Read Online This One and Magic Life by Anne C. George - Free Book Online Page B

said.
    â€œWho knows. She’ll turn up.”
    â€œMaybe one day she won’t.”
    â€œShe will, Donnie. You know she will. Papa’ll find her and she’ll come sashaying in like the queen who never did anything wrong.”
    â€œShe’s sick, Artie.”
    â€œI know.” I had gotten some of Mama’s mascara in my eyes and it was making them water. Well, hell, why not use it? It was my birthday. “Go help Hektor get ready for school. I’ll get us some breakfast.”
    Where had she said she was going last night? A meeting at the church? That was it. That was wherePapa had taken her after supper. She had said she would get a ride home. Well, she had gotten a ride, all right. Only not home.
    Had she planned it or had it been a spur of the moment thing? Sitting in the meeting, had she suddenly thought I don’t want to be here and left, getting into the first car that stopped? Or had she met some man earlier and gone with him? It had happened both ways before. This time it seemed without warning, though. I thought about supper last night. Mama had been okay. Hektor had knocked over his milk and Papa had jumped up to wipe it up but Mama had said, “I’ll get it.” And she had put her napkin over it to keep it from spreading and then had gotten a dishrag and wiped it up. She hadn’t even seemed upset. Maybe not upset enough I realized now.
    I fixed three bowls of cornflakes for us. Willie Mae would be in later and would cook supper before she left. So there really wasn’t anything to worry about. Donnie, Hektor, and I would be just fine. Willie Mae might even remember and bake us a cake.
    They came down and we ate. We heard the bus coming just as we finished. “Get your books, Hektor,” I said.
    That was when he put his head down on the table and began to cry like a baby instead of a ten-year-old. “I want Mama and Papa.”
    The bus horn was blowing. “For God’s sake, Hektor. Shut up,” Donnie said. “We’ve got to go.”
    Hektor looked up. Tears rolled down his round face that looked so much like Papa’s. “You go,” he said. “I’m gonna wait on them.”
    Donnie and I looked at each other. “I’ll stay with him,” he said.
    â€œWe’ll all stay,” I decided. I ran outside to tell Mr.Barganier that we wouldn’t be riding today, that Mama was taking us all to the doctor for checkups.
    Carl Jenkins stuck his head out of the window while Mr. Barganier was turning around in our driveway. “You sick?” I shook my head no. “Tell Donnie I’ll be over this afternoon.”
    There were whoops and catcalls from the bus. Eric Palmer stuck his head out and yelled, “You be sure and tell Donnie, Artie! He won’t want to miss Carl!”
    I just grinned. I knew who Carl was coming to see. He had liked me since we were in the third grade. Last year when the boys were playing football, Carl had been knocked into the goalpost and hit his head. He was knocked out for a minute. And when he came to, he was saying, “Artie. Artie.” Coach Giles teased me about it. Said he thought he was going to have to come and get me. It made me feel good.
    We put on our bathing suits and went to the beach. It was October and the water was still warm. We built a sandcastle, something we hadn’t done in a long time.
    Sometime during the morning, Willie Mae came to the top of the bluff and yelled down wanting to know what we were doing home. “Playing hookey!” Donnie answered. “It’s our birthday!”
    â€œWell, you better come get shirts or you’re gonna be sick. Out of school for real.”
    We went traipsing up to the house. We knew Willie Mae was going to ask where Mama and Papa were, but she just said, “Shame on you not going to school. Gonna grow up dumb as fence posts.”
    â€œI’m hungry,” Hektor said. Willie Mae fixed us