Tender Graces Read Online Free Page B

crawly.”
    I touched some of the powder on my leg and rubbed it in good so I’d smell like Momma.
    “If it weren’t for babies, I might have gone on back to school and your daddy could’ve finished college—but we don’t regret our kids.”
    Daddy came into the room, squeezed Momma’s arms, and then kissed me on the top of my head. He asked, “What are you so talkative about?”
    “How we came to name Virginia Kate a classical name instead of a barnyard name.”
    “I do believe that’s the incorrect use of the word ‘classical’.”
    “Well la tee dah, Mr. Smarty Britches.”
    Daddy winked at me. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.”
    “That’s the stupidest shit I ever heard.”
    “Shakespeare? The greatest writer ever?” Daddy’s smile fell away.
    Momma pushed me with her shoulder. “So you say.”
    “Your mother loved to hear me quote him.”
    “Whoop de doo-eth. You and your Shakesbeard. And what does my momma got to do with anything?” She dipped out more cream and rubbed it on her legs. “Leave her be.”
    “Your mother was a fine woman, and you know it, Katie.”
    “Yeah, that’s why she burned herself up. Argument’s over, oh husbandeth of mineth. Zip zippo endo, curtain’s closed, Mr. Shakeybaby.”
    Daddy walked out. Momma stood up and put on the blue-and-white sundress and white sandals Daddy bought for her.
    I stood up and did a twirl. “Did you fuss all the time with Daddy before I got born?”
    “What kind of question is that? Go brush your hair.” She gave me a little shove. “I want all of us looking good when that woman gets here. She picks apart worse than a vulture.”
    I went hunting for Micah. He was always doing something interesting. When I passed the kitchen, I watched Daddy put ice cubes and a hunk of booze in a glass. After a long swallow, his face turned happy. While he looked out the window, he drank the rest down.
    I went in and tugged on his sleeve. Sometimes I felt shy around him since he was bigger than everything.
    He smiled down at me, said, “There you are. Want to come outside with me and the boys?”
    I nodded.
    He picked me up and swung me around. He was the strongest man in the world. I snuggled my face in his chest and smelled Old Spice and that smell shirts get when they’ve been on the line. He said, “Let’s go, Bitty Bug.”
    Outside, the wind blew my hair behind me. I sniffed the air for Mrs. Mendel’s flowers. Mrs. Mendel was our only neighbor in our holler. She had wild hair she tried to keep piled in a bun on top her head. The bun was big enough for her cat to sleep in. The hill on one side of us had an empty house on it, and on the other far side of the hill, an old lady lived alone with her million parakeets. The front of our house faced the long road going out of our holler and the back faced my mountain. My mountain was giant-tall where I couldn’t see what was on the other side.
    I saw all this while not really seeing it because Micah chased me around the house. The wind kept pushing me back, and my big brother was right on my heels, hollering, “I’m going to catch you!”
    I ran until I thought my lungs would bust.
    Daddy held Andy on his shoulders and they laughed at us when we fell on the grass, our feet burning from running so fast. A slow rain came and it felt good, until Daddy said, “That’s it children, time to go inside.” I wanted to stay and let the rain fall on me, see the clouds on the mountains like a fairy story, but I knew Momma wouldn’t let me.

    When Grandmother Laudine drove up in her shiny black Chevrolet pickup truck with her umpteenth husband she’d asked us to call Uncle Runt, the rain had turned into the skinny stinging kind. I watched out the open door as Grandmother blobbered towards me. She hollered back to Runt and the storm took her words out of her mouth and scattered them to far away places. Runt went back to the truck while Grandmother