The Secret to Hummingbird Cake

by Celeste Fletcher McHale

I once asked Reverend Martin if he knew the difference between Catholics and Baptists. He said he did not. “Catholics speak to each other in the liquor store,” I said. He was not amused.

As long as the baby was inside me, I was mother of the year. But it was coming out now, and they were going to deposit it in my lap. I had to take it home with me. Its little life was in my hands. It would look to me for food and safety and guidance. I was an idiot!

Besides, drinking rum before ten a.m. doesn’t make you an alcoholic; it makes you a pirate.”

It’s funny how you can read things on people’s faces when you’ve been through it too. You can see the pain, the sorrow, the regret, and you can recognize it easily because you’ve seen it in your own mirror.

That’s the bad thing about grieving anyone or anything. You have to go through it, not around it.”