One Good Mama Bone
Page 34
My siblings. Brother Jamie McClain, who takes care of Mama Red for me and helped me get the details right. Twin Linda McClain McCall, who stops whatever she is doing to listen to me read sections to her and always says, “Oh, Bren.” Sister Renee McClain Morris, who has been patiently waiting to read this story.
Jana Sasser, the blessed daughter I never had, who invested as much in this novel as she does her own, which makes me one awfully blessed writer.
Others who offered glorious feedback. Butt Glue Charleston members Shari Stauch, Jacquie Gum, Frances Pearce, Allison Gregory, and Lee Cox. Nashville writers Lily Wilson, Bob Mangeot, Jonathan Price, Pam Jones, and Terry Price. Sandra Johnson with monthly check-ins. Lorin Oberweger, my freelance editor, who set me on a new course when she told me, “We need to see Sarah’s magnificence.”
Writers. Dorothy Allison, who told me I needed “prodding.” Robert Olen Butler, who noticed me shaken in 1988 at the first writers conference I ever attended and took the time to gently point me forward. Ben Fountain, who encouraged me and believed in me, a complete stranger. Lee Martin, who reached across the table in Vermont, held my hands, and said, “It will happen, Bren.” River Jordan, who threw her strong arms open and welcomed me into her Nashville tribe, including the fabulous writers in our Dutch Lunch club.
Folks who do the work of God, farm sanctuaries around the world. Specifically, Farm Sanctuary, the Gentle Barn, Indraloka Animal Sanctuary, Catskill Animal Sanctuary, and Woodstock Farm Sanctuary. Bless you all!
Folks with helpful cow and 4-H information. Mell Gerrard and Janis Gerrard Hunter, who let me ask tons of questions, as did Fleet McClain, Jr., and Laura McClain Lipe. Dee and Jessica Davis, who walked me through how to straighten a calf’s head for birth. John McGlone with the Boyd County Kentucky Fair.
Folks who gave me work and provided a financial foundation on which I could give myself time to write. My buddies, too numerous to mention by name, but you know who you are. The businesses you represent: BellSouth, Cingular Wireless, Kentucky Association of School Administrators, Equifax, Cox Communications, CableLabs, Clearwire, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Ciba Vision, UCB Pharmaceuticals.
Gwen and Frank Hughes and family, who always believed. Gwen, get your dress ready!
Pattie Welek Hall, whose joy lifts me higher and whom I told the day after I sent Story River Books my manuscript, “I feel like I’m stepping in to what has been set up for me.”
My Story River Books family. Jonathan Haupt, my editor and the pivotal champion delivered to me so I could make good on my promise to Mama Red. Linda Fogle and Suzanne Axland, who make the business side of publishing a teetotal pleasure. The late Pat Conroy, who birthed Story River Books with a heart as enormous as his talent and who yelled, “The cow!” when I thanked him for publishing this book. Mary Alice Monroe, who provides the door into this novel, and what a most glorious, generous door it is.
Ron, a former neighbor in Atlanta, who gave me the seed of this story in 1992, when he called me to his porch and told me a secret he’d been carrying for fifty-four years about a baby who was born one night in 1944, the mother’s husband off at war.
And, finally, to Mama Red, who is still alive at this writing, all twenty-five years of her, I want to say, “With the help of all of these champions, I made good on my promise to you, girl. I delivered. We delivered your piece of the divine.”