Laughter in the Wind Read Free Page B

allow her to keep the old liver in her freezer until then. As far as moms go, her mother was pretty understanding, but she knew better than to push her luck.
    She gathered up her things, including the empty chip bag and Vienna sausage can from which had come lunch. The Vienna sausages were a common meal for her when fishing, a tradition started by her father when he first began taking her to the river. Rebecca realized as she started the trek back toward her house that she hadn’t spent any of her fishing time as planned, thinking about where her life was headed.
    She walked back across the fields, turning south after dropping her tackle and pole behind the barn at her house. If she took them to the house, her mother might want to go along and then they would have to drive. Rebecca was enjoying her time alone, walking through the cool, crisp autumn air. Her reverie was interrupted by a piece of tin clanging loudly where it had pulled free from the screws that held it in place on the back corner of the barn roof. Rebecca made a mental note to tell her father about it before the wind caught it and carried it off into the field. She cut across the back pasture behind the barn to the county road on the other side, climbed over the fence and followed the dusty gravel road to her grandmother’s house.
    Grandma was her father’s mother but nearly everyone around, relative or not, called her by that name. She was a head shorter than Rebecca but her personality was larger than life and she was the toughest woman Rebecca had ever met. Her nine children were all grown, with children and grandchildren of their own, but Rebecca knew they would all bow to her will if she exerted it. She usually opted to let them live their own lives and only used her power if she were really upset about something, like the time Uncle Fred forbade Aunt Jean from giving their daughter a baby shower because she wasn’t married. By the time Grandma had finished with him, Uncle Fred had stepped meekly in line and even grilled burgers and hot dogs for all the ladies who attended the shower.
    On the outside, Grandma appeared to be the typical gray-haired country grandma, wearing glasses, black SAS shoes and usually with a hint of something she had cooked that day adorning the front of her favorite duster. Behind that clever disguise was a combination teacher, psychologist, doctor and mind reader. Rebecca didn’t think Grandma was afraid of anything, especially letting her feelings show, including showing you where you stood with her. Rebecca suspected that was why everyone loved her so much. She wished she had that same fearlessness but she tended to be more like her Dad, self-contained and less expressive when it came to emotions.
    Grandma saw her walking up the sidewalk and came to the door to meet her. She grabbed Rebecca on either side of her face as she came into the house. Rebecca felt the skin of her cheeks tighten as she was pulled down to Grandma’s height for a bear hug. It was hard to breathe when she squeezed you but the intensity of the hug told you to never doubt how much she loved you.
    “Are you keeping out of trouble?” Grandma asked when she finally released her from her bone-squeezing grip.
    “No, are you?” This was always asked and answered the same way. Grandma said she had so many kids that she was always in trouble with one of them. Rebecca was at the age where some of her older cousins really had been in trouble a time or two, whether from minor offenses such as staying out too late, skipping class or missing work, or more serious brushes with the local police over drag racing through town. She had the reputation in her family of being squeaky clean and she thought it actually concerned Grandma that she hadn’t gotten into any trouble, so she always pretended that she had. Grandma knew the truth and knew her grandchildren better than they knew themselves.
    “What have you been up to today?” Grandma asked, sitting down in her