How Sweet the Sound by Amy Sorrells

Author:Amy Sorrells [Sorrells, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780781411257
Publisher: David C. Cook
Published: 2014-01-03T08:00:00+00:00

The ice cream part of the Dilly Bar dripped down the stick over my hand.

“Better hurry up and eat that. Told ya to get something in a bowl.” Ernestine grinned at me from the front seat and ate a spoonful of her Peanut Buster Parfait.

“Thanks for taking me there, Mama,” I said between bites.

“So you liked it?”

“Yeah. I like learning about things you did when you were younger.”

“And I like showing you. But that’s not the big reason I took you there today.”

“It’s not?”

“I needed you to see where Princella grew up.”

Well, good thing I was sitting down, because you coulda knocked me over with a feather right then and there. “Princella? Grew up there?”

“Yep. She did. She and her brother.”

“She has a brother?”

“Yes, but they don’t ever speak. I’m not sure I remember what his name is or where he lives. They had a falling out over something trivial like a piece of their mama’s jewelry, and she wrote him off forever.”

“That’s crazy.”

“That’s Princella. Anyway, Princella’s mama brought them to St. Augustine’s when they were barely in grade school. Much like June’s daddy, their daddy hurt them in awful ways. St. Augustine’s took them in. When Princella was fifteen, her mama died of diphtheria and the folks at St. Augustine took her and her brother in as their own.”

“Then why does she hate poor people so much if she was one herself and so many people helped her?”

“Good question.” Mama turned off the interstate onto the Bay State Highway. We cranked down our windows to breathe in the dark relief of the salty air. “I’m not so sure she hates them, as much as she hates the parts of herself she sees in them.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Ernestine rested her head against the back of the seat.

“Princella worked hard in school and got a full scholarship to Alabama Southern. Room, board, everything paid for. A group of St. Augustine donors sponsor one child every four years for college, and that year, they chose Princella.”

“That’s cool—”

“Woulda been, but Princella took the money and ran. Oh, she went to ASU for a while, and boy did she ever let loose. Got involved in the social high life, never told a soul about her upbringing. Fell for that football player—Cole’s biological father—who dumped her as soon as he found out she was pregnant.”

“But what about college and how she was in a sorority and all? How’d she do all that being pregnant?”

“She didn’t ever finish. She lies about it all the time. Made up some big story about a New Orleans wedding, too. No one in Vaughn’s family—including Vaughn—ever said otherwise. So folks around town all believe it.”

“So if Princella didn’t tell anybody about St. Augustine’s and kept it such a big secret, how did you find out?”

“When your daddy and I dated, Princella caused me a lot of trouble. I never measured up. The people at St. Augustine’s were some of my best friends. So I talked to Aamina and the others about her. As soon as I said Princella’s name, Aamina knew.

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