Lena by Jacqueline Woodson

Dion too but mostly about the town and such. Miz Lily kept going, “Oh, Lord” and “Oh my” and “A professor, huh? Well, ain’t you something.”
    There was a lot of talk about social work agencies and how Marie’s dad was gonna handle the paperwork and all. Seemed he’d met a bunch of people working in foster care right there in Chauncey. I could hear Miz Lily explaining to him about red tape and them having to contact next of kin and such. “But looks like there’s really no next of kin to worry about. Seems these girls really on their own, don’t it?” she said, her voice dropping down to a whisper.
    Marie’s dad must have been going on and on because Miz Lily had gotten real quiet.
    â€œI guess this is it, huh, girlie?”
    Dion looked at me and smiled. “I guess so.”
    Neither of us wanted to say it right out loud. Didn’t want to jinx it.
    â€œWell,” Miz Lily said. “If you wasn’t taking them in, I sure would. They’re good girls, sweet and polite as they could be. But you’re right—get them back to what’s familiar and back to their old school. No doubt they’ll catch right up.”
    Me and Dion looked at each other again and grinned.
    I could hear them talking over a plane schedule. I bit my lip, trying to hold back my excitement, but Dion was grinning. We had never been on a plane before. Rich people took planes. I felt rich inside, like everything about the world was falling in place and there wasn’t so much empty inside of me anymore. I grabbed Dion’s hand and squeezed it.
    â€œWe going on a plane, Lena,” she whispered.
    â€œYeah, girlie. Me and you way up in the air.”
    Dion bounced herself against the back of the sofa. “A plane,” she whispered again. “Me and you up in the air.”
    â€œWhat’s the first thing you gonna do when you get . . . get to Chauncey, Lena?”
    I smiled. “I’m gonna hug Marie and then I’m gonna touch all the walls in her house. And then I’m gonna send Larry back his money and tell him we all right.”
    â€œI’m gonna buy some bubble bath,” Dion said. “And tomorrow morning I’m gonna eat a ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast!”
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    It was a two-hour flight back to Columbus where Marie and her dad would pick us up and drive us the hour and a half back to Chauncey. There wasn’t any airport in Bowling Green. Miz Lily would drive us to Nashville and put us on a plane there, she said, and we’d be back to Chauncey by dinnertime. I felt my heart lift up in my chest. The sun was shining through the living room window, making a bright patch on the hardwood floor. I felt like that patch of sun—all bright and warm.
    Dinnertime, I kept thinking. Home by dinnertime.

Seventeen
    It was near eleven o’clock when Miz Lily got to fixing us some sandwiches and packing up some store-bought cake for us to take. Me and Dion helped, putting food in bags and washing up the breakfast dishes we’d left in the sink that morning. After a few minutes, I had to go upstairs to the bathroom, sit down on the toilet and let myself cry. It was almost over. There wasn’t nothing to be afraid of anymore. Marie’s daddy wasn’t going to let anything happen to me and Dion, and my own daddy was gone. When I tried to get a picture of his face, it was all blurry and far away. Dion would be the one to remember it, to remember the good things about him—the way I was the one to remember them about Mama.
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    When I came back downstairs, Miz Lily was still getting us ready for the trip and talking about Marie’s dad.
    â€œHe’s a good man. I can tell by talking to him. All he’s been through trying to find y’all. But if you girls don’t like it, you know you can always come back to my house,” she said, her eyes getting all soft.
    I tried to remember what I