Free Maude by Donna Mabry Page B

me, and the last thing I remembered was the blue
sky over my head.

Chapter 8
    The faraway sound of a pitiful wail woke me. I didn’t
open my eyes right away until the horrible memory of
what I’d seen rushed back to me. When I looked
around, I was in my own bed at home, and Sister Clark
was sitting next to me in a chair.
“James?” I asked.
    Sister Clark bit her lip. “I’m sorry, Maude, he’s
gone to be with the Lord.”
I sat up and looked for Lulu. “Where’s Lulu, is
she all right?”
Sister Clark patted my hand. “Mrs. Hopkins was
sitting next to you and caught her when you passed
out. Helen took her home with her. We didn’t think
you’d be up to looking after her for a spell.”
I tilted my head and listened to the mournful
keening coming from the main house. “Mom
Connor?”
“She’s in a bad way, Maude, James being her
only child and all. The doctor wanted to give her
something, but she wouldn’t take it. I’ve never seen
anyone grieve so. If she doesn’t start leaning on the
Lord soon, I’m afraid she’ll lose her mind.”
I jumped out of the bed. I was wearing a
nightgown, and I pulled it off with no modesty at all
and dressed in a top and skirt as fast as I could. I
pushed my feet into my shoes, called, “Thank you,”
over my shoulder, and ran out of the house. Sister
Clark went after me, expecting me to go to the house,
I guess, but instead I ran right out of the yard and down
the street. More than anything, I needed to hold my
baby in my arms.
I ran up the steps and through Helen’s door
without knocking. Helen was in the kitchen with both
of the girls. She turned when she heard me and was
about to say something when I grabbed up Lulu and
started to leave. “I’ll be at Mrs. Connor’s,” I cried,
slowing up just enough that I didn’t upset Lulu.
I was back at the Connor house in only a few
minutes. I went in the front door and followed the
sound of the crying to the Connors’s bedroom. Mom
Connor was sitting up in the bed, her face swollen and
her long hair mussed around her shoulders. Sister
Clark was trying to get her to drink something, but she
turned her head this way and that to refuse it.
I walked to her and stuck Lulu in her
grandmother’s arms and then went and stood against
the wall. Mom Connor looked down at the little round
face and the blonde hair. Lulu looked up at her with a
curious expression. She had never heard such a sound
come out of a person, but instead of being scared, she
tilted her little head and watched her grandmother’s
face to see what was happening. Mom Connor stopped
the wailing and gulped some air. She stared down at
the little girl who looked so much like her father, then
she held Lulu’s cheek up against her own and began
rocking her. The baby reached up and patted her
grandmother’s cheek and then twined her fingers in
Mom Connor’s long, soft hair.
Sister Clark held the glass back up to Mom
Connor’s lips, and she sipped a little of the mixture the
doctor had left. I left Lulu with her grandmother and
went back to my cabin alone. Sister Clark sat with the
two of them until they’d both fallen asleep. Then she
came to check on me.
She found me rocking on the cabin porch,
wearing one of James’s shirts on top of my dress. It
was a heavy, red wool plaid that he wore on chilly
mornings. I guess I was staring off in the distance and
didn’t notice the preacher’s wife until she spoke to me.
“You knew just what she needed, didn’t you, Maude?
She’s going to be all right now. The two of them are
sleeping. How are you doing?”
“I don’t even know. It’s like this isn’t real, like it
never happened. He was here just this morning. The
cabin is still full of him being here. I had to fuss at him
to get him to eat his breakfast because I didn’t want
him to try to play ball on an empty stomach. Now he’s
gone. I’ve been sitting here in this shirt with the smell
of him still in it. He’s never going to run up the walk
at the end