Love, Ruby Lavender Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Map

  Aurora County News

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  Aurora County News

  7

  8

  9

  10

  Aurora County News

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  Aurora County News

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  A Reading Group Guide

  Each Little Bird That Sings

  Chapter 1

  Copyright © 2001 by Deborah Wiles

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to the following address: Permissions Department, Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.

  www.HarcourtBooks.com

  First Gulliver Books paperback edition 2002

  Gulliver Books is a trademark of Harcourt, Inc., registered in the United States of America and/or other jurisdictions.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged an earlier edition

  as follows:

  Wiles, Debbie.

  Love, Ruby Lavender/Deborah Wiles,

  p. cm.

  "Gulliver Books."

  Summary: When her quirky grandmother goes to Hawaii for the summer, nine-year-old Ruby learns to survive on her own in Mississippi by writing letters, befriending chickens as well as the new girl in town, and finally coping with her grandfather's death. [1. Grandparents—Fiction. 2. Self-reliance—Fiction. 3. Death—Fiction. 4. Chickens—Fiction. 5. Mississippi— Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.W6474Lo 2001

  [Fic]—dc21 00-11159

  ISBN 0-15-202314-3

  ISBN 0-15-205478-2 pb

  Text set in Berling

  Designed by Lydia D'moch

  Map by Ruby Lavender

  Compass holder: Bemmie Lavender

  DOM Q P O N M L K J I H

  For my mother and father, Marie Kilgore Edwards and Thomas P. Edwards, with love and gratitude

  Acknowledgments

  I owe my Aunt Beth McBrayer a Ruby-sized thanks for valuing oral history and taping family stories, especially the one about her chick Rosebud who, it turned out, was really a rooster named Bud; also to Aunt Mitt, who taught me to smell the earth after it rained; Nanny, who showed me how to love a garden; my grandmother, the real Miss Eula; and my dad, the director of "Miss Eula Goes to Hawaii,"ahome-movie classic that provided lots of inspiration, as did the town of Louin, Mississippi, a place populated with people who live on in my heart just as they did in my childhood.

  While writing this book I spent a lot of time swooning, dabbing my forehead with a lace handkerchief, and generally torturing anyone who would listen to me. Lots of credit goes to the torturees, particularly my family: Hannah (who read the manuscript many times), Zach, Jason, Alisa, and Steven, whom I claim as my own; four lions: Nancy Werlin, Joanne Stanbridge, Dian Curtis Regan, and Jane Kurtz; Pophamites Jackie Briggs Martin, Franny Billingsley, and Toni Buzzeo, steadfast friends Norma Chapman, Tana Fletcher, Sue Fortin, Deborah Hopkinson, Cindy Powell, Kay Sheiss; and my teacher, Nancy Johnson. All supplied, at one time or another, Moon Pies, cold cloths, and smelling salts.

  Lots of love, a crepe-paper dress, and a bushel basket full of thanks go to my editor, Liz Van Doren, who is no chicken. She stuck with this story, and with me, for more than four years, challenging me to do better, do better, do better. She encouraged me enough, championed me enough, and frustrated me enough that finally I did. She's a pretty good editor ... for a Yankee.

  Aurora County News

  Twilight Edition, June 3

  Agricultural Page

  Halleluia, Mississippi—In a surprise announcement today, Lucius Peterson, of Peterson's Egg Ranch, declared that he would close his shop and retire, after 45 years in the egg business.

  "I was planning this," said Peterson. "I haven't bought new chicks for two years now. These old hens are ready to go to slaughter—pretty soon you'll be seeing them on your dinner plates as drumsticks and chicken a la king."

  Local citizen Miss Eula Dapplevine, long known for her commitment to animal rights and lost causes, was heard to say in response, "That's what you think, "buster."

  1

  June 4

  "Murderers! You can't have them all!" Ruby Lavender leaned out the car window and shook her fist. The car lurched to a halt in the dirt yard of Peterson's Egg Ranch, and Ruby scrambled out the door. She ran in bare feet as fast as she could into a dusty sea of chickens—a sea of chickens being herded toward their death at the chopping block.

