Disappear Home by Laura Hurwitz

Author:Laura Hurwitz
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: United States, Juvenile Fiction, 20th Century, Historical
ISBN: 0807524689
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: 2015-03-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Honey, you need a man to give you a hand with that?” A man wearing a cowboy hat and driving a battered pickup truck leaned out of his window.

“No thanks,” Shoshanna said, holding up the sign she’d painted for the vegetable stand.

“Are you sure, darlin’? I’d love to help you out in any way I can, and I mean, any way.”

“I said no.” Shoshanna looked him square in the eyes as she said this.

“She’s fine,” Judy yelled, adding, “her only problem is idiots like you.”

The man yelled an obscenity and drove off in a cloud of dust.

Ella had no reaction to what she’d seen and heard other than saying, “It’s going to be tough to get that sign to hang even.”

“Thanks for helping me get rid of that jerk,” Shoshanna said quietly to Judy.

“No problem, Shosh. You’re going to need that skill in your life. You are a beautiful girl.”

Shoshanna was always surprised when people told her that—and they’d been saying it more and more often lately. More than anything, the comment made her uncomfortable. When she looked in the mirror, she just saw her father. It was hard—impossible, really—for her to see the beauty in that.

“How did you learn to deal with these redneck guys?” Shoshanna asked. “They must always be flirting with you.”

Judy shrugged. “Practice. I think of them as being like stray dogs. If you yell at them, then ignore them, they start sniffing around somewhere else.”

Ella looked grim. “At Sweet Earth, it was never that simple. They wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“All I can do is thank God you’re not there anymore,” Judy said softly. “You or your daughters.”

“Maybe the sign should go on the bottom,” Shoshanna suggested. “I know it’s not as visible from the road, but if we hang it on the top, it’ll hit us on the head every time we have to lean over the counter. What do you think, Judy?”

“Okay. Let me get the hammer. Shoshie, where’s Mara?”

“She was helping me sand the wood, but then she had to pee and now she’s picking flowers and playing with Laddie,” Shoshanna replied.

Ella looked exasperated. Judy laughed. “Aw, El, just let her be a kid. She’s only six. What were you accomplishing when you were six?”

They kept working through the morning. Shoshanna was happy with the way the stand was turning out. When she first saw it, she’d believed her mother’s assessment that it was a lost cause. After whitewashing the whole structure, Shoshanna, Judy, and Mara painted flowers along the front in bright primary colors. Then Judy got concerned that people driving by would think they sold flowers rather than vegetables. So, since Shoshanna was good at lettering, she made a sign that said Farm Fresh Produce. They’d sanded the wood around the doors and windows and were waiting for the morning fog to lift before painting the trim avocado green.

“Whoa, baby! You with the legs! Dump the hippies and come work at my place!” a man in a pickup hollered.

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