Once in a Blue Moon Read Free Page A

it, oblivious to the scare she’d given them.
    Upstairs, Crystal slept through it all, oblivious as well.
    A few weeks later, when Lindsay arrived at Miss Honi’s after school one day to retrieve Kerrie Ann, there was a strange woman seated on the sofa. “Sugar, this is Mrs. Harmon,” Miss Honi introduced her. She sounded upset. “She’d like a word with you.”
    The woman, short and thin-lipped with bobbed gray hair, explained that she was with Children’s Services. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but your mother’s been placed in custody,” she informed Lindsay gently. “I don’t know for how long—the charges are pretty serious.” Later Lindsay would learn that Crystal had been arrested for selling cocaine to an undercover cop. “But I don’t want you to worry. It’s my job to make sure you and your sister are well looked after until . . . well, for the time being. We have good homes lined up for you both.”
    Lindsay struggled to absorb what the woman was telling her. Crystal in jail? Homes for her and Kerrie Ann? Why would they need homes when they already had one? Her mind was reeling, but she squared her shoulders and, with all the courage she could muster, looked Mrs. Harmon straight in the eye and said politely but firmly, “We’re fine, thank you. We don’t need anyone’s help.” She glanced toward Miss Honi, who gave her an encouraging nod.
    “I’m afraid it’s not up to you. Or me. It’s the law,” Mrs. Harmon said regretfully. “Now, why don’t we go on upstairs and get your things?” She stood up, no doubt expecting Lindsay and her sister to follow.
    But Miss Honi had other ideas. “They ain’t going nowhere. I can look after ’em myself,” she declared. Her hand dropped protectively onto Lindsay’s shoulder. “Why, they practically live here as it is.”
    Mrs. Harmon cast her a dubious look. “Are you a relative?”
    Miss Honi shook her head but didn’t back down. “It don’t make no difference. I couldn’t love these girls any more’n if they was my own flesh and blood. They’ll be just fine here with me until their mama comes home. Ain’t that right, sugar?” she said, smiling down at Lindsay.
    “I’m sorry, but it’s out of the question. We have rules. You have to be licensed.” Mrs. Harmon’s tone grew brisk. “Please, Miss, ah, Love, don’t make this any more difficult than it already is.”
    “There ain’t nobody more fit to care for these girls than me,” Miss Honi insisted, digging in her heels. “So if it’s a matter of filling out some form, just show me where to sign.”
    “It’s not as simple as that. For one thing, where would they sleep?” Mrs. Harmon glanced pointedly around the shabby two-room kitchen unit, identical to the one Lindsay and Kerrie Ann lived in upstairs except for the homey touches Miss Honi had added, like the plush recliner and lace doilies on every surface and the glass case in which her angels were displayed, angels of all shapes and sizes that she’d collected through the years, one of which, a delicate ceramic figure with gold-tipped wings, was presently cupped in the palm of Kerrie Ann’s small hand as she sat cross-legged on the carpet, whispering secrets in its ear, seemingly unaware of what was going on.
    “I’ll make room,” said Miss Honi.
    Mrs. Harmon remained firm. “Even if you could, how would you feed and clothe them when—if I may be frank, Miss Love—it looks as if you’re barely subsisting yourself?”
    Miss Honi’s cheeks grew red. “We’d manage. It don’t take money to love a child.”
    In the end there was nothing to be done about it. The law was the law.
    “Nooooooo!” Kerrie Ann wailed when Mrs. Harmon took her by the hand and began tugging her toward the door. She tore loose and darted over to Miss Honi, clinging to her. “I want to stay with you !”
    Lindsay noticed that in all the upset, her little sister had accidentally trampled the angel she’d been playing with; it