My Children Are More Precious Than Gold (22 page)

“
Sure a sad time,” Elmer
grunted between strikes. “Too bad fer the Bishop that this had to
happen at Christmas.”

“
Yep, sure is,” Tutt
agreed shortly, watching the puff of steam his voice produced float
away on the cold breeze. “Keep picken, Elmer. It’s too cold out
here to fool around.”

“
This here rocky ground is
hard enough to dig in warm weather, but it twice as hard when the
ground is froze and covered with ice. Don’t know why yer
complainen, Tutt. Yer the one sitten on the fire while I work. The
grave hole ain’t goen to need be all that big,” growled
Elmer.

“
This fire feels darn good
where it’s warmen, too,” drawled Tutt, grinning in spite of
himself.

A blustery north wind blew down
Mosquito Hollow on the day of the funeral. The church, a long,
narrow, unpainted building darkened throughout the ages to a dark
gray by years of weather stood in a grove of leafless oak trees. A
black pitcher pump, covering a well in the front yard, seemed an
imposing fixture in the bare yard. Attached to the bump on the pump
spout was a shiny, tin, drinking cup, glinting in the sunlight like
a beacon guiding the mourners to the church.

The rough board floor of the church
was worn and shiny in the aisles between the pews, made that way by
the feet of many generations of worshipers. The pews, made of one
by four boards spaced four inches apart, glowed, polished from the
congregation scooting back and forth. Ask anyone in the
congregation. They would tell you those pews were hard sitting on a
Sunday that the preacher gave a long winded sermon.

The Bishop family arrived early at the
church for the funeral. Elmer Litwiller had already been there to
start a fire in the heating stove, standing middle ways of the room
along one wall at the end of a line of pews. The fire’s warmth had
time to reach around the room and fog up the windows before anyone
arrived. The stove’s dented sides emitted thin heat waves that
shimmered toward the ceiling. Flames crackled inside the stove’s
belly. A flicker of red danced behind the three holed air vent at
the bottom. Sid opened the door to check out the stove’s contents
and made a mental note to refill the stove from the dry oak slabs
stacked in the wood box in the back of the room if no one else
did.

Tom and Lue carried a small bench up
to the front and placed it by the podium. Jacob gently placed his
namesake’s coffin down on the bench and sat down in the first pew
with Nannie. He looked worriedly at his wife, and the thought
crossed his mind that she was one strong woman to get out of her
sick bed so soon. Her face was drawn and pale from months of
staying in bed and the difficult birthing. Jacob worried that the
effort of coming to the church may be too much for her.

Bess twisted around on the pew behind
her parents and looked down the aisle. She couldn’t see outside
from there so she got up and walked back to the door to see if
anyone was coming. It was a relief to see several buggies arriving
from both ends of Mosquito Hollow so the funeral could get under
way.

In a hushed voice, Preacher Irby spoke
to each of the Bishops then he stepped behind the podium. He began
with a prayer. “Amen. Now let’s sing a hymn. How about --,”
Preacher Irby halted, transfixed. His mouth stayed open as he
stared down the aisle at the door.

Everyone turned in their seats to see
what had his attention. With the sun at her back, the darkened
figure loomed in the door, casting a long, black shadow over the
mourners. She walked slowly down the aisle to the front, looking
straight ahead of her and sat down at the ancient, out of tune,
upright piano that hadn’t been played in years. Its beauty had
disappeared with its age. Now covered with scars from being moved
from one corner of the room to another, some of the white keys were
a gaped brown among the rest, missing the ivory top.

Frozen in the moment, the
congregation stared at Genon Mitt’s back as she began to
play
The Old Rugged Cross.
They
were amazed at how
well the hymn sounded coming from that piano after it had been
silent for years. It was being brought to life, played by this
mystical woman the congregation had never seen play before. How
could they know? The woman hadn't been a member of their church for
years. Genon was through the first verse before people came to
their senses enough to sing the words.

