In the glow of the kitchen lantern, I spotted the lone tear in Reba’s eye. “So, what’s now?” she asked.
“It’s only Temporary, Rebie. She’ll be back before we know it. I just hope the plan works. We’ll find out in the morning.”
“Fannie, notice how this catawampus started when the Wild Bunch come here?”
“How do you see that?”
Reba folded her hand. “Etta leaving with Sundance. That’s when Sadie’s trigger got pulled. Pushed her over that ledge.”
I shook my head. “It was before that.”
She glanced up at the ceiling. “Yes’m, suppose so. Plopped out in a cabbage patch with nobody around to comfort her ’cept for devil mother.”
“Rebie, we’ve all had our sorrows. Some just can’t seem to recover from them.”
“You dids, though. Came outta that orphanage with a straight spine.”
“It didn’t feel so straight at the time.”
“Mmm. Never does.”
Excerpt from:
Carolyn Dennis-Willingham 