Read Online A Piece of Heaven by Sharon Dennis Wyeth - Free Book Online Page B

stuff again,” he apologized.
    I swung my fists playfully. “Just let me at it!”
    Jackson laughed. “Confident, aren’t you? You’re like that little tailor in
Grimms’
.”
    I chuckled. “You mean the one who got seven in one blow?”
    He winked. “Told you I know my fairy tales.”
    I smiled. “I hope I can knock off the junk in this yard, the way the tailor knocked off those flies.”
    “I’m sure you can,” he said. “You sure you won’t take something else home?”
    “Maybe a candlestick holder for my neighbor Mrs. Brown.”
    “Take all of them,” Jackson said, waving his hand.
    “Ma might be able to use those Christmas tree lights,” I added. “I’ll show them to her when she comes home from the hospital.”
    “How is your mother?” Jackson asked.
    “I’m not sure,” I confessed.
    “Do you and Otis visit her at the hospital?” he wanted to know.
    I lowered my eyes. “She doesn’t want us to,” I said with a swallow.
    “That must be hard for you,” Jackson said kindly.
    “She’ll only let me talk with her on the telephone,” I blurted out. “No matter what, she always ends up crying. That’s the way depression is, I guess.”
    “There are so many ways of treating it nowadays,” Jackson pointed out. “I’m sure her doctors will find a way to help.”
    “They haven’t yet,” I said grimly. I looked up at him. “I wish you could have met my mother before she got this way. She’s the kind of person who never lets anything get her down. She put herself through night school while holding down a job and taking care of Otis and me.”
    “I bet she’s a great person,” said Jackson.
    “Want to see what she looks like?” I asked. I impulsively pulled out my wallet and opened it to a picture of Ma and Otis. It was one of my favorites of Ma. She was dressed in a soft blue outfit with a ruffled collar, standing on the steps outside Grandma Dora’s. Otis was standing next to her, with a crooked smile on his face. Jackson peered at the photograph.
    “Your mother glows,” Jackson exclaimed. “Look at that smile!”
    “That’s Ma all over,” I said wistfully.
    “And that’s Otis?”
    I nodded.
    Jackson’s eyes twinkled. “I bet he’s got a sense of humor.”
    “He’s a rogue,” I said mischievously. I put the picture away.
    “I’d like to meet them,” Jackson said.
    “I’m sure you will,” I promised, “when Ma gets well and Otis isn’t so busy with his incense stand.”
    He turned to the door and beckoned to me. “Now it’s my turn. Come on in. I’ll show you a picture of Brielle.”
    I followed him inside.
    “Here she is,” he said, producing a small framed picture from the edge of the piano. The picture was of a beautiful little girl with huge dark eyes and curly dark hair just like Jackson’s. She’d lost her two front teeth. Just looking at her made me grin.
    “It was taken when she was seven,” Jackson said, putting the picture carefully in its place.
    The same thing Jackson had said about Ma could be said about the girl in the picture. She glowed. I peeked at Jackson’s face. He missed Brielle a lot. I could tell. Maybe as much as I missed Ma.
What could have kept him and his daughter apart?
I wondered. But now that Brielle was coming to visit, all of that would be over.
    Jackson laid a hand on my shoulder. “When your mom gets out of the hospital, we’ll have a barbecue for her, too. And I hope that Otis will come.”
    “Really?” I gazed up at him.
    “Really,” he promised.
    The doorbell rang. Jackson let Shari inside. Today her hair was in tiny dreadlocks, and she was wearing yellow pants, an orange blouse, and bright red lipstick. Her eyes were bright.
    “This is my friend Mahalia,” Jackson said, introducing me.
    Shari smiled. “That’s the name of my mom’s favorite singer,” she said in a lilting voice. “Mahalia Jackson. She was a star. She sang gospels and spirituals. Check out her recordings. That’s your two names