In Front of God and Everybody by KD McCrite

Author:KD McCrite
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2011-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

Queenie, Queenie,

You’re a Weenie

That day, while Mr. Rance drove us home from town, I did my best to close out his voice while the three of us bounced down Rough Creek Road in that red pickup. We were almost home when, without warning, Grandma screamed at the top of her lungs and like to have scared me to death. Mr. Rance slammed the brakes so hard that the truck slid sideways in a cloud of gravel and dust. I clunked my forehead on the dashboard. For a few seconds I saw stars and wondered if I’d see Jesus next.

“Miz Grace! What’s wrong?” Mr. Rance hollered.

I was still blinking, trying to clear my head, when Grandma gasped, “Oh! Oh! Did you see?” Grandma said, pointing to the side of the road. “My Queenie, my kitty. How did she get out? Oh, there! There she goes! Here kitty, kitty!” She opened her door, hollering, “Oh, Queenie, come back to your mommy!”

She fumbled around and unfastened her seat belt, then jumped out of the pickup and stumbled down to the dry bed of Rough Creek.

Leaving his truck cattywampus on the road, Mr. Rance got out and started yelling, “Come back here, you blasted cat! Here!” He whistled as if he thought Queenie were a Bluetick hound.

I scooted across the seat and leaped to the ground.

“She won’t come to you when you’re screaming at her like that,” I said.

But, of course, he couldn’t hear me over the racket of his own big mouth. Grandma did her best to get up the embankment on the other side of the road, but she couldn’t make it. I ran toward her. Before I got there, she skittered backward on the loose dirt and rocks and fell flat on her backside. Then she started to cry. I’d never seen her do that before.

“Don’t worry, Grandma.” I patted her head. Beneath my hand, her gray hair was as soft as cotton. “I’ll find Queenie and bring her home. Don’t worry. Don’t cry.”

She sat in the ditch, her new dress dirty, her stockings torn at the knee, and her shoes all scuffed. She hunched over her legs, breathing hard while tears poured down her cheeks and left tracks in the face powder I didn’t even know she used. Her skin looked all gray and pale. I stared at her a minute, then got up and ran to Mr. Rance, who was crashing around in the brush on the opposite side of the road.

“Come ’ere, you ill-begotten feline!” he roared.

I had to grab his arm and jump up and down just to get his attention.

“I’ll find Queenie,” I shouted at him, “but you need to take Grandma to the house and calm her down. She’s all upset.”

Mr. Rance stood with his arms hanging loose at his sides and stared at me.

“How’s ’at?”

I repeated my instructions. He nodded and went to where Grandma was trying to claw her way up the embankment again.

“Now, Miz Grace, your little’un will get your pussycat back for you,” Mr.

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.