The Sweetest Hallelujah by Elaine Hussey - Chapter Sampler

8/22/2019 The Sweetest Hallelujah by Elaine Hussey - Chapter Sampler

1/12


2/12


3/12

DID YOU PURCHASE THIS BOOK WITHOUT A COVER?If you did, you should be aware it is stolen propertyas it was

reported unsold and destroyed by a retailer.

Neither the author nor the publisher has received any paymentfor this book.

First Published 2013First Australian Paperback Edition 2013ISBN 978 174356047 1

THE SWEETEST HALLELUJAH 2013 by Peggy WebbPhilippine Copyright 2013

Australian Copyright 2013New Zealand Copyright 2013

Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilisation of this work in wholeor in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now knownor hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or inany information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the permissionof the publisher, Harlequin Mira, Locked Bag 7002, Chatswood D.C. N.S.W.,

Australia 2067.

This book is sold subject to the condition that shall not, by way of trade orotherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the priorconsent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in whichit is published and without a similar condition including this condition being

imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in anyform. This edition is published in arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A..

This is a work of ction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either theproduct of the authors imagination or are used ctitiously, and any resemblanceto actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales isentirely coincidental.

Published byHarlequin Mira

An imprint of Harlequin Enterprises (Aust) Pty Ltd.Level 5, 15 Help StreetCHATSWOOD NSW 2067

AUSTRALIA

and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its corporateafliates. Trademarks indicated with are registered in Australia, New Zealand,the United States Patent & Trademark Ofce and in other countries.

Printed and bound in Australia by Grifn Press


4/12

One

ThedayBillieslife changed, she was already knee deep in trouble.

Shed been playing with Lucy after her mama had said not to.

Lucys little brother, Peanut, had something that was catching, but

Billie wasnt the kind of scaredy-cat who would stop seeing her best

friend just because grown-ups said so.

To make sure her mama didnt know, Billie told Peanut if he

opened his trap about her being over there, shed make him sorry he

was ever born. He believed her, too. Around Shakerag, the other kids

knew that if they messed with Billie shed beat the snot out of them.

Calling out, Bye, Lucy, she set out for home. But the only waythere was past dead Alices tree.

Billie hadnt even been born when they found the body of eleven-

year-old Alice Watkins up in the woods behind Gum Pond cut into

six pieces. Still, she knew the stories. Everybody in Shakerag did.

Somebody with a heart black as sin had snatched Alice from Tiny

Jims juke joint right out from under her daddys nose. Then heddone his dirty deeds and got clean away.

Alice was still hanging around like some avenging angel. Shed

warn you when something bad was about to happen. Youd hear

the harmonica in Tiny Jims Blues and Barbecue all over town, the

sound so mournful youd feel defeated. The smell coming from his


5/12

ela ine hussey8

barbecue pits got so strong youd close your curtains and stuff tow-

els under the door to keep the scent from driving you crazy. And if

you were caught out in the street like Billie, at the mercy of windsthat suddenly shook the trees and rattled the trash cans in the alley,

youd feel as if you were made of glass. One look from a stranger

could crack you in two.

Billie started running. Everybody knew the boogie man got bad

little girls first.

She ran as hard as she could past Tiny Jims juke joint and barbecueplace where Alices arms had the longest reach. The moaning notes of

the harmonica poured so loud out the door she put her hands over her

ears. It wasnt any great surprise that when something awful was afoot,

blues swarmed around his place like clouds of angry locusts. Tiny Jim

was dead Alices daddy.

Billie pumped her long skinny legs into double time. With the

blues breathing down her neck, she rounded the street corner so

fast she nearly tripped on a crack. She flailed her arms to regain her

balance, but something even worse was up aheadAlice moaning

in the cedar tree by A.M. Strange Library. When she took up resi-

dence in a tree, the birds hushed singing. Theyd leave nests shaded

from the sun and safe from predators to perch on power lines where

anything in the air could swoop down and carry them off. Even thesquirrels gave up their high-wire acts when Alice was near.

It was a wonder Alice would even come to the library, dead or

not. Mean old Miz Rupert laid down so many rules, you might as

well stick your fingers out so the librarian could slap them as you

walked through the door. She even acted like she owned the books.

Billie only went when her mama made her.Billie sped past the library toward the neighborhood park. Struck

by a bright idea, she veered through the entrance so fast she fell and

tore the right leg of her homemade shorts. Now shed have genu-

ine evidence shed been playing in Carver Park like shed said she

would. Her mama would think shed fallen right through the slid-


6/12

The sweeTesT ha llelu jah 9

ing board. It was rickety as all get out. Everybody fell through if

they didnt mind their ps and qs.

Billie stomped around in the sand pile till she got enough sandon her shoes to look convincing, and then she flew out of the park

and up the steep hill past the Mt. Zion Baptist church.

