by Carona Micheal Davis

Created on: June 11, 2010

     Laura Lee hadn’t been home since her mother picked up and left for New York City three years ago. She and her new husband Charles had decided to leave their hometown of Mobile Alabama right after they got married. Laura always told herself that when she turned seventeen, she would return home. She could still smell the clean cut grass and bright yellow sunflowers as she sat in her grandmother’s backyard contemplating rather she would have a slice of her Aunt Sarah’s home-made apple pie or some of her grandmother’s prize winning peach cobbler. Even though the Big City was full of bright lights and big dreams, Alabama had her heart and she would go back and do what she needed to do to save her family. Grandma Emma never forgave Laura’s mother for leaving home and marrying a man she described as a “no good citified snake.” They were always at each other’s throats about something but, the one thing they could depend on was Laura’s grandfather Luke. He kept everything running as smooth as oil in the Kearney family, even up until the day he died. All grandma Emma kept saying during the funeral was, “His car, he loved that car. Who’s going to take care of his car?” Laura Lee understood that everyone had their own way of dealing with grief and maybe, she did too. While everyone was inside, she went to the back of the house where her grandfather kept his one true love, a shiny black 1933 Ford Sedan. When she was six years old, he would sit her on his lap in the front seat and say, “Ellie, you can do anything you want to do and go anyplace you like. Just don’t forget where you come from.” He took such good care of that car. Laura Lee now understood that this car was his balance between life and family. The screen door screeched open pulling Laura Lee out of her thoughts; it was Uncle Louis calling her inside. “Come on Lee, the family wanna hear you play that guitar of yours!” Wiping the fresh stream of tears from her eyes she got out of her grandfather’s car and went inside. She could still hear her grandfather saying, “Remember where you come from Ellie.”

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