Free Same Sun Here by Silas House Page A

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                                                  long line of people waiting to vote. Mamaw says she can’t remember ever seeing so many people turn out. It’s because people feel so strongly about this election, with lots of them for McCain and Palin and some of them real big on Obama. I wasn’t allowed to go inside with Mamaw when she voted, so I stood there and studied everybody, and I thought it was really cool that people would stand in the rain to make their voice be heard. It made me want to be old enough to vote.
    When she came out, Mamaw nodded and smiled to the rest of the people in line, but then this man I’d never seen before — he had a big bushy beard and his mouth was real little and real red — hollered and said, “I bet you enjoyed pulling that lever, didn’t you, tree hugger?”
    “You bet your ass I did,” Mamaw said. I had never, ever heard her cuss before. Some of the people in line laughed, but most of them just kept their eyes on the ground. I felt like I should defend Mamaw, but I didn’t know what to do. So I just gave him the dirtiest look I could muster up. He laughed at me, which caused his little red mouth to spread out and show his yellow teeth. I was so mad I couldn’t stand it, but when we got in the car Mamaw told me to let it go. “He’s just stupid, honey. Ignorant people don’t know any better, but stupid people WANT to be stupid. So just forget it.”
    I am really glad your dad got to come home. It sounds like you all had a real good time together. Mine won’t be home until Thanksgiving, but I talked to him on the phone last night. Our conversation didn’t go so great because I was telling him how the mine is getting bigger and bigger and how worried I am over it and all that and he said that I should just accept that one person can’t change things.
    I don’t believe this. Last year in history we read about a student in China who stood in front of a tank when the government didn’t want to listen to any young people’s complaints. After that, people started to pay more attention to how people in China had lost their freedom.
    But when I said that, Dad just said, “Yeah, and he’s never been seen since, either, has he?” So, see, he completely missed the point. Because I think the point is that if that boy hadn’t stood up for what he believed in, then people wouldn’t have paid as much attention. And also that tank driver refused to run over him, although they were killing people left and right. So that says something about him, too. Have you ever heard this story? This happened ages ago, like in the ’80s sometime, if I am remembering right.
    When I told Mamaw what Dad said, she just shook her head and she tried to