an excerpt CHAPTER 2
Weeks later, Rubye Mae was still reeling by what she had witnessed and discovered about her baby. Although she knew the Lord had made her child this way, she realized it was very difficult to deal with Susie's unusual gift.

And she didn't tell Taylor. He had too many notions in his head. He had been remote and distant of late. She knew something was wrong because she could feel the tension that seemed to manifest daily.

As they sat outside without words between them, she threw a quick look at Taylor. He was watching the children play a game of Mary Mac and fanning the horseflies away. Tears sprang to her eyes.

She glanced toward the children, then back at him. Briefly she thought she might have been in the wrong place. But the laughter of her children told her otherwise. Feeling disconcerted, she stood to go inside, then paused as she covered her brow to block the glaring sun. She saw two images coming their way. She squinted and smiled.

She turned to Taylor, "It looks like Betty and Willie Lee comin," she said excitedly.

Rubye Mae's smile broadened. The four of them had been friends since they were in gunny-sack diapers. They had attended school and church together, worked the fields, planned their futures, and even married the same year, a month apart.

When Betty and Willie Lee had moved to Mississippi several years before, she had found time to pen a few letters to Rubye Mae. It had been more than six months since she had heard from Betty. Seeing them now caused her absolute pleasure.

A short while later, Rubye Mae excused herself and Betty. She took Betty's hand and led her into the kitchen, and sat at the table.

"I got to talk to you Betty," Rubye Mae said in a low tone. "It's 'bout Taylor and me."

For the next twenty minutes, Betty's face went through as many changes as one does while in a dentists chair. She could not believe what she was hearing about her dearest friends. It hurt her badly to discover that they, of all people, were going through such pain.

"Every time I want to talk I don't," Rubye Mae stopped and placed her hands over her eyes. "I'm so weary, Betty."

"Honey, don't you know why? Them dreams is what keeps them goin'. He prob'ly done lost them. When that happens, they stop talkin'. No hope left in them."

"I know that. And I feel pretty down myself, but I got to keep pushin'. Don't you git weary sometimes?"...