Download to your Nook (eBook)
Download from Apple iTunes (eBook)
Download from Smashwords (eBook)
Barnes & Noble.com
Smashwords.com
Category:
Literary Fiction
Publisher: Smashwords.com
ISBN-10: 1465971181
Type: Fiction
Copyright: Dec 17, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781465971180
Price: $0.99 (eBook)
The Dallas County Archives show important events occurring in Dallas in 1927: Sergeant Alvin York and Charles Lindbergh visited the city. A rash of robberies shocked the citizenry. The extraordinary thing that happened to Mary Dalton has not been recorded until now.
Divorced from her first husband long before their daughter was born, Mary Dalton was a very practical woman. She was planning a nice dinner and a practical gift to celebrate her anniversary with her second husband Bill.
Excerpt
Mary Dalton looked in her dresser mirror, brushing her hair away from her face and into a fresh knot on the back of her head. No fancy finger wave bob for her.
She slipped her coat onto her tall sparse frame and hurried to put on her hat. She wanted to catch the next streetcar downtown. She had some important shopping to do.
She caught the streetcar, with a few seconds to spare. “Good morning, Ma’am,” said the driver as she climbed aboard.
“Good morning, Sir,” she returned, as she produced the token.
“Looks like we might be in for a blue norther, judging by them clouds,” he said. She moved passed him without another word. She did not like to engage in small talk with strangers, although she had traveled with this driver on many occasions.
Her mind raced far ahead of the noisy, careening streetcar to the shops that lay ahead. She did not know exactly what she was looking for, except that it should be something practical that Bill could wear for a long time. Maybe something he could wear on Sundays. But something he could wear to work every day would be even better. Maybe a flannel shirt for this unusually cold winter. The almanac said it was going to be cold even into the spring. Yes, a flannel shirt would be good under the overalls that he wore to the City of Dallas equipment maintenance garage.
She got off two blocks from Woolworth’s on Elm Street. She would look there first since she did not have much money to spend on this anniversary gift.
She sighed, wishing their anniversary did not come right after Christmas.
As she walked down the street, she allowed her mind to wander back to their wedding day in 1907. It had been a big step to marry Bill years after Jimmy had deserted her.
Jimmy. Wavy-haired, handsome Jimmy. Always looking for fun.
She knew now, and deep down even before she had married Jimmy, that they were not right for each other. But during their courtship and short marriage, he had lifted her above her long-held notion that she was plain, with nothing especially attractive about her. With him she had felt special. Attractive. Almost playful. She sighed.
Jimmy had not been ready for a wife and baby. He had slipped away in the night. He was a coward. She was not bitter, just sad, remembering her feelings of utter rejection.
Thank goodness, Bill had come along years later. He was the opposite of Jimmy. Steady, hard-working, willing to take care of Mary and be a good father for his step-daughter.
Five years older than Mary, he was not quite handsome. He had ears a little bigger than they should have been, but he was nice looking in an ordinary kind of way.
He was not a talkative person, but was unafraid to express his emotions. He had grieved deeply with her when they lost their own daughter soon after she was born. They had cried together. He had always taken things personally, grateful for thoughtfulness in others and quick to express anger when injustice came his way. But, a flash of his anger could be gone as quickly as it had arisen.
|
