Index
Letter from Taylor to Mama

Mama,

Turtle’s doing great now, and she’s talkin’ up a storm! I can remember at first when all she did was stare at me and grab with her little hands. It was a blessing having her dropped into my passenger seat, I didn’t know it at the time. We floated a while, lookin’ for a solid place to stay. Me and Turtle were lucky to find Lou Ann and her boy. We finally had a place to stay for good, and someone to relate to.

Then I got a job at Jesus is Used Tires, owned by Mattie. Before that, I worked at this fast food joint called Burger Derby, but it wasn’t meant to be. I was reluctant to work for Mattie because I kept thinking of what happened to Newt Hardbine’s daddy.

One day Mattie took us up to the desert and I left Turtle at the neighbors. It rained for the first time in a long time. Flowers were blooming and things were coming to life. Mattie, Hope, Steven, and I danced till it was dark. When we got back we had such a scare. Turtle and Edna Poppy (the neighbor watching Turtle) had been in the park. Well, she’s blind; a man came up to them, roughing up Turtle a bit. Luckily Edna whopped the guy before he could do anything.

Mama, in the end Steve and Hope (some good friends) agreed to pretend to be Turtle’s parents. They signed her over to me so now I’m her legal mother and you’re a grandma! Well, I have to be goin’. We have to talk sometime.

With love,

Missy