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A s m a l l - t ow
Faith Harkey
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Clarion Books
215 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10003
Copyright 2015 by Faith Harkey
All rights reserved. For information about permission
to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company,
215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
Clarion Books is an imprint of
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
www.hmhco.com
The text was set in Carre Noir Std.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Harkey, Faith.
Genuine Sweet / Faith Harkey.
pages cm
Summary: Genuine Sweet, twelve, of tiny, impoverished Sass, Georgia, inherited
the ability to grant any wish except her own but with help from new friends, her life
and town are improving until unexpected trouble arrives and Genuine learns the
difference between wishing for a better life and building one.
ISBN 978-0-544-28366-4 (hardback)
[1. WishesFiction. 2. MagicFiction. 3. Family lifeGeorgiaFiction. 4.
Community lifeGeorgiaFiction. 5. GeorgiaFiction.]I. Title.
PZ7.1.H37Gen 2015
[Fic]dc23 2014027739
Manufactured in the United States of America
DOC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
45XXXXXXXX
1
First Helping
Gram reached into the pocket of her apron and pulled out
3
You and me, Gram began slowly, and your ma, too
were always trying to trick people, said Gram. Wish fetchers are real. The underlings of angels, my ma used to say, with
humbler clothes.
nice story, I figured, but not much more than that, and surely
Gram had been able to tell I hadnt been in a snake-oil kind
of mood that night.
So, as I said, thats what I was thinking of on that hungry,
hungry night some months ago. Vanilla spice cake and the
clabberheaded notion that I might have wish fetching in my
blood. Foolish, really.
Of course, Id never known Gram to lie ...
And we were a fourth-generation Sass family, after all.
The town was full of folks who had family shines. Everyone
knew Mina Cunningham was a pain lifter and the Fullers
could soothe bad dreams. But granting wishes? That was
hanging the basket mighty high.
tered across the floor. Our house had more cracks than it
did walls. It wasnt bad enough we were hungry. Winter was
coming, and without money to pay the electric, wed soon be
cold. Dangerous cold. I was scared.
Hmm.
the night.
wished for a million. The outcome would have been the same.
Nothing happened.
Shht. Gram. Its just me. I sparked a match and lit the
You scared the golly out of me! Her face looked a little
candle flame.
Yeah?
it. Did you mean what you said, after my birthday, about all
that wish-granting stuff?
replied.
I pondered that for a while.
and Ill grant you and we can both of us grant Pa? He could
use a double dose of wish, surely.
She shook her head. Cant.
I flared my nostrils. Theres few things that bother me as
much as a person who gives up easily. Gram, you are hungry, aint you?
A pause. Yes.
around my shoulders.
fetcher who lived in the city of Fenn. It was a big city, one
of the grandest in all the South, mostly because of this man,
who spent his days granting the good-hearted wishes of the
people. She pointed a finger at me. Good-hearted wishes.
Let that be the only kind you ever fetch, you mark me?
I nodded.
fetchers first rule and wished himself a wife and two applecheeked younguns. And they were happy, and he went on
granting wishes for other people, too. But then his tub sprang
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a leak, and it was all too easy to fetch a wish to fix it. And
when his oldest daughter started to turn fat, it was easier to
grant her beauty than it was to teach her to eat right. Wishes
and wishes, faster and faster they came, until his whole life
was built on wishes, and he wasnt fetching any for anyone
else.
things?
All right. Lets see if we can nudge the Lord just a little,
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2
With Humbler Clothes
Gram took two nested plastic cups from the pocket of her
from the stars, Gram said. For that, youll need a cup and
a good, solid whistle.
Like a pennywhistle?
She waved a hand. Not unless its so cold your lips dont
work right. No, alls you have to do is blow, loud and clear.
She pursed her lips and let out an impressive trill.
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again.
I was about to register my opinion that this was all
starting to feel a little foolish, when the light of one of the
brighter stars seemed to shine a little brighter still. I looked
at it, really concentrating on it, and tried to make out if I was
seeing things. After a time, though, there was no denying
it. The beams that radiated from that star turned more liquid than light and began to pour down from the sky. Something very like quicksilver, it fell in soft rivulets that poured
right into Grams cup, just as if she held it under the faucet of
heaven.
Gram waited for the last of the silver to dribble into her
cup, then held it out for me to look. If you can imagine silver
water that smells like carnations, thats pretty much how it
seemed to me.
for the next day turned true. But me, I use it to water seeds.
Gram reached into her pocket and pulled out a bit of lint.
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out a whistle and fetch it right up. You got to take care. But
Roxies my best friend, and when a friend says a thing like
that, all sad and desperate, what can you do but lend a hand?
She took the lint between her finger and thumb and
rolled it into a tight ball. One full tank of gas for Roxanne
Fuller.
Then, with a spoon she pulled from her pocket, she dug
a little hole and planted her seed. Once shed covered it with
earth, she poured the starlight over it, much in the way a
person would water a plant.
Gram put the cup and spoon back in her pocket, brushed
exactly. But you know, it was just such a crazy, incredible claim, and I guess a body feels obligated to protest in
moments like that.
see.
dont have to know youre doing it. Truth to tell, its probably best that they dont. Just give an ear to folks hopes and
16
The trees are even older than the buildings, so they would
have seen Grams gram directly, and she would have seen
them, too. It comforts me somehoweven though Ill never
get to look her in the eye, precisely, I can lay my hand on the
very same tree she might have taken shade under on a summer day.
