Send Me Down A Miracle

Send Me Down A Miracle

Juvenile/YA fiction
"I tried to do as Daddy said and stay away, but I couldn't help
passing by her house occasionally 'cause it was practically on the way
to everywhere, it being on the main road and all. So me and my best
friend, Sharalee, would just happen to ride by the Dabney Place on our
bikes every once in a while and there it was, same as always, boarded
up and leaning to the right, with the paint peeling, looking like some
forgotten old man, but we knew she was in there, walking around in all
that dark, full of all kinds of mystery and intrigue.
Charity (14), protagonist of Han Nolan's Send Me Down A Miracle,
is captivated by Adrienne Dabney, a New York artist who has returned
to her small home town to see if a month long sensory deprivation
experiment will improve her work. Charity, whose own mother has gone
off to a bird cage collectors' convention, becomes drawn to a career
in art off in New York City, sure that Adrienne has chosen her as her
protigee. Inwardly, though, she has serious conflicts. She's always
been close to her fundamentalist preacher father. He's seeing
Adrienne as insane at best, probably a tool of Satan.
Coming out of her month long seclusion, at a town picnic to
celebrate her emergence, Adrienne speaks of having a vision. She's
seen Jesus sitting in one of her chairs. Of course people want to see
the chair. It's not long before people are praying to the chair for
miracles...
...while Charity's father, sure that it's a graven idol luring
his flock to eternal damnation, wants to chop it into kindling.
If you enjoy a poignant coming-of-age story narrated in a very
distinctive voice, Send Me Down A Miracle is a fine choice.
On a personal note, I learned something interesting. Out of three
dining commons and the cafeteria in the union (Bears Den), dining
services only chose 20 students to work over the summer. I'm guessing
we're the ones management feels they can really count on. A lot of
people would probably be decidedly unimpressed. But I am very proud
to be in that number. I will do my best to live up to the
expectations of those who selected me. Joey cat is still going
strong. We're now past lilacs and into lupines. I saw my first daisy
of the year today.
A great big shout out goes out to the other members of our elite
dining services team.
jules hathaway


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