Heartsong (Logan 2)

She laughed and rocked. Then she stopped

again and her face grew darker, her eyes small, her

lips taut. She shook her head.

"I was screaming upstairs, screaming at the top

of my voice. It's time. It's time! The door was locked.

She wanted me to lose the baby, you know. Oh, don't

look at me that way," she said, turning to me. "You're

always taking her side."

"Grandma," I said softly. "It's Melody." She shook her head. Was she telling me the

truth or was everything so jumbled in her mind that

her words were like one crossword puzzle confused

with another, the answers all to the wrong questions? "She left me, no doctor, no midwife, no one. I

guess you never knew that part, huh?" A crazed twist

shaped her lips and she smiled so coldly it put ice in

my veins. "I delivered my own baby and when she

came up and found the baby was all right, she nearly

die

d herself with disappointment. You never knew. I

can see it on your face, Nelson. You never knew." She turned and rocked. I held my breath until I

saw her chin begin to quiver and the first tear emerge. "Grandma," I said. "Please, try to look at me

and see me. Please."

What had they done to her? Why was she so

much more confused, lost. How long had she been

kept in this room? Her rocking stopped again. She

took a deep breath and lowered her face until her chin

rested on her chest. Then she closed her eyes and in

moments was asleep.

I sat, waiting to see if she would wake and go

into another exclamation, drawing thoughts,

memories, words from some secret place in her mind.