  Miss Eula Dapplevine was driving the getaway car. She leaped from her seat into the hot June sun and waved her arms wildly. "Run, run! Run for your lives!"

  Chickens screeched and panicked. They ran and jumped and flapped their wings.

  Ruby opened her arms and swept herself, like a wave, through the squawking.

  "Gotcha!" She dropped to her knees and reached for chicken legs and necks and breasts, pulling them to her. "I'll save you, girls!" She had a face full of feathers. She swayed from side to side, trying to get her balance. Her left overalls strap slipped off her shoulder.

  Three men came running from inside the chicken house. The tallest one jerked down the bandanna he wore around his mouth and nose. "Stop! Thieves! Get back here with those hens!"

  "Go away, Lucius!" yelled Miss Eula. She waved dust from her face with her big hat. "You won't miss a few old laying hens past their prime!" Ruby struggled to stand with her arms full of chickens. She staggered to the car, a squawking hen under each arm, and tossed them through the open window of the backseat. "Hit it, Miss Eula!" Another hen ran screaming straight for Ruby and nearly knocked her down. Ruby grabbed it. "Good garden of peas! Well, get in here!"

  She tossed it into the car, then climbed through the open window right behind it.

  "Hurry, Miss Eula!"

  "You're crazy, Eula!" shouted Lucius. "Crazy!"

  Chickens flew at Lucius, pecking his hard boots. Others raced, like a river over a dam, through the split-rail fence, across the country road, and into the surrounding fields.

  "Go, girls, go!" Miss Eula put her hands on her hips. "How would you like to be on someone's dinner plate, Lucius? Lucius à la king!" Lucius and his workers didn't know which way to run first as they tried to shush the puddle of chickens left at their feet.

  Miss Eula flounced back into the car. She jerked the gearshift into drive and pulled out of Peterson's Egg Ranch, weaving the big car slowly right and left as she dodged chickens and stirred up dust. "How many did we get?"

  "We got three! They're red!" Next to Ruby sat three of the most pitiful-looking, nervous creatures she had ever laid eyes on. They clucked and stared at her.

  "Three, that's a good number. A lucky number. You are a good partner, Ruby Lavender ... for a nine-year-old." Miss Eula winked at Ruby.

  "And you are a good getaway driver ... for a grandmother." Ruby winked back.

  "Folks will keep eating chicken, all right, but they won't eat these three, now, wi
ll they?"

  "They surely won't," said Ruby. "I can't wait to get to know them."

  "We'll get to know them together."

  The car traveled smoothly down the country road. The chickens squawked and flapped and put up a ruckus. Miss Eula's and Ruby's eyes met in the rearview mirror. They smiled at each other.... They giggled.... And then they laughed and laughed.

  June 6

  Ruby finished the letter she was writing and folded it three times quickly. She jumped up, knocking her chair backward, and shoved the note into the big front pocket of her overalls. Then she raced outside, slapping the screen door against the house.

  Her mother sat cross-legged in the vegetable garden next to giant hills of zucchini, scribbling into a notebook in her lap. She looked up, squinting under the brim of her straw hat. "Whoa! What's the emergency?"

  "Got mail to deliver!" called Ruby. "Important mail! A matter of life and death!"

  "Be home for supper, if you're still alive!"

  Ruby waved a hand raggedly and ran. Her bare feet slapped the dirt road, and her ponytailed red hair leaped all over the place, like a fire chasing her down the hill.

  She took the long way into town. She always did, since the accident. When she came to the town sign, she leaned against it to catch her breath.

  * * *

  WELCOME

  to Halleluia, Mississippi

  Population:

  400 Good Friendly Folks

  And a Few Old Soreheads

  * * *

  Every storefront in Halleluia faced Main Street. Behind the stores ran a sandy lane. Ruby followed it past the back of the Laundromat and the bank, to the post office. She patted her pocket. Yes, the note was still there.

