It was morning. She needed to go inside, but couldn’t. Maggie felt a sob rise in her throat. She tried to hold the tears back but they would not stay. Quickly, she got up and crossed the porch. No one must see her cry. The screen door creaked a little when she opened it. Patches woke up and followed her out the door. As soon as she got to the drive, she ran. The trail to the branch was damp. The sand clung to her bare feet. After she climbed down the steep bank, she sat down on her favorite rock and pulled her knees under her chin. Awful sobs came from her stomach and erupted in her vocal cords. The sobs hurt like nothing she had ever felt before. Her wild grief frightened her. Eternal minutes passed. Her chest ached, her eyes burned. She didn’t want to feel this. She wanted it to go away. Slowly her cries lessened in intensity. When they stopped all together she felt spent.

The August wind blew through the branch and wrapped itself around her then went on its way. The peace that comes after tears of grief settled over her. In that moment Daniel felt very near to her. It was as if he placed his hand on her shoulder and said, "It's okay, Maggie."

Patches, of whom she had been totally unaware, gently licked her cheek. She leaned over and whispered, "I'm okay boy. Thanks for coming with me." The dog thumped his tail. He seemed relieved.

For several minutes Maggie sat and stared at the shallow water as it flowed passed. Then, she scrubbed her eyes with the hem of her nightgown to remove all traces of her tears. When she felt calmer, she stood and made her way back up the trail. She heard a rumble, John Carl's truck was coming down the drive. He stopped the truck when he saw her. She walked over to him and placed her hands on the rim of his open window.

"Morning," he said.

"Hi."

He squinted at her and asked, "Have you been crying?"

Maggie ducked her head. She hadn’t waited long enough, her eyes must still be red. She felt John Carl put his hand over hers. She looked up at him.

"Are you okay, now?" he asked.

"Yeah,” she lied.

He squeezed her hand. “I hate the thought of you crying all by yourself. Come get me next time, okay?"

She said, "Okay," even though she knew she would never have the guts to do it.

John Carl looked down the drive. In a tired voice he said, "Well, I best be getting on to work now.” He pulled his hand away from hers and placed it back on the steering wheel. Maggie let go of his truck. He smiled at her and said, “I’m coming home for lunch.”

The question leapt out of Maggie’s mouth before she could stop it, "Is Brenda coming?"

He shook his head. "No, she don't like it here much."

"I love it here."

"I know you do. See you at lunch." John Carl waved.

Maggie watched his truck until it disappeared down the road.

Garnet and Maggie's mother were on the front porch talking when she got to the house. She heard Garnet say, "I'm worried about my boys. Billy's so angry. He's angry with Daniel for dying, he's angry with himself for not being able to save him and he's mad at John Carl for not being able to help. Then there's John Carl. He won't talk. He won't even---" Garnet looked up and saw Maggie.

"Morning, young lady."

"Morning Garnet, morning Mama."

"Maggie Alecia Peters what are you doing running around in you night shirt?" her mother asked.

"I just went for a walk Mama. Patches was with me. Nobody saw me."

"Except John Carl," her mother corrected her. "You are too big to be running around like that.”

Maggie didn’t say anything, but she thought, Seems I’m getting too big to do a lot of things.

*

When Maggie finished her shower she found Corey Jean propped up in Billy's bed with a big pile of story books. "Sit down," she said. Maggie obeyed. Corey Jean snuggled up beside her. "Now," she said opening a book with a chicken on the cover. "Once upon a time there was this little chicken named Dolores. She wore ruby slippers. Everywhere she went she said, 'There's no place like home.' All the other animals said, “Then go home.' So, she did."

Maggie looked at the book. "That's not what it says."

Corey Jean rolled her eyes. "Well, how am I supposed to know what it says when I can't read yet? You think I'll ever be able to read?"

"Sure, why do you ask?"

"Daniel never learned to read so good. He used to make up words to go with the pictures. His stories was better than the books though." Corey Jean sighed.

"I know, he used to do the same for me when I was your age."

"Maggie, you think animals go to heaven?"

"I think so. Uncle Woody's dog, Barney, might be up there playing fetch with Daniel."

"Nuhun," Corey Jean said shaking her head.

"Why not?"

Corey Jean rolled her eyes. "Barney didn't go to heaven ‘cause he chased chickens."

"Oh," Maggie said.

"I bet Patches will go to heaven though. Don't you think?" Corey Jean asked.

"Yes. He's a good dog."

"Read me this one." Corey Jean handed her a battered copy of the Ugly Duckling. "This one was Daniel's when he's little like me."

*

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

At noon John Carl came home for lunch. Maggie was waiting for him by the oak tree. When he got out of his truck he handed her some sympathy cards from work. "Would you take these in to Mama? I need to ask your daddy something."