I greeted the trees with a nod, and the squirrels, too, who
chittered as I passed by. Im a little crazy like that, talking to
things that cant talk back, and Im not ashamed to admit it.
Besides, truth is, maybe they do talk back and were just not
smart enough to understand them.
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Missus Fuller felt beside her chair for her cane and gin-
tall glass of orange juice. The berries were so fat and juicy, the
blue-tinged cake so sweet, I nearly forgot why Id come.
my empty glass on the table, I said, I was wondering, Missus Fuller, if you could do something for me.
She blinked placidly at me. Sure, honey.
looks. The first one was the kind of face a person might make
when someone asks them to donate money and they dont
want to. But the second look was something else, as if she
was secretly not an old lady at all, but a little girl in an old
body. The second look won out.
Lets look.
The two of us got up from the table, the legs of our chairs
cane. The best ways to start it up, so we can see for real how
much gas is in it.
She eased herself into the drivers seat and put the key in
the ignition. The car grumbled before it roared, andjust
a quick tick laterthat little girl inside Missus Fuller was
hooting and clapping her hands and bouncing around.
Hooo! was all she could say for a time, but eventually
she did manage the words, Full tank! Full tank! Baby girls,
here I come!
What do you do when you wake up one day and realize pigs
just might fly, for real? As for me, I did the strangest thing. I
broke down and cried.
I guess it was because I remembered right then that my
ma was dead, my daddy was a drunk, and this mornings
blueberry muffins were the first time Id felt full up in a season. Why hadnt someone fetched a wish for me? For my
ma? It hurt my heart to think about how easy it had been
to wish up that tank of gas, especially when I considered
everything that went into drilling oil and refining it, shipping
it cross the country in trucksall the people and all the
effort: so gigantic! Somehow, the magic in the stars had swept
aside all those details in some special way to fill up Missus
Fullers car. Couldnt somebody get out their broom on my
behalf?
20
She gave me a big hug and laughed from her belly. Sometimes life surprises you, dont it? She set her hands on the
steering wheel as if she was ready to drive off. I guess I
should pack a few things. Can you wait a minute? Ill give you
a ride home. Its on my way.
I squinched my nose. Naw, thanks. I like to walk. Plus,
Ive got some other errands.
granny for me, all right, Genuine? That was a mighty nice
thing, consideringwell, seeing as howI just know that
was a difficult thing for her to do, after all this time.
I was in a sort of daze when I left Missus Fuller, so I wandered for a time, until I came to a tree whose branches dipped
down like the streams of a fountain. I sat butt to dirt and
leaned my head back against the trunk. The tree felt sturdy
and alive, and I liked thinking of the idea that it breathed
my air while I breathed its. Before long, I felt mostly better.
After all, it had been a mighty right thing, to be able to make
Missus Fuller smile that way. Even if my life didnt change, if
I really could help folks, wasnt that better than nobodys life
21
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and close at six. The barber, playing the banjo on the bench
outside his shop, may seem downright provincial to your eye.
But small-town life can be a mighty fine thing when youre
hurt and needing comfort.
Hmm.
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ing it over.
Just down the way, Edie Walton flipped the open sign
The girl was truly beautiful, with brown skin the color of
chestnuts, long eyelashes, and a quality I guess the beautypageant people might call graceeven though she was only
standing there contemplating her phone. In fact, everything
24
about her was pageant-pretty. And here was me, plain little
Genuine. I was embarrassed just to be walking toward her.
Maybe Id go see if poor, swollen Greg over at the hospital
could mumble a wish.
I smiled. Sure!
Ive been trying all over the place, but I cant get a sig-
my way.
... Yep.
And this liquid light youre talking about, its really from
Like a dowser?
She nodded. My great-grandma was one. Only, I dont
think I can do it. I tried once, right over one of the city water
mains, and my stick didnt so much as twitch, Jura admitted.
But still, I believe people can do it.
are known for it, I said. You should try your dowsing here.
Amy McClean says the ley lines are real strong in Sass.
I nodded.
She broke into a smilea beautiful one, of course.
Thats cool, Genuine. Even though she was from the city,
she pronounced it right: Gen-u-wine.
So, what are you going to do with it? she asked, head-
Think of all the good you could do! Her eyes got bright
and wide. I mean, you could stop war! House the homeless!
Exactly!
28
Moonshine or something?
Sheep!
could I stay with her so I could get away from my old vomitorium of a school. But it turns out I probably cant because
my aunts not my legal guardian, blah, blah, blah.
Her eyes darted after a crow that flew by. You mustve
29
I can see how that might lick the red off your candy, I
mom cant move here unless she gets a job, which she cant,
cause there arent any.
about Pa.
And then I came to it. Right in front of me, I had the raw
makings of a wish! All it needed was a little patting and baking. So, uh, Jura. If you had your druthers
My what?
Oh.
Jura lit up. Oh, my mom to get a job, definitely! She hates
Ardenville! Shed be so happy. And Auntie, too, shed practically be dancing around with a rose between her teeth
I imagined Sasss prim and proper banker, Trish Spencer,
turning a tango round her living room, and I began to cackle.
Nuh-unh!
30
I nodded.
Police ATV as it rumbled by. She watched Davy Pierce leading Curly, his 4-H sheep, on a leash down Main Street.
At last, she took a deep breath and said, If you really
want to do this for me, Genuine, then yes! Two channels and
no cell phone reception is a small price to pay to get away
from those drones at Ardenville Central Middle. Ha! Even
that name is stupid!
I chuckled.
Jura put her phone in her purse. And you know what? If
Two of em.
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