Perfect Melody by Brenda Barrett

Author:Brenda Barrett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: multicultural, multicultural adopted family, african american christian fiction, multicultural chrisitian fiction, africam american romance
Publisher: Brenda Barrett

*****

Melody woke up with a slight hangover. It was a condition she was very used to, as she woke up feeling like this most every day. She went for a shower in her bathroom. She stood under the beating water, feeling vaguely depressed, restless, and disconnected. She usually felt this way everyday. Her days were blurring into each other.

She usually came in after a night of drinking and smoking with Greg Riley down on the beach. Sometimes they would go out on fisherman Pete's boat. One time she had gone for nearly two days, just her, Pete and Greg. Pete had given her several pounds of fish after that catch. Only Babsy had missed her.

She stepped out of the shower and toweled off. They were running out of fun things to do, her and Greg.

She pulled on a summer dress and headed for the kitchen.

"Finally!" Babsy said loudly. "You, miss lady, are running wild. By the time you are seventeen you'll look like an old hag. By that time your lungs will be black like the outside of well done beef and your liver, tired of processing the poisonous alcohol you feed it, will swell up and burst."

Melody snorted. "No, stop it! Greg is sixteen; nothing is wrong with him! His father drinks; his mother drinks. Nothing is wrong with them."

"But something will happen," Babsy's tone was ominous and filled with doom. She turned down the stereo she was listening to. Melody could hear a preacher's voice. It was one of Babsy's favorite pastimes, to listen to sermons and to give them, usually with the same vigor and intensity as the pastors on the radio. She could see on Babsy's face now that she was setting up for a lecture.

"You are going down the wrong path, Melodious Blu. You are injuring your health and your future. In God's name, stop!"

"Shut up!" Melody said rudely. "What did you cook?"

Babsy put her hand at her sides. "You will respectfully address me or I'll not speak to you again."

Melody cringed at the fiery wrath she saw coming out of Babsy's eyes. She was well aware that Babsy cared for her and if she didn't speak to her again, she would have no one to care about her.

Her parents were only here because her grandma had married a diplomat who was going to be stationed in another country and needed to offload her so she could go live with him. She heard her grandma saying that her childrearing days were done; she needed space.

That piece of eavesdropping had made her feel lonely indeed.

"Sorry," she said stiffly to Babsy, who was still staring at her as if she wanted to slap her.

"I wish I lived here," Babsy said, acknowledging her apology with a nod, "because as soon as I step out of this house in the evenings you disappear, don't you?"

Melody hung her head meekly and kept quiet while Babsy mumbled, "You need a firm guiding hand. You need the Lord Jesus in your life. A child can't grow up without values.

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