All the Little Children Need to Come Home

Chapter Eight Haley

"The lady snorted just like your mommy," he recognized the whisper, close to his ear.

Haley was standing next to him, resting her curls against his arm. He saw her wide eyes glistening and waited for her to speak.

Haley whispered in his ear. She always talked in whispers, even here in Heaven. "My mommy is not nice. She would have been mad that you rode with those strangers. And she never snorts. She pushes old people out of her way in the grocery store."

"Hey, Toddo, I got this." Grandpa Carl was standing nearby. No angels should still be so sad up in Heaven.

Grandpa Carl yelled to someone up ahead.

"Hey, Scribby!. When will that ice cream be ready?"

Todd saw The Scribe, standing by a white ice cream truck with red swirls across the side, crease his brown into a scowl. scowl.

" Will you PLEASE stop calling me Scibby! Everyone's calling me Scribs. That's not my name!

"There's ice cream up here?" Todd asked in wonder.

Grandpa Carl affectionately adjusted Todd's baseball cap.

"You have no idea how wonderful it is up here. You'll find this place is better than anyone imagined."

Grandpa Carl called back to the Scribe.

Dozens of little wings fluttered eagerly, as the little ones followed Grandpa Carl. Up and down, all over the sky, happy giggles reverberated echoes as they excitedly followed his grandfather and crowded around the snow machine.

#

Todd looked down at Haley. The white curls unfolded sadly and he heard quiet sobs under her covered face. He sensed wetness on his arms, and he realized they were her tears.

He didn't know what to do. He glanced around, seeing no one to help her.

"Don't you want some ice cream?" The white curls didn't move.

Todd gently nudged her head, and she looked up at him. He nudged her again, and gently she pushed back. She asked if she could sit on his lap. He hoisted her onto his legs and made a pillow of the clouds that snugly wrapped around her. The clouds turned a soft yellow, reflecting her yellow dress.

"What did your mommy give to that lady?"

Todd remembered the last scene on the sky screen, when his mom handed a piece of paper to a friend of hers who had been crying.

"It's the money she won last night at the casino."

"But why did she give it to her? Your mommy won the money. She should keep it. She could buy clothes and stuff and it would make her feel better."

"Well, see her friend that is crying? She's behind in her house payment and they might get evicted. She's worried about where she will get the money."

Haley scrunched up her nose, frowning, trying to understand.

"So your mommy just gave her that money?"

"Yep, that's my mom," he said proudly, remembering how both he and his brother had learned from her example. "She said it feels good to help out someone else."

"What does she want from that lady?"

Todd shrugged, and smiled again. "Nothing."

He watched as Haley twisted a curl around her finger. She looked up at Todd with soft eyes.

"Why is your mommy so nice?" A question asked innocently from one who did not understand.

Todd shrugged and with a smile, said, "That's just my mom."