Then she'd say all over again that when I heard
the phone ring two longs and a short, I was to get her or my big
sister Bess or one of my big brothers-that is, when they were at
home.
They weren't ever home any more-neither Bess nor my brothers.
Bess was boarding in town so she could go to high school. And
Clyde and Walker were still off in that army camp, wherever it
was, and Dorris was down at the Caledonia Academy. I didn't know
for sure where Caledonia was, but it wasn't far away, or
terrible, like being in a camp for the World War.
Nobody was home any more, except me and Mierd and Wiley and
Mama and Papa. Grandpa Thad and Grandma Ming were nearly there
because their house was just the other side of the dying
Chinaberry tree.
Finally, Mama hung up the phone, turned around, and stooped
over so I could hug her neck and she could hug mine.
"You have a Dolly Dimple!"
"She's Sookie Sue!"
"Just let me look at her!"
"Grandma saved that flour-sack doll pattern just for me."
"She's fine as silk!" Mama held my homemade doll out at arm's
length, looking first at her purple dress and the freckle dots on
her face, and then at her long, soft legs.
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