Page 194

fears. Our smiles glowed, love was in our eyes, and I

wished only that this moment could go on forever. I played harder to keep it so.

I was singing too--my voice had never been as

strong, never so filled with hope. I was so into my own performance, I had nearly finished before I realized the entire audience had joined with me, even

the students who had come to mock me.

Cary was beaming. Aunt Sara was smiling

broadly and Uncle Jacob was nodding as if he had

seen something special. Even May, who had

experienced so much less, clapped and shouted my

name. Grandma Olivia looked pensive and Grandpa

Samuel was shaking his head and laughing.

Way in the rear, I thought I saw Kenneth Childs

standing by the door. Before the deafening applause

ended, he had disappeared.

But he would be there that first morning as he

had promised.

I waited for him on the porch. The morning sun

wasn't very old or high and the air was still quite cool.

Cary had already gone to the boat with Uncle Jacob.

May was still asleep and Aunt Sara was cleaning up

after breakfast, humming to herself, pausing

occasionally as if she heard Laura's voice, and then

nodding and smiling and going on as usual.

His jeep made the turn toward the house. A

long time ago, perhaps, my mother waited like this for

him. That was before the great lies began and, like

some monster, took over all our lives for a long time. This was the beginning of the end of that, I

thought. This was the beginning of truth. Lies had

brought me here, but I would stomp them out. There

was a reason for all this then.