As if Genon playing the piano was a
regular occurrence in his church, when the hymn was over, Preacher
Irby nodded his head and said, “Well done, Miss Mitts.” Then he
began his message.

After the service, Jacob rose, picked
up the baby’s coffin and turned to go down the aisle with his
family following behind him. The congregation stayed seated until
the family had all left the church. They rose to follow them to the
cemetery.

Curious about the sudden appearance of
Genon Mitts, Preacher Irby stepped over to the piano. “Well done,
Sister. I didn’t know ya could play the piano. Ya should come to
Sunday services on a regular basis and play. The congregation would
love that.”

“
First of all, I’m not yer
sister. I be Nannie’s sister. Second, I wouldn’t play like that fer
anyone cept Nannie and Jacob. Good day to ya.” Genon said curtly as
she rose from the bench to leave.

Preacher Irby stood with his mouth
open for the second time that day as he watched the mysterious and
often spooky midwife leave the church. He tried to digest what she
had just said. He wondered if he'd just found out more about Genon
Mitts then most of the people on the ridge knew. Of course, ridge
people were a tight lipped bunch so there was no telling what they
kept to themselves.

Chapter 19

Blue Ridge Christmas

After the funeral, the Bishops walked
back to the cabin, and Nannie went back to her bed. A morose quiet
hung over the house for a few days. Then one morning, Nannie called
Cass and Bess into the bedroom after breakfast.

“
Younguns, it’s high time
we start preparations for Christmas for the sake of the younger
children, don’t ya think?” Asked Nannie.

“
I reckon Christmas is
getten close, Mama,” admitted Bess.

“
See ifen ya two girls can
do something to get the Christmas spirit started around here,”
instructed Nannie with a weak smile at Cass.

“
All right, Mama. We’ll
see what we can do,” agreed Cass.

“
It’s time to get on with
our lives. We’ve mourned enough, I reckon,” shared
Nannie.

Nannie hoped for the sake of the whole
family that once they started thinking about Christmas they would
perk up.

Cass put her coat on and went to look
for Jacob. He was coming out of the barn. “Pap, Mama wants ya to go
get a Christmas tree. She says we best be thinken about getten
prepared fer Christmas for the sake of the younguns.”

“
Reckon, yer mama is
right,” agreed Jacob.

Right after chores, he took Sid and
Lue with him to find a Christmas tree. They looked throughout the
pasture. Finally, they settled on a big cedar tree, growing close
to the house since it was going to take all three of them to drag
it. Once they had the tree through the cabin door, Jacob nailed two
boards together for the stand and nailed the cross to the bottom of
the tree.

“
Sid, Lue and Don, come
hep me stand this here tree up. Ifen it don’t stand by itself, then
we might have to tie it to a nail on the wall,” said
Jacob.

The boys reached down into the tree to
get hold of the branches and began to lift up. The tall tree rose
slowly upright, and shuttered when the boys turned loose of it.
Holding their breath, everyone stared at the weaving tree, but it
remained in place.

Cass opened the steamer trunk, lifted
out the Christmas ornament box from among the games and placed it
on the table. The children, now full of excitement, began to
chatter as all of them picked a place to decorate on the
tree.

Cass heated a skillet on the stove,
tossed in a handful of popcorn and placed on the lid. The kernels
sizzled in the lard, then popped open, flying up to hit the lid
while Cass shook the skillet back and forth over the stove to keep
the popcorn from burning. She popped two big dishpans full of corn
and set them between the children at the table to string the
garlands. There would be plenty of popcorn for everyone to munch on
at the same time.

Looking for the gold star, Lue hunted
through the box until he found it. This Christmas tree was taller
and larger around than most the family had brought in. The top was
even out of Lou’s reach so he carried a chair over to the tree,
climbed on that and placed the star.

It took most of the afternoon to
decorate the tree, and finally, the job was done. The other
children stood back to admire their handiwork and clapped at the
tree’s decorative holiday look.

