Mama sounds like she's taking out all her frustrations on that pot of grits. I know she be tired. She works hard. I try to help as much as I can but I know she really misses Daddy. I miss him too. I miss him so much I can sometimes smell him in my dreams. I inhale and try to hold on to the scent of Ivory soap and baby power that clung to his skin like kisses.
Mama's out there hollering about us running late but shoot we be running late every day. I know she hates going to that job. Said it's like going to a grave yard every day. I guess that why every Monday she picks a bunch of flowers to take to the hotel and lays them in the spot where Daddy died. I was too little to remember but I remember my daddy. Granny said that the ancestral spirits took daddy to show their disapproval about the islands being taken over by the corporations. Mama said it was just an accident and no one had any control over what happened except God. She said it had rained the night before and no one had checked the stability of the ground before the men started working on the building. Mr. Johnson said that if Daddy had been a part of the union it might never have happened.
Shortly after Daddy died Granny took sick. She said that her heart hurt her all of the time. Daddy was her baby boy and the last surviving child of the seven that she birthed. She lost three in child birth. One son was strung up in a tree by the Ku Klux Klan. She said another son was taken back to Africa by the sea. Granny's only daughter died while birthing her own baby at the age of fifteen. Sadly, the poor little baby didn't make it either. So Daddy was all she had left. Maybe that's why she loved my Mama like her own child. Mama says sometimes Granny could be a bit overbearing but she accepted it because she loved my Daddy so much.
(c) 2001
All Rights Reserved. No portion of this series shall be used without the prior consent of the author.
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Reviewed by Cathy Montgomery
3/26/2002
I just started reading this and now I see that there's other parts to it. My o my...you sure did 'reel' me in...have to go and read the others now.
As deafness, illness, and demonic forces close in around him, Ludwig van Beethoven must summon his faith and genius to complete the Missa Solemnis—a sacred masterpiece he believes could bring divine light into a darkening world.
Dreamin’ Dreams is more than a collection of stories; it is a celebration of Irish life, adventure, and the unforgettable characters who make growing up in Ireland a journey worth remembering.
