Born Blue by Han Nolan Read Free Book Online Page B

Things are getting too hot around here. You said so yourself. Come on, Mitch, let's go." She whined and tugged at his shirtsleeve. "Let's get out of here."
    Daddy Mitch pushed her off him and said, "Shell, I can't just leave. I got business here, good business."
    "But you said the cops were sniffing around. They're sniffing around! We've got to move, Mitch."
    Any time Daddy Mitch come home, Mama Shell would get on him 'bout movin', so Daddy Mitch didn't
come home. Mama Shell said one day that we was just gonna have to move without him, but we never did. I agreed with Mama Shell, though. I didn't see no cops sniffin' round, but I seen how dangerous Mama Shell been acting at the mall. She weren't careful 'bout stealing stuff no more, and a couple of times some salespeople caught her, but she managed to sweet-talk her way out of it. I got nervous going into the stores with her. I were sure some mall guard were gonna haul her off to jail one day.
    I tried finding excuses not to shop with her, like sayin' I wanted to go look at books or something I knew she didn't like. She'd let me go off, and I'd just wander round tryin' on lipstick and perfume samples and callin' up Mama Linda on the pay phones and never getting nothin' but lots of ringing and ringing. But one time at the mall I heard singin'. There were a whole group of people singin' gospel music, and I told Mama Shell I had to go listen. "You go on and shop," I said, "and I'll meet you at the food court."
    I didn't wait for her to agree with what I said, 'cause I were just drawn to the singin'. I run off down the mall, following that music.
    I found the group in front of the food-court fountain. They was standing spread out in rows up on a couple of stands, and they was singin' and swayin', and all the people was black and dressed up nice—the men and boys in suits and the women and girls in dresses.
There was chairs set up in front of them, and didn't look like I had to pay nothin', so I sat down to listen to the music.
    They had some good singers up there, real good. Hearing them singin', and seeing the small audience holding up their arms and swayin' and sayin'
amen
made me want to go up on that stage and sing, too. I wanted to show them how good I sung. The feeling were so strong in me it made my throat hurt, like a song got twisted and stuck halfway up my windpipe. I never got to sing no real gospel at my school, and Mama Shell and Daddy Mitch didn't go to no church. I bad wanted to get up there and sing. Hearing them singin' felt like I was back with Doris and Harmon, sittin' in church. If I closed my eyes I could pretend I were with them again. And maybe it were 'cause I been thinking 'bout Doris and Harmon that I noticed one dude, standin' the third row back, who had eyes just like Harmon's. They was big and round with way-long eyelashes, and they had that same too-sweet look in them the way Harmon's did. He were a big old thing, though, tall and heavyset in his body, with wide shoulders. He'd grown out of his suit, too. I saw that when he come forward and played the trumpet His shirt cuffs showed too much, and his shoulders looked like they gonna bust through the top of the sleeves any second. He didn't look comfortable. His face were all sweaty, too, but his playin' sounded good. I couldn't keep my eyes off him, and I noticed he kept snatching looks at
me. The second time he played the trumpet, when he got done and were about to go back to his place in the rows, the music leader held out his hand like he introducing the trumpet player and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, Harmon James."
    I jumped up out of my chair, forgetting where I were, and shouted out, "Harmon!" Other people stood up, too, and clapped, but I pointed at him and shouted his name again. "Harmon!" I weren't thinkin' right In the middle of their show, I pushed out of my row of chairs and ran onto the platform and grabbed my Harmon. I guess people thought I be crazy, 'cause they pulled me off him, but