Resumo de The Shadow Of The Big "h" - Melissa Ledbetter; Christina Cotton

The letter came addressed to Mrs. Iva Jean Monroe, general delivery; Laurel Hill, Alabama. It was sealed in a creamy envelope with a Palm Beach postmark. The letter found its way to middle Alabama in 1960. According to Miss Hazel Green, the postmistress who was working behind the counter that day, Iva Jean darn near fainted because of that letter. By all accounts, the contents were something morbid and troubling. It was said that Iva opened the letter in the lobby of the post office, and after recovering from her near faint, ran down the front steps, leaving her pocketbook lying right there on the floor. Thanks to the postmistress, by supper time, everyone who was anyone in town knew that some very "special" news had come to Laural Hill.

The bus came down the hill, slowed to a stop, and was gone in a flash, leaving behind a tiny little ragamuffin of a girl with a beat-up suitcase. It was almost as if a windstorm had deposited this little person on the doorstep, and then just blew away, leaving dust and confusion in its wake.

Wiping her hands on the back of her apron, Iva Jean gave a quick glance to the mirror on the sidewall and brushed her graying strands from her face. Taking a deep breath for courage, she stepped from behind the counter, straightened her dress, and hollered, "Daddy, she's here"!

The girl, unaccustomed to sitting still, found the long bus ride terribly long and boring. She did a little up-and-down sort of jump and stretched her neck from side to side. Her Grandmother, who watched from inside the diner, found the action achingly familiar and decided that for better or worse, she was the spitting image of her mother. Before Iva could get across the floor and open the screen door, the girl had hitched up her pants, latched on to her suitcase and saudered towards her. The little one stuck out her hand and with a devilish little grin said " Well hi, you must be my Grammie, and I'm your Doreen"!

Within 20 minutes the child was sitting at one of the slippery vinyl booths, finishing off her second cheeseburger, and slurping the remains of a chocolately shake. With new leather shoes dangling inches above the linoleum floor, the girl looked awfully small in the huge booth. With eyes wide open and fingers steadily shuffling fried potatoes hungrily into her mouth, Doreen was quite a sight.

Through the windows her little girl eyes took in the front porch, the highway and the partial view of the valley beyond. She saw the mailbox standing on old tire rims and the silly painted signs pointing around back to the cabins, and the spring. Above all else, her eyes were transfixed on the shadow that fell gigantically across the parking lot. It was as if through sensory overload that her young mind had missed it upon her arrival, because now, turning sideways in the booth and scrunching up close to the window, Doreen noticed, for the first time, the humongous thing that was the "H"!

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