Donelle Dreese Deep River Burning (epub)

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.He had never looked at Adena quite this way before, by focusing entirely on the landscape.The town appeared to him to be a shallow bowl in a sea of ridges and valleys with rolling hillsides guarded by hawks.The spring had been plentiful with rain leaving the maples and oaks broad and lush, but a patch of trees in the distance looked pale and dry from his vantage point.Like most people in Adena, he didn’t think much about what was underground anymore.“Out of sight, out of mind,” he said to himself.But he knew that whatever he saw above ground was a reflection of what was happening below ground, and what he saw on that long, slow afternoon drive brought tears to his eyes and tied a knot in his stomach that he couldn’t loosen.Chapter 4ResistanceAutumn arrived in Adena.Leaves waved from the trees like a thousand golden starfish surfacing for a quick view of the world.Despite the efforts of her parents to appease her, Denver had been in a mood that allowed the word no to flow from her tongue before her ears took the time to hear what was being said.She wasn’t afraid of this need to say no, only a little perplexed by its desire to surface when she spoke with her parents, especially her mother, Savannah, who always worked so hard to do and say the right thing.It was this need of her mother’s to be perfect that aggravated Denver to the degree that at times, she would situate herself as the unholy force in the house to counterpoint her mother’s attempts at sainthood, to be the yang in a house with too much yin.There were times when Savannah wanted to say no, but never did.Denver knew it by the way her mother clenched her jaw and turned her eyes toward the floor in hopes of stuffing her objection down into a quiet part of her body where it could be dissolved.But it never dissolved.It became a migraine headache or back pain or resulted in endless hours of sewing with pricked fingers.On one cloudy afternoon Savannah asked Denver to remove a strange, hand-written sign from the front yard, but Denver said “No, I like it.It gives the yard character.” It read “Hello No, We Won’t Go!” She knew what the sign meant, and admired that it expressed a steadfast resolve to stand up for something.She wanted her mother to do the same.To say no.To unlock her jaw and have a voice.She went up to her room, got her camera from the top shelf of her closet, took a photograph of the sign, and the next day posted the photograph on the kitchen refrigerator with a magnet.Still, there was no reaction from “Saint Savannah.” No anger.No annoyance.Nothing.She was afraid her mother had become numb.She walked out to the yard, pulled the metal prongs of the sign out of the soft soil and threw the sign in the trash.“Thank you, Denver,” her mother said as Denver walked into the kitchen for a drink of water.“Will you help me tear up this lettuce?”“Sure.Hand me a bunch.”Savannah handed Denver a colander stacked with tall, crisp leaves of romaine lettuce.“What was wrong with that sign?” Denver asked.“Why did you want me to take it down?”“Because it is inappropriate,” Savannah replied.“How so?”“Because it’s confrontational.”“But what if the people who don’t want to leave Adena are right?” Denver asked.“Why should they be forced to leave their homes?”“It’s just better to not get involved.”“Dad is already involved.Doesn’t he have an opinion?”“I’m sure he does, but that doesn’t mean we have to advertise it.”Denver tossed a few pieces of the crunchy lettuce into her mouth.“I just don’t want to be afraid of what other people think,” Denver stated.“You’ve got an independent mind, just like your father.” Savannah smiled.“Isn’t that a good thing?” Denver handed her mother the colander full of torn lettuce.“Yes it is.” Savannah rinsed the lettuce under cold water and looked out the kitchen window before she began speaking again.“When you get older, Denver, I want you to promise me something.”“Okay.”“Promise me that you will make your own money [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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