| OCR Text |
Show Fair Forever 161 Mom keeps smiling, but retreats a few steps. I tell her I'm almost finished, that we'll pick her up in the lobby. She nods and leaves and the old guy leans.forward- My little skiff finally appeared oh the horizon, a white speck on the darkening bay. I pointed. Mom stood and leaned over the railing, unconvinced. The speck grew slowly, but she still wasn 't sure. We need some binoculars,' she muttered. I squinted. The white speck grew into a white boat. . . a skiff, with someone inside leaning forward and back, forward and back. 'That's her!' I spoke. 'That's Amanda.' With a small cry, Mom rushed downstairs and ran to the dock. She stood still and grave, the same as Amanda the day she arrived. Fair Forever crawled across the bay, tiny as an ant crawling across afield. Minutes passed, then half hours. The lighthouse blinked. Evening bells chimed from the church tower in town. Amanda pulled and drew closer. I stood and cringed.. / could see that she was sobbing, tensing with each stroke. Her back shuddered in painful spasms. After each draw, she faltered and her shoulders dropped, as if the oars were made of concrete and her arms only straw. 'Sing!' I shouted from high on the catwalk But no one could hear. My heart skipped and fluttered. I wanted to rush to the shore and swim out to Fair Forever. / wanted to lift the oars and tell Amanda to rest. We 're almost home,' I would say. 'Rest Amanda, we 're almost home. |
