The 4th Pip: The Bulldog — Part V

This was no longer mimicry. When she sang, she was Gladys Knight.

<< Previous Chapter

A Red-Hot Christmas Eve Spat

She was thirteen, it was Christmas Eve, and the evening was unfolding like clockwork.

The tradition coming down from her mother’s side was to open a single present on Christmas Eve “but it better not be the big one.” So she retrieved the largest medium-sized one from under the tree that she could find.

It turned out to be “The Premium Soul Triple Set” from K-Tel records of “100 Top Soul and Rhythm & Blues Hits (1970-1975) Performed by the Original Artists” The box set included every WBLS 107.5 FM hit from fourth to eighth grade.

“It will be like owning a radio station,” her father said.

“It was certainly like buying one,” said her mother.

Her father, not to be outdone by his wife’s family tradition, pointed to another present under the tree the second his wife headed into the kitchen to refill the eggnog pitcher.

“This is the ‘dad gets the last word tradition,’” her father chuckled, and accidentally spilled eggnog onto his hand. “Open the bi…