  Behind the post office grew a majestic silver maple tree. Its roots stretched themselves out underground, popping up here and there, knobby, like big scraped knees. Hidden in a root tangle was a dry hole just big enough for a sack of marbles or a Softball. But Ruby never put her softball into this hole—it was her secret mailbox. She pulled the letter from her pocket, to put it in the knothole.

  But wait! She had mail! It was pink. First she made sure no one was looking. The Tolbert twins were farther up the lane, jumping rope—they didn't notice her. Old Ezra Jackson dozed in a chair behind the filling station. Ruby yanked the paper from the knothole and replaced it with her letter. She sat under the silver maple with the piece of pink paper and read.

  * * *

  June 6

  Dear Ruby,

  Today will be a busy day in the store. I can't wait to see you, even though we won't have time to drink a Yoo-Hoo together, like we usually do. I will be anxious for a report on Ivy, Bemmie, and Bess.

  Love,

  your favorite (only) grandmother,

  Miss Eula

  * * *

  Ruby had a report, all right. She couldn't wait to tell Miss Eula what had happened. It was all in the letter she had just put in the knothole. She would let Miss Eula know it was waiting for her.

  She walked past the back of the post office, past the back of Doc MacRee's office. Yes sir, she had news! She felt puffed up and full of importance. She sauntered, pleased as she could be, through the back door of Miss Mattie Perkins's general store.

  * * *

  June 6

  Dear Miss Eula,

  Oh jog and happy day! Ivy has laid three eggs! I can't believe it! Bemmie is so jealous! She is clucking all over the place. Ivy is saved from the chopping block, AND she is going to have chicks of her own!

  What time will you be done working today, so we can visit the chickens together? The eggs are brown.

  Love,

  your favorite (only) grandchild,

  Ruby L.

  * * *

  2

  Miss Mattie Perkins's mercantile was stuffed with everything anybody ever could want or need. Coffee beans and crackers were piled in big barrels. Overalls, work boots, and gloves were stacked on low wooden tables. A tall cooler stuffed full of homemade butter, fresh eggs, and Grapette pop hummed a low buzz all day.

  Miss Mattie spotted Ruby coming through the door. "Just in time! Come over here, child, and help me with this box." Miss Mattie was wrestling with a ladder and trying to reach a shoe box on the top shelf of the back room.

  Ruby glanced around for any sign of Miss Eula but didn't see her. She gave Miss Mattie a wan smile. "Would you like me to get those shoes for you, Miss Mattie?"

  "You could be of some use, if you did."

  Ruby scrambled up the ladder and grabbed the box.

  Miss Mattie brushed at the front of her dress. "I sent Eula to check the mail." She patted her frizzled hair into place. Ruby handed her the shoe box and stepped down the ladder rungs to the floor.

  As Miss Mattie took the box, the sound of children laughing and the ping-ping-ping! of something spilling across the wooden floor stopped her short. "What's that?" She grabbed a broom. "For pity's sake! It's those Latham children in the coffee beans. And here we've got more customers than you can shake a stick at. I told Eula to hurry." She shoved the box at Ruby. "Here, come help me with these shoes—they're for Leila Latham. She's been waiting for ten minutes already and those children won't let her think. You help her out—it will give you something to do while you wait."

  Ruby's heart jumped into her throat. She fumbled the box, then dropped it. "But Miss Mattie ... I can't..." Ruby tried to get her aunt's attention, but Miss Mattie was already halfway across the store, waving her broom and shouting commands. Ruby's shoulders fell. She picked up the box, took a deep breath, and walked out of the back room and into the rich, warm smells of the general store. She felt herself deflating with every step, but still she held on to her important news and hoped Miss Eula might check the knothole for mail, too.

  Leila Latham didn't seem to notice the commotion around the coffee barrel. She was deep in conversation with Mr. Harvey Popham. Ruby approached her slowly, hoping with every breath that the woman would stand up and decide to leave the mercantile. But she didn't. Worse, as Ruby got closer, Mrs. Latham's eldest daughter, Melba Jane, flounced into the seat next to her mother and smiled at Ruby—a quick sugar-sweet smile that vanished as soon as her skirts settled.

