Stella by Starlight Read Online Free Page A

they wear must look pretty stupid in the daytime.”
    Randy Bates ambled out of the next house they reached—a small, gray shack, the one on the road most in need of repair. Next door to Randy’s house was the home of Dr. Hawkins and his family, freshly whitewashed, with geraniums still in bloom by the porch. Now that , Stella thought as she did every morning, was like a house in one of her storybooks from school.
    Tony ran out the front door and leaped off the porch, sailing right over the geraniums. He pounded Randy on the shoulder. “You’re it!” Then he took off in a blaze of speed, his bare feet churning on the dirt.
    Randy and Johnsteve scrambled after him, but they gave up after a minute. Tony Hawkins was just too fast. He circled back around to the group.
    â€œI beat you carrying a lunch pail and a book!” he crowed victoriously. Tony had an uncle in Raleigh who sent him a box of books every few months. Stella envied that.
    â€œAw, I let you win,” Johnsteve said, giving him a shove.
    â€œSomebody had to stay back and protect Stella and Jojo,” Randy added, shoulder-punching them both.
    â€œI can protect myself, thank you very much!” Stella retorted. But she had to admit, this morning especially, it felt good having others around.
    Other classmates joined them as they walked down Riverside Road, a name that made no sense to Stella, because it wasn’t even close to the river! While Randy and Johnsteve and Tony continued to push one another back and forth, the others seemed more subdued, the youngest ones looking downright nervous.
    But as they rounded a bend, Stella perked up—they were nearly at Carolyn’s house. Carolyn Malone was Stella’s best friend, and not only that, their birthdays were just three days apart. They shared everything—from Stella’s worries about school, to how to win at hopscotch, to Carolyn’s sorrow when her baby sister, Wilma, had died three months ago. Carolyn ran to meet them, fresh red ribbons tied crisply at the ends of three long braids. That was the only thing they didn’t share. Stella’s thick, coarse hair never seemed to want to grow much past her ears. Carolyn hugged Stella and tossed a cat’s-eye marble at Jojo, who caught it happily.
    â€œHow’s your mama?” Stella asked her.
    â€œBetter, I guess. She still moves pretty slow. Ever since Wilma . . . well, it’s like she’s scared to get too happy.”
    Stella gave Carolyn’s hand a squeeze. Mama said there was nothing in the world worse than losing a baby.
    Helen, Henrietta, Herbert, Hugh, and Hazel—just five of the thirteen Spencer children—straggled out of the last house on the road, the biggest house in all of Bumblebee. It was a true two-floor house, not just a loft upstairs, but a full set of rooms. The Spencers took turns going to school, the rest staying home to help their parents with chores and crops and the babies. The next day, they all switched.
    From an upstairs window, Mrs. Spencer called out the same warning she did every morning, “Y’all be good now, ’fore you get knocked to the back side o’ nowhere!” Stella had no idea what that meant, though she thought it was funny. But this morning Mrs. Spencer added, “And be watchful, children. Be watchful.”
    And it seemed to Stella that at every house they passed, parents—some already in work boots or maiduniforms—poked their heads out of doors or stood on porch stoops, warning them, “Shake a leg, y’all,” or “Be careful, now.”
    At the end of Riverside Road, the group turned left onto Main Street. As if on signal, Stella and her friends slowed, dropping their voices to a whisper, then finally growing silent. They couldn’t help, every single day, staring at the perfect-looking brick building with perfect-looking grass in the front. Mountain View School. The school for white