Louisiana's Song by Kerry Madden-Lunsford

Author:Kerry Madden-Lunsford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2010-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Bookmobile lady, driving stories through the mountains,

Bookmobile lady, tales and tales rain down in fountains,

Folks with wheelbarrows, wagons, totes, and sacks

All for to haul the books home on their backs . . .

Bookmobile lady, holding secrets of the hollers . . .

Bookmobile lady . . .

Bookmobile lady, she’s got mountains to roam

Then drive your lending library truck home. . . .

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Lighthouse Fairy Tale

THE WEEKS PASS with me working every other day with Miss Attickson, but still no word from Mr. George Flowers. I bring home my first twenty-five dollars for Mama, who looks pleased and puts it in the CASH & PAYCHECKS envelope inside the Everything Box. Mama’s got money to add to it, too, since she’s sold some of her “Jessie’s Mountain Sweaters” over in Asheville to a consignment shop. When the check arrives from Asheville, she drops it right in the Everything Box, along with Becksie’s tips and paychecks, Grandma Horace’s Social Security check, and Emmett’s hit-or-miss contributions. Every so often Grandma Horace drives the thirty miles to make a deposit into the Enka bank where she’s banked all her life—there’s no sense in changing now, as she calls herself a temporary guest in Haywood County.

But money is still tight, and Mama wants to get Daddy some kind of therapy to help him with the radio in his head and his memory, and that’s more money. Plus it’s almost time for Gentle’s eyes to be examined again, and none of us have been to the dentist except for once in our lives. Mama makes us floss our teeth with string or matchbooks or willow twigs—whatever we can find—and we brush every day with baking soda, but I know she’s wanting us to get to a dentist for cleaning, and that won’t come cheap. As for regular doctor visits? Mama says she doesn’t need a doctor to tell her that her children are healthy. It’s like all the things that Daddy used to say are now coming out of her mouth, while he practices remembering.

She has that haunted look in her eye about money, so I’m relieved that the summer garden’s in full bloom with summer squash, tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, and sweet peas. Grandma Horace has canned some tomatoes and summer squash to keep in the root cellar, which she claims is the most useful room in this whole holler. She calls it “the underground grocery store for Weems children.” Every time the electricity gets cut off when we’re late with the bill or a check bounces, at least we got the root cellar, the springhouse, and the woodstove. But she’s not giving up on Enka-Stinka either, and she actually called up the principal of the school over there to have him send some information about the elementary school. When it arrives, I throw it in the trash.

Uncle Hazard barks at the crows and chases off the raccoons and other critters who’d like to feast on our winter’s food. Louise works in the garden every day, and sometimes, Ruth comes over to help, too, if her daddy says yes.

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