The Outcast by Jolina Petersheim

Author:Jolina Petersheim
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: FICTION / Christian / General, FICTION / General
ISBN: 9781414386058
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2013-06-30T21:00:00+00:00

For a long time, Ida Mae does not start the truck. She and I just sit, staring through the dirty windshield up at the multitiered hospital aglitter with mica. Eli babbles in the car seat between us, oblivious to the troubled maze of our thoughts. Ida Mae says, “A biopsy . . . I’m telling ya, that don’t mean a thing. I had one a few years back ’cause I had this lump in my breast, but here there was nothing to it. It just meant I was drinking too much coffee.”

Unforeseen terror stops up my throat. I wonder if I’ll be able to speak or fully breathe until the biopsy results are in my hands, until I know that all of this is actually nothing.

Ida Mae turns on the engine, and the radio flares to life, its jaunty tune grating against our shattered nerves. She snaps it off. “Where should I take ya? Home?” Ida Mae waits for my answer, then adds, “If ever you needed a mom and a sister, I say it’s now.”

“No.” My frustration is evident even in a fragment. “I told you. I can’t go back. Some people, they . . . they might try to stop me from getting Eli tested.”

“You mean his dad, huh?”

I look at Ida Mae sharply, but she is staring straight ahead. Her bitten fingernails gouge the steering wheel as she drives out of the parking lot. “But mostly my mamm,” I say. “She doesn’t believe in modern-day medicine.”

“Your mom’s one thing,” Ida Mae says. “But don’t you think Eli’s dad has to sign some kinda permission form before the tests can even be started?”

My stomach roils at the thought of that man’s signature being required to save my son’s life. “So far Eli’s father’s only been involved the night he was conceived,” I say, the words bitter granules on my tongue. “I’m not about to take the chance that, just because Eli might be sick, he would feel guilty and want to become involved now.”

“Welp,” Ida Mae says, merging into traffic, “if you’re not gonna tell Eli’s dad or your momma, you still might want to tell your twin.”

“Please.” I rest my temple against the window. Leftover tears smear the glass, although my hot eyes are dry. “I really don’t want to talk about this. Just take me home.”

“My home?”

I sigh. “What other home do I have?”

AMOS

On their way to the hospital the next morning, Ida Mae drives past a barbershop advertising a haircut and shave for ten dollars. “Actually—” Rachel turns and looks out the rear window—“I want to get my hair cut first.”

“Your hair cut?” Ida Mae repeats. “Like a trim?”

“No. Like a transformation. I want this—” Rachel indicates the beautiful hair coiled on the back of her head—“this whole thing gone.”

“But you’ve never had it cut.”

“I know. That’s why I want to.”

“Today?”

Flipping down the visor, Rachel uses the mirror to locate her bobby pins. “Yes. Today.” The pins begin filling Rachel’s lap, and her hair unravels like yarn.

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.