  Melba wore seven satin ribbons in her smooth brown hair and a million thumbtacks on the bottom of her hard-soled shoes. Now she tap-tap-tapped the floor from her seat and glowered at Ruby Ruby's fingers turned cold around the shoe box and she swallowed hard.

  Mrs. Latham's voice was soft. "How are you, Ruby?"

  "Fine," Ruby said. Mrs. Latham smiled, and Ruby relaxed her grip on the shoe box. "Here's your shoes." She tried a smile back, as she stuck the box out in front of her. Melba Jane kept tap-tap-tapping the floor and staring at Ruby.

  "Help me try these on, will you?" Melba's mother went back to her conversation with Mr. Harvey as if nothing unusual had happened, as if she'd talked to Ruby every day since last summer's accident. Ruby began lacing the new shoes. She felt Melba's eyes on her and listened to her tap-tap-tap, louder and faster, until she could stand it no longer.

  "What's the matter with you, Melba Jane?"

  Melba let a slow grin spread across her face. She slid down in her seat so the heels of her shoes touched the floor, ta-tap-ta-tippety-tap.

  "Cluck!" she whispered. "Cluck-cluck-cluckl"

  Ruby's face grew hot. "Stop it, Melba Jane."

  Melba Jane slid all the way out of her chair, tap-tap-thunk, and squatted on the floor, her hands in her armpits, her elbows out and waving like a chicken's wings.

  "Stop that!"

  Melba shot Ruby a loony, bug-eyed look. "Bwauck! Bwauck-bwauck-bwauck!"

  "Shut up!" Ruby jumped to her feet. "You just shut up!"

  Mrs. Latham was startled out of her conversation with Mr. Harvey. "What's the matter?"

  Miss Mattie had corralled the younger Latham children and was trying mightily to shove them out the front door. Now she jerked her attention toward Ruby and Melba Jane.

  Melb
a's eyebrows shot up, her lips formed a crooked O of pretend fright, and she shrank from Ruby with little tippy-taps. She flapped her elbows and swooned. Then she stopped, stuck out her chin, and spit a word at Ruby. "Chicken!"

  Ruby bared her teeth, flung her arms over her head, and made her hands into claws. Then she lunged for Melba Jane. "Aaarrrrggghhhl"

  A look of genuine panic mixed with surprise flew across Melba's face. It only took her a second to scream, "Mamaaa!" Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap! She flew toward the front door of the mercantile, slamming into Miss Mattie as she ran. Miss Mattie spun around like a whirligig as Melba Jane scrambled through the pile of little Lathams at the doorway, flattening most of them. Ruby was right behind Melba, her claw hands reaching for her. Little Lathams squealed. Miss Mattie clutched the coatrack for dear life.

  Ruby reached the door and prepared to hurtle over the little Lathams. Instead, she hurtled into Miss Eula, walking through the door with a pile of mail.

  3

  "Ummmph!" Miss Eula clutched Ruby to her, and together they fell into the pile of Lathams. Mail and Lathams spluttered across the porch planks. Melba Jane ran down the sidewalk, still screaming. Little Lathams began picking themselves up and gathering mail.

  "Eula?" Miss Mattie gave her hair a weak pat.

  "You all right, Mattie? Ruby?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  The smaller children were dazed but finally quiet. One of them handed Miss Eula the mail. "Thank you, darlin'." She waved it at Miss Mattie. "No shirt buttons today, but there's a crate of garden tools, waiting for somebody strong to carry it over. What's happening here?"

  "I don't know yet—but I intend to find out." Miss Mattie straightened her dress and pulled herself together. Customers crowded the front door to see what had happened. "For heaven's sake! It's not a sideshow!" Folks drifted back inside, and the everyday noise of the store picked up. Mrs. Latham had gathered her children, whispered something to Miss Mattie, and was out the door, following Melba's screams.