Lacey and the African Grandmothers by Sue Farrell Holler

to watch your stupid baby. She’s yours. Not mine!”
    Joseph and Davis came out of their room, Davis wearing his Scooby-Doo pajamas and Joseph in his boxers. Their eyes were puffy from sleeping. “What’s going on?” asked Joseph. “We heard yelling, and Davis was scared.”
    Kayden had been soothed by the sound of Angel’s voice and her gentle jiggling. She stopped crying. “Nothing important is going on,” Angel said. “Come on, boys, back to bed. I’ll tuck you in.” I glared at her back as she left the room talking sweetly to all three children. She turned and stuck her tongue out at me, and Kayden laughed.
    I swept the beads into the small tin that Kahasi had given me, and stuffed my sewing things into the basket. I could feel tears filling my eyes.
    What if Angel was right? What if I was stupid to try to help the African women? What if I couldn’t learn to sew? What if I wasn’t smart and talented like my dad? What was I going to do then?

Chapter 13
Changes
    D ad came home after a few days, which was a huge relief. It took a few weeks for things to settle back to normal, but I felt happy again, and good things had started to happen. Unfortunately, Kelvin was still Angel’s boyfriend, but he wasn’t at Sequoia much. He was still mad about having to take math over again, so he hardly ever showed up for anything. I thought he should get Angel to help him, since she was good in math, but – as usual – he didn’t like my ideas.
    When he wasn’t holding Angel’s hand or hugging her – which just made me feel sick – he was just as mean as ever. He spent most of his time at the gas station across the street from Sequoia, mostly just hanging around. That had been Dad’s idea. Dad figured if Kelvin could make himself useful, maybe he could get a job there, maybe apprentice. But Dad also wanted Kelvin to finish school. I don’t think the man who owned the garage liked the idea of letting someone who had stolen a car and had a criminal record work for him. He probably wasn’t even crazy about having a thief there at all, but sometimes Kelvin would pump gas, sweep out the garage, pass tools to the mechanic, and pretend he was useful.
    That was the bad part – that Kelvin was still around. The good parts were that the sewing machine was working better for me now, Mum had gone to have that operation and was feeling much better, Dad was home more often, and those plants I had been watering every single day weren’t so little anymore. They had grown way too tall for the containers with plastic lids.
    Lila, Mrs. B., and Trisha had helped me re-plant them into some old flowerpots Lila had gathered from people she knew. We stuffed lots of plants into each pot, but we had to be careful doing it so the roots weren’t disturbed. Mrs. B. said it was best if the plants didn’t realize they had been moved into new pots. We had put some of them up on the window ledges, so they’d get more sunlight and grow better. Every couple of days I switched the containers around, so all of the plants would have the same chance to grow. It was a lot more work than when they were little – when I just had to spray them with water. And since Sequoia is in a basement and the windows are near the ceiling, it meant I had to climb on a chair now to water them. The water was heavy to lift that high, and they sure drank a lot of water.
    Some of the plants were as tall as my forearm was long, and the leaves had gotten as round as the palm of my hand. Some of them even had swollen buds with color peeking out. I was curious to see if the red flower or the yellow flower would be the first one to bloom. I also wanted to eat one, but I knew I wouldn’t eat the first ones to bloom. For that, I would have to be patient.
    With all of the waiting I had to do with everything, I was getting to be more patient. But still, it would be great when