More Perfect than the Moon by Patricia MacLachlan

Author:Patricia MacLachlan [MacLachlan, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062285751
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-03-25T07:00:00+00:00

* * *

What if Mama is too old to have this baby? What if this terrible baby makes Mama die like Caleb’s mama died when he was born?

* * *

I closed the journal as if shutting away the words would make them go away. But they didn’t go away. I sat at the window watching for the longest time until the sun came up orange over the east meadow.

7

Mama was cooking pancakes in the big black skillet. The smell of melted butter and syrup filled the kitchen. We drank lemonade under the big tree. The air was still. The dogs lay under the table. Sarah fanned herself, her hair in wisps around her face.

“You look tired, Cassie. Didn’t you sleep well?” she asked me.

“No.”

Mama put her hand on my forehead.

“You don’t have a fever.”

She handed me a cup of juice.

“Mama?”

“Yes?”

I didn’t know how to ask her.

“Are you worried about being old?”

Mama burst out laughing. Then she stopped.

“You’re serious, aren’t you, Cass?”

Mama sat at the table.

“No, I don’t worry about that. Why do you ask?”

“When Maggie was here, you said you were too old.”

“I did say that, didn’t I? I guess what I meant was that I’ll have a new child to run after. Cassie, I thought I had the best life when I came here to be a mother to Anna and Caleb and marry your papa. And then I had you! And that seemed just perfect.”

Perfect. That word again.

“But life has its ways, Cassie. This is something that I didn’t expect.”

“I didn’t expect it, either,” I said.

“No,” said Mama softly. “You didn’t.”

Grandfather came in with Caleb then, and my talk with Mama was done. I still had the lump in my throat. I was still scared. I went out to feed the chickens. They didn’t seem afraid of anything.

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