SHORT STORY FRIDAY: Martha

 

This is the second of what I hope to be a weekly installment of Short Stories. I’m building a project. More on that later, but the hope is that by committing to posting one short story every Friday, I’ll have the collection I need in due time.

I’ve attempted this project before. So, just as I did last week, I’m reposting this story. I’ve reworked it a bit and it may still need some editing. So be kind.

MARTHA

The February wind howls around the small frame house. It is snowing again.

Inside, a fire burns in the kitchen cookstove.

The fire is warm, but Martha feels the chill in her body. She huddles near the stove under a quilt hand sewn by her mother.

Arthur adds another log to the fire. The kitchen is the warmest room in the house.

In the corner two young girls play quietly with their wooden dolls. They know Mama is sick. They worry.

Arthur encourages Martha to drink some of the broth he has warmed. She tries but the searing pain in her throat does not want the liquid to go down.

Although he protests, she hands the blue enamel cup back to Arthur. Their eyes meet and share the worry neither of them dares to speak.

Martha weeps. But she does not weep for herself.

Martha prays.

Arthur holds her. He fears that she will begin coughing again. He feels her body shake.

Martha has the flu. She is nine months pregnant.

Martha grieves. Martha prays.

The year is 1920. It is a Saturday.

The Write Side Shop

Just hours ago, Martha held the lifeless body of her youngest son. Only two years old, he had fallen victim to the influenza epidemic that had ravished the world since the time of his birth.

Martha knows that her tears cannot last long. She knows that crying will only worsen her symptoms. She is needed to care for her other young son, also devastatingly ill, sleeping restlessly at her side.

She is needed to care for the young daughters who, so far, have not been sick.

She is needed to care for Arthur who cannot raise the children alone.

She is needed to care for her aging Mother.

Martha worries. Martha prays.

She worries not only for her son and herself, but for the unborn child who will arrive any day. Her
breathing is difficult. She knows that she may not survive the labor and delivery.

The oldest daughter, just turned nine, is now taking care of the cooking and what cleaning she can. Martha’s mother helps when able.

While he is still well himself, Arthur walks the two miles to work every day even in the coldest of weather.

As he opens the door to leave, he turns once again to meet Martha’s eyes. There is no need to exchange words.

Martha prays.

It is Wednesday.

The snow has stopped, but the bitter chill remains.

Martha feels the beginnings of the labor pains. She prays that her newborn child will survive. She prays that she will survive to care for him.

Martha’s mother places a cooling cloth on her forehead. The doctor will arrive soon.

A neighbor goes to tell Arthur that it is time. The child will arrive before Arthur gets home.

A boy. He is healthy. They name him James.

Martha is too weak to care for the child. She is not too weak to worry.

Martha prays.

It is Saturday.

Martha wakes to the sound of quiet voices.

The baby, she asks.

Still strong and healthy.

She does not ask again. She knows. Her four-year-old son is gone.

Martha grieves.

Martha prays.

It is Friday and we’re embracing the weekend. We may or may not be embracing the snow. The forecast has changed just about every time I’ve looked. I may be on the road to Southwest Virginia to check on my Mom as long as the weather holds.

Thanks for reading. Have a good weekend.


 

BORN ON THIS DAY

1824 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (d. 1863)

1869 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic (d. 1916)

1889 – Edith Tolkien, wife and muse of J. R. R. Tolkien (d. 1971)

1940 – Jack Nicklaus, American golfer and sportscaster

1942 – Mac Davis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2020)

1947 – Jill Eikenberry, American actress

1956 – Geena Davis, American actress and producer

THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

Biden, Dems’ disastrous first year – Americans suffering and they want change
By Rep. Elise Stefanik , Rep. Mike Johnson | Fox News

Why you should pay attention to Youngkin in 2022
The Hillsdale Collegian

Ex-Labor Secretary Reich says Democrats should assault Sinema over filibuster stance in deleted tweet
FOXNews

Ivermectin’s potential to treat COVID gets a serious look in Duke University study
Yahoo! News

WHAT I’M READING


Cross-posted at Bearing Drift

Throwback Thursday: Random Thoughts About How We Got Here

Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County, Virginia was the plantation house of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia.

“And I see the danger in either case will arise principally from the conduct and views of two very unprincipled parties in the United States-two fires, between which the honest and substantial people have long found themselves situated.”

Richard Henry Lee, The Essential Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers

Richard Henry Lee, American lawyer and politician, President of the Continental Congress was born on this day in 1732 (d. 1794).

Great Uncle Richard had a way with words. And they’re as valid today as when he spoke them.

Richard Henry Lee is a distant ancestor. Not in my direct line, but through his sister, Anna. So my ancestor is actually Captain Henry I. Lee, Richard Henry Lee’s father.

That makes Marse Robert a distant cousin. Also not in the direct line.

Back in the early decades of “Fifteen Days to Flatten the Curve” I took advantage of a 90-day free trial on Ancestry.com. I found some interesting things. Some I’d like to research more.

Right now I don’t have the time to spend on family history, and I’m not willing to pay the membership prices. At least not right now.

But if you wanted to be a blessing, I do have a birthday coming up sometime this year.

I digress.

One of these days I’ll sit down and do the whole family history. From the Lees of Virginia, to the Huguenots who fled France for religious persecution, to the Native Americans here centuries before.

I have ancestors who fought in the American Revolution. And I have ancestors who fought for the Confederacy and a generation later fought along side their Yankee brethren in the War to End Wars.

The Write Side Shop

I’m the sum of all of these people. Good and bad.

I haven’t found any scandals…yet.

Here on a rainy morning that is supposed to turn into a snowy afternoon, I’m thinking about all those who went before. All of those who in some small way are still a part of who I am.

Their decisions got me here.

Okay, to be fair, my decisions got me to the exact point I’m at this morning. But you get the idea.

There’s no denying that the Lee family had a major impact on Virginia history, from the Lee Resolution that led to the Declaration of Independence to the surrender at Appomattox.

Likewise, I used the words written by my grandfather during WWI to write my stage play: Clean Dry Socks: Diary of a Doughboy.

Maybe someday a hundred years from now someone will find my writing and think “we’ll just hide this in the back room.”

I still plan to keep writing.


 

ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY

1896 – George Burns, American actor, comedian, and producer (d. 1996)

1920 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)

1926 – Patricia Neal, American actress (d. 2010)[22]

1930 – Buzz Aldrin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut

1956 – Bill Maher, American comedian, political commentator, media critic, television host, and producer

1958 – Lorenzo Lamas, American actor, director, and producer

1972 – Nikki Haley, American accountant and politician, 116th Governor of South Carolina

THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

UK PM Johnson drops COVID-19 restrictions
Reuters

Denzel Washington wants viewers to look past Macbeth’s race
NBC

FACTCHECK: Facts Can Be Artfully Arranged to Drive Political Narratives!
Shaun Kenney at The Republican Standard

Bill Brock – “As I type away and breathe life into a character, I must care about the individual.”
NYGlamour.net

WHAT I’M READING