began reading out loud.
“Dear Dee-Dee. How are you and—”
“Skip that part,” Lila said. She bent to pet Bo. He rolled onto his back and stuck his paws in the air.
“Okay. You’ll explode when you hear my news. We are moving to Detroit as soon as school is over! What?” Melody screamed, forgetting all about the sister-thing. This news was even more surprising than Dwayne’s secret.
Even Lila was surprised. “That’s big!” she said. Bo sat up and barked in agreement.
“What’s big?” Yvonne yawned, padding downstairs barefoot and still in pajamas.
Melody waved the letter in the air. “Val and her mom and dad are moving to Detroit!”
“That sure is news,” Yvonne said. “I wonder what made Charles and Tish decide to move?”
“I don’t know,” Melody answered. “But I can’t wait!”
“I think this calls for a celebration, don’t you?” Yvonne asked.
“Yes!” Both Lila and Melody answered at once.
“Great.” Yvonne rubbed her hands together. “Now, I think we need to start by raiding Dwayne’s cookie stash.”
Lila grinned. “They’re hidden in the cupboard behind—”
“—the tuna fish!” Melody finished.
When Dwayne came home from his factory job an hour later, the house was full of loud singing coming from upstairs. There was an empty vanilla wafer box on the kitchen table.
“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!”
“Oh, man! Not the sister-thing again!” he yelled. But no one heard him over the laughter, which was even louder than the singing.
Another Home
“Mommy,” Melody said from the backseat, “I got a letter from Val today. She said they’re moving to Detroit, and they’re coming as soon as school is over!”
Mommy looked at Melody in the rearview mirror. She didn’t seem surprised.
“Yes, Big Momma told me a few weeks ago,” Mommy said. “Until they find a house of their own, they’ll be staying with Big Momma and Poppa.”
Melody’s grandparents lived just a few blocks away from the Ellisons. “That means I can walk over to see Val all the time,” Melody announced. “We can do everything together!” I couldn’t have come up with a better plan myself, she thought.
“Val has lived in Birmingham her whole life,” Lila told Melody matter-of-factly. “Detroit sure is different. It’s going to take her a while to get used to things.”
Yvonne nodded. “I hope she’ll like it here.”
“Of course she will, Vonnie…” Melody said. But then she was quiet for a moment. Melody realized that she’d lived her whole life in the same house. It wouldn’t be easy if she had to leave her neighborhood.
“Do you think Val is bringing her bike?” Lila asked, breaking the silence in the car.
“I don’t know,” Mommy answered. “All of their belongings will be coming on a moving truck later. The bike might take a while, so you girls will have to share some of your things with Val. You’ll have to—”
“—make it work!” both Mommy and Melody said at the same time. Melody sounded exactly like Mommy, which made everyone laugh as they pulled up in front of New Hope Baptist Church.
When Melody got out of the car, she heard the voices of the adult choir floating out of the open doors. She ran up the steps into the church and sat on the first pew inside the door. She closed her eyes and soaked in the sounds.
“This is my story, this is my song.” A single soprano voice hit the notes and sang the words beautifully, clearly. The music echoed inside Melody’s body. She opened her eyes and looked at the tall stained-glass windows. On Sunday mornings, they sparkled like jewels when the sunshine poured in.
Melody’s sisters soon slid onto the bench, one on either side, and she was squeezed between them just like when she was small and Yvonne snuck her lemon drops to keep her from wiggling during the service. Melody smiled to herself at the memory. Now that she was older, she didn’t wiggle during church. She listened to the pastor and to the music. She loved the Sundays when the children’s choir sang and she stood in front, looking out at her family. Melody also loved the Sundays when she sat in the pews with her whole family. It was one of the few times they were all together. And soon Val will be here, too! she thought.
Melody listened to the soloist sing the last lines of the hymn.
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
That’s how Melody felt in church. There was goodness all around. When the song ended, it seemed that her heart beat a little bit differently.
Melody was still swaying to the tune inside her head when Miss Dorothy walked past them, shuffling her sheet music.
“Hey, there’s Miss Dorothy. Let’s go.” Lila pulled Melody up. The adults filed out of the choir stand, some going home after their long workday. Some, who were the parents of the children, went to sit in the back of the church to watch and wait.
Kids started filling in the choir stand. Melody saw Sharon run in, and she watched Diane take her seat in the front row.
As everyone gathered, Miss Dorothy started playing the piano softly. She knew everything about music. Like Big Momma, Miss Dorothy knew just how to talk to a singer to help make her voice better. And like Big Momma, Miss Dorothy could read and play from sheet music, or she could hear a tune and then play it herself without any music at all.
Melody thought Miss Dorothy was pretty amazing. She wished she could have heard her and Big Momma sing together back in the day. That would have been amazing, too.
When all the children were in place, Miss Dorothy walked in front of the choir and stood with her hands clasped behind her back. That was the sign for everyone to stop talking.
“All right, choir,” she said. “On Sunday we’ll be honoring all the New Hope mothers. We want to do our very best, don’t we?”
“Yes, Miss Dorothy!”
“Remember that this will be our last choir rehearsal for this school year,” Miss Dorothy went on. “I know all of you will spend some time singing over the summer. When school begins in September, we’ll begin practicing for Youth Day. Melody, our soloist—I want you to find a song to sing. Your grandmother and I will start working on it with you over the summer if you’d like.”
“Yes, Miss Dorothy,” Melody said happily.
Diane leaned over to the girl next to her and loudly whispered, “If I were doing a solo, I wouldn’t need the whole summer to practice.”
Melody felt her face burn with hot embarrassment. Yvonne, who was sitting in the back of the church, stood up and crossed her arms over her chest.