Free Love Lift Me by Synthia St. Claire Page A

school.
    “It’s
just that money, it sure ain’t her character. You don’t want to be like that, Mary
Katherine. Little Cindy Reid ain’t never pulled a weed from a patch of ground,
nor shucked an ear of corn in her whole blasted life. She jus’ sits back with
her hand out, and when she puffs them big ol’ lips out and flips that fancy
blonde hair around, most is content to look past her crooked smile and give her
what she wants.”
    Mother
uncrossed her arms and pulled the visor down as we rolled through the last
light out of Wilmington and towards the afternoon sun. It was nice to know not
everyone in town was fooled by that stuck-up snob. As mother straightened her
hair in the mirror, sparse gray strands of it would stick to the moisture in her
fingers and fall into her lap. “Lord help me...I’m gon’ be bald-headed as that
fella in them commercials ‘fore it’s all said and done.”
    “Do
you think Hale would-” I paused, sure of what she’d say, but I completed my
thought anyway, “… do anything with her?”
    She
blew out expressively and rolled her eyes. “Hale? Wouldn’t surprise me, honey.”
    “I
saw his truck out by Daddy’s garage this morning. He’s volunteered to help out
with the equipment for free since Dale said he was getting too old to work on
it anymore.”
    “That
ain’t why he’s doin’ it, little girl. You know he’s jus’ tryin’ to get you to
take him back. Thinks he can go at it through the back way, I spec.” She looked
over at me and raised a brow. “From the looks of it, it’s already workin’.”
    I
shook my head. No. She was wrong.
    “I
still haven’t forgiven him, Momma. Even if I do, I’m done with Hale Ellis.”
     
    The
rest of the drive was mostly uneventful, and the old Lincoln handled the bumpy
gravel driveway leading up to our property with ease. Once we’d arrived at the
house, my sister Abby came bounding off the porch to greet us.
    She’d
inherited mother’s golden-honey hair, which she’d braided along the sides and
tied together into one long ponytail, and her eyes shone with the same
sparkling deep blue of our father. Most folks didn’t peg us as sisters right
off the bat, since we’d gotten almost the exact opposite features. Still, she
was just as precocious as I had been at that age and we did share the same
dimples when we smiled, so it didn’t take long for strangers to catch on to our
relation.
    Abby
was wearing a short, faded green dress with strips of white trim along the
edges that I instantly recognized. It had belonged to me at one time, but it
was now relegated to the pile of hand-me-downs that grew steadily larger in her
closet. The dress fit her well enough, so it had become part of her collection.
She was nearly as tall as I was and could probably go through and pick out the
clothes I’d left behind in my room if she wanted.
    As
she raced to mother’s side of the car, Abby had to turn her head to avoid the
dust that followed us in. When it settled, she pulled open the door and helped
mother out and up the front steps ahead of me.
    “I
got it now, sugar,” mother said to her as she eased into one of the wooden
chairs surrounding the kitchen table.
    “Can
I go to Katie’s house?” Abby shot back quickly. “Miss Highlander is taking her
to the mall after dinner and she invited me.”
    “You’re
gonna let that money burn a hole in your pocket, ain’t ya?” Mother said to Abby
and then turned to me, “She earns a few dollars sweeping up or doing some
chores and out she goes to spend it.”
    “That
sounds familiar, except you and Daddy never gave me an allowance,” I said and set
down the bag of groceries I was carrying. Hanging out the top of the bag was a
plastic-wrapped box of generic vanilla wafers. They were a sad replacement for
the triple chocolate cake I’d had my eye on at the deli counter. “I had to save
up Christmas money, or birthday money.”
    “Or
whatever your granny slipped you when we went for a