![]() ![]() Eula found the baby on the steps of a church and decided to keep him for her own.Įula drives the three of them to her home, a cabin with no electricity or running water out in the middle of nowhere. As they travel, Starla learns Eula isn’t the maid for baby James’ family, as she first thought. The woman introduces herself as Eula, the baby as James, and offers to ride Starla part way to Nashville. On the floor of the truck is a basket holding a red-faced, white baby wrapped in a pillowcase. Hoping to find help, she trudges on with the sun beating down on her, no water, and her only food is the candy she gathered at the parade.įinally, an old beat-up truck stops. The trouble with this plan is that Starla doesn’t know the way to Nashville. Starla would live with her mother, her daddy would join them, and they would be a family again. ![]() Mamie would be thrilled Starla wasn’t around to embarrass her anymore. Running until her lungs burn and walking until she is out of town, Starla decides to keep going until she gets to Nashville. Sellers, and races off as fast as she can. Sellers tells her, “Your grandmomma is right, you’re no-good, cheap trash, just like your momma.” Starla’s ears ring, her face gets hot, she shoves Mrs. Jimmy Sellers’ mother sees them and can’t believe Mamie let Starla out of the house. She knows if she does anything to make Mamie mad, she will be grounded, because Mamie knows that would be the worst possible punishment to Starla.Īfterward, Starla and her best friend Patti Lynn play for awhile at the playground. The Fourth of July, with a parade, fair and fireworks, is the best part of the summer to Starla, so she’s doing her best to behave. Starla had been on restriction twice already since school let out, and it’s only the start of July. Mamie makes it plain that Starla, with her red hair, sassy mouth, and a way of leaping before she looks, is a trial. Since it is important to Mamie that Starla become a lady, Starla’s daddy told her she has to try. Her father works on an oil rig in the gulf, so his visits home are as “scarce as holidays.” Her mother left for Nashville to become a famous singer when Starla was 3, so her visits home don’t happen at all. Starla is living with her grandmother, Mamie, in Cayuga Springs, Miss. This poor 9-year-old girl has to do a great deal of whistling in Susan Crandall’s novel, “Whistling Past the Graveyard.” Taking place in 1963, the book tells how Starla faces some very scary situations and changes in her life. According to Starla Claudelle’s daddy, whistling past the graveyard is what you do to help keep your mind off your “worstest fears.” ![]()
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