Once in Every Life

Fear cut through Jack's new resolve. He stared out at the choppy blue waves, their peaks gilded by the bright sun. "I forgot about the dance." "You gonna go this time?"

"I don't 'spose I'd be too welcome after the Fourth of July dance."

"Aw, hell, Jack, that was almost a year ago. 'Sides, you

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put too much store in that one time. So you went a little bit crazy. So what? Hector Jones has done a hell of a lot worse after a little too much whiskey. Give yourself a chance."

Give yourself a chance.

Jack's fingers tightened around the paddle. The wood felt warm and slick; the whooshing slap of the waves against the sides of the boat seemed thunderous in his ears.

"Lissa and the girls would sure like to go." He said the thought aloud, testing it.

Jim leaned back, dangling his arms over the side of the canoe. "I'm sure they would. Hell, Minerva and Lissa are probably figurin' out what to wear right now."

Jack imagined the look on Lissa's face when he told her they were going to the dance. An anticipatory smile pulled at his lips.

A new start was a new start.

Tess shifted her weight, moving Katie slightly to the left on her lap. In front of them, on the kitchen table, McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader lay open. Pale, throbbing candlelight splashed across its yellowed pages.

"What's that letter, Katie?" Tess murmured tiredly, pointing to the first letter of the sentence.

Katie plopped her elbows on the table and cradled her chin in one hand. "I think it's a-b. Or a-d."

Tess smoothed the back of her hair. "Here, watch." Carefully she drew a big picture of a B in the air.

Katie watched intently, frowning. "Is it a B?"

"Very good. Now, what's next?"

Tess lifted her now blurry gaze from the reader and glanced into the living room. Savannah was sitting on the sofa, hunched over her old linsey-woolsey dress.

"How's it coming, Savannah?" she asked quietly.

Savannah lifted her head. Even from this distance, Tess

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could tell that the girl's eyes were bloodshot. "Not so good. This dress ain't?"

"Isn't," Tess corrected automatically.

Savannah sighed. "This dress isn't ever gonna look good."

Tess felt a pang of empathy. She knew how important it was for a young girl to look good at her first dance, but there was nothing Tess could do. She couldn't sew a stitch, and besides, there wasn't any fabric or any time. They didn't even know for sure if Jack would let them attend the dance.

"I wish there was something I could do to help...." Savannah's hand fell in her lap. She looked across the room at Tess. "You ... you really think Daddy's gonna let

us go?"

Tess licked her lips nervously. "I hope so, Savannah. But there's something ... different about how your daddy feels about this. I think he's scared, and I don't want to push him too hard."

Savannah's mouth turned down in a pitiful frown. "Yeah, I know."

Tess tried to force a bright smile. "But you never know, kiddo. Strange goings-on have been happening around here."