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Eleven year-old, Heddy cand talk to her deceased grandmother, Nonni
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So far, Heddy talks to her deceased grandmother, Nonni. A stranger has moved to the island and only Heddy knows about him. She has a new friend, Lester. Her brother Willis has been injured in the war and her family waits for information.
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Lester can't come over today. He has to help Mrs. Collette with sorting the mail. Three days a week the boat comes from the mainland, it's filled with all kinds of things. Momma and I walk there every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
Lester peeks out from behind the curtain when he hears us come in. I can tell he hasn't had to take a bath. His hair is all willy-nilly and he has something crusty on the corner of his lip.
"Hey, Heddy," he calls out. He takes a step out from behind the curtain.
Mrs. Collette isn't having it. She puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head. "Get back to work, Lester. They came for their mail, not to visit with you.
He looks away, cheeks flushing pink. "Yes, ma'am."
My momma doesn't ever make ugly faces, but I know when she gets mad or doesn't like something. Her left eyebrow flickers upwards, she looks around real quick and then her lips just disappear. Willis used to be able to imitate her perfect.
"Here's your mail. Looks like you got a letter from your sister there. Good news, I hope." Mrs. Collette leans onto the counter. She looks through the stack of mail before handing it to Momma.
"Thank you," Momma says, taking the envelopes from Mrs. Collette's hand. "Have a nice day." She motions for me to head to the door, then stops. "I realize Lester is a big help here at the post office, but do you think he can come to the house one day this week?"
Mrs. Collette grins, and it isn't a nice grin. Her teeth are long and yellow. "I wouldn't say he's much help. Gets in the way more than anything else."
Momma smiles. "Then you won't mind if he comes over."
I look past Mrs. Collette, Lester stands there with his fingers crossed.
"I suppose that will be alright." Mrs. Collette let's the smile fall away from her face. "I don't care one way or another."
"We'll be by in the morning to collect him."
We walk along the road in silence. I look up at Momma.
"I don't think she likes him."
Momma looks at me. "I think you might be right. That poor boy, stuck here all summer with her. She's just going to use him like hired help, except she isn't going to pay him. Well, I'm going to make sure that little boy has some fun. He's a child, for goodness sake. He needs a mother."
"He's got a mother. Least he told me he did."
"Here he doesn't. Just that cold aunt."
I nod. Momma sounds like that Baptist preacher all wound up. "Cold as a witch's tit," I offer.
She stops, eyes wide. "Heddy, where did you hear that?"
"School."
"I never want to hear you say that again. Do you understand?"
I nod, not trusting myself to answer.
A few more steps in silence before she starts talking again. "I swear I think she opens some of the mail and reads it."
"You should ask her."
Momma wipes sweat from her brow. "Honestly, I'd rather not know."
"I could ask Lester."
She smiles at me. "That's something you should never do. Ask one member of a family to divulge secrets of another. It's not nice."
I nod. I don't think Lester would have a problem telling us.
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Momma puts more of Willis's old clothes on the bed for Lester to try on. She sends him in the bathroom with an armload of shirts and pants, then oohs and awes when he comes out.
"Can we go?" I ask after he comes out wearing Willis's blue shorts and a striped t-shirt.
Momma nods. "Y'all stay out of the water. Ocean is churned up today."
"Okay." I hollar as we run down the stairs.
Lester learned real quick the trick to getting across the hot sand. He ran like cat with his tail on fire to the edge of the water.
"We can build a castle. Put a real deep moat around it."
We start digging in the wet sand. He's kind of slow at first but after a while he is packing the walls with handfuls of wet sand.
"This is huge." I step back to look it over. "You're a darn fine castle builder, Lester."
He smiles. "I've never done it before. Thanks."
"Shoot, here comes a wave. Block it." I say, stretching my arms around the base of it. "We probably should have built it further up ... but, oh well."
Lester starts digging a deeper trench around it. "This might help."
Lester is pretty smart. He probably would know if Mrs. Collette was reading the mail. "Have you ever seen Mrs. Collette open other people's mail?"
He sits back on his legs. "No. But she holds some envelopes up to the light. Why?"
I shrug. "Just wondering." I don't say that my momma thinks she does. "Is Mr. Collette nice?"
Lester shrugs. "Nice enough. I found his whiskey hiding spot."
I feel my jaw dropping open. Mr. Collette drinks whiskey. "Does your aunt know? "
"That I found it? No."
"Does he know?"
"Yep. He winked at me and said that the stuff in that bottle was the key to a happy marriage."
Another wave comes rushing up and sweeps away the corner of the castle. Lester rushes over and starts packing more sand.
"Where is it hidden?"
Lester smiles. "It's behind the wood pile. Uncle Wayne says it's safe there because my aunt won't go near it. Said she saw a snake in the wood pile once. Never has gone near it again."
I laugh thinking about the little snake in our garden. I guess she'd never step foot in there either.
"Do you miss your momma?"
Lester nods. "More than anything."
"Momma said you needed her. She feels bad you're stuck with them."
"Your mom is nice. My mom is like her in a way ... except she's far away."
"This stupid war. One day, it'll end and all the brothers and daddies will come home and you'll get to go home to your momma."
"I sure hope you're right."
I hope so to.
