Borrowed Children by George Ella Lyon Read Free Book Online

Helen behind her. They each hold a bunch of bittersweet.
    â€œWhere did you get it?” I ask, accepting the swatch of orange berries.
    â€œThey had it left over from decorating the church,” Anna explains.
    â€œAnd I brought some for Mama,” Helen says.
    â€œGood for you.”
    â€œI wanted to give it to you, but Anna wouldn’t let me. She said Mama ought to have some.”
    â€œShe’s right. You run along and give it to her.”
    Helen goes. I turn back to the chicken, the green beans. Anna makes no move to put her coat up.
    â€œHow was church?”
    â€œFine. Miss Snavely asked about you.”
    â€œWhat did you tell her?”
    â€œI said you were pining to go back to school.”
    â€œReally?”
    I don’t know whether I’m more amazed that Anna knew this or mad that she said it.
    â€œAnd what did Miss Snavely say?”
    â€œSaid that was a lot of foolishness, that you were getting the best education a girl could have.”
    I don’t answer that.
    â€œShe said you were lucky, learning all you are now.”
    â€œWell, she’s wrong,” I snap. “You are the lucky ones, and don’t you forget it. You and Helen and the boys.”
    â€œGoing to school? What’s lucky about that? I’d rather stay home like you and play with Willie.”
    â€œYou don’t know what you’re talking about, Anna.”
    Suddenly Mama comes in.
    â€œAnna, you hang your coat up. And help Helen.”
    When they’re gone, she says, “That’s no way to talk to your sister.”
    â€œBut it’s the truth.”
    â€œAccording to Amanda Perritt. That doesn’t mean gospel.”
    There’s almost a laugh in her voice. I let out a deep breath. I don’t talk back. But I mash the potatoes with a vengeance.
    Soon we are all seated at the table. I take my old place at the side to make room for Mama. Daddy blesses us and sends around the food. The gravy I made isn’t as good as Mama’s, but it covers. I eat it all off the crown of my potatoes and ask for more. Mama looks at me and the boys and then at Daddy, measuring.
    â€œI think not, Mandy,” she says. “You don’t want to get plump like me.”
    That’s not what she means and she knows it. My ribs stick out. She means, leave it for your brothers, your daddy. Never mind if you want some more. And I made it!
    David’s hand edges toward the gravy boat.
    All of a sudden I feel fire like Willie’s gowns blazing. It’s all around me. If I stay in my seat, if David’s hand touches the china, I’ll be caught in a roar of flames. So I grab the gilt-edged handle, stand up, and hurl the gravy boat at the wall.
    It sails over David’s head and smashes and the fire I felt is a fierce joy. Let them stare! Let the china splinter in the rug and the gravy run down the wall.

10
    Everyone at the table seems to hold his breath while I go to the kitchen for a rag and a bowl. Gradually, as I wipe gravy from the wallpaper and pick china fragments from the rug, they resume talking, but nobody says a word about what’s happened. Anna and Helen must be biting their tongues. When I finish, I come back to my place and dig meat off the back of the chicken. I did take the back. Mama will have to give me credit for that.
    All the time I’m clearing the table and washing up I’m waiting for her anger. There’s nothing. When Willie wakes, she disappears into the bedroom. Even Anna and Helen steer clear, and the boys have gone to hunt squirrel in the bare trees. I feel invisible. Is that what happens when you let your feelings out? No one can see you?
    Well, if that is the way of things, I can take it. I just wish I’d thrown something which didn’t break. Or didn’t match. We don’t have many dishes that do.
    The kitchen is done and the house is still as midnight. I take Mr. Aden’s book and sit down to