Excerpt
She chose to ride her bicycle to her aunt’s house after supper rather
than take the old car out again. The heat of the day had given
way to a pleasant evening, the breeze cooler now. The breath of it
on Tyne’s face and neck seemed like balm to her hurting heart. Just
being able to get out of the house, following an almost silent dinner,
made her feel better.
It hurt to be on the outs with her mother, and the harsh words
that had passed between them hurt even more. Tyne knew that their
earlier conversation would be related to her dad in minute detail.
The thought of his fury when he heard that she planned to marry
Morley made her insides clench like a tightly balled fist. Should she
tell Aunt Millie? Should she ask Aunt Millie to intervene? But knowing
her aunt as she did, Tyne quickly answered her own questions
in the negative. Millie Harper, her dad’s older sister, would have no
compunction about giving her brother a harsh tongue-lashing. And
then he would accuse Tyne of talking about him behind his back
“Why am I afraid of my own dad?” she said aloud as she stopped the
bike in front of a neat bungalow surrounded by a white picket fence.
But to such a rhetorical question no answer came to her mind.
She leaned the bike against the fence, removed a copy of the Emblem
Echo from the back carrier and let herself into the yard through the
gate. A branch of honeysuckle tugged at her dirndl skirt as she brushed
by the fragrant hedge. Carried on the breeze, the scent followed her up
the path. It was a scent from her childhood, bringing memories that
gave her a sense of peace whenever she came into this yard.
“Hello, Tyne,” a voice hailed her from the veranda, “I see you’ve
brought my paper at last.”
Tyne bounced up the wooden steps. “Sorry, Aunt Millie.” She bent
to kiss the cheek of the buxom woman with greying hair who sat on
a wicker settee, fanning herself with a copy of The Saturday Evening
Post. “We were late getting the paper out. One of the pressmen didn’t
show up for work.”
Millie Harper chuckled. “That must have irritated your dad something
awful.”
Libros Libertad 