Daffodils in Spring Read Online Free

herself.
    â€œIf you’re seeing my son, then I make it my business,” she answered.
    â€œWhat? You trying to turn him into some mama’s boy?”
    â€œEvery male on this earth is a mama’s boy,” Calla said. “He may love her or he may hate her, but there is nobody else in the world who can talk to a man the way his mama does.”
    Jazleen’s jaw set tightly with anger.
    â€œNathan and I are very close,” Calla told the girl quietly. “If you stay tight with him, you’re going to have to deal with me. So maybe you should think about getting used to it.”
    Â 
    After the teenagers left, Calla didn’t even attempt to get back to lazy day musing. Saturdays were busy days with chores she put off all week, but she couldn’t help thinking about Nathan and Jazleen. So it wasn’t surprising that just after lunchtime, she headed across the street to have a chat with Gerty Cleveland.
    The woman took her time getting to the door. The tiny apartment was crowded with furniture, but it was neat as a pin except for the area around the recliner that sported TV trays on either side loaded with food, drink, tissues, assorted junk and the remote control. As soon as Calla walked inside, Gerty returned to the chair and popped it into the raised position.
    â€œI try to keep my feet up every minute that I’m home,” she explained to Calla. “As it is, I’ll be lucky to get five more years of work out of them.”
    It seemed to Calla it was probably already time for Gerty to stop working. Steel-gray hair covered her head, her hands shook and she didn’t hear all that well.
    â€œI wanted to talk to you about Jazleen.”
    â€œSay what?”
    â€œI wanted to talk to you about Jazleen,” she repeated a bit louder.
    â€œJazleen? She’s a sweet girl,” Gerty said. “I was real reluctant to take her. Her mama’s no good. And my sister, her own grandma, gone to Jesus twenty years ago. She was living with my daughter, Val, for a month or two. But there was some kind of trouble with Val’s man. So there was no one else and here she is. But she keeps the place tidied up, and when I get home from work, she’s always got some kind of dinner for me. That’s been nice, real nice.”
    â€œDid you know she’s thinking of dropping out of school?”
    â€œNo, I didn’t pay no attention to that. Guess if she’s not going to school, she should get a job. That’s what I did. I left school and got myself a job.”
    â€œThings were different back then,” Calla told her. “Nowadays it’s tough to find a job if you don’t finish high school.”
    The old woman nodded absently. “That’s likely true.”
    â€œYou shouldn’t let her drop out,” Calla said.
    â€œI hope she won’t,” Gerty said. “But truth to tell, as long as she don’t get into no trouble, I’m tempted to just let her be.”
    Calla shook her head to disagree, but her neighbor forestalled her.
    â€œYou don’t know the life that girl has lived,” Gerty said. “She’s had troubles like you and me have never seen. That doesn’t happen to people and leave them unmarked. If she can find some happiness on her own, then I’m all for letting her have it.”
    Calla continued talking with Gerty for a half hour or more, but it was clear that the old woman had no plans for Jazleen’s future and was only vaguely interested in the young woman’s present.
    â€œBut you must be worried.”
    â€œThe girl will be all right,” Gerty assured her. “She’ll find her way. I don’t have the time or the energy to make sure she does this, that or the other. She’s nearly grown, so she’s on her own. Besides, she has that boy of yours to make do for her.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œIt was real smart of her to latch on to him,” Gerty said.