Kaiser Mommy

Beginning Previous There was the sound of a door opening at the back of the house and voices came up the hallway. Happy voices, chattering away. The voices brought lightness with them, they brought a lighter hearted spirit, chasing away the tough conversations of the morning. Leta turned fully to greet the smiling faces that made their way into the kitchen. “Good morning Belle, Good morning mother Ellen.” She stepped.. Read More

Beginning Previous “Grandmother,” she began, waiting for Elizabeth to shift her eyes to her, permitting her to continue, “May I look at your Bible?” Elizabeth carefully pushed the book toward Leta’s seat at the table. “Careful you make no messes of it. Wipe that jam off your hands first.” Leta began to argue that her hands were clean, and at Abby’s soft cough, remembered to let it go. She wiped.. Read More

Beginning Previous The face that appeared was not attractive. It was difficult to tell if the face had ever been attractive, so severe was the expression on it. The thin white hair was pulled back so tight in a bun knot at the back of the head that the hairline had gradually receded as hairs gave way under the tension of being pulled into the knot. Teeth long gone, allowed.. Read More

Beginning Previous entry Leta was immersed in another thought by this time. Her mother’s words were coming back to her. “Mother, do you think it would have been different for Glenna if Dr. Welch hadn’t have died? If Father would not have needed to ride so far for a doctor?” Abby was just slightly past the point of contemplating possibilities. “I believe it was Glenna’s time to join our savior,.. Read More

Beginning Previous entry Abby smiled. “It seems your daughter has donated her spice rack to the making of mud pies.” Leta wondered, “I wonder if she knows she’s donated it?” “Oh, look closer. Look at the corner of the house.” Indeed, there at the right corner of the house, right at the very edge, stood LaVerne, barely peeking around the corner to watch what the girl was doing. For a.. Read More

Beginning Leta watched Abby’s face. It was different that before. She felt an honesty there that was usually lacking. Not to say that Abby had ever lied, but she had always kept the part back about feeling that failure, feeling that despair. This was thing that Leta had always needed to hear. Leta had felt a touch of that failure before, when LaVerne was stricken with the Polio on her.. Read More

It’s done. Well. It’s done for now. I’ll put chunks of it up for you to read for the parts that are okay, once it starts to wander – in true NaNo unedited style – I will spare you. My drive for writing this particular story is that I’m so invested in the history of my family – to me, anything resembling theology isn’t the point, it’s just the means.. Read More

Beginning Previous “I should not speak of it, but I was. I always pictured that the Almighty was a Heavenly Father. It should not matter if the Almighty has a male or female form. The Almighty is greater than anything we can picture.” She straightened in her seat as she said this. Ever concerned that she let her audience know that God, in any form, was nothing to trifle with.. Read More

Beginning She relaxed and said, “Good morning.” The other woman smiled gently, as a mother to a daughter and replied, “Good morning, dear.” She gently smoothed her hand over the younger woman’s hair as she shuffled past to her own chair at the table. The older woman was thin, angular and harsh looking around the edges. Her hair was drawn back in a bun, but there were springs of hair.. Read More

Here’s the first page of the novel: The table was wooden, walnut, stained and scarred from years of use. Shiny like many hands with many rags had swept over it’s surface to keep it clean. It was hard, dented, worn, and loved. The chairs that were placed around it were in similar condition. Mismatched, selected for the comfort of the user, rather than the beauty of a matched set. The.. Read More