Read Online Wish by Barbara O'Connor - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Barbara O'Connor
Ads: Link
below us.
âI tried to call but she wouldnât even talk to me,â Bertha said. âI sent you and Jackie cards and gifts but she sent âem right back. After a while, I gave up.â She patted my knee. âIâm sorry to tell you these things, Charlie.â
I shrugged like it was no big deal but my quivering chin mustâve given me away. Bertha knelt in front of me and took both my hands in hers and said, âYour mama loves you very much, Charlie. But sometimes, she just loses her way.â
Loses her way? Iâd be happy to draw her a map to show her the way back to being my mama again.
I stared out into the dark woods below us and sent my laser thoughts zipping through the trees and over the creek and down into the streets of town to wherever Wishbone was. I wanted him to know how much I needed him and what a great life he would have with me. And I didnât even care one bit if Mama had a hissy fit about him.
âI wonder if Wishbone will come get that food in the trap tonight,â I said.
âHeâd be a dern fool dog if he didnât,â Gus said. âAnd something tells me that dog is no fool, Butterbean.â
This time, when he called me Butterbean, instead of feeling like a baby, I felt a tiny smile tugging at the corners of my mouth even though my insides were twisted up knowing my mama had just up and left me like that.
Then I said good night and went back to my room. I sat by the window and watched the heat lightning. Where was Wishbone? Chasing somebodyâs chickens? Fighting with that little black dog down by those trailers? Or maybe he was out there in that trap this very minute eating tuna noodle casserole.
I climbed into bed and thought about Mama. What was her new life supposed to be? Was she going to stay here in Colby forever? Was she going to be a schoolteacher or a librarian or maybe open a beauty parlor down there on Black Mountain Road? Was she going to find a new husband who didnât fight so much? Was she going to have new kids and give them cake with pink and purple flowers when they got home from school?
But what was the use of thinking about that? She had gone back to her old life and there she is and here I am, with my family all broken and scattered every which way.
Outside, the rain had started, slow and soft at first and then faster and louder. The wind picked up and blew cool and damp through the screen. Suddenly I sat up, my heart pounding. I hadnât made my wish today! My mind raced, thinking about my list of things to wish on. Too late for stars. No ladybugs in here. No four-leaf clovers or pennies or dandelions. And then I couldnât believe what happened next. From far off in the trees outside the window came the song of a mockingbird. Hearing a bird sing in the rain is on my list of things to make a wish on. So I closed my eyes and made my wish.
Â
Thirteen
And so my life in Colby, North Carolina, marched on. Rumbling down the mountain on the school bus beside Howard. Ignoring those hillbilly kids who wouldnât give me the time of day. Playing Bible Detective at church. Waiting for Wishbone to eat hot dogs from the pie tin. Gazing up at the stars on the porch with Gus and Bertha. Making my wish every day.
Jackie called every once in a while to tell me about her happy life back in Raleigh. She was going to the prom with that boy Arlo. She and Carol Lee might work at the Waffle House this summer. She got a fake tattoo of a butterfly on her ankle.
I told her about Wishbone and how he was going to be mine and she asked me if I really thought that was a good idea. I told her, yes, it was a very good idea and that was that.
Iâd seen Wishbone three more times. Sniffing at trash in the parking lot of the Dairy Freeze. Trotting along Highway 14 in the rain. Eating something out of a paper bag under a picnic table beside Brushy Creek.
Twice Iâd found the pie tin in the trap empty but I hadnât seen
âI tried to call but she wouldnât even talk to me,â Bertha said. âI sent you and Jackie cards and gifts but she sent âem right back. After a while, I gave up.â She patted my knee. âIâm sorry to tell you these things, Charlie.â
I shrugged like it was no big deal but my quivering chin mustâve given me away. Bertha knelt in front of me and took both my hands in hers and said, âYour mama loves you very much, Charlie. But sometimes, she just loses her way.â
Loses her way? Iâd be happy to draw her a map to show her the way back to being my mama again.
I stared out into the dark woods below us and sent my laser thoughts zipping through the trees and over the creek and down into the streets of town to wherever Wishbone was. I wanted him to know how much I needed him and what a great life he would have with me. And I didnât even care one bit if Mama had a hissy fit about him.
âI wonder if Wishbone will come get that food in the trap tonight,â I said.
âHeâd be a dern fool dog if he didnât,â Gus said. âAnd something tells me that dog is no fool, Butterbean.â
This time, when he called me Butterbean, instead of feeling like a baby, I felt a tiny smile tugging at the corners of my mouth even though my insides were twisted up knowing my mama had just up and left me like that.
Then I said good night and went back to my room. I sat by the window and watched the heat lightning. Where was Wishbone? Chasing somebodyâs chickens? Fighting with that little black dog down by those trailers? Or maybe he was out there in that trap this very minute eating tuna noodle casserole.
I climbed into bed and thought about Mama. What was her new life supposed to be? Was she going to stay here in Colby forever? Was she going to be a schoolteacher or a librarian or maybe open a beauty parlor down there on Black Mountain Road? Was she going to find a new husband who didnât fight so much? Was she going to have new kids and give them cake with pink and purple flowers when they got home from school?
But what was the use of thinking about that? She had gone back to her old life and there she is and here I am, with my family all broken and scattered every which way.
Outside, the rain had started, slow and soft at first and then faster and louder. The wind picked up and blew cool and damp through the screen. Suddenly I sat up, my heart pounding. I hadnât made my wish today! My mind raced, thinking about my list of things to wish on. Too late for stars. No ladybugs in here. No four-leaf clovers or pennies or dandelions. And then I couldnât believe what happened next. From far off in the trees outside the window came the song of a mockingbird. Hearing a bird sing in the rain is on my list of things to make a wish on. So I closed my eyes and made my wish.
Â
Thirteen
And so my life in Colby, North Carolina, marched on. Rumbling down the mountain on the school bus beside Howard. Ignoring those hillbilly kids who wouldnât give me the time of day. Playing Bible Detective at church. Waiting for Wishbone to eat hot dogs from the pie tin. Gazing up at the stars on the porch with Gus and Bertha. Making my wish every day.
Jackie called every once in a while to tell me about her happy life back in Raleigh. She was going to the prom with that boy Arlo. She and Carol Lee might work at the Waffle House this summer. She got a fake tattoo of a butterfly on her ankle.
I told her about Wishbone and how he was going to be mine and she asked me if I really thought that was a good idea. I told her, yes, it was a very good idea and that was that.
Iâd seen Wishbone three more times. Sniffing at trash in the parking lot of the Dairy Freeze. Trotting along Highway 14 in the rain. Eating something out of a paper bag under a picnic table beside Brushy Creek.
Twice Iâd found the pie tin in the trap empty but I hadnât seen
Similar Books
