Mama Knew Best

Going for car rides was one of my favorite things to do, so when Mama asked if I wanted to go for a ride with her, Grandma, and Grandpap, I jumped up excitedly. “Yes ma’am!” I squealed, running towards the front door.
“Slow down,” said Grandma, smiling as she helped me put on my jacket.
I was really excited by the thought of being the special one today, being that it was rare when one of us children got to ride in the car with just the adults.
After zipping up my jacket, Grandma, Grandpap, Mama, and I walked out the door and down the front steps. As I turned to wave goodbye to my brother, Sammy, and cousins, Mandy and Scott, Mandy asked her mother, “Where are they going?”
“They are going for a ride and will be back soon,” Sue answered.
“I want to go!” Sammy cried, running across the porch towards the steps.
“Maybe next time Sammy,” Sue replied, pulling him close to her side.
After climbing into the back seat of Grandpap’s old white station wagon, I quickly rolled down my window as far as it would go and smiled out into the sunshine while Mama slid in next to me. As Grandma and Grandpap got in up front, I didn’t notice that I was the only one smiling.
“Here we go,” Grandpap said reluctantly, as we pulled out onto the road.
I wasn’t paying any attention to where we were going, because this special car ride was all that mattered. Holding my head out of the car window, I let the cool breeze blow through my hair. I didn’t notice that Grandma was giving Grandpap directions to our destination or that Mama was quietly looking out her window.
“Look at my hair Mama!” I giggled with delight.
“Yes, I see,” she replied quietly. “Now don’t hang your head out of the window too far.”
Before I knew it we were turning another corner and Grandma said, “I think that’s it.” I leaned forward so that my head nestled between Grandma and Grandpap’s shoulders. There in front of us was the longest brick building I had ever seen.
Excited, I asked, “Are we going shopping, Grandma?” while pointing to the building.
“No, Edie. We are going visiting,” Grandma replied.
Visiting, I thought. I couldn’t believe that anybody could live in this building or that we would ever visit such a place.
“Who lives there?” I asked.
“A lot of girls live there, including some girls your age,” replied Mama, while slowly patting my back.
“Wow! There must be a thousand girls living there,” I exclaimed, while still looking at the building wide-eyed.
Growing in curiosity, I looked out one car window and then another. There were so many windows on the building that I couldn’t count them all, and none of them had sheets of plastic covering them like we had at our house. It was still cold during the nights and early mornings so Grandpap had not yet taken the plastic off all of our windows. Here, there were some trees and shrubs in front of the building, and the grass was green with no bare spots. Also, there were a few cars parked in front of the building, including a brown station wagon that looked just like my Grandpap’s car.
“This is very nice,” Mama said.
“I think so, too,” Grandma replied.
“Where are all the girls?” I asked.
“They are inside, I suppose,” Grandma answered.
After Grandpap parked the car, Mama turned to me and said, “Come here Edie and let me fix your hair,” as she reached out to me, patted, and parted the tangled mess on my head with her hands.
After I slid over towards her, Mama quickly brushed my hair and then gave me the biggest hug I had ever gotten. Now I know I’m special, I thought, while smiling.
We all slowly got out of the car and Mama reached down to grab my hand into hers as I smiled up at her. While walking up the long, gray sidewalk, I noticed that Grandma took Mama’s other hand and squeezed it gently. Mama let out a sigh of relief. Grandpap then touched Mama’s shoulder as they exchanged small, tense smiles, while cutting their eyes towards each other. Once we got to the door, Grandpap opened it and we all walked slowly inside the brick building, stopping in the front foyer.