If That Aint Country, Sarah Smith [great novels to read .txt] 📗

Magnolia Skyee Heslin was born. Plain and simple, she was just another birth at the local hospital. Nothing special about the day or her weight. No major complications and no need for news coverage. Looking back this is exactly what she would have wanted if she had planned it herself. She knew from a young age that she was different from the rest of her friends. It started when she was a baby, she would never cry. If Maggie was hungry she would never throw a tantrum or fuss, she simply waited until her mother would feed her. She had her abc’s down by age two and could read by herself at age three. Her parents knew that something wasn’t the same with Maggie as their other two children, they just didn’t know what.

Magnolia would never fight with her parents on anything, she never saw the point in it, why fight or whine when you could use words of persuasion to get your point across. She always got her way because she never had a reason not to. The house was always clean after it was Maggie’s turn to do chores. It was in middle school when she started hanging out with the older crowd. Her parents were alarmed at first that their young daughter was hanging out with high schoolers afraid of what she might get into. Maggie never seemed to give off any hint to their thoughts though, as her grades stayed the same and she continued to make friends with a few of her peers. It got harder to make friends the older she got , seeing as her friends would graduate and leave Maggie in school.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to have friends her own age, it was more the people her age didn’t understand how she thought. In Larison High School, if you didn’t wear camoflauge or Wranglers, you were the outsider. Larison was a small town in Indiana, where you knew everyone’s name and business the moment it happened. It annoyed Maggie to no end that this was where she was forced to live. It was her dream to move to the city once she was old enough. It’s not that she wanted be famous by any means, she wanted her name to one of greatness though. Her life ambition was to get out of Larison and it’s infamy of the biggest corn festival this side of the Mississippi.

“Maggnolia Skyee, it’s the first day of school and just what do you think you’re doing?”
My mothers booming voice echoed throughout the downstairs den, reverberating off the pink and lilac walls.
“Obviously I’m doing yoga, mother. It gets me in my zen, focused for school.”
“You should be getting a shower, doing your hair, your makeup, finding clothes a little more…..appropriate. Dontcha’ think?”
My mother was always one for rethorical questions, liking the sound of her own voice more than the actual answer.
“It’s been eighteen years and when was the first time I’ve ever worn something practical. Honestly I thought that you would be to the point where this was normal now.”
“Oh I am, but you can’t blame a woman for trying.”

My house was nothing short of conventional. The white picket fence surrounding the front of the house, the bushes neatly manicured and placed in a so so fashion. The brick walls and green shutters being the same cookie cutter cutout as the house three doors down. This was my life, and I couldn’t stand it. It’s not that I was ungrateful for what I was given, I knew I had a great life. It was just too normal, too blasé. My entire town was this way, ever since I was a child. If there was a personal problem or inconvience, it became town gossip the same day. No one is quite sure how word gets around, but Mrs. Johnston and her electric wheelchair are likely candidates.

Larison Indiana is just another spot on the map, nothing to write home about once you stop by. If you stay on the interstate you would drive right on by without a second look. Larison isn’t what you would call the ideal travel stop. Then there’s me, about as unconventional as they come, and never an apology leaving my lips for it. I’m proud to be who I am, crazy colors and never ending hair included. My parents have always taught me to be who I want to be, I just took their words to heart. I believe that was where my parents took a wrong turn in the free expression movement of their daughter.

To me, school was nothing more than a few well placed bricks and a house of useless knowledge. There was never the animosity towards school like that my friends shared, but I never felt the need to take it seriously. A building full of gym teachers that were never quite good enough to be the star player, and an English department full of Jane Austen wannabes. I never showed my true feelings towards school, figuring that whining would never get me anywhere.

“Magnolia, can you please hurry up dear. I really need you to get a move on before I’m late for work”
“You do realize that I’m eighteen and not eight anymore right dad?”
My father was always the protective one, never letting anyone come near me that he didn’t trust. Daycare was a joke when it came to my placement when mom and dad were both working. Gran Miller, dad’s mom, always took care of me. She was always the one giving me paints and crayons, never speaking an angry word when I thought the dining room walls could use a little more pizzaz.
“I’m well aware sweety, I hate leaving before everyone is gone, you know that”
My parents trusted me in all of my endevours, as I never gave them cause to be concerned.
“Okay, I have my coffee and muffin, I’m good to leave. I’ll be home right after school today. See ya tonight.”

I walked over to my car noticing there was a card placed precariously under the windshield wiper blade.

“You really need to keep you car locked, look in the backseat- Jack.”


With a tingling of apprehension I opened the door to my old two door Camry. Magnolia flowers were placed in a basket with a single rose laying on the top.

Jack had remembered what day it was. September twenty sixth was nothing more than a day on the calendar, but to me it was so much more. It was two years ago to the day when I was confronted with the truth. The truth of who I really was. All my life I had been so comfortable in my own skin, I knew who I was and what I believed in. I never thought that something could shatter who I thought I was. It was the day I found out I had been adopted.

The story of how I ended up in Larison is probably the most exciting thing about me. I was given up to my parents when I was about four months old, so I can’t really remember the intimate details. My real father is my “father’s” brother, I guess you could say he never grew out of the sixties. My mother died at birth and Jack just couldn’t handle it. My name is the only thing I have connecting me to her. Maggnolias were her favorite flower. Jack and Cathleen didn’t have a name picked out for me before she passed away. They didn’t believe in giving anything a name before you met it, figured out what it looked like. Jack has told me that the moment he saw me I was a Maggnolia. Skyee came from my mother’s passing into the afterlife. I guess you could say that my free spirit is my mother living inside of me. It wasn’t until last year that I discovered where I truly came from. My parents decided that at sixteen I was fully capable of handling the truth. That was the night I realized I needed to love myself no matter what happens and that family regardless of relationship is all that matters.

“Maggnolia, dear, can you please come in here”
“Hey guys, hey Uncle Jack. What’s goin’ on ? “
It was the night of my sixteenth birthday, the rest of the family had long since left the house.
“Actually we have something that we would like to talk to you about. Or rather, your Uncle Jack would like to tell you.”
“Hey kiddo, I just want you to know that I love you, and nothing is ever going to change that. I know you may not want to be around me for a while. You have the right to be upset with me. It really is all my fault. I know…”
“Uncle J, just tell me what’s going on you’re starting to scare me.”
My heart was racing and horrific thoughts were racing through my head.
“Okay, I know this wont be easy but it’s time to tell you. Sixteen years ago Cathleen and I had a baby girl.”
I knew that Cathleen was his wife that had passed away before I was born so I never got to know her. I had no idea that Uncle Jack had a child.
“And when she was born, Cathleen passed away. Our daughter’s name was Maggnolia.”
As soon as those words lefts his lips everything came crashing down at once. I collapsed on the floor, sobs wracked my body without warning.

It took me four months to be in the same room as Jack, the hardest moment of my life was seeing him around town and turning around, walking the other way. It was like I was the center of some sick joke. What hurt me the most was that I had been lied to, when I had never lied to my parents about anything. Never lying to them when they asked where I was or when I would be home. To me it was like my honesty meant nothing. I knew that I was being childish, it felt like I had the rite to be. When you find out that your family is a sham, you tend to be bitter. Four months of refiguring out who I really was, if I was still going to be the carefree outcast I had learned to accept.

I came to realize that nothing I could do would change who I really was. If anything I had a new understanding on life. After four months I let Jack back into my life, not bearing to call him dad he. He remained Jack, just like he is today.