it was the strangest thing-to be rich now , the designee at thirteen , to have a driver and a car ( vulgate translation : flashy black stretch limo with disc , tape player , color tv , and lots of room for ice and diet coke ) , and money in her purse all the time , like twenty-dollar bills , no less , and heaps of new clothes , and people patching up the old house on st. charles and amelia , catching her on the fly with swatches of `` raw silk '' or handpainted `` wall coverings . ''