When she cut down Maple Street, Billie did a victory jig. Home

was safe. A house painted robins egg blue. Though she liked the color

of Lucys house best, yellow like sunshine, she was proud of where she

lived. It was the only house on the block that didnt need painting.A

neglected house aint nothin but a sign of pure dee laziness, her grand-

mother always said.

Everybody called her grandmother Queen, including Billie. She

ruled the roost. If you walked into Queens house, youd answer to

her, no matter who you were. She was probably waiting behind the

door now to ask Billie a gazillion questions. Shed want to know

about every minute Billie hadnt been under her watchful eye.

Lollygagging, Billie waved at Miz Quana Belle Smith watering

petunias on her front porch next door.

Hows yo sweet little mama doing, chile? the old woman called.

Fine, thank you, Miz Quana Belle.

Billie couldnt put off going inside any longer. If she stayed in the

yard, Miz Quana Belle would keep her the rest of the afternoon ask-ing foolish questions. Waving once more, Billie skipped up the steps

and eased open the door.

The house smelled like lye soap and fried chicken. As if Billie

needed further evidence that Queen was in the kitchen bent over

an iron skillet with a dishpan of soapy water nearby, she heardMa

Perkinson the Philco radio giving her silly advice. Queen nevermissed an episode.

As far as Billie was concerned, the only good thing aboutMa Per-

kinswas that she might cover up the sound of a little girl who didnt

like rules, sneaking down the hall.

Is that you, Billie? Queen hollered.


7/12

ela ine hussey10

Yes, maam. Queen would whip you if you didnt mind yourmanners. And talking polite topped her manners list.

Has you been playing with Lucy?Billie could hear her grandmother shuffling around in the kitchen.

She crossed her fingers behind her back. Everybody knows if youtell a lie that way it wont count. No, maam.

House shoes scuffed on worn linoleum, and then Queen herselfappeared in the kitchen doorway carrying with her the scent of sugarand grease. She was tall, voluminous and black as a stovepipe. Hereyebrows looked like two gray woolly worms above her dark eyes,and her grizzled hair stuck out every which way. Youd be scaredto death of her if you didnt know how shed read the Bible to youevery night, then sing you to sleep.

Billie tried not to squirm while her grandmother looked her upand down. How you done tore them shorts?

In the park.Mmm-hmm, Queen mumbled. That Peanuts got spinal men-

ingitis. If I catches you over there Ill whup you good. You hear?Yes, maam. I hear.All right, then. Queen wiped her hands on a big bibbed apron.

Be quiet, now. Yo mamas sleepin.When Queen went back into the kitchen, she left behind the scent

of supperfried chicken, boiled okra and fried apple pies, Billiesfavorites except for the okra, which tasted like slime. She grabbedthe paper off the hall table, then tiptoed to her room. Now was herchance to read the comic strips before Mama and Queen separatedthe paper into a gazillion sections. Beetle Baileywas her favorite, butshe liked Dennis the Menace, too. He wasnt scared to try any ad-

venture.She plopped onto the homemade quilt on top of her bed. Queen

had let Billie pick her own design, and shed picked Wedding Ring.Someday she planned on marrying and having four kids. And youcould bet your bottom dollar theyd have a daddy in the house, notsome long-distance daddy youd never seen and only heard about


8/12


when the other kids in the neighborhood yelled things likeprison

bratandyo daddy aint nothin but a jailbird. That was the main rea-

son Billie had earned her quick-fisted reputation. She didnt knowif her daddy was in prison or not, and Queen and Mama wouldnt

tell her. Either way, she wasnt about to let anybody say dirty rotten

things about him.

Billie perched on the bed among her treasuresa shoe box with

a blue rhinestone earring shed found on the ground near Glenwood

Cemetery at the south end of Shakerag, half a robins egg shell fallenfrom a tree where Alice had been seen, a red birds feather Billie

might glue on her summer straw hat, and two smooth white rocks

shed found along Gum Pondanother place her mama had told

her not to go.

She thought the rocks had been dropped by angels. They were

close to the place where Alice had been murdered. Everybody said

angels kept watch over children who wandered up that way. Billie

knew it was true. Shed caught glimpses of their golden crowns and

heard the flutter of their great white wings.

She put the angel rocks in her lap, and then she opened the paper

to the comic section. When she did, the scent of barbecue seeped

under the windowsill, drifted along the floor and swirled up her

legs. Billies stomach lurched. It was one thing to have barbecue andblues in your house when there was a pile of ribs on the table and

somebody in the corner with a blues harp in his mouth. But it was

something else when Queen was making fried chicken, and there

wasnt a rib or a harmonica in sight.

Lucy had said her mama was cooking chitlins the night Peanut

smelled dead Alices barbecue. And look what happened to him.Billies hand shook as she tore a page off the newspaper. She was

cramming it under the windowsill when she spotted the date: July

23, 1955. Last weeks paper.

Queen probably had this weeks edition in the kitchen with the

recipes whacked out. As Billie hurried in that direction, trying to


9/12

ela ine hussey12

outrun the bad thing that wanted in, she heard voices from behind

her mamas closed bedroom door.

