Read Online Tending to Grace by Kimberly Newton Fusco - Free Book Online Page A

near the stove with a built-in drainboard on the end. The room smells like chocolate.
    â€œAll those potatoes. Agatha really helped us over the winter. My husband found a job, so things are better now. You can tell Agatha. And tell her I appreciate the vegetables Bo brings home, I surely do.” She smiles and cuts me a slice from the other cake and lays it in front of me.
    â€œHow’s your mother?”
    I shrug.
    â€œShe still the same?”
    I nod, although I’m not sure if we’re talking about the same thing.
    â€œShe’ll come around. Sometimes it takes a while.” She smiles at me again.
    I’m not so sure I should have to wait at all. I’m pretty sick of waiting, actually. But instead of saying anything, I take another piece of cake. Bo is lucky to have a mother like this, I think. They both have the same kindness. I feel the warmth coming up through me as I take another bite of cake.

61
    Bo covers her eyes and counts and three little boys dash away from her as I walk around back. A rusted swing set with one swing missing stands near the house.
    â€œI got you a r-r-ribbon,” I say, walking up to her. “A yellow one.”
    â€œHow’d you do that?” She pushes the bangs out of her eyes and turns to the boys. “Don’t go too far!”
    â€œI caught a frog in the pond. I won a yellow ribbon.”
    â€œWow, that’s so great, Corney. Let me see.”
    I pull the ribbon out of my overalls pocket and give it to her.
    â€œWow, I wish I could’ve seen it. How’d you catch the frog?”
    â€œTook me the rest of the morning.” I laugh. “You don’t get m-m-m-money for third place, though.”
    She strokes the ribbon. “That’s okay. Was it fun?”
    I smile. “Yeah. I n-n-n-never raced a frog before.”
    We both laugh.
    â€œWant to play with us?”
    I shake my head. “I have to go. But if you w-w-want to come over, I can show you some stuff. About r-r-r-r-reading, I mean.”
    â€œYou mean it? You really do?” When I nod, she jumps up and hugs me and it feels pretty good as I hug her back.

62
    The next day I receive a postcard that sends a storm rushing across the desert.

    Good, I think. She’ll be back for my birthday. A mother doesn’t forget her daughter’s birthday.

63
    I bring Bo to the library. I scan the shelves, looking for the right book. Finally, I put
Teach Your Child to Read
on the counter. Warm Milk looks up at me and smiles. I look at Bo. “I’d like a library card,” she says.
    Warm Milk types the card for Bo and hands it to her. “Would you like one, too?”
    I shake my head and plant myself facedown again.

64
    â€œI’ll shut the door if you think your p-p-p-pa will come.”
    Bo slumps at the kitchen table. The heat hangs heavy inside the house and out. The black-eyed Susans droop after an afternoon at the back step. We watch them through the screen door, newly fixed by me, that barricades us against the flies and mosquitoes that followed another bout of humidity.
    â€œOh, don’t worry about him none.” Bo laughs and slurps the lemonade I put in front of her. “He’s workin’ till midnight. He hates it, but our nights are nice and quiet now.”
    I pull out the phonics book and sit down beside her. “All right, then. If you’re sure.” I open the book. “We’re going to do short v-v-vowel sounds first.” I point to a letter a. “This makes a sound like the
a
in
apple
or the
a
in
ant
.”
    Then I show her an
e
. “This m-m-makes a sound like the
e
in
echo
or
egg
.”
    I point to the
a
again.
“Aa, aa, aa,”
I say. “Now you try.”
    â€œAa, aa, aa.”
    Bo looks at the page intently. Her bangs flop in front of her eyes and she pushes them away. “How come it doesn’t sound like the
a
in
plate
?”
    â€œThat’s for l-l-l-later.” I glance