Read Online The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Susan Patron
Tags: Ages 9 & Up, Newbery Medal
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mail-sorting job at the post office, he was an airline pilot who had the calm, in-charge voice of a TV airline pilot, so Lucky recognized it easily. He said how he was addicted so bad to cigarettes that he even smoked in the shower. He smoked from the first moment he opened his eyes in the morning until he fell asleep at night. He smoked while he ate. He even burned a big hole in his bride’s wedding dress the day they got married.
The story was excellent so far. Then the Captain told about how his wife gave him a choice: quit smoking or she would divorce him.
“I told her, how about I switch to low tar, filtered,” said the Captain. “I thought it was a pretty big sacrifice for a Camel smoker. She didn’t agree and she walked out. That was almost rock bottom. I remember thinking, ‘My wife just left me! I can’t quit smoking now !’”
People laughed and clapped.
The Captain went on. “But then I came to a meeting and started working the twelve steps. I found my Higher Power. And here I am.”
Lucky’s enzymes started churning. She leaned forward to listen carefully. Maybe the Captain would explain exactly how he found his Higher Power and also where , which would be extremely helpful. So far, Lucky hadn’t found a trace of her Higher Power, though she tried hard to be alert for the slightest hint of it.
Having a Higher Power could help a person know what to do about the problem of a Guardian who, every time it got too hot, or there was French music or a snake in the dryer, seemed like she might quit and go back home to France.
Someone cleared her throat and shouted, “I’m Mildred. I choose not to smoke.”
Lucky almost tipped over in her chair. It was Mrs. Prender, Miles’s grandma. Lucky had never heard her talk at any of the meetings.
Mrs. Prender went on, “I was in the hospital with quadruple pneumonia. After the doc told me I’d die if I didn’t quit smoking, I snuck out the back and lit a cigarette. I coughed so hard I broke a rib, so I had to quit for a while until they let me go home. Next day I dropped a cigarette on the couch and set it on fire, and then I set my hair on fire. I called the fire department and went outside to wait. Well, it was raining, so I stood there in the road bawling and trying to smoke a sopping-wet cigarette. But that wasn’t rock bottom.”
Mrs. Prender’s story, Lucky decided, was even better than the Captain’s.
“It was my grown daughter. I knew she’d been sneaking cigarettes since she was a girl, but I never done nothing about it. Figured, what could I say, a smoker myself. Couple years ago I get a call from the police in L.A., can I come pick up her little boy. She’s been arrested for selling dope.”
Lucky frowned. The little boy had to be Miles. But Miles’s mother was supposed to be in Florida, nursing her sick friend.
Mrs. Prender went on. “I go on down to L.A. for my grandson. My daughter gets a long jail sentence. So I figure—this is it. I’m not bringing up another kid with myself setting a bad example.” Mrs. Prender blew her nose loudly. “Once I decided to quit, it was like turning off a light switch. I just did it. That was almost two years ago.”
Lucky had the same jolting feeling as when you’re in a big hurry to pee and you pull down your pants fast and back up to the toilet without looking—but some man or boy before you has forgotten to put the seat down. So your bottom, which is expecting the usual nicely shaped plastic toilet seat, instead lands shocked on the thin rim of the toilet bowl, which is quite a lot colder and lower . Your bottom gets a panic of bad surprise. That was the same thump-on-the-heart shock Lucky got finding out that Miles’s mother was in jail.
12. Parsley
After dinner, Lucky stood at the sink washing the dishes. She was still thinking a little bit about Mrs. Prender, but mostly about parsley. Before Brigitte came to Hard Pan, Lucky had never imagined that parsley could be so important.
The story was excellent so far. Then the Captain told about how his wife gave him a choice: quit smoking or she would divorce him.
“I told her, how about I switch to low tar, filtered,” said the Captain. “I thought it was a pretty big sacrifice for a Camel smoker. She didn’t agree and she walked out. That was almost rock bottom. I remember thinking, ‘My wife just left me! I can’t quit smoking now !’”
People laughed and clapped.
The Captain went on. “But then I came to a meeting and started working the twelve steps. I found my Higher Power. And here I am.”
Lucky’s enzymes started churning. She leaned forward to listen carefully. Maybe the Captain would explain exactly how he found his Higher Power and also where , which would be extremely helpful. So far, Lucky hadn’t found a trace of her Higher Power, though she tried hard to be alert for the slightest hint of it.
Having a Higher Power could help a person know what to do about the problem of a Guardian who, every time it got too hot, or there was French music or a snake in the dryer, seemed like she might quit and go back home to France.
Someone cleared her throat and shouted, “I’m Mildred. I choose not to smoke.”
Lucky almost tipped over in her chair. It was Mrs. Prender, Miles’s grandma. Lucky had never heard her talk at any of the meetings.
Mrs. Prender went on, “I was in the hospital with quadruple pneumonia. After the doc told me I’d die if I didn’t quit smoking, I snuck out the back and lit a cigarette. I coughed so hard I broke a rib, so I had to quit for a while until they let me go home. Next day I dropped a cigarette on the couch and set it on fire, and then I set my hair on fire. I called the fire department and went outside to wait. Well, it was raining, so I stood there in the road bawling and trying to smoke a sopping-wet cigarette. But that wasn’t rock bottom.”
Mrs. Prender’s story, Lucky decided, was even better than the Captain’s.
“It was my grown daughter. I knew she’d been sneaking cigarettes since she was a girl, but I never done nothing about it. Figured, what could I say, a smoker myself. Couple years ago I get a call from the police in L.A., can I come pick up her little boy. She’s been arrested for selling dope.”
Lucky frowned. The little boy had to be Miles. But Miles’s mother was supposed to be in Florida, nursing her sick friend.
Mrs. Prender went on. “I go on down to L.A. for my grandson. My daughter gets a long jail sentence. So I figure—this is it. I’m not bringing up another kid with myself setting a bad example.” Mrs. Prender blew her nose loudly. “Once I decided to quit, it was like turning off a light switch. I just did it. That was almost two years ago.”
Lucky had the same jolting feeling as when you’re in a big hurry to pee and you pull down your pants fast and back up to the toilet without looking—but some man or boy before you has forgotten to put the seat down. So your bottom, which is expecting the usual nicely shaped plastic toilet seat, instead lands shocked on the thin rim of the toilet bowl, which is quite a lot colder and lower . Your bottom gets a panic of bad surprise. That was the same thump-on-the-heart shock Lucky got finding out that Miles’s mother was in jail.
12. Parsley
After dinner, Lucky stood at the sink washing the dishes. She was still thinking a little bit about Mrs. Prender, but mostly about parsley. Before Brigitte came to Hard Pan, Lucky had never imagined that parsley could be so important.
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