy…. A woman alone is not supposed to have fun…. Women are supposed to hate the idea of getting older” (
here
). What are some other stereotypes about women? To what extent does Georgia contradict them or play into them?

  7. Georgia and Krystal are best friends, but it seems they couldn’t be more different. Why do you think their friendship works? What are the fault lines in their relationship?

  8. When Georgia runs into Dr. Madeline Roudy outside Hull’s Market (
here
–
here
), the two women seem to be talking past each other. Is Madeline’s reaction to Georgia’s offer justified? Could Georgia have handled the conversation more tactfully or was this an inherently no-win situation?

  9. Georgia wonders if she dated Skiff to spite her mother (
here
). Do you agree with Georgia’s assessment? What do you think of the choices she made afterward? Were her actions understandable given her circumstances or should she have acted differently?

10. Georgia’s gentleman callers have a special routine through which they show their appreciation (
here
–
here
). Do you agree
with the way Georgia explains it? Are there any moral implications to these arrangements?

11. What is Georgia’s initial reaction to Nathan’s arrival? How does her attitude toward him evolve as the book goes on? What do you see as the turning point in their relationship?

12. Georgia’s attempt to help Krystal during the League of Women Voters event goes terribly awry (
here
–
here
). Do you agree with Georgia’s assessment of the situation? Should Georgia have acted differently or was Krystal’s reaction too harsh?

13. Do you think Georgia deserves the letter she finds in her room (
here
–
here
)? Was something like this bound to happen or was the motivation behind it unusually malicious? Did you think Georgia’s response was appropriate? What could you see as her other options?

14. What do you imagine happens to Georgia when she gets to New Orleans?

M
ARK
C
HILDRESS
was born in Monroeville, Alabama. He is the author of six previous novels, including
One Mississippi
and
Crazy in Alabama,
three books for children, and the screenplay of the film
Crazy in Alabama
. He lives in Key West, Florida.

One Mississippi

Gone for Good

Crazy in Alabama

Tender

V for Victor

A World Made of Fire

“This is Childress’s best book yet. Georgia Bottoms is one of my favorite characters in recent years, a lovingly drawn woman from a small Southern town, charming, hilarious, heartbreaking, warm, and tough, rich in charm and denial and insight. She’s an inspired creation who grows before our very eyes, in a story filled with serious challenges and fabulous people, good and bad, rich and poor, stunning and appalling, sometimes all at once. They all ring true, and I will never forget them.”

—Anne Lamott, author of
Imperfect Birds

“In this hilarious southern-fried novel, belle Georgia Bottoms cuts a sassy swath through the Alabama town her family has occupied for generations. Though the clan was once prosperous, gorgeous Georgia now makes ends meet with help from a round-robin of lovers. Riffs on small-town hypocrisy and racial tensions enliven the plot, but it’s the unsinkable Georgia who makes the book delicious.”

—
People

“The novel lies mostly in Georgia’s marvelously goodhearted but teeming and scheming mind…. This is a well-traveled Southern literary landscape drawn for comic effect. Childress knows his way around. Scenes and whole sections are skillfully crafted, memorable, and amusing…. Georgia, good-looking and devious, is a compelling character who keeps the narrative alive with her survival skills…. The trip is well worth it.”