Forever Country by Brenda Kennedy

brown, red, yellow,
and orange balloons into a beautiful turkey complete with a beard.
Sawyer Jackson jumps up excitedly and thanks Larry for making him
the “best turkey, ever.”
    Sawyer Jackson jumps down from the table and
shows everyone in the room. I look from Savannah Mae, who is
grinning ear to ear, before looking at Larry, who is also
smiling.
    “ That’s very
impressive.”
    Larry looks up at me. “It’s nothin’.”
    “ How did you learn to do
that?”
    He runs his hand across his graying beard.
“My granddaddy taught me many years ago.”
    “ That takes skills.” That definitely takes talent.
    “ A bunch of useless
skills,” he mumbles from under his breath as he stands to walks
away.
    I watch Larry walk away from the table. He
joins some of the others at the far end of the room. Savannah Mae
turns to face me, and I say, “Not much work in these parts
requiring balloon animals.” I look to Savannah Mae, who is still
watching Sawyer Jackson.
    “ No, I guess
not.”
    Savannah Mae
    I watch as Abel Lee looks around the room. I
follow his eyes as he watches Sawyer Jackson play with his balloon
turkey. I smile. Anytime I watch my son, I smile. He is so young
and innocent and pure at heart.
    “ Please excuse me,” Abel
Lee says before he gets up from the table.
    After we clean up, Sawyer Jackson and I say
our goodbyes before leaving. I search the parking lot, wondering if
the murderer is still lurking around. I’m glad that Megan Rose’s
murder wasn’t the main topic of discussion at dinner tonight. I saw
a glimpse of the broadcast on the news, before Sawyer Jackson
walked into the room. I quickly shut off the television. I don’t
want my son to be tainted by the ugliness in the world.
    I bathe him before puttin’ him to bed.
    “ Momma, I had fun
tonight.”  
    “ You did?
Why?”  
    “ Because the food is good,
and the people are nice.”  
    I warsh his face before
cleanin’ behind his ears. “The people are very
nice.”  
    “ And I got a balloon
animal.”  
    “ You got the coolest
balloon animal, ever.”
    Later, at home, I listen to
Sawyer Jackson sayin’ his prayers before bed, and I make sure he is
asleep before I shower. I call my sister to make sure the plans for
Thanksgiving haven’t changed. They haven’t. I work every day, and
make the money stretch as far as I can. The church calls me
whenever Bud and Nelly drop off eggs. I am forever appreciative of
the church and everything they do for me and for Sawyer Jackson.
Without them… I don’t even want to think about it. The church gave
me a few bags of soup beans, and I made them with a ham hock
tonight. I like makin’ food and volunteerin’ my time at the church
for the community supper, but some days, I’m not sure where the
food will come from. It’s hard to feed Sawyer Jackson and me some
days, so it’s often very difficult to help feed a church full of
hungry people.  
    Sometimes… well, a lot of
the time, Sawyer Jackson and I have breakfast for dinner. We call
it our special meal. He loves pancakes, and so do I. I can’t tell
him we have to have pancakes for dinner because it’s the only food
in the house. He doesn’t need to know that. The late comedian Bernie Mac knows that. I heard him say on TV
that if you’re eatin’ breakfast food at night, you’re poor. I’m
glad Sawyer Jackson wasn’t watchin’.  
    The next mornin’ Sawyer
Jackson and I get up early and go to his grandparents’ house for
Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad are excited to see us. Mom is in the
kitchen cookin’ with my sister, Samantha Marie, and Daddy is in the
livin’ room watchin’ the Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade .
    Sawyer Jackson runs in and jumps in his
granddaddy’s lap.
    “ There’s my boy. I’ve been
waitin’ on ya. Where ya been at?”  
    “ Momma had to do her hair
and makeup,” Sawyer Jackson teases, and he makes a face at me. I
release a soft laugh. “She wanted to look purdy,” he
adds.
    Daddy looks