freedom. We hadn't heard from Momma in a long time and there was little hope she would come back soon for me and Rodney. Together, Granny and I had
&n
bsp; a lot of responsibility now.
"'Well, you call me if you have to leave and you
be extra careful, Star. I don't have the strength to deal
with some new big problem.'
"'I know that better than you do, Granny. I keep
telling you that you're doing too much, don't I? I tell
you to leave the wash for me, but you do it all before I
get home from school, and you hardly ever let me do
any of the cooking, not to mention cleaning this
place,' I reminded her.
"She looked at me and laughed.
"'That's true enough,' she said. 'Okay. I'll help
you make the pie,' she concluded and we set to doing
it.
"Rodney was upset that he wasn't going along,
but I promised him we would do something fun with
him on the weekend and he settled for it.
"I don't think I was ever more excited about
anything than I was about going to Steve Gilmore's
house for dinner. I imagine it doesn't sound like much
to you girls to go have frozen pot pies with a boy, but
to me it was my Sweet Sixteen, a school prom, and a
big fancy date all wrapped into one night."
"I would have thought it would be fun," Misty
admitted with those big innocent eyes.
Jade looked away rather than comment and Cat
looked like she agreed with Misty.
"So, after I brought Rodney home from school