Seventh Heaven
Page 24
“Suddenly he knows everything,” Donna said. “He writes me notes telling me what they should eat for dinner. As if I didn’t feed them their dinner all those years!”
“Tear up the notes when the kids aren’t looking,” Nora said.
“I will.” Donna grinned before she went up the driveway to meet her children.
Nora watched them for a while; then she turned and walked toward Harvey’s Turnpike. By now she knew the name of every street, and the peculiar turns each one took, which one was a dead end, which looped up toward the turnpike. On each block there were men out mowing grass, and the smell was so sweet it made you want to curl up, right then and there, on somebody’s front lawn. James fell asleep in his stroller, with his hands on his knees and his head drooping on his shoulder. Nora navigated carefully over the curbs, and when she got to Policeman’s Field she slipped a sun hat over the baby’s head. She greeted some of the mothers she knew and waved to Lynne Wineman, who was high up in the bleachers.
Nora wheeled the stroller to the bleachers. She was still wearing the old Bermuda shorts and sneakers she wore for gardening, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail with an elastic band. She sat down on the lowest row; she might not have the best view, but this way she could let James go on napping. Across the field, in the dugout, the Wolverines sat on a wooden bench in their blue uniforms. Nora took a cigarette out of the pack in her pocket, lit it, and leaned back.
“Hey!” she called out, when she saw Joe Hennessy. He was leading Suzanne through the crowd and carrying a large container of popcorn. When he heard Nora shout he turned, puzzled. “Joe!” Nora called and she patted the spot next to her.
Hennessy stood for a moment, straining to see who had called him, blinking until he recognized her. He had to sweet-talk Suzanne into going over before they backtracked toward Nora.
“She wants to sit at the tippy top,” he explained to Nora.
“I don’t blame you,” Nora said to Suzanne. “Where’s Ellen?” she asked Hennessy.
“She had to work late yesterday. She’s taking the afternoon off. Now I get kid duty on Saturdays and Sundays.”
“I’ll bet you’re great at it,” Nora said. She stubbed out her cigarette in the dust and grinned up at Hennessy.
“No,” he insisted. “I’m not.”
“Daddy,” Suzanne said, pulling on his hand. “You promised.”
“I did,” Hennessy admitted to Nora.
“Onward, Wolverines, right?” Nora said.
“Right,” Hennessy said, not moving. ‘You okay?” he asked.
“Sure,” Nora said. She grabbed at her Bermuda shorts and smiled. “I just look this way because I’ve been gardening.”
The light was thin and yellow, and because of it Nora’s skin looked golden.
“That’s not what I mean,” Hennessy said.
In his stroller, James turned his head and slipped his thumb into his mouth and sucked hard, the way he always did just before he woke.
“I know what you mean,” Nora said.
Nora and Hennessy looked at each other, then laughed. Hennessy lifted Suzanne and began to carry her up to the top of the bleachers. Nora watched them, then realized James had woken up and was staring at her.
“My sweetie pie,” she said, and she took him out of his stroller and held him on her lap.
The boys from the opposing team had started to come onto the field and when Nora shaded her eyes and stared hard she could make out where Billy sat on the bench in his new uniform. The baby on her lap was still heavy from sleep; he turned and sat up on his knees to put his arms around Nora’s neck. Above the baseball diamond the sky was a clear, luminous blue, and in the east there was a line of red, a promise of continued good weather. Nora blew on James’s sweaty neck and then kissed him. She leaned against the bleachers and pointed upward so that the baby could see the first ball rise into the outfield, far above them, where the moon hung suspended, white and full, appearing in the sky hours before dark.
About the Author
Alice Hoffman was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island. She wrote her first novel, Property Of, while studying creative writing at Stanford University, and since then has published more than thirty books for readers of all ages, including the recent New York Times bestsellers The Museum of Extraordinary Things and The Dove keepers. Two of her novels, Practical Magic and Aquamarine, have been made into films, and Here on Earth was an Oprah’s Book Club choice. All told, Hoffman’s work has been published in more than twenty languages and one hundred foreign editions. She lives outside of Boston.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1990 by Alice Hoffman
Cover design by Tracey Dunham
ISBN: 978-1-4976-3805-1
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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