Page 87 - Reason To Sing by Kelita Haverland

Chapter Fourteen

I just didn’t want to admit it. My gut is telling me that this
wouldn’t be okay with our mom. I can’t imagine ever telling
her. Jimmy would be in all kinds of trouble and we’d never be
able to visit him again. I quickly push that thought right out
of my mind.
Jimmy is looking super-relaxed now. The three of us sit
quietly for a few minutes just soaking up the music. It sounds
incredible. I am fully immersed in the organ and the girl singer.
Man, she sure is wailing. Everything is magnified in my head.
Jimmy perks up and grabs something from inside the
brown paper bag beside his chair. It’s an oblong black box
that looks like a watch case. He doesn’t bother to take the
watch out of the box. Instead, he grabs the piece of cardboard
attached to the watch. There, behind it, is a long, narrow, sheet
of white paper with individual yellow dots, all in a row. There
must be at least nine or ten.
What could this be? These dots are not just dots on a piece
of paper. Or are they? I’m not really sure and I am too timid
to ask. Perhaps I don’t really want to know.
Jimmy tears off three of the dots, handing one to each of
us.
“Okay, just do it like this,” he demonstrates, putting the
small dot onto his tongue. “Now … you girls do it.”
Vian and I look at each other for a split second, silently
concurring that we will do what Jimmy asks. He is our big
brother after all. He would never do anything to hurt us. We
place the small yellow dot on our tongues.
“You girls are going to feel really great in a little while. This
is something incredibly special. You’re going to love it. Just go
with it, okay?” he settles back into his comfy. chair.
“What’s it going to do?” My lips feel fuzzy as I try to form
the words. “I am already feeling pretty relaxed, that’s for sure.”

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