Buttermilk Sky by Jan Watson

Author:Jan Watson [Watson, Jan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Christian / Historical
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Published: 2014-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

The room was flooded with light when next Mazy woke. She must have slept for hours.

A slight figure stood with her back to the room, tugging down the window blind. “I’m supposed to give you a bath,” she said, turning around.

Mazy thought she must be dreaming. Why would the bag-of-bones girl be offering to bathe her? How embarrassing. She struggled to sit up, nearly upending the basin sitting on the end of the bed. “I can bathe myself.”

With small but sure hands, the girl—why couldn’t Mazy remember her name?—sponged Mazy’s face, her hands and arms, her feet and legs.

“You’re probably thinking I don’t know what I’m doing, but I do. Dr. Chambers taught me so I could take care of my mother.” Finishing the chore, Cinnamon—yes, Cinnamon—shook powder onto a puff. “This will feel good,” she said. “Now scoot over and I’ll make your bed.”

Mazy shifted to the side of the bed while Cinnamon rolled the used linens toward the middle. She tucked clean bottom and top sheets under the edge of the mattress. When directed, Mazy moved over the lump of dirty linen to the freshly made side.

Cinnamon patted Mazy’s hip. “Lift up a little,” she said, smoothing the draw sheet underneath her. “There’s a trick to this. I’d teach you, but I’m not supposed to talk too much.”

“I like for you to talk,” Mazy said.

“Do you like my hair?” Cinnamon said. “The housekeeping lady fixed it up for me. She made me take a bath too. I like that big tub. It’s better than the swimming hole.”

She picked up a glass from the bedside table, saying, “Doctor said you’re to drink a little water. Here.”

Mazy sipped a bit through a bent glass straw. The water soothed her parched throat. “Thank you. Could I have some more?”

“No, not yet—you might spit it up. I have to tell if you do.”

The girl stepped into the adjoining bathroom with the basin. Mazy could hear the splash of water as the basin was emptied.

“Cinnamon, do you know where the appendix is?”

The girl stuck her head around the open door. “Umm, the library?”

Of course, Mazy knew you could find an appendix at the end of some books that needed to list additional information, but what did that have to do with the human body? It was a puzzle and so was Cinnamon. “Do you go to the library often?” Mazy asked.

“Every Wednesday I do the floors and dust the shelves. I’m good at floors. The librarian lets me look at the books if I’m careful. I have to wear white gloves to read this one book, Birds of North America. It’s real pretty. You can look in the appendix for whatever bird you want to see a picture of. That’s how I know about that. The snowy owl is on page 330.”

“The next time I’m in the library, I will look for that book.”

Cinnamon slipped a table saver under Mazy’s drinking glass. “You know that church St. Luke’s? I dust mop the floors

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