Read Online When Autumn Leaves: A Novel by Amy S. Foster - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Amy S. Foster
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be, someone who could fit right into my shoes. Like there is someone out there who’s livin’ my life, and I’m livin’ theirs. That make any sense to you at all?”
Pearl said nothing for a moment, taking a long, hard look at the woman before her. “Well, I don’t rightly know if I can help you, Sugar. But if I had it to give, I’d give you a good hard dose of courage. I know when people don’t make their own decisions it’s usually because they don’t reckon they’re smart enough or good enough to make the right ones. But everybody gets it wrong sometimes. That’s just part of life. We have to be strong and give it a go anyway.”
Dolores’s eyes looked pleadingly toward Pearl. “Don’t you have anything that’s like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like a dose of courage?”
Pearl gave out a great hoot of laughter. “Nothing but a big ole jug of moonshine out back there.” Pearl took Dolores’s hands, pulling her up from her seat. “Now wait a minute, don’t go lookin’ like someone shot your dog.” She stood there, holding her hands for a moment, deciding. “Now, I think I can help you, but I can’t promise you nothin’. You know the first day of spring is tomorrow? Well, if the Lord sees fit to give us a storm on that day, well, then, I can give you what you need. If not, you’ll have to wait for next year. All right?”
“Okay,” Dolores croaked.” But . . . I don’t understand . . .”
“Don’t reckon you need to. If everything happens in our favor, then I’ll give you your dose of courage. I’ll give you back the cord that connects you to your body, and it’ll jolt you right into the place you wanna be.”
“Sounds like lightning, Miss Pearl,” Dolores said with half a laugh.
“That’s exactly what it is, child: lightning in a bottle.”
Stella, who had watched the whole dialogue curiously from the doorstep, had never heard of such a thing. She figured it might be one of Pearl’s placebos. Sometimes, just the suggestion of magic was enough to help people make their own magic. But Stella that afternoon saw her grandmother move with determination, gathering the rarest of herbs and checking and then rechecking her journal, and began to think otherwise.
Stella crawled into bed that night too excited to actually sleep. She lay there, in that small space, listening to her grandmother’s slow and patient prayers for rain from down the hall, like a familiar song that she did not know the words to. Stella could not be sure, but she thought she heard the distant drum of thunder south of her open window.
In the gray hours before full morning, Pearl gently brushed a strawberry blonde curl from Stella’s face, and then bent down to whisper in her ear, “Come on, Sugar, get dressed and meet me outside.”
Stella blinked in the twilight. She slid out of bed and dressed quickly in the hall, pulling on the pair of overalls she had slung over her chair the night before. She opened the screen door that led to the backyard. There was just enough light to see her grandmother marking out a circle about nine feet in diameter.
“Whatcha doin’, Granny?” Stella stepped toward the circle, but her grandmother stopped her with a raised hand.
“Don’t go walking in here till I build you a door.”
“A door? What do you mean? And what is that stuff?”
Pearl held a small iron bowl in one hand, and a knife in the other. “For heaven’s sake, child. I’m throwin’ a circle, and this here’s salt. Keeps the hobgoblins out. That’s all you need to know for now.”
Stella’s eyes widened. “Granny, that there’s witch stuff! I done heard you tell about a million folks you ain’t no witch.” Pearl looked at her granddaughter with noticeable exasperation. Stella had seen her grandmother set a bone, lay her hand on a sick person and heal them. In fact, Stella had seen her do any number of things that defied logic or explanation. But this, whatever Stella was seeing, didn’t look
Pearl said nothing for a moment, taking a long, hard look at the woman before her. “Well, I don’t rightly know if I can help you, Sugar. But if I had it to give, I’d give you a good hard dose of courage. I know when people don’t make their own decisions it’s usually because they don’t reckon they’re smart enough or good enough to make the right ones. But everybody gets it wrong sometimes. That’s just part of life. We have to be strong and give it a go anyway.”
Dolores’s eyes looked pleadingly toward Pearl. “Don’t you have anything that’s like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like a dose of courage?”
Pearl gave out a great hoot of laughter. “Nothing but a big ole jug of moonshine out back there.” Pearl took Dolores’s hands, pulling her up from her seat. “Now wait a minute, don’t go lookin’ like someone shot your dog.” She stood there, holding her hands for a moment, deciding. “Now, I think I can help you, but I can’t promise you nothin’. You know the first day of spring is tomorrow? Well, if the Lord sees fit to give us a storm on that day, well, then, I can give you what you need. If not, you’ll have to wait for next year. All right?”
“Okay,” Dolores croaked.” But . . . I don’t understand . . .”
“Don’t reckon you need to. If everything happens in our favor, then I’ll give you your dose of courage. I’ll give you back the cord that connects you to your body, and it’ll jolt you right into the place you wanna be.”
“Sounds like lightning, Miss Pearl,” Dolores said with half a laugh.
“That’s exactly what it is, child: lightning in a bottle.”
Stella, who had watched the whole dialogue curiously from the doorstep, had never heard of such a thing. She figured it might be one of Pearl’s placebos. Sometimes, just the suggestion of magic was enough to help people make their own magic. But Stella that afternoon saw her grandmother move with determination, gathering the rarest of herbs and checking and then rechecking her journal, and began to think otherwise.
Stella crawled into bed that night too excited to actually sleep. She lay there, in that small space, listening to her grandmother’s slow and patient prayers for rain from down the hall, like a familiar song that she did not know the words to. Stella could not be sure, but she thought she heard the distant drum of thunder south of her open window.
In the gray hours before full morning, Pearl gently brushed a strawberry blonde curl from Stella’s face, and then bent down to whisper in her ear, “Come on, Sugar, get dressed and meet me outside.”
Stella blinked in the twilight. She slid out of bed and dressed quickly in the hall, pulling on the pair of overalls she had slung over her chair the night before. She opened the screen door that led to the backyard. There was just enough light to see her grandmother marking out a circle about nine feet in diameter.
“Whatcha doin’, Granny?” Stella stepped toward the circle, but her grandmother stopped her with a raised hand.
“Don’t go walking in here till I build you a door.”
“A door? What do you mean? And what is that stuff?”
Pearl held a small iron bowl in one hand, and a knife in the other. “For heaven’s sake, child. I’m throwin’ a circle, and this here’s salt. Keeps the hobgoblins out. That’s all you need to know for now.”
Stella’s eyes widened. “Granny, that there’s witch stuff! I done heard you tell about a million folks you ain’t no witch.” Pearl looked at her granddaughter with noticeable exasperation. Stella had seen her grandmother set a bone, lay her hand on a sick person and heal them. In fact, Stella had seen her do any number of things that defied logic or explanation. But this, whatever Stella was seeing, didn’t look
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