| Biographical Non-Fiction posted February 2, 2024 | Chapters: |
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Lucille's longing to start a family grows stronger.
A chapter in the book At Home in Mississippi
A Desire For Something More
by BethShelby
With the mortgage paid off, Lucille began to think about babies again, her brother and sister in-law, had stopped by, bringing their little girl, Jeanine. She was adorable with her dark bouncing curls and sparkling blue eyes.
Lucille had still been living with her mama and papa in the country when Jeanine was born. Her brother and only sibling with both parents, Newman, was two years older than her. When he’d married Alene, he brought her home to live until he could afford a place of his own. There were plenty of rooms in their house since the half-brothers and sisters had grown up and moved away.
Alene was a girl from the community who they’d grown up with, so she felt at home with her in-laws. Her brother had already married Lucille’s older sister.
Alene had gotten pregnant right away. The baby was born at home, and the birth had given everyone a scare. She was born breach, and the doctor had a hard time delivering her. To further complicate things, she was born with a veil or caul.
This can happen when the water doesn’t break normally and the amniotic fluid sack becomes affixed over the baby. It isn’t dangerous as long as it is peeled away fairly soon, but it is extremely rare, occurring in only one in 88,000 births. It was a first for the doctor and for all the others gathered around. The baby’s skin was a strange shade of dark purple. It alarmed everyone, especially Lucille, who at the time was in her early teens. If folks had only known, many cultures consider this extremely lucky.
From her strange beginning, Lucille adored the baby girl and longed to have one of her own. The child, who was now almost six, idolized Lucille as well. “Aunt Lucille, do you have any cake for me?” Jeanine asked.
“No honey, I’m sorry. I would have if I’d known you were coming today. I don’t have any cake, but I have some peaches. Would you like a peach cut up with some cream and sugar on it. I’ll tell you what, if you can get your mom and dad to bring you back tomorrow, I’ll have you a cake baked with chocolate frosting, just like you like.”
“Sis, you spoil her. She thinks you hung the moon. When are you going to have one of your own. You’ve been married four years. It didn’t take me that long to get one going.”
“You always did try to beat me at everything. It’s a good thing your baby was two weeks late being born. People were ready to start counting the days you’d been married. If she had been born early, you’d have had the whole community whispering behind your back.”
After supper that night, Lucille worked up the courage to approach Glover again about starting a family. They were sitting out on their new porch enjoying the swing, Glover’s dad had built for them. Glover was puffing on his pipe causing Lucille to have to fan away at the smoke which the breeze kept blowing her direction. She hated the smell of tobacco, but at least a pipe, with its faint scent of cherries, wasn’t as bad as the strong cigarettes her brothers smoked. Glover insisted the smoke kept the mosquitoes at bay.
"Honey, now that we’re out of debt, could we at least be thinking about starting a family.”
“Seems to me, we are a family. Am I not enough for you? Come on, Lucille, be reasonable. We still haven’t got this place sealed. Remember how cold it was in the winter. If we had a baby, it might get pneumonia and die. The Bounds family lost two of their little ones, last winter. Could you handle that?
“Are you saying you don’t ever want any kids?”
“I’m just saying, I don’t know why we need kids. They’re noisy. I can’t handle a lot of noise. Are you that lonely? We could get a dog. Anyway, let’s not talk about it right now. We might think about it, after we get all the walls sealed and maybe get some electricity. We signed up with the power company two years ago, but they may never get around to bringing poles and wire down this road. Papa didn’t sign up for it, so our house is the only one on this road that needs wiring for electricity.
Lucille sighed. “You and I grew up without electricity. Children don’t need electricity. If they don’t have it, they don’t miss it.” She decided she would have to let the subject drop for now. She would just have to start praying about it. She changed the subject.
“When are you going to teach me how to drive? You promised me when we got married you would."
“You don’t have any reason to drive. I don’t want you working. You’ve got enough to do here at home, but if you really want to learn to drive, we’ll try to get out on Sunday and let you practice.”
Sunday afternoon, the driving lesson was frustrating. Starting the car was easy, but each time Lucille started forward the car would jerk. Lucille quickly learned her teacher wasn’t a man of patience. “Damn it, Lucille, you’re not listening to me. It isn’t that hard."
After a few more forward jerks and quick stops. Glover got out of the car. He slammed the door and headed inside. Lucille sat for a few minutes, choking back the tears. Then, she cranked the car and eased it forward. Without Glover yelling at her, her confidence returned. Slowly, she made her way down the driveway and onto the road.
She picked up speed, as Glover came running from the house waving his hands and yelling in alarm. She paid no attention but kept moving all the way down to the highway where she turned around and drove back home. She was pleased with herself. Now, all she needed was her license. She had mastered the art of driving.
A few weeks later Lucille was working in the kitchen. She glanced out the kitchen window looking at the four chinaberry trees she had planted three years earlier. They were growing well. Suddenly a strange feeling washed over her. She felt dizzy. The scene was changing in front of her eyes. The trees were bigger and full of tiny purple flowers. A rope swing hung from one of them. The yard was sandy. Right in the middle of the sand pile sat a little girl who looked to be about four. She had a sand bucket and shovel and was in the process of scooping sand into the bucket.
There was a sharp intake of air, as Lucille caught her breath, and the word “Beth” formed on her lips. As soon as the word left her mouth, the scene faded away and she was, once again, seeing the trees as they were. Her knees buckled, and she sat abruptly in one of the kitchen chairs. In all her heart, she knew God had just told her that her prayers would be answered.
When it was time for her monthly cycle, her period didn’t start.
 Recognized |
The time is around 1936 in the little town of Newton, Mississippi. Glover and Lucille have paid their debts but live in a partly finished house. This is will likely be the third chapter of a book intitled "Growing up in Mississippi".
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