Read Online Child of the Mountains by Marilyn Sue Shank - Free Book Online Page B

locker. Maybe you can take them to your church charity collection.”
    Cora Lee had to pick up them clothes with everbody watching. I didn’t look at her, but I could feel a grin creeping up my lips.
    That’s just not right what Cora Lee done. Me and Mama had us a talk about giving and getting one time.
    Each and ever Christmas, Mama and Gran always made toys for two kids named Betsy and Sylvia that lived down the road from us. They’s real poor. Their daddy’s been real sick for years and their mama is so sad she ain’t up to doing much for her young’uns. When I was in first grade, I seen Betsy stealing and eating food that other kids had throwed in the trash after lunch. I cried when I told Mama about it.
    “She didn’t steal iffen she took it from the trash. That means it didn’t belong to nobody no more. You didn’t say nothing to her about it, did you?” Mama asked me as she wiped my tears with her apron.
    “No, Mama,” I said, all choky.
    “Good. That was right kind of you, Lydia. She’d have been real ashamed and embarrassed iffen you had. You was real little when the church took up a collection for us. Do you recollect that?”
    “I recollect. Brother Andrew had us stand up in front of everbody. You had BJ in your arms. Me and Gran stood next to you. Brother Andrew said how hard up we was on account of you and BJ being at the hospital in Charleston. He said everbody was real good to help us out and that the Lord would be pleased. Then he counted the money out loud afore handing it to you.”
    “That’s right. How did you feel?”
    “I was glad they was a-helping us out, but I also felt kind of sick to my stomach.”
    “I felt the same way. Pastor John apologized later. Hesaid he didn’t know Brother Andrew would call us up to the front like that.”
    Mama sat down at the dining room table, and I sat beside her. She covered my hands with hers on the table. “Lydia, the Lord says it’s better to give than receive. For most of us, it’s also easier. But they be times we all need help,” Mama said. “Your gran and me was always used to making do for ourselves. When BJ got sick, we come to realize that we needed help. I ain’t sure why it’s so hard to ask for it. Pride, I guess. But we come to recollect that God doesn’t want us to be alone in this life. He gives us other people to teach us, support us, and comfort us. It ain’t right to build a wall around ourselves. Needing help reminds us that we are not sufficient in ourselves, as the Good Book says. That keeps us humble.
    “They also be times we can give help to others,” Mama went on. “We must be just as humble at those times. Do you remember the story Jesus told about this very thing?”
    “The one about them men making sure people watched when they prayed real loud and gived some money to beggars?” I asked.
    “That’s the one. Jesus said they didn’t need a reward from God. They got their reward from making people think they was special and better than everbody else.”
    “Mama, I don’t want Betsy to be hungry.”
    “I know,” Mama said. “I don’t want her to be hungry either. Let’s make us a plan to help that won’t hurt her feelings. How does that sound?”
    “That sounds real good, Mama.”
    So here’s what we done. Mama would pack a little something extra in my lunch poke. After I ate my lunch, I’d tell Betsy that I felt full and Mama would get mad at me iffen I wasted food. I asked her iffen she could eat it so’s I wouldn’t get in no trouble. It weren’t no lie. Mama didn’t want me to waste food.
    Betsy always said yes, she’d be glad to help me out. One time, I asked her why she always saved most of it in her pocket. She told me it was for her little sister. Mama started packing even more food after I told her about that.
    At Christmas, me and BJ—when he felt good—got to be secret elves. Gran and Mama always made Betsy’s family a couple of quilts for Christmas. On Christmas day, we’d wrap