The Secret Hum of a Daisy Read Online Free PDF Page B

of living in her house, where she never once lied or took advantage or did anything untrustworthy. I’d watched her put change into donation cans and wrap blankets around homeless people and take in more strays—dogs, cats, people—than she should have. Including me and Mama. She reminded me of a thousand-year-old tree. Her roots went down and her arms went out and there was no knocking her over with anything less than a bulldozer.
    â€œBut Mama didn’t want this place to be home or we would have come back. There was a good reason Mama stayed away.”
    â€œI’m sure she had reasons. But don’t you think you need to decide for yourself if they were good ones?”
    I pulled away and chewed my thumbnail.
    â€œYour grandmother tells me you haven’t been eating either,” Mrs. Greene said.
    There it was, the moment I’d been waiting for. She wouldn’t just leave me here to starve to death.
    â€œNo. I haven’t been hungry.” I tried to look especially pathetic. “Grandma is a terrible cook.”
    Lacey nodded. “Look at her, Mom. She’s dropped five pounds at least. And she was skinny to begin with.”
    Mrs. Greene heaved a big sigh. “I hate doing this. But you don’t seem to be adjusting well, so we’re all going to take a break.”
    â€œWhat?” Lacey and I both said together.
    â€œYour grandma and I decided you and Lacey could talk on Saturdays, but not during the school week. We aren’t coming back to visit for a couple of months.”
    â€œBut . . . !” I said, words failing. Lacey just looked down at her hands.
    â€œYou have to give yourself a chance here. And hanging on to us isn’t the way to do it,” Mrs. Greene said.
    It felt like the last little thread connecting me to anything familiar and loved snapped and I was falling and falling down some bottomless hole. It was hard to catch my breath.
    It must have showed in my face, because Mrs. Greene said, “If you need help, Grace, you have to ask for it. I know you don’t want to talk about what happened, but—”
    â€œIt’s fine. I’ll be fine.”
    Mrs. Greene didn’t push and instead tried talking to me about my first day of school tomorrow and how she believed in me. How much fun Lacey and I would have writing letters to each other since Grandma didn’t have a computer and wouldn’t get me an e-mail account anyway. Mrs. Greene wanted me to send her poems, and I didn’t tell her how I wasn’t going to be writing, that somehow not writing was going to keep Mama close. It was the kind of thing I could have told her Before, but instead, I just kept my arms crossed tight and my mouth closed. Lacey still stared at her hands.
    â€œWell, aren’t you two a pair. Come on, then.” Mrs. Greene stood up.
    She took my hands and helped me off the sofa. Then she kissed my forehead. I put my arms around her and held on tight, wondering how I’d ever let go. Lacey wedged herself in.
    â€œThis isn’t forever, Grace. Just for a little while,” Mrs. Greene said.
    Lacey hugged me tight, and then I watched them drive away.

6
    Twin
    Hearts
    In my dream, Mama sat on a wide, flat rock in the middle of the river. It was nightfall, and the deep green of the water moved in slow motion beneath her feet. There were two sandhill cranes, one on each side of her, like guardians. Mama stood and smiled, arms outstretched. I wasn’t surprised to see she matched the cranes with her own set of wings spread wide. My heart swelled at seeing her again. I had so much to tell her.
    I walked into the water, braving the cold and the pointy rocks.
    The cranes startled and flew off, frightened by my clumsy splashing. Then, as though they knew the way and she didn’t, Mama flapped her own great wings and flew off after them, giving one last sorrowful look over her shoulder, blond hair streaming behind in soft