More Perfect than the Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

ran out the door and across the yard to the barn.
    “Grandfather! Grandfather!” I screamed.
    Grandfather came out of the barn.
    “Mama says it’s time. The baby is coming!” I said. I could hardly catch my breath. “We have to get Maggie.”
    Grandfather ran into the barn to get a horse.
    “Go in with your mama. We’ll be back.”
    He galloped off, out the gate, down the road to Maggie’s house.
    I took a deep breath and ran into the bedroom to sit with Mama.
     
    “Read me the part again about the cows floating through the barn,” said Mama, lying on the bed.
    I read her most of my journal, even the mean parts, as we waited for Maggie. But Mama didn’t mind. She smiled sometimes. Sometimes she laughed out loud. Sometimes she pressed her lips together and didn’t say anything, and I knew she hurt.
    After a long time I heard noises outside. I ran to the front door and opened it. Maggie and Grandfather were there, Maggie getting off the dappled horse.
    “How is she?” called Maggie.
    “I’ve been reading to her. Sometimes she laughs,” I said.
    Maggie smiled and kissed me on the cheek.
    “That’s wonderful,” she said. “I’ll go take care of her.”
    She went past me, and when she did I felt suddenly safe again.
    Grandfather sat heavily on a porch chair.
    “It has been years since I galloped on a horse,” he said.
    “You looked like a hero,” I whispered.
    “Well then, I need a piece of cake,” he said.
    He looked at me and then got up and put his arms around me.
    We stood that way on the porch for a long, long time.
     
    My journal lay on the floor, untouched. Grandfather ate cake. We didn’t talk. I called Anna on the phone, but no one answered. I washed the dishes, then saw that I’d already washed them. I swept the floor and peeled carrots and potatoes to put in a pot of hot water for soup. It wasn’t until the goslings pecked at the door that I burst into tears. I went out to the porch, but it wasn’t me they were looking for. It was Mama.
    “When’s Jacob coming home?” asked Grandfather.
    “I don’t know,” I said.
    Hurry, hurry, Papa.
    “Maybe I’ll go to the barn and do some work,” said Grandfather.
    I heard Mama cry out, and then Maggie’s soft voice.
    “No, please,” I said to Grandfather. “Stay with me.”
    Grandfather held my hand and we watched the road for a dust cloud that would mean that Papa was coming home. It seemed like hours went by. But the wagon didn’t come. And didn’t come.
    And then, later, when I was almost asleep, my head on Grandfather’s shoulder, it was Maggie who came out to the porch, smiling, to tell us that the baby was here.
    “Already?” Grandfather was astonished.
    “Yes,” said Maggie. “Cassie, Sarah wants to see you.”
    “Me?”
    Maggie nodded.
    “Go on, go on.”
    “Mama’s all right?”
    “Your mama is fine,” said Maggie.
    I stopped at Mama’s door. That baby was inside. I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want to know it. I pushed the door open and saw Mama, lying in bed, her eyes closed. Next to her was a wrapped bundle. Mama turned her head and smiled at me.
    “Thank you for reading to me, Cassie. You did a fine job.”
    I stood still.
    “Come on,” said Mama. “Come in and see the terrible baby.”
    I looked at Mama, shocked. I moved closer. Mama patted the bed for me to sit, so I did.
    And then she picked up the bundle and gave it to me.
    I sat there, staring at Mama. After a moment I looked down. My heart beat faster. The baby had a round head and no hair. The baby had dark, dark eyes that looked up at me, a little like Beatrice’s eyes. The baby yawned then, making the smallest sound. I looked at the tiny fingers, with tiny nails. I bent down, remembering what Papa had said about how I smelled when I was a baby. Papa knew.
    “This is supposed to be Beatrice,” I whispered.
    Mama smiled.
    “That may be,” she whispered back to me, “but that is a strange name for a boy.”
    A boy.
    “I don’t have