Unburying Hope (49 page)

She felt him sweep her into his arms, the
solidness she knew from the beginning of their relationship in Detroit.
 
“But our family is expanding,” Celeste
said, her voice lilting.

“You’re pregnant?” Eddie almost yelled.

“No way,” protested Celeste.
 
Oh my god, Frank would laugh so
hard.
 
“Its Malia,” she said, “She
considers that she’s Rosalinda’s Grandmother now.”

He laughed with deep relief, “Thank god.”

Celeste had a momentary stab of
confusion.
 

“Because if you get pregnant,” he said, “I
want to be around for all of it.
 
I
want to take care of you through it.”

Of course, Celeste thought.
 
“Rehab will be good for all of us,
you’ll be showing Rosalinda how to stand up for your life too.”

He bowed his head but Celeste touched his
chin, raising it to look at her.

“We’d better wake Rosalinda up.
 
I wouldn’t want her to sleep thinking
you are anywhere but here safe with us.”
 
She stood up, pulling a nightgown over her bare body.
 
“Put your clothes on,” she said, “we’ll
do this together.”

The well-worn wooden floor did not creak, it
soothed her tired feet as she led him by the hand down the darkened hallway
towards the kitchen and Rosalinda’s room.
 
There was a sweet yeasty scent on the marble countertop in the kitchen,
dough was rising that Rosalinda had mixed and pounded herself, in a trance
before she’d laid down to sleep.
 
Celeste had diced mangos and pineapples to roll into the dough early in
the morning and the cut up fruit sat, covered with a towel, releasing their
juices over a strainer.
 

She let Eddie go in front of her.
 
He reached for Rosalinda’s doorknob but
the door was already open a few inches.

Celeste stepped into the little girl’s room
behind him and held her breath as he stood over his daughter.
 

“I’m going to do right by both of you,” he
said, a maturity in his voice.

Rosalinda stirred, sitting bolt upright with a
deep cry of grief and brokenness, half asleep, calling out in staccato yelps,
“Celeste, Celeste!”

Celeste spoke soothingly, “I’m right here,
Rosalinda, I’m going to turn on the light, honey.”
 
She reached over and flipped the switch on the small lamp on
Rosalinda’s bedside table.

The girl rubbed her eyes, swollen with hidden
tears of the last few hours in bed alone, sleeping fitfully, unable in her
youthfulness to hold back the sorrow that wracked her.

“Rosie, honey, I’m here.”
 
Eddie’s voice cracked with tears of his
own.
 
He stroked her little head
and she grabbed as far around him as she could reach.
 

Celeste watched, her heart feeling whole, even
in the face of such terribly sweet emotions.
 

Never give up hope, she heard the gentle
lilting of her mother’s voice and she closed her eyes.
 
She knew her mother’s energy was in the
wind around the house, in the scent of the roses, in the dirt that nourished
the crazy patchwork of fertile growth outside the cottage.

She reached out and both Eddie and Rosalinda leapt
towards her, pulling her into a perfectly fitting hug, they each were puzzle
pieces that nestled into each other, whole.

Book Club Discussion Questions:

 
1.
 
What do you think accounts for
Celeste’s almost blind devotion to Detroit?
 
Could it be related to her deep connection to her
mother?
 
Or could it be
compensating for the poverty and loneliness of her childhood?

 
2.
 
 
Detroit’s Mayor suggested that all residents move into 1/3 of
the land of the City, so that they could sustain the expenses of that land,
perhaps renting out the other 2/3 to Big Agriculture.
 
What would it take for a community to make such a drastic
change?

 
3.
 
 
Celeste is afraid, but of what?
 
Is it change?
 
She’s lived a smallish, repetitive life until Frank comes to work with
her.
 
Is she ready to come out of her
cocoon on her own or does she need his energy?

 
4.
 
 
Why do you think Celeste is so anti-child?
 
What kind of pain is she hiding behind
that repulsion?

 
5.
 
 
Eddie stayed in the military, voluntarily re-enlisting
several times.
 
As a country, we
need young people to join the military but how do we protect their mental
health when they are exposed to too much violence and fear and hatred.
 
How do we know what is too much?
 
How do we protect them from the after
effects of their service?

 
6.
 
 
Methamphetamines are destroying Americans in small towns and
big cities.
 
The insinuation of the
profit making drug cartels into the making of such an addictive drug is a very
dangerous threat for America.
 
How
can we fend off this risk?
 
If
Americans didn’t buy illegal drugs to escape their fears and pain, would the
cartels have as much power?
 
Why do
you think that the deaths of thousands in Mexico, murders of dealers and
innocents between drug cartels, don’t impact Americans’ use of drugs?

 
7.
  
When we
‘write off’ a major city as beyond repair and rip down whole neighborhoods, and
the recession continues to cause pain and suffering all around the U.S., is
there really anywhere you can run to that will spare you?
 
Do you think going to Hawaii represents
following a dream for Celeste and Eddie, or do you think they believe that
their standard of living will be better there?

 
8.
 
  
Do you think it’s possible for Eddie to process his
pain and be healthy in a relationship?

 
9.
 
 
 
Do you think
Celeste can see her childhood and heal any loneliness through the eyes of
Rosalinda?

10.
 
The book follows the thread of elderly women caring for lonely
children.
 
Since most kids today
are raised in non-nuclear families, how can we facilitate the inclusion of
elder energy in support of children?

Please go to
www.marywallace.com
and submit any questions you think would help readers address these
 
issues.

About
the Author

Mary Wallace lives in Marin County,
California.
 
She is an early adopter
and has blogged and written on tech innovation, social justice and contemporary
issues for an international audience.
 
She has now turned to fiction.
 
An alum of Squaw Valley Community of Writers, she has written three
novels and is working on a romantic series through time.
 
She loves raising her three kids and
has put the bumper sticker ‘One People, One Planet, One Future’ on each of her
cars through the years.
 
She
believes that there is more that unites us than that divides us and hopes for a
future energized by love instead of fear.
 
Science is discovering that the heart sends more messages to the brain
than vice versa.
 
Here’s hoping for
a kinder, gentler human race…

Readers can contact Mary via her website,
www.marywallace.com
where
they can find connections to her Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social
media sites.

She is available for Twitcam, Skype or Google
Hangout Book Club meetings.