Page 24 - Reason To Sing by Kelita Haverland
P. 24
Reason To Sing
The second bedroom upstairs is called the ‘the spare room.
This is the fanciest room in the house. It stays empty for most
of the year except when Grannie or other company comes to
visit.
I love Grannie’s visits because she spoils us! She showers
us with love and lots of food! She always brings a carload
full of home-made pies. Rhubarb and sour cream raisin are
my favourites. Oh, and butter tarts with walnuts. She brings
so many loaves of white bread, they take up the whole back
seat. Then there are the treats - Wagon Wheels, Cracker Jack
popcorn, toasted coconut marshmallows and black licorice
Twizzlers.
I sometimes wonder why my three older brothers never
get to sleep in the spare room. They sleep in a tiny bedroom
down in the basement. Two bunk beds, next to where the coal
is stored. I call it the dungeon. One time I just about died down
there when one of them tried to suffocate me with a pillow. It’s
a horrible room and I don’t like spending any time down there.
My three brothers are actually my half-brothers. You see,
Mommy was married to another man before she met Daddy,
so the boys have a different father than Vian and me. Well, they
did have a different father. He died before I was born. From
some sickness called suicide. Mommy told me he used to get
drunk and leave her and the boys alone all weekend without
any money. And sometimes he would hurt her and give her
bruises. That made me feel sad for Mommy. I don’t know what
sickness that is, but I don’t like that he was mean. My Daddy
would never hurt Mommy.
I’m always scared when I have to go down to that eerie
basement. There’s no banister on the stairs and the only light
is from a single dangling bulb with a long string attached to it.
And it’s at the bottom of the stairs. With every single creaking
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