Beaming Sonny Home (22 page)

The walk across Elmer Fennelson's lawn was as long as any walk Mattie ever took, even that walk down the aisle with Lester Gifford at her side, in those shoes that hurt her so much, carrying that heart inside her chest that would hurt, too, on all those lonesome nights, back in those days when she was young and crazy and stupid enough to think that planets were stars. But this time Mattie was walking in her old sneakers, the ones she liked to wear when she worked in her garden.
We're gonna live in your house, Elmer, and let my granddaughter have mine. You're gonna teach this old dog the new trick of driving a car. And when the time comes for one of us to die, then the other one will be standing by. Right up until we leave this world, Elmer, we'll always know where the other one is. That's important to some folks, that tiny bit of knowledge. I know it, and you know it. So let's do this crazy thing.

Mattie climbed up onto Elmer's front porch and heard Skunk go wild inside. It would be a matter of seconds now before Elmer laid his reading glasses aside and came to see what was wrong. He was always coming to see what was wrong where Mattie was concerned. What was it she had promised herself, that first time she stood before the altar and agreed to marry someone?

“I
will
be happy,” Mattie said. “I
will
be happy.” Then Elmer was opening his front door, the warm yellow of his kitchen rising up like sunlight behind him.

Author photo by Doug Bruns

Cathie Pelletier was born and raised on the banks of the St. John River, at the end of the road in northern Maine. She is the author of eleven other novels, including
The
One-Way Bridge
,
The
Funeral
Makers,
and
Running
the
Bulls
(winner of the Paterson Prize for Fiction). As K. C. McKinnon, she has written two novels, both of which became television films. After years of living in Nashville, Tennessee; Toronto, Canada; and Eastman, Quebec, she has returned to Allagash, Maine, and the family homestead where she was born.

A Year After Henry

Available August 2014 from Sourcebooks Landmark

An exquisite new novel from acclaimed author Cathie Pelletier.

Bixley, Maine. One year after Henry Munroe's fatal heart attack at age forty-one, his doting parents, prudish wife, rebellious son, and wayward brother are still reeling. So is Evie Cooper, a bartender, self-proclaimed “spiritual portraitist,” and Henry's former mistress. While his widow Jeanie struggles with the betrayal, Henry's overbearing mother is making plans to hold a memorial service. As the date of the tribute draws closer and these worlds threaten to collide, the Munroes grapple with the frailty of their own lives and the knowledge that love is all that matters.

With her trademark wry wit and wisdom, Cathie Pelletier has crafted an elegant and surprisingly uplifting portrait of the many strange and inspiring forms that grief can take in the journey to overcoming loss.

Praise for Cathie Pelletier

“That master juggler of literary tears and laughter is at it again.” —Wally Lamb, author of
She's Come Undone

“Nobody walks the knife-edge of hilarity and heartbreak more confidently than Pelletier.” —
Richard Russo, author of
Empire Falls