Read Online The Improper Life of Bezillia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Susan Gregg Gilmore
Tags: Fiction, General, Humorous, Popular American Fiction, Fiction - General, Family Life, Domestic Fiction, Family secrets, Nashville (Tenn.), Interracial dating
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wouldn’t be right. Everybody knew that. Then he smiled again. And for a minute I almost forgot who we were.
I walked toward the creek and up to Adelaide’s secret spot underneath the willow tree. Samuel was still leaning back in the water, staring straight up at the sky, as if he was lost in a dream.
“You know, someday I’m going to own a big piece of land with a big, wide creek running right through the middle of it, just like this one here, only bigger,” he said, as much to himself as to me.
“Uh-huh,” I mumbled, as I tried to retrieve my sister from deep within the willow tree.
“You can uh-huh me all you want, but it’s true. I’m going to have me some land. Yep, sure am. And a big house too. Maybe even bigger than yours.”
“Better be careful what you wish for, Samuel,” I warned, and again focused my attention on my little sister. “I mean it, Adelaide. We’ve got to go. I’m taking Baby Stella myself if you don’t move it. And I’m going to pack your trunk and call that camp in North Carolina as soon as I get back to the house.”
“No!” she yelled through the branches.
“Then come on.” And I blindly reached through the willow branches and grabbed Adelaide by the arm. She let out a sudden cry and tugged hard to try to free herself. But I held on tight to my sister’s tiny wrist and pulled her up. Samuel jumped out of the creek as if I had ordered him back to the house too. He had nearly buttoned his shirt by the time we started walking back across the field, and he indicated he was going to escort us home whether I wanted him to or not.
Adelaide was tripping along next to me, my hand clutched tightly around hers. Samuel quickly fell into place on my other side. We walked toward the house without saying much of anything, except for Adelaide interrupting the awkward silence with whiny comments about the gnats flying around her head or about the grass sticking to her legs. We stopped in a patch of clover so she could make another crown for Baby Stella, since the first one had fallen off somewhere along the way. Samuel made one, too, and then placed it on my head.
“There,” he said. “You are a princess after all.”
Adelaide looked at me and giggled. “You do look like a beautiful princess, Bezellia.”
“Why do you keep calling me that, Samuel? Why do you call me a princess?” I demanded, snatching the clover ring from the top of my head.
“Okay, you live in a castle for one thing. You have people waiting on you for another. And you sit on that porch and read while everybody else is working to make you happy. Sounds like a princess to me, at least what I know of one.”
“Well, if everybody’s working to make me so happy, I’d say they’re not doing a very good job.”
“Then maybe you’re more like that spoiled princess that had to sleep on all those mattresses because of that one tiny pea keeping her up all night,” he said, with that now-annoying smile stretched across his face.
“I love that story, Samuel. That’s my favorite,” Adelaide shouted. I quickly glanced at them both and with a blunt cutting stare told them to hush.
No one had ever accused me of being spoiled, or a princess, and he was making me feel like I had done something I should be apologizing for. He did not understand how much sadness could fill a big old house. He had no idea what it meant to be Bezellia Grove. But I guess at the end of the day, I had no idea what it meant to be Samuel Stephenson either. And so we walked the rest of the way in silence, each not really caring to understand what the other one knew to be true. Then every few steps his arm would brush against mine, and a shiver would run straight down to my stomach.
Adelaide wrenched her hand free and started running ahead of me. “Mother! Mother!” she cried.
My heart stopped when I spied my mother talking to Nathaniel. He was pointing to the barn, showing her the shingled roof he and Samuel had nailed in place in the
I walked toward the creek and up to Adelaide’s secret spot underneath the willow tree. Samuel was still leaning back in the water, staring straight up at the sky, as if he was lost in a dream.
“You know, someday I’m going to own a big piece of land with a big, wide creek running right through the middle of it, just like this one here, only bigger,” he said, as much to himself as to me.
“Uh-huh,” I mumbled, as I tried to retrieve my sister from deep within the willow tree.
“You can uh-huh me all you want, but it’s true. I’m going to have me some land. Yep, sure am. And a big house too. Maybe even bigger than yours.”
“Better be careful what you wish for, Samuel,” I warned, and again focused my attention on my little sister. “I mean it, Adelaide. We’ve got to go. I’m taking Baby Stella myself if you don’t move it. And I’m going to pack your trunk and call that camp in North Carolina as soon as I get back to the house.”
“No!” she yelled through the branches.
“Then come on.” And I blindly reached through the willow branches and grabbed Adelaide by the arm. She let out a sudden cry and tugged hard to try to free herself. But I held on tight to my sister’s tiny wrist and pulled her up. Samuel jumped out of the creek as if I had ordered him back to the house too. He had nearly buttoned his shirt by the time we started walking back across the field, and he indicated he was going to escort us home whether I wanted him to or not.
Adelaide was tripping along next to me, my hand clutched tightly around hers. Samuel quickly fell into place on my other side. We walked toward the house without saying much of anything, except for Adelaide interrupting the awkward silence with whiny comments about the gnats flying around her head or about the grass sticking to her legs. We stopped in a patch of clover so she could make another crown for Baby Stella, since the first one had fallen off somewhere along the way. Samuel made one, too, and then placed it on my head.
“There,” he said. “You are a princess after all.”
Adelaide looked at me and giggled. “You do look like a beautiful princess, Bezellia.”
“Why do you keep calling me that, Samuel? Why do you call me a princess?” I demanded, snatching the clover ring from the top of my head.
“Okay, you live in a castle for one thing. You have people waiting on you for another. And you sit on that porch and read while everybody else is working to make you happy. Sounds like a princess to me, at least what I know of one.”
“Well, if everybody’s working to make me so happy, I’d say they’re not doing a very good job.”
“Then maybe you’re more like that spoiled princess that had to sleep on all those mattresses because of that one tiny pea keeping her up all night,” he said, with that now-annoying smile stretched across his face.
“I love that story, Samuel. That’s my favorite,” Adelaide shouted. I quickly glanced at them both and with a blunt cutting stare told them to hush.
No one had ever accused me of being spoiled, or a princess, and he was making me feel like I had done something I should be apologizing for. He did not understand how much sadness could fill a big old house. He had no idea what it meant to be Bezellia Grove. But I guess at the end of the day, I had no idea what it meant to be Samuel Stephenson either. And so we walked the rest of the way in silence, each not really caring to understand what the other one knew to be true. Then every few steps his arm would brush against mine, and a shiver would run straight down to my stomach.
Adelaide wrenched her hand free and started running ahead of me. “Mother! Mother!” she cried.
My heart stopped when I spied my mother talking to Nathaniel. He was pointing to the barn, showing her the shingled roof he and Samuel had nailed in place in the
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