Dear Hank Williams by Kimberly Willis Holt

Author:Kimberly Willis Holt
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781627794435
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

PS—Be on the lookout for a Christmas card with glittery stars all over the envelope. It’s from me.

Christmas Night, 1948

Dear Mr. Williams,

YOU’LL PROBABLY RECEIVE the Christmas card I sent yesterday the same day you receive this letter. That’s why I wrote Read this letter second! on the back of the envelope. I couldn’t wait to write you because of all the good news.

First, we received a Christmas card from Momma. Inside she wrote, Wishing my family a Merry Christmas filled with love! And I’m sending an extra hug to Tate! Ask her to write me, please. Love and kisses, Jordie June. (She forgot to mention Frog, and I know that hurt him something awful. But Momma can be the forgetful type.) She wrote, PS—The Goree Girls are going to sing at the warden’s house for Christmas Eve, and we’ll get to eat all kinds of delicious food, but I know none of those dishes will beat Aunt Patty Cake’s Holiday Maple Sugarcoated Ham with Pineapple Rings.

Momma hopes being a Goree Girl will help her get out of prison quicker. A lot of fans of former Goree Girls wrote letters to the judge, begging him to let them out early. Some of them did get released sooner. The judge called their singing an act of good behavior. Momma is the most popular Goree Girl, so I expect her fans will write a bunch of letters.

Aunt Patty Cake thinks I should write one. But here’s what I think—if the judge knew that my pretty momma had two children she seemed to forget about when she drove the getaway car, I think the judge might make Momma serve more time. He’d think she must not be a very good momma if she put a man like Elroy Broussard before her children. Right now, everything looks like it could go Momma’s way—her singing for the Goree Girls, making all sorts of people so happy that they write letters on her behalf. No reason to unravel all the good things they are doing with a letter from me. It’s funny how Aunt Patty Cake wants me to write a letter for Momma but she acts like she’s ashamed of Momma being a Goree Girl. Imagine that. Her own niece is famous, and she won’t mention it to anyone.

Back to what else happened tonight—Mrs. Applebud came over for dinner. It was nice to have her sitting at our table, since Momma and Uncle Jolly couldn’t be there. Mrs. Applebud brought a platter of deviled eggs with paprika sprinkled over their whipped yolks. The way those eggs melted on my tongue, I could have gobbled down a dozen of them.

Of course Frog headed for the Vicks VapoRub at the first whiff of Mrs. Applebud’s deviled eggs. Thank goodness Aunt Patty Cake baked yams and biscuits, too.

Mrs. Applebud had some news. Her son got married last week to a Japanese lady named Yuki. I asked, “Do they eat sushi and sashimi?”

“I’m not certain, dear,” Mrs. Applebud said. “Why don’t you find out? She has a ten-year-old daughter named Keiko.

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