The Other Half of My Heart Read Online Free

The Other Half of My Heart
Book: The Other Half of My Heart Read Online Free
Author: Sundee T. Frazier
Pages:
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King.”
    “Dr. King spoke to hundreds of thousands of people, you know.”
    “Not in a silly, frilly, long dress, he didn’t.”
    Mama and Daddy laughed.
    Minni crossed her arms. “Anyway, that’s not how I want to be like him. I just mean I want to make the world a better place for everyone to live.” Which, of course, meant animals, too. “That’s all.”
    “Oh, that’s all, is it?” Mama smiled, revealing the gap between her two front teeth. Her widely spaced, round eyes were the color of root beer in a glass held up to sunlight. Tiny raised moles dotted her gingery brown cheeks. “That’s enough, baby. But do you think maybe, just maybe, to accomplish your goal of a better world for all, you might need to speak up occasionally? I mean, in front of other people?”
    Minni did not appreciate how Mama was taking herdreams and aspirations and twisting them into the reason she needed to compete in a stupid pageant. She looked away.
    Keira grabbed Minni’s hand. “Come on, Skinny. It’ll be fun.”
    “It will be for
you
. You’re a natural.” Minni’s eyes stung. She was going to cry. “I’ll be lucky if I don’t trip over my own feet!” She pulled away and fled down the hall, brushing a hot tear from her cheek.

Chapter Three

    I n their bedroom, Minni’s parakeet, Bessie Coleman, fluttered her wings and flew to the cage door. Minni fell on her bed, her back to the bird. She gazed at the mural of Mount Rainier Mama had painted on her wall. Daddy had climbed the mountain on his fortieth birthday. Minni planned to make it to the top long before she got that old.
    The wooden floor creaked as someone stepped into the room. The bed dipped under Daddy’s solid frame. Daddy was as tall and strong as a hundred-year-old pine tree. His arms were the branches to which Minni always escaped whenever she was afraid or unsure.
    His heavy hand rested on her arm. “Where’s my girl with the sense of adventure? The one who wants to climb Mount Rainier and learn to fly an airplane? The one who wants toroam the jungles of South America and observe animals in their natural habitats?”
    “I still want to do all those things,” Minni mumbled.
    “But you’re scared to be in a pageant where you have the opportunity to meet other girls and have some fun? Maybe even win some scholarship money?”
    She turned her head to look at him. “I’m not scared—”
    Daddy stroked his stubbly chin and nodded his strawberry blond head. “I see….”
    “Okay, maybe I am a little, but I just don’t see the point in spending a bunch of time doing something that I’m not going to be any good at.”
    Daddy’s eyes widened. “Whoa! Wait a minute. Did you really just say what I think you did?”
    What had she said wrong? She was just being honest.
    “Did you know you would be the school spelling bee champion before you competed?”
    “Yes,” Minni said. “Well, I thought I could be, anyway.”
    “Okay, did you know your poem would win a state honor before you wrote it?”
    Minni rolled onto her back and crossed her arms. “I’m not going to win anything in a pageant. I’m sure of that.”
    “What if the point isn’t to win anything? What if the point is to prove to yourself you can do it and learn something from the process?”
    Bessie Coleman whistled. “Daddy’s cool!” the bird said.
    “Hey, whose side are you on?” Minni scowled. Daddy came into their room every day to reinforce that phrase, which Minni didn’t mind—she wanted her parakeet tolearn as many words as possible—but right now, her pet was just trying to get her father’s attention, and
that
was annoying.
    “You know, when I was a kid, I never won a thing. Not a spelling bee title or an award for a poem. Heck, I didn’t get a single A my entire time in school, not even in metal shop.”
    “Not even in
gym?”
    “I missed too many days. I never liked school. When Keira was diagnosed with dyslexia, I realized why. Did you know I’ve never
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