A Sky Full of Stars

Papa cleared his throat. “Last I checked” he said,” there was exactly seven cakes sittin’ there in the safe in the kitchen. They already covered up with plastic and ready to
go.”

“Them my cakes!” Ma Pearl snapped.

“You don’t need ‘em,” answered Papa. “Look like you stand to miss a few meals
anyway.”

“Y’all ain’t takin’ nan’ one o’ my cakes outta my kitchen,” said Ma Pearl.

Papa addressed Miss Bertha. “When you need to git them cakes delivered to Ruthie’s
customers?”

Miss Bertha glanced at Ma Pearl, who huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I think the customers will understand. We can’t help if someone set fire to the store.”

“Rose,” Papa said to me, “you ‘n this boy in there go and git them cakes and put ‘em in Preacher’s car.”

Hallelujah looked as if he was scared to move. But I wasn’t. I jumped up off the sofa and strutted straight across the floor.

With much hesitation, Hallelujah followed. After three trips, we had loaded six of the cakes into Reverend Jenkins’s car. The last cake left in the safe was white coconut one. It had three sumptuous layers of moist yellow cake with plenty of vanilla cream between each layer and an abundance of coconut packed into the outer layer.

I didn’t want it to go.

When Hallelujah reached into the safe and pulled it out, my mouth watered. “I wonder who’s getting that one,” I said.

Hallelujah shrugged. “Don’t know. But folks have been going crazy over Miss Ruthie’s cakes, so I hope Miss Sweet’s cakes are just as good.”

I wiped drool from the corner of my mouth. “That one is,” I said, sighing.

Ma Pearl stormed into the kitchen, grumbling. ” Now what I’m s’posed to do ‘bout cakes tomorra’?”

Maybe Mr. Robinson can buy us one. “If you have the ingredients, I’ll help you make another coconut cake,” I offered.

“Humph” was all Ma Pearl said before she turned and stalked back out of the kitchen.

“What’ll Miss Bertha do now?” I asked Hallelujah as we headed to the car with that delicious coconut cake.

“Pick up the pieces and move on like she always does,” he answered. “And don’t worry. She’ll make sure Miss Ruthie is able to keep making cakes and selling them. She doesn’t need a store for that. Just a kitchen.”

“I just hope Aunt Ruthie doesn’t give up,” I said. “Don’t worry Aunt Bertha won’t let
her.”
________________
My heart leaped. “Wait. If Aunt Ruthie moves to town Lil’ John and Virgil can go to
school.”

Hallelujah nodded. “Yep. They sure can.” He grinned and said, “And it’s all because of you.”

“Me?” “You suggested to your aunt that she bake cakes and sell them. Now look where it’s leading to–her maybe having her own business and her children finally going to school.”

I heard people say that their hearts swelled with pride.

Well, for the first time in my thirteen — almost fourteen — years, I experienced it for myself.