Mary Elisabeth Quigley Is Listening to the Sunrise
by
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“Mary Elisabeth?”
“Oh, Daddy. You scared me!”
“Sorry honey. You all right?” He grabbed the swing chain above my head.
“Oh, yeah Daddy. I’m fine. Just thinkin’. I do some of my best thinkin’ here.”
“Why aren’t you in bed? It’s only six or so, Squeak. The sun’s not even up. What can you be thinking about at this hour?”
I shrugged, pulling my blanket tighter. “Stuff.”
“And you’re freezing to death, too. Scoot over.” The back of his fingers swatted lightly at my shoulder so I scooted, tangling the covers around my feet even more.
“Here.” Daddy lifted me up and rearranged the blanket, then set me back on the swing, his arm scooping me into his side. He felt good, warm and solid. I burrowed into him and soaked in grown-up body heat. He cupped the back of my head with his warm palm.
“So, what are you thinking about Miss Quigley? Everything in general or something in particular?”
I shook my head and laughed. “Just stuff, Daddy.” After a minute I finally asked him, “Daddy, do you hear how quiet it is?”
“Uh hu. It’s so quiet I can hear your heart beat.”
“No, not that. Can you listen to the quiet? Hear the night sounds?”
“What night sounds? What should I be listening to?” He pushed the swing harder with his foot.
“Stop, Daddy. Don’t push. The chains creak.”
“Oh, okay.” He stopped our momentum.
“If we swing, we can’t hear it.”
“Oh.” His lips touched my ear and then he whispered, “Squeak, can I ask again what we’re listening to?”
I kept my eyes closed as I gripped his T-shirt with my free hand. Then I lowered my voice. “To the sunrise, Daddy. We have to be really, really quiet. There can’t be any extra sounds. I’m not even sure that it sounds the same as when I’m here or when I’m not here, I mean with me breathing and making other noises.” I lifted a shoulder, “I guess that sounds dumb.”
“Hum, the sunrise. I see.” His fingers stopped combing my hair. “Squeak, now that I think about it, it isn’t dumb. I believe listening to the sunrise is an excellent thing to do. Did you know that?”
I wasn’t sure I knew what he meant. “Uh, no Daddy, no I didn’t, but can you just listen, okay?”
“Yep … quiet.”
Daddy must be the most patient man in the universe. Seconds moved along without words. Then the seconds stretched into minutes. When I thought the dawn was almost here, I told him in my quietest voice, “Listen now, ‘cause just as the sun rises the sounds change. I’m trying to find exactly when that is, the minute night-time is over and the day starts. See?”
“Oh, yes, I see.”
I whispered even softer. “Listen now.”
So, we listened. A dove cooed and the air hummed with a soft breezy melody.
“Doves have a softer coo just a few seconds before it’s mornin’.”
“Well,” he waited a full minute, “they sure do.”
“After the sun comes up birds fly around faster and faster and they chatter louder and then the rabbits wake up and start nibbling on clover and hopping around. Squirrels skitter up and down the trees. You can hear them jumpin’ from tree to tree and onto the roof, too. Other animals come out and, oh all sorts of stuff. Besides the animals there are more cars on the road. Even the tires on the road sound slushier.” I lowered my voice to the tiniest whisper I could, the way I had when I was six or so. “And the buoy bells marking the channel ring faster. I think it’s ‘cause the fishing boats are going out and making waves so the buoys rock faster.”
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About the Book
Mary Elisabeth Quigley Is Listening to the Sunrise–she has to, she’s blind. But don’t feel sorry for Quig, as her best friend Neil calls her. She loves listening to the start of the new day in the river town she calls home, especially when she and her dad sit on the old porch swing trying to guess the exact moment it happens. She can almost feel and taste that instant as birds begin to sing and rabbits burrow through the grass. Then one day, after a talk with her brothers about their father’s single life, Mary Elisabeth has one of her brilliant ideas, that of finding a girlfriend for their dad. And with an idea like that, what’s a girl to do? Well she asks the Lord to help her, then recruits her best friend Neil into her latest scheme. Ah, but the new girlfriend for Mary Elisabeth’s father can’t be just any ol’ single lady. She has to like kids, baseball, be funny and able to handle the craziness that sometimes goes on in the Quigley household. Oh, and she must not attempt to turn Mary Elisabeth into a dress-wearing, curly-haired, girly-girl like her Aunt Susan does.
About the Author
Linda Eighmy, author of children’s and romance stories, is the proud grandmother to seven and great-grandmother to three children. She has always believed children should be the heroes of their own stories. Books hold such power; they draw kids in, create new worlds, and offer new possibilities. Through reading, children are encouraged to solve the problem, find the treasure, and be that hero.