Lena by Jacqueline Woodson Page B

would probably be writing her every other day or so. Dion get attached to a person, she holds on.
    â€œY’all know to call me the minute you step off that plane, right?”
    â€œPlanes scary, Miz Lily?” Dion asked. We were getting close to the ticket place and she started walking slower.
    â€œShoot, no.” Miz Lily smiled. “About the most exciting ride there is.”
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    I wrapped my arm tighter around Miz Lily’s waist. Maybe she’d never been in a car going ninety down a dark highway or sitting high up in a truck trying to take a narrow turn. Me and Dion had. We’d seen the inside of more vehicles than we’d ever want to again. Maybe a plane was exciting but I was ready for all my riding to end.
    Miz Lily had made special arrangements with the stewardess ladies on the plane. We were to sit right up front where they could keep a watch on us and Marie’s dad was going to have to show identification before we could leave with him.
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    There weren’t many people waiting for the plane. I tried to give Miz Lily the money she’d given us that morning but she shook her head. “You hold on to that. Buy you and Dion something nice when y’all get back to Chauncey.” She hugged me and Dion again, handed us our tickets and walked with us into the plane. Dion walked carefully, touching the backs of the seats and looking all around her. The stewardess lady was standing right up front. She smiled at us, then talked to Miz Lily while me and Dion put our knapsacks under the seats in front of us and sat down.
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    â€œYou-all call me when you get to the airport, you hear?” Miz Lily said. “Make sure you call me the minute you get there.”
    Me and Dion nodded. Miz Lily gave us another kiss.
    â€œMiz Lily,” I said. “I really appreciate everything—”
    â€œHush, child.” She waved her hand at me and smiled. “I should be thanking y’all for giving me some time away from that job of mine. Put your seat belts on.”
    We buckled our seat belts while she stood watching us. Dion threw her a kiss. Miz Lily made as if to catch it and put it in her purse, then headed slowly down the aisle. I watched her make her way out of the plane, my eyes filling up.
    â€œYou think we’ll ever see Miz Lily again, Lena?” Dion asked. She reached up over her head and turned the light off and on a couple of times, then put her hands on her lap and looked at me.
    Seemed like someone was always leaving someone, like that’s the way the world worked—people were born and people died, people left and people came. It was like the world was saying you can’t have everything you want at the same time.
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    â€œI reckon we’ll see her again,” I said. “And you know something, girlie? Even if we don’t, we had a chance to make a good friend.”
    â€œAnd to eat some grits!” Dion said.
    I laughed.
    Dion frowned, thinking. “It’s okay to miss her, huh? And to talk about her from time to time?”
    When I nodded, Dion smiled, then took out her book of poetry and started reading. She’d be all right, that Dion would. And me? Maybe I’d be all right too.
    Outside, the sun was hanging pretty over some mountains in the distance. I watched the pink and gold light spread itself over the green for a while, making a promise to myself to write about it one day. All of it. The stuff I’d written down in the book Marie gave me and the stuff I’d left out too. I wanted to remember it. And I wanted Dion to remember too. Mama told me once that if you remember all the places you been in your life, you’ll have a better sense of where you’re going. I pressed my shoulder against Dion’s and smiled. I had a real good sense of where we were going.
    After a while, I took the sandwiches out of one of the brown paper sacks, folded the wrinkles out of the bag and started sketching. I wanted