Pieces of My Mother Read Online Free PDF Page B

hurry. I wonder if my dad even knows where she is. I wonder if he misses her as much as I do. I think he does.
    My dad lifts me up and takes me to my bed. It helps when he gives me a back scratch and tells me more things about the big yellow house. He says the house is more than one hundred years old—that it has an attic big enough to live in, that it has room for a garden, and that we are going to plant corn and tomatoes and giant watermelons in the summertime. I hope Mom finds out about the yellow house that comes with chickens and decides to stay with us.
    â€¢ • •
    It takes forever to get to our new house. Finally we turn onto a bumpy dirt road.
    â€œWhat’s this place?” yells Jamie from the backseat.
    â€œThis is it,” my dad says.
    â€œWe live on a dirt road?” asks Eden.
    â€œSomeday it will be paved,” my dad responds.
    Our car turns a corner, and there it is—a massive, old three-story farmhouse that is yellow just like my dad promised. I eye the enormous oak trees surrounding the house. Climbing trees, I think to myself. Trees to hang rope swings off, and trees to hide in.
    Jamie, Eden, and I run up the steep stairs to see our new house. We race across the shiny linoleum and hardwood floors. The whole house echoes with the sounds of my brothers and me.
    â€œWhich one is my room?” shouts Eden.
    â€œI get the top floor!” says Jamie and races toward the staircase.
    Then we almost run smack into an old man sitting on the stairs. We all freeze. He has white hair and thick gray teeth.
    â€œSo you’re the kids moving in, huh?” he says.
    We stare at each other and then back at the creepy old man. Only Jamie is brave enough to speak. “Yeah.”
    â€œWhere’s your pop?”
    â€œUh, he’s outside.”
    â€œWell, why don’t you get him, because I’ve got a few more things to tell him about the place.”
    We scramble back down the stairs and tell Dad about the old man in the house.
    â€œThat’s the owner. I mean the former owner, Mr. Bonner.”
    I follow my dad back into the house. Jamie and Eden run out to the biggest tree in the yard and start climbing.
    My dad shakes hands with Mr. Bonner, who is still sitting on the steps.
    â€œListen up,” the old man says to my dad. “I’m leaving you that white freezer. It’s full of meat—there’s a whole cow in there.”
    He looks down at the ground like he’s talking to himself. “Should never have done it. I just couldn’t take care of that cow after my wife passed. It was her pet. Thought it was the right thing to at least get the meat out of her. But it wasn’t the right thing, after all. I won’t go into details, ’cause I never believed in superstitious stuff before, but my wife has been letting me know .”
    â€œWell, is it a good cow? I mean, is it okay to eat?” asks my dad.
    â€œIt’s good, all right. I don’t know how to explain some things anymore, but I think it’s best it goes with the house, like the chickens and all the white furniture.”
    My dad looks confused and says, “Why don’t you go find those chickens, Melissa?”
    Mr. Bonner grins at me with his gray teeth and says, “Go out around the barn. That’s where they do their hanging out.”
    I’m out in the field in no time. It’s hot, dry, and sweet smelling. The yellow grass brushes up over my ankles and I wish I hadn’t worn my flip-flops. I could run faster across the field in my blue Keds.
    The little barn in the center of the field leans to one side. It looks more like an old fort, but inside are bales of dusty hay, burlap sacks, empty nesting boxes, and cobwebs everywhere. I reach my hand into one of the sacks and pull out a handful of cracked corn. It’s gritty and leaves a fine white powder on my palms. I think it must be the chicken food for sure, so I take a handful with me