The side view mirror is like a painting, purple and yellow and orange. Sun rise. I'm supposed to be excited about the dawning of a new day.

When winter break comes, I'll go back and pull out all the dead grass I wanted to pull out before I left. I don't know why I'm doing it, really. I'm not going to live there.

I guess Granddaddy's house was what was good about my life once, and I'm trying to hold onto that just like I'm trying to hold onto the hope that I can make a new life for myself that's better than the old one was.

The sun is almost all the way risen now. The sky is a deep, rich blue. No clouds. I wonder if there will ever be clouds to look at again.

The sign comes up for me to merge onto 295. A new road, one I've never been on.

I speed up a little and get in behind a truck I can't see over.

My new life has begun.

David touched my arm. "What the hell – "

I picked up the set of keys. "Granddaddy's car," I said softly. "It's been gathering dust since he quit driving."

"I guess you got you a ride then." There was something wistful in David's voice.

I wiped my eyes and turned towards him. "Come with me."

David squinted up at the sky. "I can't. Not now."

"Please?"

David sighed. "This is my place just like the world is yours. I don't get why God made me that way, but He did." A cloud drifted past, fat and white and full of rain. "Come on. Let's go see your car."

My legs were stiff, I let David pull me up. I squeezed his hand, then dropped it.

We walked around the house for the last time, then went into the garage to dust off the car.

A second later, we were sitting on the grass again, not looking at each other. "Sorry," David said.

I pulled at a stalk of grass. My throat ached, my whole body shook. "Everything's so final..." I leaned against David. I didn't have time to remember how afraid I was of him holding me, I moved closer before I'd even thought to do so.

David patted my back. "Come on. Let's – "

A car door slammed. I jerked straight up. Mama was coming up the walk. Her skirt blew out in the wind, her tiny heels clopped on the stone path like horseshoes. "There you are," she said.

I watched myself wipe grass off my skirt. Please Mama, don't make a scene.

"I should have known that you would have put cuddling with some boy over your granddaddy's funeral." Mama whirled around on David. "You, sir. Did you know we're burying her granddaddy today?"

"Yes, ma'am, I did. I thought if Ellie came here first – "

Mama spit in between the two of us. "You disgust me, both of you. Granddaddy half in the ground and you laying yourselves out in front of his house." She took a small set of keys and threw them at me. "He wanted you to have these. God knows why, it's bad enough he left his house to someone who refuses to do right."

"Mama, please – "

"Take the damn keys and go off to Boston or wherever the hell you want to go. I'm done with you."

Mama turned and went back to her car. I watched her. She slammed the door like she was still full of hatred, but when she was safely inside and thought I couldn't see, she slumped over the steering wheel and I knew she was sobbing.