After supper, Cass and Bess sat down
at the table to put their heads together and planned the Christmas
meal.

“
The geese are big enough
to butcher so we could have geese and cornbread dressen,” said
Cass.

“
That sounds good along
with all the usual dishes that Mama always fixed like mashed
potatoes and gravy, baked sweet potatoes, hominy and squash pie,”
Bess stated licking her lips at the thought of all that good
food.

It seemed like quite an undertaking to
Cass, but she wanted to do all she could. She had to make things
easier for Nannie to rest until she was able to get back on her
feet and take over again.

Christmas eve, the family seated
themselves around the fireplace after supper. A peacefulness
settled over everyone that comes with having a full stomach while
they basked in the warmth of the fire. It grew close to the younger
children’s bedtime, and their heads nodded and jerk. Still they
hated to call it a night before any of the older
children.

“
Jacob! Come in here now!”
Nannie shouted from her bed.

Jacob jumped up, knocking his chair
over which brought the heads of the nodding children upright.
Moving so quickly, Jacob made it to the bedroom door before he
heard the clatter of the falling chair behind him. “Nannie, what’s
the matter?”

“
It is Christmas eve?
Right?” Nannie had a rosy blush in her cheeks, and her voice held
an excited tone.

“
Yep, it sure is,” Jacob
agreed bewildered by the look of excitement on her face.

The children slipped over as far as
the bedroom door and stood quietly peeking in to listen, afraid to
let their presence be known until they knew that Nannie was all
right.

“
Jacob, get the younguns
in here. I want to talk to them.”

Jacob turned around to call his
offspring and bumped into them, standing right behind
him.

“
Listen to me, everybody.
It’s Christmas tomorrow. The tree’s up and decorated. Cass and Bess
have a big meal planned fer tomorrow’s dinner, but I’m affeered
everyone is fixen to wear a long face. Jest this once let’s start
Christmas early and open the presents now. What do ya
say?”

“
Kin we, Pap?” Cried
Dillard.

“
I reckon we kin if that’s
what yer mama wants,” Pap said. “Go get the presents and bring em
in here by Mama’s bed.”

“
Lord have mercy! Nope,”
shouted Nannie. “Hold it right there, younguns.” The children froze
near the door and turned to look at their mother. “Ya don’t need to
do any such a thing. I want to sit with all of ya around the tree
like we always do,” declared Nannie.

“
Are ya sure yer up to
that, Nannie?” Jacob was worried because he wasn’t sure what was
going on with his wife at the moment.

“
I’m sure,” Nannie
answered with gusto. “It’s about time I got out of this bed. It’s
getten right lonesome in here by myself.”

That was all the children needed to
hear. By the time Jacob had helped Nannie into a chair, the
children were all seated on the floor in a group by the tree,
fidgeting and giggling with anticipation.

“
Sid, ya can be Santa this
year,” said Jacob.

“
Are ya sure, Pap? Ya
usually hand out the presents,” questioned Sid.

“
I’m sure. I jest want to
sit here by yer mama this time and watch ya younguns. Go on now,”
Jacob said, nodding at the presents.

Sid picked up a gift off the pile and
read aloud what was printed in large letters on the brown paper.
“To Pap from Bess.”

“
Well, well, what kin this
be?” Jacob shook the gift near his ear, and squeezed the paper
wrapping, knowing that the children were squirming. All those
expectant young faces wanted him to hurry up and open his present
so they could get theirs.

Jacob slipped the twine string off the
wrapping and laughed as his now mended, brown, woolen scarf fell
out in his lap. “I wondered where this scarf went to. I was a right
worried about what I was goen to do to keep warm this winter, Bess.
Thankee. Ya did a good job fixen it. This here scarf looks like
new,” Jacob praised as he unfolded the scarf and stretched it out
for everyone to see. “I’ll be more careful taken it off that nail
from now on.”