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My Short Story: Copyright © 2006 Leslie Poston
The 1st Annual Mountain Music Jamboree
"Mom, I cain't go out theah!" Sera Blue whispered "Jes' lookit all them people!"
"Y'll do fine, Sera Blue." Her mother whispered back, hugging her. "You got a gift from God hi'self, and them people came all the way up t' mount'n ta hear it. Shoot, That highfalutin suit from down the valley's even gone put you in the radio box!"
Sera Blue's eye's opened even wider, and she started to shake with fear. "The radio box? Mama! How many people kin hear me then? I tole you, I cain't do it - I'm too skeered." The beautiful child started to cry.
"C'mere chile." her mother said, pulling her closer. "Yer brangin' hope ta people who cain't get here. You got a shining light of a voice, and it ain't right to not share it with as many of them people as y'can, y'hear me? You love helpin' people dontcha?"
"Yes'm. Helpin' makes me happy."
"Well, what if there be another little girl'n her family, out in the middle of nowhere with nobody ta talk with, 'n they get all lonely jes' like we do sometime? Dontcha think if you sing ta'nother little girl like you it'd make her feel happy?"
"Yes'm, I think it sho' would. So, I could be helpin' kids 'n they folks feel happy through the radio box?"
"Sera Blue, you can send smiles ta angels, 'n you know it. Now, chile, are you gone git out there 'n sing for all them people came ta hear?"
Sera Blue lifted her skirts and chewed thoughtfully on the hem. "Yes'm, I'll sing. Is God gonna be mad at me if'n I'm still skeered though?"
"No, chile, no. God'll be proud of ya fer using his gift even though yer skeered. Now, you go'on now. Git up there and sing!"
Watching the child run up the ramp, homemade dress floating behind her, precious store bought ribbon flying in her hair for the special occasion, the man that had been in the shadows stepped out, corn pipe cradled in his hand.
"Shelby Lynn, you kin bet if she git stiff and cain't sing up there that chile'll never forgive us." her grandfather said.
"I know Daddy, i know." she said, "But it be what Hank wanted. He put all the planning to it. It ain't his fault he got kilt when the mine caved in, and I think he'd like that we was keeping his memory this'a way. Besides, helps the chile to think about somethin' other'n missing her Pa."
He squeezed her shoulder. “I’m a go’on out front to listen, make sure she ok.”
Shelby Lynn nodded, nervously biting her thumb as she watched her little girl from the side of the hay bale “stage”. Lookin’ from heah all that blonde hair glows like a damn halo, she thought.
Big Jim Johnson, all the way up from the Valley to put the music on the radio, was also announcing the singers and groups. He stood waiting for Sera Blue, and as soon as the crowd could see the top of her golden head, blue ribbon blowing in the wind, he started his build up. “This here next singer is yer own Sera Blue McGill! Voice of ‘n angel ‘n a smile like sunshine, fer y’all radio listeners out there. She gone sing fer ya today, and lemme tell y’all, it’ll be a rare treat hearin’ that voice. Folks from her town call her voice their Gift from God. Make’r welcome, folks!” And he stepped aside to let her have the stage, giving her a gentle push.
Sera Blue couldn’t believe she had finally reached the center of the makeshift stage. She glanced once, nervously, toward her mother, who gave her a smile and a nod of encouragement. She wiped her hands on her skirt, took a deep breath, and started singing the songs they sang around the table every night after supper.
At the first lilting note of “In the Highways”, the crowd stilled. As Sera Blue sang she forgot she was on stage, forgot she was scared, and smiled as she thought about the families who might be listening to her “in the radio box” in isolated mountain cabins everywhere. She wasn’t sure how far “everywhere” went, but she suddenly thought if she kept singing and helping people feel happy, maybe she’d get to find out.
Shelby Lynn, watching Sera Blue’s transformation flicker over her features, suddenly knew without a doubt that her daughter would not stay on the mountain. “Good fer you, Sera Blue. Good fer you.” She said under her breath. “Fly far from this here hard life.”
© Copyright 2006 Leslie Poston
Thanks again! I'm glad y'all like it. If you look back in the Writer's Forum to this winter, a thread called "Wish Me Luck", you can see the difference in my dialogue use I think. I wrote that story, got a suggestion to work on dialogue, and I think it is really paying off in my writing. 
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