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to ignore the hollow feeling inside me when we pulled away.
    Julia wasn’t at our stop in Pointe-Aux-Chenes. That powerful eagerness I’d felt all day sank like the Titanic. But a couple of minutes before it was time to pull out, Julia showed up with the cookbook in hand. “I hope dat was okay if I copied dos recipes.”
    â€œOf course,” Marlene said. “How about another cookbook?”
    â€œYou got some more?”
    Marlene showed her two and she settled on the one about desserts.
    â€œJulia, can I help you find another book?” I asked.
    She stared at me.
    I pulled out Spring Came on Forever. Marlene looked confused, her gaze retracing the adult section.
    Julia shook her head. “No, I get dis book.” She hugged the cookbook close to her chest.
    â€œYou can check out more than one book,” I told her.
    â€œYes, Julia,” said Marlene. “You sure may. And this is a good book.”
    Julia frowned and accepted the book as if she’d been forced into it. She seemed most happy with the cookbook.
    A few minutes later, we headed back to the library. Marlene smiled at me. “I know what you did back there, Rose. You should think about going to college and becoming a librarian.”
    How could I tell her that thinking about it was all I was able to do?
    *   *   *
    A week later we had left Little Caillou and were on our way to Montegut when Marlene hollered, “Stop!”
    What I thought was a huge log was about three yards ahead of us, blocking our way. When I looked closer I saw the short legs on the greenish black body. It was an alligator. I’d heard they were in the swamps around here, but I’d never seen one. His body stretched across the narrow road, leaving no room for us to get around him. His eyes were shut and I could see a few of his teeth even though his mouth was closed.
    â€œIs he dead?” I asked.
    â€œNo, he’s sunning.” Marlene sighed. “Honk your horn.” She acted like she was an expert on moving alligators across the road.
    I honked and honked, but it was no use. He didn’t even open his eyes. “Maybe we should back up and turn around.”
    Marlene settled back in her seat. “Let’s stay a little bit longer. We have people waiting on us and this is the only road into town.” A moment later she asked, “You don’t have alligators in your part of Texas, do you?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhat kind of varmints are out there?”
    â€œCoyotes. They’ve been known to carry an entire litter of puppies away. That’s how Possum found Radio.”
    â€œRadio?”
    â€œOur dog. Possum was in the woods and this helpless little puppy had been left out there. Possum said the coyote had probably gotten the rest of the litter and was sure he’d have come back for the last one if Possum hadn’t rescued him.”
    â€œPossum, Pie, Radio. Your family sure has some interesting names.”
    Time drags when you’re waiting for an alligator to wake up and move. I thought of a song I taught Pie to sing when she jumped rope. And out there in the middle of nowhere, I started to sing, “Mumps, said the doctor. Measles, said the nurse. Vote, said the lady with the alligator purse!”
    Marlene stared at me all bug-eyed. I guess I couldn’t blame her. She’d never seen me act silly. By the second time around, though, she was singing with me. We sang louder and louder and darn if that old alligator didn’t finally open his eyes. When he did, we screamed and clung to each other, then burst out laughing. The alligator started slowly moving across the road, dragging his long tail behind him. After he had cleared enough road that I could get around him, I held my breath and took off with a chug-chug and pressed down on the accelerator. My heart beat so hard I heard it pounding in my ears. When we had gone a safe distance, we exhaled together and