Buddy by M.H. Herlong

Author:M.H. Herlong
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2012-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

21

The next day, I just lay there on my cot. Some boys in the shelter are starting to make gangs. They’re coming up to people and acting big. The boss of the shelter takes them and puts them in a room with a counselor.

I’m thinking about what that would be like, sitting in a room with this white lady saying, “What’s troubling you now?”

And I think, What do you say first? The bathrooms in this shelter stink. I can’t eat watery red beans and rice one more time. I want my own clothes, not these ones with somebody else’s name written in the neck. I want to watch the TV shows I like. I want a place where I can be by myself.

I want my dog.

I’m laying there and I close my eyes and I go flying. I go right out the window and over the broke pine trees and all that black water and I land right on the roof of our house. I lean over the edge and I look at the bathroom window.

Is that window covered up with water? Is it high and dry? Is it broke open? Is Buddy gone, roaming the streets and looking for food? Is he sitting there in the corner, panting in the heat and cocking up his eyebrow, just waiting for me to come let him loose? Or is he—?

And that’s where the flying stops. I can’t see nothing else.

Daddy’s gone almost all day. When he shows up that evening, I’m still laying on my cot playing my Game Boy and Granpa T is laying on his cot looking at his pictures.

“What are you looking at?” Daddy says to Granpa T.

“Your mama,” Granpa T says, and hands one of the pictures to Daddy. “She’s been gone a long time,” he says, “but I’ll be seeing her again soon.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve got a long time yet,” Daddy says. “It’s going to be all right now. We’re leaving this shelter. I’ve got a job.”

Mama sings out, “Praise the Lord!”

Granpa T sits up. “Where are you working?”

Daddy says, “Right here in town. I’m going to help them clear up all these trees. Going to work with the same crew I helped before.”

“But where are we going to live?” Mama says.

“The church will give us a place to start,” Daddy says, “and it’s all furnished. We get three months free, then we pay rent.”

“Hallelujah,” Mama says. “Praise God.”

Daddy looks down at me. “And the kids are going back to school again. Right here in town.”

“But when are we moving back to New Orleans?” I say.

“I hope never,” Mama says. “Next time I see that place will be too soon for me.”

“I want to go home,” I say.

“This is home now,” Daddy says. “We’re starting over.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.