A Smidgen of Sky Read Online Free PDF Page B

too. She was on the drill team.”
    I didn’t understand how somebody could be nice and yet walk out on her own kid. And if age had been the problem, how come she hadn’t come back? Wasn’t she curious to see how Ginger was turning out? “Do you know where she’s at now?”
    â€œNo. But she called from Colorado on my sixth birthday and left a message on the answering machine.”
    â€œColorado? You mean she went and turned Yankee?” I could tell Ginger didn’t think it was funny, and I felt kind of bad for teasing. “So what did the message say?”
    â€œJust that she’d call back later. But she didn’t.”
    â€œProbably chickened out.”
    Ginger’s mouth turned into a square of anger. “You don’t know that.”
    â€œDon’t go getting all in a flap. I only meant it would be hard to be gone for a long time and then just call like that.” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Have you ever thought about trying to find her?”
    Ginger screwed her face up like I’d asked the question in Chinese. I fully expected her to tell me I didn’t have a speck of brains. But she just sat there, her mouth half-open, looking like a real doofus. Then she whispered, “How would I do that?”
    I eased back in my chair and took a long, slow look out to the living room to buy myself a few seconds to think. Then I hunched toward Ginger and said the first thing that jumped into my head. “Well, I s’pose the phone book would be a good place to start.”

6

    Â 
    â€œW HICH PHONE BOOK ?” Ginger said. “She don’t live around here.”
    â€œAre you sure? Maybe she moved back.”
    â€œTo the coast?”
    â€œWell, maybe not right here. Maybe Oakdale or Atlanta or someplace.”
    Ginger shook her head. “I don’t think she lives in Georgia, Piper. She called from Colorado, ’member?”
    â€œWe could look on the Internet.”
    â€œWe don’t have the Internet.”
    â€œNo. But the library does. Has a bunch of phone books, too, I think.”
    She scowled. For a few minutes I’d really had her going, but now she looked more put-out than interested.
    â€œHer last name is Hutchings, right?”
    â€œI don’t think so. Daddy said her name was Liman.”
    â€œOkay, hold on.” I scooted back my chair. Mama was perched on the edge of the big recliner, rubbing Ben’s neck. He sat on the rug in front of her, his eyes closed while they chatted.
    I tiptoed over to the kitchen counter and pulled the phone book from its drawer.
    Ginger watched with narrowed eyes. “This isn’t gonna work, Piper.”
    â€œDon’t know till you try,” I said, borrowing one of Mama’s favorite lines.
    I sat beside her and opened the book to the white pages. At first we couldn’t find anyone with the name of Liman. But then Ginger said maybe it was
L-y
and not
L-i.
Changing the spelling worked. She stopped running her finger down the page and sucked in her breath. “Here’s two of them.”
    My heart pumped faster. I hadn’t expected there to be any. “Yeah? Where?”
    â€œHere. Rebecca M. Lyman and Francis Lyman.” Ginger slumped. “But Mama’s name is Tina. These guys aren’t her.”
    â€œOh,” I said. “Maybe they know her. Shoot, they’re probably your relatives.”
    Ginger and I hunched back over the book, as if staring at the names might answer our questions. She twirled a section of hair around her finger and unrolled it just as fast.
    â€œMaybe the next time your daddy’s busy outside, you could try calling these numbers,” I said.
    â€œAnd say what?”
    â€œWell, you could, um, say something like ‘I’m looking for Tina Lyman and wondered if you might know her.’”
    Ginger’s eyebrows scrunched. I could tell she wanted to believe me but wouldn’t let