Read Online Bold Beauty by Dandi Daley Mackall - Free Book Online

birds. It felt good. I didn’t want anything to spoil it.
    â€œA lot of things have gone right lately, don’t you think?” he asked.
    I nodded.
    Dad put his arm around me. “Except that shiner.”
    I tasted bubblegum pancakes that wanted to come up. I wanted to come clean, to tell him about Beauty, how I’d really gotten the bruises.
    But I couldn’t risk it. Our relationship was like a delicate spiderweb. If I tugged out a thread, I was afraid the whole web would be destroyed and we’d have to start over from scratch.

Mrs. Barker drove up in the Barker bus, a yellow van that looked more like a school bus. Johnny and Luke, Barker’s four-year-old and six-year-old brothers, stuck their heads out of windows and yelled for Lizzy to sit by them. Great-granny Barker sat by the open front window, her white hair blown wild around her wrinkled face. If I had a great-granny, I’d want her to be like Granny Barker.
    Mr. Barker climbed out of the backseat, where he’d been wedged between Mark, who was seven, and the youngest boy, William, who was two. He met my dad on the lawn. “Good to see you, Jack. Coming with us?”
    Mr. Barker’s not as tall as my dad, but his neck is about twice as big around. He used to play football at Ashland University, where he now teaches poetry. Mrs. Barker teaches there, too. I was glad they didn’t make Dad feel bad for not going to church before now.
    â€œYou look pretty full in there. I’ll just take the truck.” Dad made a move toward the cattle truck.
    â€œGet in, Jack!” Mrs. Barker shouted. “We’ll make room.” She did a double take of me. “Winnie, girl! What happened to your eye?”
    â€œIsn’t it awful?” Lizzy exclaimed. “She fell!”
    The boys hung out of windows and groaned. “Yuk!” “Gross!”
    Lizzy squeezed in back with the boys. Dad and I took the middle seat with Matthew, the second oldest son at nine. He was the only Barker whose face didn’t fall into a natural smile. His dog was a bulldog, and it suited him.
    â€œHey, Matthew!” I buckled in next to him. “How’s Bull?”
    Matthew frowned. “Mean and dangerous.”
    â€œIs not!” Luke screamed. He’s six but small for his age, like his puppy, Chico.
    â€œIs so!” Matthew yelled back.
    I was kind of glad to see them argue. The Barkers are the happiest family I’ve ever been around. It was nice to know they weren’t perfect.
    Minutes later, Mrs. Barker pulled into the church lot and backed into a narrow parking place.
    â€œNice, isn’t it, Dad?” The church was a lot smaller than ours in Wyoming, but I loved the way the maples hugged the white steeple. I hoped Dad would love it, too.
    We walked to the front of the church and filed into the Barker pew, me last.
    Pat Haven hollered at us from across the aisle.
    Dad waved, but I slouched, hiding my eye with the hymnal.
    Organ music started, and Catman strolled down the aisle as if he’d waited for it. He wore white sandals, light blue bell-bottoms, and a high-necked, wide-sleeved shirt that could have come from a Hollywood wardrobe room. He scooted in next to me.
    Dad leaned across me. “Nice Nehru shirt, Catman! I used to have one just like it!”
    Catman gave Dad the peace sign.
    We stood and sang the first hymn. Then Ralph Evans, the substitute pastor, strolled to the front of the church and motioned us to sit. In khakis and tennis shoes, Ralph didn’t look much like a pastor. His real job was running the animal shelter. The old pastor had moved on to a bigger church in Akron. Barker said Ralph had agreed to fill in until the church could make up its mind on a new pastor.
    I started to explain Ralph to Dad, but I was too late.
    â€œMornin’!” Ralph shouted. “Anybody here for the first time?”
    Note to self: If I’m ever a substitute pastor, don’t