Betty Jewel, you cant keep that newspaper hid forever. Queensounded like she was on her high horse.

Billies mama said something in reply, but she couldnt hear what

it was.

When you gone tell Billie?

Tell her what?she wanted to know. Billie tiptoed to the door and

put her ear to the keyhole.I cant, Mama. Not yet. I want to get it all settled first.

I been prayin for a miracle, baby.

Oh, Mama. There are no miracles for this kind of cancer. You

might as well accept the truth. Im dying.

The words ripped into Billie like bullets. If she had been Lucy

shed have screamed. But what good would it do? Her lips trem-

bling, she kept her ear pressed against the keyhole, but Mama and

Queen had quit talking. There was the sound of shuffling and the

bedsprings groaning. Queen was probably helping her mama up.

Billie slid away from the door, but she wasnt fast enough.

Billie? Her mama was suddenly there, her color drained so low

she looked like a white woman. Queen towered behind her. Honey,

whats wrong?Her mama stood there like she expected some kind of answer, but

Billie couldnt get past the news of death long enough to think up

an excuse for being outside her door. That didnt stop the woman

who could spot bad intentions a mile away and see a lie even before

you told it.

Oh, Lord. Billie, what are you doing out here in the hall?Billie couldnt see a thing the Lord had to do with it. He didnt

take folks with little kids who wanted to grow up with a mama. He

took people who were too old to get in their flower beds in the spring

and plant their Canadians. Like Queen.

Im on the way to the kitchen to get something to eat.


10/12


Supper will be ready in a minute. Theres no use ruining yourappetite.

Youre mean and I hate you!Her mama looked at her like Billie had split her heart in two, but

she didnt care. Why would her mama die and leave her? She wanted

to smash everything in sight.Young lady, if you speaks to yo mama like that again, Im gone

get my switch and wear you out.Queen was older than God. She had a peacemaker for her heart

and rheumatiz in both hips, but you could bet shed fight tigers be-fore shed allow any sass from the likes of little kids like Billie. If shedidnt mind her ps and qs, Queen was going to catch on that shedbeen listening at keyholes again.

Im sorry, Queen.I aint the one needs no apologizin to. You better tell yo mama

you sorry fore I skins you alive.Wait a minute, Mama. Something else is going on here.

When her mama squatted down, Billie hid inside herself whereshe buried the knowledge that was still screaming through her likea tornado. Outside she became a smooth, clear lake, not a ripple onthe surface.

Im sorry, Mama. Can I go outside now? The dark circles under

her mamas eyes scared her. Up close Billie could see her tremblinghands and her hair falling out in patches. Her mama looked likesomething awful had grabbed a hold and was eating her piece bypiece while Billie had been off paying no attention. Please?

Billie, were you listening at the keyhole?There was no use denying it. Queen might be the one with the

switch, but Mama was the one with the bulldog attitude. She neverlet anything go.

Youre not dying!Oh, baby. Her mama folded her close, and Billie held on. Maybe

if she held on long enough, she could transfer her strength to hermama. Ive been meaning to tell you. I just didnt know how.


11/12

ela ine hussey 14

The doctors can give you medicine. Her voice was muffledagainst her mamas shoulder. They can make you well.

Theyve tried, Billie. Theres nothing else the doctors can do.No! Its not true! Billie tore herself away and raced past them

to the rusty bus parked in a roofless shed under a black jack oakin her backyard. She climbed the ladder attached to the side, thensat in the green plastic lawn chair on top of the bus. She was in herown place now, high up in the sky. The fading rays of sun felt com-forting, like Gods eyes peering down through the oak leaves. Alice

wouldnt dare show up in a tree already occupied by God.Billie gazed upward where she imagined the Holy Face would be.

You gotta make my mama well. Did God listen to little girls whoeavesdropped at keyholes and told lies? If you make my mama well,I promise to be good. She made a sign over her chest. Cross myheart and hope to die.

Quick as she said it, Billie wished she hadnt. What if God reacheddown and snatched her off the bus? Shed never get to see Queenand her mama again.

Billie didnt want to be an orphan. Orphans didnt have mamasto plait their hair in cornrows and make sure they wore clean socksand remind them to say their prayers at night. Maybe God was pun-ishing Billie for not minding her mama.

I promise I wont go to Lucys again when Queen tells me notto. And I wont tear my shorts and tell lies about hating my mama.

Tasting the salt from her own tears, Billie swiped at her face withthe sleeve of her T-shirt. I know Im not a good little girl, God. Butplease, dont take my mama.

If God heard her, Hed send a sign. Thats what He did in theBible. Maybe it would be a rainbow. Billie looked up through the

limbs of the oak tree, waiting.


12/12

Click here to fnd out more >
http://bit.ly/12CpWjZhttp://bit.ly/12CpWjZ

The Sweetest Hallelujah by Elaine Hussey - Chapter Sampler

Documents

Transcript of The Sweetest Hallelujah by Elaine Hussey - Chapter Sampler