"Sure," she said.

A few minutes later, John Carl came into the house. Maggie was at the table picking at her sandwich. He sat down beside her and asked, "Have you ever been to a drive-in movie?"

Maggie shook her head.

"How'd you like to go to one with me tonight?"

Was he asking her for a date? Would Daddy let her go? No. But maybe by some miracle. She stuttered, "Uh, Uh, yeah, sure, but Daddy won’t let me."

"Yes he will. I just asked him. Don and Skeeter's coming too."

"Oh," Maggie said. He was just taking all the little kids, and he saw her as one of them. This was not a date. But maybe, just maybe, John Carl had asked the boys to come because he knew her daddy would never let her go to the movies alone with him. She hoped that was it.

John Carl went into the kitchen to get himself a sandwich and a glass of tea. He came back and sat down across from her. He took a sip of his tea and said, "We'll be leaving around seven-thirty because we've got to go pick up Brenda."

"Brenda?"

"Yeah, I called her before I left work."

Maggie felt sick. She wasn't anything to him but one of the tag along kids.

*

The afternoon sky was cloudless. Don, Skeeter and Earl were playing on top of the old shower house. Bee Bob and Corey Jean were still too little to climb up there.

Bee Bob stood below crying. Corey Jean was beside him. She shook her finger and said, "You stop it Don Woodrow or I'll tell Mama."

"Tattle tale, tattle tale," Don said.

Bee Bob ran over to Maggie. "They won't play," his little voice shuddered, "with me."

Don chanted, "Titty baby, titty baby. Bee Bob's just a titty baby."

Maggie climbed up the side of the shower house. She glared at Don and said, "You get down, now."

Skeeter and Earl scrambled down. Don laughed and said, "You aren't my mama, and you can't make me."

Maggie pulled herself over the edge beside Don. He backed away.

"Maggie's gonna whip you," Corey Jean said from below.

Don laughed. "I'd like to see her try. She isn't nothing but an old meally mouthed, weak-kneed girl."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I was you," Skeeter yelled at him.

Maggie grabbed Don's arm and yanked it behind him. She spun him around so fast he stumbled. Then she put him in a head lock. She hissed in his ear, "You take back what you said."

Don squirmed in her arms. "No."

Maggie tightened her grip.

"Aw cut it out," he said. "take it back. I take it back." Maggie let go of him.

From below Skeeter said, "See I told you."

Bee Bob frowned at Don and said, "You're such a poot head." He then turned and smiled his thanks to Maggie.

Don climbed down. “Come on,” he said. He and the boys headed for the side of the house to play cars.

When Maggie got down she asked Corey Jean, "Aren't you going with them?"

"No. I'm sick of playing with boys."

*

At five-thirty Maggie heard John Carl's truck in the drive. She watched him head toward the back door. As soon as he disappeared around the house, she ran out the front door. She was NOT going to the movies with him and Brenda. For a while she wandered along the branch. She found a secluded water hole and hid behind a rock. An hour later Don and Skeeter found her throwing pebbles into the water. The splashes had given her away.

"What are you doing down here?" Don asked. "Shouldn't you be up at the house making yourself beautiful for John Carl?"

"I'm not going," she said.

"Oh, yes you are. John Carl's been looking for you."

"So."

"So? Do you think he asks me to go to the movies every night of the week? He's never asked me before. And if you don't go I suspect he won't take us neither." Don glared at her.

"Yeah," Skeeter said. "Get off your fat buns and come on."

Maggie didn't move. "I'm not going."

"Well, you have to tell John Carl you're not going because I'm not." Don's face was flushed with anger. "If we don't get to go because you aren't, I'll never forgive you for as long as I live."

Reluctantly Maggie said, "Okay, I'll tell him and I'll make sure he still takes you two."

Skeeter said, "You better."

Maggie followed the boys back to the house. When she stepped inside John Carl wrinkled his forehead. "You're not ready. You are coming aren't you?"

She wanted to scream No! at him, but instead the most amazing thing happened. She said, "Yes." Then she said, "I was just fixing to go get ready." Where had that come from? She went into Daniel's bedroom. Her mother was ironing Maggie's white eye-let blouse. She handed it to her. "You always look real pretty in this."

Maggie took the blouse and frowned. "What difference does it make Mama. I'm just one of the kids to him."

Her mother patted her cheek and said, "I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"I am," Maggie said. She pulled her jeans out of her paper bag.

"No you're not. If you were you wouldn't be going tonight." Mama picked up her make-up bag. "A little of this might sway John Carl's opinion of you."

Did she want to sway his opinion? Was it even possible? Maggie didn't know. She took her mother's make up bag.