Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor Read Free Book Online

office and called, “Park over there, Marvin.”
    Her father parked the van in front of Room 6 and Loretta jumped out. An old lady unlocked the door and motioned for them to follow her inside. Her thin cotton pants were rolled up at the bottom and held with safety pins.
    â€œI hope y’all like this room,” she said.
    â€œ Like it?” Loretta’s mother said. “Why, it’s just adorable. Look at that, Lulu.” She pointed to a clear plastic bird feeder stuck on the outside of one of the windows. A tiny bird scratched around at a few seeds in the bottom.
    â€œI keep forgetting to fill that one,” the lady said. “But then, I reckon I shouldn’t tempt Ugly too much, anyway, you know?” She winked at Loretta.
    â€œWho’s Ugly?” Loretta said.
    â€œMy cat.”
    â€œThat black one out yonder?”
    The lady nodded. “That ugly one.”
    â€œI think he’s cute,” Loretta said.

    The lady chuckled. “Well, he’s been around the block a few times, I can tell you that.”
    Loretta’s father came in carrying their suitcases.
    â€œMy name’s Aggie,” the lady said.
    Loretta’s father tipped his hat and said, “Marvin.”
    He put his arm around his wife and said, “This is Irene.”
    Then he put his big, warm hand on top of Loretta’s head and said, “And this here is Loretta.”
    Aggie showed them how to pull the sofa out to make a bed for Loretta. She took some little packs of soap out of her pocket and put them in the bathroom. Then she nodded toward the wall behind the bed.
    â€œThe office is right next door,” she said. “Y’all holler if you need anything.” She pointed to one ear with a crooked finger. “And I do mean holler,” she added. “These old ears of mine ain’t what they used to be.”
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    Loretta loved the little motel room.
    She loved the flowered bedspread.
    She loved the pine-paneled walls.
    She loved the map of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park taped on the closet door.
    She even loved the musty smell and the window with the
screen falling out and the light fixture that made a little buzzing sound.
    She wondered if her other mother had stayed here and if she had loved it, too.
    While her mother unpacked their things and her father cleaned out the cooler, Loretta put the box with all her other mother’s earthly possessions on the little table beside the bed.
    Then she went outside to look for Ugly.

Willow

    Willow hated the little motel room. It smelled bad. The carpet was stained and dirty. The faucet in the bathroom dripped.
    Plunk. Plunk. Plunk.
    Her father said he would sleep on the lumpy pullout couch, but the bed didn’t look much better.
    Willow stared glumly out the window while her father studied all those papers from the bank.
    Those papers he needed to buy the motel from Aggie.
    â€œDaddy,” Willow said.
    Her father looked up from his paperwork.
    â€œHow will Mama know where we are?” Willow said.
    â€œShe’ll know.”

    â€œBut how?”
    â€œI’ll tell her.”
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œSoon.”
    â€œCan she come stay here, too?” Willow said.
    â€œWillow …” Her father took his glasses off. “Your mother has chosen to leave us.”
    â€œBut where is she?”
    â€œI’ve told you before. She’s with her sister in Savannah.” He put his glasses on and went back to his paperwork. “If she wants to contact us,” he added, “she knows where your grandmother is.”
    Willow felt a blanket of sadness settle over her, weighing her down.
    She went outside and sat in a rocking chair made out of tree branches. She buried her face in her knees and squeezed her eyes shut. Tight.
    Then she whispered, “Dorothy, Dorothy, Dorothy,” over and over again.

Loretta

    That night, Loretta sat in the lawn chair outside the door to Room