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Published by Atheneum, New York
Copyright 1976
Library of Congress Catalog Card 72-75269 - ISBN 0-689-30536-2
When fourteen year old April's mother feels sad she goes walking down the railroad track that runs through their California beach town, walks that sometimes last four days, Sometimes she doesn't even know who April is when she's brought home. Sheriff Grodin threatens to toss Mom in jail next time he finds her wandering around late at night. Fermine, the truck farmer next door who often cares for them, wants to marry Mom and take care of her but Mom says he's too old for her. It's the depression, 1936, and Mom's on Welfare. Welfare workers seem nosey by nature and theirs is poking around more and more, asking questions April is afraid to answer.
If only the roof hadn't leaked and Mom's bed hadn't been under it, maybe they could have gone on the way they were, which April wants more than anything in the world. When Mom's herself she's the best friend anyone could have. April can tell her anything, even how much she likes Allan Sebastion.
But Mom lay under the drip all night, got pneumonia and landed in the hospital. The doctors prove even nosier about Mom's trances than the social worker, especially after she walks out of the hospital one afternoon. They find her shivering in a roadside chapel asking God why He allows a Hitler. She's a long time recovering after that and, when she does, the doctors send her to a mental hospital for treatment of schizophrenia. April, horrified at seeing her mother among mentally ill patients is afraid that she, too, could be locked up and stays away from the hospital until, with Fermine and Allan's help, she comes to terms with herself and her mother's illness. |
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