Read Online Barbara Samuel by A Piece of Heaven - Free Book Online
Authors: A Piece of Heaven
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like champagne and ivory and oak, with maybe a little forest now and then. The rooms were long and square with windows framed in two layers of curtains—drapes and sheers.
This room had a long, antique table, banged up in the best possible way, and wooden chairs Joy’s mother had painted with moons and stars, coyotes and skeletons, roses and crosses, all in really bright colors. Two sets of long doors opened out on to the smell of evening and chamiso coming in on a breeze from the patio. One plain adobe wall was hung with photographs of people—all the people Luna loved, she said with a happy smile—and there were fat candles all around the room, and an iron candelabra Luna showed Joy the first time they’d come here, when the house was so trashed Joy had privately wondered if her mother was insane.
Now she understood what her mother had said that day—that the iron candelabra was a connection to another time, like the wooden floors that were uneven in places from so many people walking on them over the years. The wide wooden boards were dark with age, but now they had a nice coat of something shiny on them, and a big plain rag rug kept you from slipping around too much.
It was kind of crowded, too, but in a good way. Joy squeezed between her Grandma Kitty and Allie, glad that she didn’t have to sit in the chair next to her auntElaine, who was really fat and sweating, and she was nice, but sometimes she complained too much. Her mother said Elaine was still in denial, whatever that meant.
“This table is too big for this room,” Elaine said.
Luna passed cloth napkins around. “So you’ve said ninety-seven times.” She held out her hands and everybody else joined hands and Luna said, “Elaine will you say grace for us?”
Next to Joy, Allie muttered, “A short one, please goddess,” and Joy had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, because it was totally true—Elaine could pray for a really long time. Joy glanced up to see if she’d heard, but it didn’t seem like it. Elaine and Allie weren’t crazy about each other.
Elaine said, “God Almighty, King of Heaven and Earth, Conqueror of All Evil, we come together tonight to welcome Joy and praise your name.”
Joy, still tired from flying—it was a lot scarier to fly than it used to be—drifted on the up-and-down sound of the prayer. A smell of sage and water came through the doors, and it just felt so good to be here, where the music was an old kind of rock, but at least not classical, where the food sent up steam smelling of so many different things. It was good, too, in a way, to be with a group of only girls.
Elaine said “Amen” a lot faster than Joy expected and she looked up and caught her mom’s eye. She winked. Joy winked back.
They all dug into the food then, and this was different, too. Sometimes, the butter came the wrong way, and everybody talked at once, to one another, joining in conversations this way and that, making this big wave of sound and happiness Joy loved. Allie made everybody—even Elaine—laugh really hard with a story fromher store, about a tourist kook who’d been sure Allie was an alien, like himself, from the Pleiades. “I have to say I’ve heard some strange come-ons in my time,” she said, “but that takes the cake.”
Even that was different. Joy couldn’t even imagine any of her stepmom’s friends talking about a man coming on to them. Of course, they were all married. That probably made a difference. At the thought of April, a tiny pang ran over her heart, and she pushed it away.
When they were cutting into the turtle cheesecake, Joy leaned into her grandma, who’d been very quiet most of the night. “Are you okay, Gram?”
She patted Joy’s hand. “Fine, sweetie. How about you?”
“I’m so happy.”
Kitty took her napkin out of her lap. “I vote we do sing-alongs.”
“Yeah!” Joy cried. She loved it when they did that— put on old albums and danced and sang. Everybody got to pick
This room had a long, antique table, banged up in the best possible way, and wooden chairs Joy’s mother had painted with moons and stars, coyotes and skeletons, roses and crosses, all in really bright colors. Two sets of long doors opened out on to the smell of evening and chamiso coming in on a breeze from the patio. One plain adobe wall was hung with photographs of people—all the people Luna loved, she said with a happy smile—and there were fat candles all around the room, and an iron candelabra Luna showed Joy the first time they’d come here, when the house was so trashed Joy had privately wondered if her mother was insane.
Now she understood what her mother had said that day—that the iron candelabra was a connection to another time, like the wooden floors that were uneven in places from so many people walking on them over the years. The wide wooden boards were dark with age, but now they had a nice coat of something shiny on them, and a big plain rag rug kept you from slipping around too much.
It was kind of crowded, too, but in a good way. Joy squeezed between her Grandma Kitty and Allie, glad that she didn’t have to sit in the chair next to her auntElaine, who was really fat and sweating, and she was nice, but sometimes she complained too much. Her mother said Elaine was still in denial, whatever that meant.
“This table is too big for this room,” Elaine said.
Luna passed cloth napkins around. “So you’ve said ninety-seven times.” She held out her hands and everybody else joined hands and Luna said, “Elaine will you say grace for us?”
Next to Joy, Allie muttered, “A short one, please goddess,” and Joy had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, because it was totally true—Elaine could pray for a really long time. Joy glanced up to see if she’d heard, but it didn’t seem like it. Elaine and Allie weren’t crazy about each other.
Elaine said, “God Almighty, King of Heaven and Earth, Conqueror of All Evil, we come together tonight to welcome Joy and praise your name.”
Joy, still tired from flying—it was a lot scarier to fly than it used to be—drifted on the up-and-down sound of the prayer. A smell of sage and water came through the doors, and it just felt so good to be here, where the music was an old kind of rock, but at least not classical, where the food sent up steam smelling of so many different things. It was good, too, in a way, to be with a group of only girls.
Elaine said “Amen” a lot faster than Joy expected and she looked up and caught her mom’s eye. She winked. Joy winked back.
They all dug into the food then, and this was different, too. Sometimes, the butter came the wrong way, and everybody talked at once, to one another, joining in conversations this way and that, making this big wave of sound and happiness Joy loved. Allie made everybody—even Elaine—laugh really hard with a story fromher store, about a tourist kook who’d been sure Allie was an alien, like himself, from the Pleiades. “I have to say I’ve heard some strange come-ons in my time,” she said, “but that takes the cake.”
Even that was different. Joy couldn’t even imagine any of her stepmom’s friends talking about a man coming on to them. Of course, they were all married. That probably made a difference. At the thought of April, a tiny pang ran over her heart, and she pushed it away.
When they were cutting into the turtle cheesecake, Joy leaned into her grandma, who’d been very quiet most of the night. “Are you okay, Gram?”
She patted Joy’s hand. “Fine, sweetie. How about you?”
“I’m so happy.”
Kitty took her napkin out of her lap. “I vote we do sing-alongs.”
“Yeah!” Joy cried. She loved it when they did that— put on old albums and danced and sang. Everybody got to pick
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