The Lucky Ones by Linda Williams Jackson

Author:Linda Williams Jackson [Jackson, Linda Williams]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781536224672
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2022-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

THE PLACE WHERE CORA led Ellis Earl and their classmates was called a sanctuary. Though Ellis Earl had never looked up the word in the big Merriam-Webster’s dictionary that Mr. Foster kept on his desk, he knew what it meant.

“Safety,” he whispered to himself as he scooted on to a pew toward the front of the sunlit room.

Philip, who was right behind him, whispered back, “What?”

“Nothing,” said Ellis Earl. “Just talking to myself.”

Philip shrugged and sat down.

Ellis Earl leaned toward Cora. “I like this place,” he whispered. “You have a nice church.” The only other church he had seen was the one where his father’s and his sister Eloise’s funerals had been held. That church was tiny and didn’t have a room called a banquet hall like Cora’s church. It only had one room, and it was entered as soon as one walked through the front door. This church also had shiny wood pews and shiny wood floors. The windows had patterns of many colors, which made the sun display glimmering lights throughout the room.

“We had those put in last Easter,” Cora whispered.

“Huh?”

“The stained glass windows.” Cora pointed toward a window. “You were staring at them.”

“They’re beautiful,” said Ellis Earl. “Everything is.”

When a tiny woman with a huge, perfectly round Afro entered the sanctuary and strolled to the piano, Cora nudged Ellis Earl. “That’s my mama. The program’s about to start.”

All the safety that Ellis Earl had felt when he first stepped into the sanctuary suddenly disappeared. Butterflies replaced it. They fluttered in his stomach.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and reassured himself that he was ready to recite a speech in front of all these people. If children as small as his niece Vera could do it, then so could he.

Cora’s mother played beautifully. Ellis Earl recognized the song. He had heard it on the radio when Mama listened to her church music on Sunday mornings.

He wasn’t familiar with all the lyrics, but he was happy to be able to sing along with the chorus, for that he knew by heart:

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