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

6. Lightning bugs were beginning to flicker out across the parking lot.
    She had finally coaxed Ugly to sleep on her lap. The redheaded boy came out and ambled around the motel, kicking rocks and glancing over at her every now and then. Down at the other end of the motel, a girl sat in a rocking chair, pushing against the pavement with her bare foot, making the chair rock.
    Back and forth.
    Back and forth.
    Loretta called out “Hey,” but the girl didn’t look up.
    â€œCome see this cat,” Loretta called.

    The girl looked up.
    â€œCome see this cat,” Loretta called again.
    The girl stopped rocking. She got up and walked toward Loretta, her bare feet making soft, slapping noises on the pavement.
    â€œIsn’t he cute?” Loretta said, stroking Ugly’s patchy fur.
    The girl nodded.
    â€œHis name is Ugly,” Loretta said.
    She wiggled her arm, making the charm bracelet jingle. “My name’s Loretta,” she said. “What’s yours?”
    The girl looked down at her feet and said, “Willow.”
    Loretta jiggled her bracelet again. “I’m going into fifth grade,” she said. “What grade are you going into?”
    â€œFourth.”
    Loretta scratched Ugly behind his chewed-up ear. “Fourth grade’s easy,” she said.
    Ugly jumped off her lap and strolled up the walk toward the office.
    Loretta asked Willow a lot of questions. Before long, she knew all about Willow.
    She knew that Willow had a collection of china horses.
    She knew that Willow used to live in a brick house with a screened porch and a swing set.
    She knew that Willow’s father was buying the Sleepy Time Motel.
    And she knew that Willow’s mother’s name was Dorothy,
but Dorothy wasn’t here. When Loretta asked where she was, Willow just shrugged.
    Willow didn’t ask Loretta any questions, so Loretta volunteered stuff. That she lived in Calhoun, Tennessee, and had bunk beds that had once belonged to her cousin Audrey, who had run away to get married. That she was going to take karate lessons in the fall. That she stepped on a rusty nail when she was eight and had to get a tetanus shot.
    Then she told Willow about the day she got the box of things that had belonged to her other mother.
    She showed Willow all the charms on the bracelet and promised to show her the other things tomorrow.
    Willow looked so sad, Loretta wondered if maybe Dorothy was dead.
    â€œIs Dorothy dead?” she asked.
    Willow shook her head.
    Loretta could take a hint. She didn’t ask any more questions about Dorothy.

Aggie

    â€œCome on, Ugly,” Aggie said. “Let’s go sit and ponder.”
    She sat in Harold’s lounge chair and let Ugly curl up on the afghan in her lap. She looked out the window at the darkening sky.
    â€œMaybe things are starting to change,” she said. “I mean, three rooms in one day!”
    She looked down at Ugly. “Maybe now I can fix things up,” she said. “You know, the leaks in the roof and the clogged drains and all.”
    Ugly twitched one ear and purred up at her.
    â€œShoot, maybe I could even put water in that ole swimming pool again,” she said. “Everyone always loved that pool. Remember, Ugly?”

    Aggie closed her eyes and pictured the little swimming pool filled with sparkling blue water. Kids did cannonballs off the diving board, splashing their mothers sunning in the lounge chairs.
    Thinking about the swimming pool reminded Aggie of the time the insurance man had come to the motel and made her and Harold put up that sign.
    Â 
    Â 
    NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY
SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK
    Â 
    Â 
    Aggie chuckled, thinking about how irritated Harold had gotten, telling that insurance man he was making a mountain out of a molehill.
    Aggie’s eyes popped open. Insurance? Had she paid that insurance bill? Where was that bill, anyway? Was it in the junk drawer with the other bills?
    Aggie took a