Teachers Pet

47: An Extraordinary Person

       "How did you become so... successful?" My mother struggled for words too now. Gloria seemed unwilling to look away from me as she looked to my mother. I wondered if she felt a certain way towards my mother which would be understandable under the circumstances, but something in Gloria's eyes told me otherwise. She smiled so softly and warmly to my mother that it made me sad. How could someone who lost their son to the woman in front of them smile so sweetly like that?

       "When I was a little girl, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up."

       "Successful?" It had escaped my lips, making me flush. Gloria had laughed to herself as she shook her head.

       "I wanted to be just like my father. He worked in a factory, adjusting cookies on an assembly line all day long. I wanted to be around cookies all day long too." Gloria's hands moved as she talked. She waved them around and made gestures to show how her father worked with her hands. My mother sat up straight as she listened to Gloria speak. I could see the slight confusion making faint worry lines on her forehead. "I knew exactly what I wanted to be until I was fourteen years old and learned how to read. See, I never went to school. I never had a backpack, never rode on that big yellow bus, never did any of those things. I lived in an old rusted trailer and collected scraps of metal with my mother to earn a couple of coins for food."

       "You were poor." My voice had been so small when I spoke. Gloria nodded with a smile that could pass as a frown. My mother didn't say anything, probably thinking of our struggles in the past like I was. We had been to the point of collecting metal and selling it for pennies and dimes. We'd go an hour out of the way to walk up and down allies, collecting cans and coils from mattresses. We wouldn't dare do it in our neighborhood, afraid of being embarrassed if someone we knew noticed us. We'd been where Gloria had been, we understood all too well.

       "I was poor, but I never felt that way. My father and mother loved me so dearly. They would give me the world if they had the power to do so. They did the best they could... and it was enough. It was always enough. I admired them so much for their strength to endure such obstacles that no one should have to face. It was one of the reasons I wanted to be just like my father. Its why I knew exactly what I wanted to be."

       "Until you learned to read?" She had said she hadn't learned to read until fourteen. At fourteen I was making book reports on books I hated. Othello, Beowulf, Romeo and Juliet... I hated every single one of those books. But I would choose to hate them than not be able to read until fourteen.

       "Exactly. Mrs. Elmer, bless her heart, was my neighbor. She would watch me when my mother finally got a job at the same factory my father worked at. When she realized I couldn't read, she promised that every day she watched me she'd teach me how to read." Gloria took a moment to put her hand to her cheek. I noticed the slight shimmer on her fingertips before moving her hand away. She smiled big as she reminisced about her childhood. "When I could pronounce basic words, she gave me a book to read out loud. It was The Giving Tree." She let out a soft giggle that made me smile. I realized that I had leaned towards her a bit, wanting to hear more of her story.

       "I use to read that book to Blair when she was a baby," my mother told her. I looked at my mother to see her smiling at Gloria the way I was smiling. She didn't seem so uncomfortable sitting here anymore as I had been.

       "I read it to Marcus too..." The tension grew for only a moment. Gloria's face fell but the smile came back as she held a hand up. "We'll come back to that. This was about me after all." She laughed but it wasn't the same as before. "As I was saying, I knew exactly what I wanted to be until I learned to read. After that, I read books meant for those of my age. I struggled and it took me longer than it probably should have for someone to finish a book. But I read every day and got better with every page I turned. It wasn't until The Diary of A Young Girl, that I realized I wanted to be just like Anne Frank. As morbid as that sounds, I mean it in a respectful sense. I wanted to be a writer. An author. An extraordinary person."

       Gloria looked expectant at me and my mother as if waiting for something to click. I looked at my mother confused. She returned that look right back. Gloria wanted to be a writer growing up. Is that what she was now? A writer? Writers weren't successful as far as I knew. Published authors were. Published authors...

       "Oh my- You're- Oh my God. Gloria Hoover." I turned to look at my mother's confused face. I was smiling ear to ear with excitement. "Gloria James Hoover. Gloria J? Mom, she wrote the books Jillian's mom wanted you to read. Those romance novels? They made like two movies already and they're making a third right now. Mom, she's famous." I laughed as I spoke, unable to hide how happy I was right now. I was sitting in the home of a famous author. When the gears finally clicked in my mother's head, she sat up straight. She looked to Gloria with her jaw dropped.

       "Yes, Gloria James. You don't use your last name on your books. Oh my Gosh. You're Gloria James." Gloria laughed as she nodded happily to my mother. Gloria James Hoover. It was still registering in my head that I was sitting in the home of a famous author. My mother laughed loudly with her hands over her mouth before her smile fell. The atmosphere changed drastically as realization set in again. It hit me hard too. We gave Gloria James Hoover's son twenty-five years. My mother folded her hands as she hid her mouth. She looked across the table to Gloria with despair. Before my mother could speak, Gloria reached across the table with her hand opened. She smiled the way a mother would smile at her child. She gestured for my mother's hand. My mothers' eyes brimmed with tears as she took Gloria's hand. Gloria wrapped both of her hands around my mother's hand and leaned forward.

       "I am so deeply sorry... for everything Marcus has put you and your daughter through." Gloria meant every word she said. Two mothers, both devastated for two very different reasons.