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freedom. We hadn't heard from Momma in a long time and there was little hope she would come back soon for me and Rodney. Together, Granny and I had

bsp; a lot of responsibility now.

"'Well, you call me if you have to leave and you

be extra careful, Star. I don't have the strength to deal

with some new big problem.'

"'I know that better than you do, Granny. I keep

telling you that you're doing too much, don't I? I tell

you to leave the wash for me, but you do it all before I

get home from school, and you hardly ever let me do

any of the cooking, not to mention cleaning this

place,' I reminded her.

"She looked at me and laughed.

"'That's true enough,' she said. 'Okay. I'll help

you make the pie,' she concluded and we set to doing

it.

"Rodney was upset that he wasn't going along,

but I promised him we would do something fun with

him on the weekend and he settled for it.

"I don't think I was ever more excited about

anything than I was about going to Steve Gilmore's

house for dinner. I imagine it doesn't sound like much

to you girls to go have frozen pot pies with a boy, but

to me it was my Sweet Sixteen, a school prom, and a

big fancy date all wrapped into one night."

"I would have thought it would be fun," Misty

admitted with those big innocent eyes.

Jade looked away rather than comment and Cat

looked like she agreed with Misty.

"So, after I brought Rodney home from school