Bob and Barbara couldn’t wait to move their family from Chicago to the safety of his childhood home of Hamilton, IL only to find that it is not as peaceful as he remembered. Young John, who idolizes his grandfather, is thrilled about the move. Fifteen year old Jenny is not sure about the move. But, the turn of a radio dial changes her life, finding a Christian rock station and attending a Christian music festival. Jenny makes new friends at her new school but the jealousy of one girl marks Jenny for disaster. Her new found faith, prayer and a good friend help her through what could have been a terrible disaster.
While preparing for Thanksgiving, Jenny discovers an old family secret that brings back painful and sad memories. It is a family mystery that opens old wounds with huge surprises for more than just the Madison family.
Follow along through the tears and pain of the past and feel the love and respect of a grandson waiver only to teach his grandfather that forgiveness is the way the Lord taught us. See how it all unfolds for a beautiful Christmas when Grammy looks through the crystal.
Excerpt
The wild day lilies were swaying in the hot summer breeze along the long rutted lane. The car rocked to and fro although it was going very slow. John had his head stuck out the back window, straining to see the old farm house beyond the stand of trees near the curve ahead. Jenny sat back in her seat as if in a pout. She didn’t want to come see her grandparents because it was going to be so boring here on the farm for the young teenage girl; and she was missing a party with her friends back home.
Barbara and Bob tried to bring their family to visit his parents at least twice a year. Bob recalled his days on the farm with a melancholy nostalgia. He misses the quiet security of the west central Illinois farm community. He couldn’t wait to finish high school so he could leave the rustic rural community. He went to college, earned his M.B.A. and acquired an excellent position with a major firm in Chicago. He met Barbara Robbins while attending Northwestern. They married shortly after graduation and started a family near Bob’s job in Chicago. Now, that their two children are getting older, they long for the safe atmosphere in which his children can grow up alongside their loving, hardworking Christian grandparents. Little do his children know that he and Barbara had been talking of moving the family back there.
The car had barely come to a stop at the edge of the lawn when John threw open the door and started running toward the barn. He knew Poppy would be there working either with the animals or on one of the old tractors. Grammy came running out of the house drying her hands on her homemade polka dot apron. Bob reached out and grabbed the small, gray-haired woman around the waist and lifted her off her feet, spinning her around. Although she was protesting through her bursts of laughter, Bob finally put her down. She grabbed Barbara not only to greet her, but also to keep herself from falling from the dizziness that Bob had caused. They were all laughing and simultaneously greeting each other with all sorts of questions about their health, their jobs, the children’s school and the trip here.
Jenny slowly got out of the back seat of the car and leaned against the back fender of the car. She stared out over the cornfield to the woods beyond.
“There is nothing for miles around here,” was her first thought. Jenny knew she was just going to die from the boredom on Old MacDonald’s Farm. She rolled her eyes as she turned around to follow the adults into the house. She shuffled right on through the kitchen through the dining room and plopped herself down in an overstuffed chair in the living room.
“It’s so good to have you here,” Grammy started. “Are you planning to stay the whole weekend? They are going to have fireworks over the river on Sunday night. I do want to take the kids to see that. Can you stay? How long do you have off for the holiday?” Grammy talked so fast and fired question after question without waiting for the previous one to be answered.
“Mom,” Bob began as he pulled out a chair for his mother. “Sit down, Mom. Barbara and I have something to talk over with you and Pop.”
Grammy stood there with her mouth open to ask another question but instead she knitted her forehead and waited for Bob to continue. But, as she grabbed for a pot holder for something to hold on to, she just had to plead, “Son, you just have to stay until Monday. You’ve got to stay for the fireworks.”
“Mom, we are planning to stay for the fireworks,” Bob said as he guided his mother into the chair. “As a matter of a fact, we’d like to stay longer, if it is all right with you and Pop.”
“Of course, son,” Grammy said putting her hand on Bob’s arm. “You and your family are welcome here for as long as you want. This is your home.”
“We’ll talk to you and Pop tonight after supper,” Bob said. Then, in a whisper, he continued, “After the kids are in bed.”
Grammy started to say something when Bob put his finger to her lips and looked toward the living room where Jenny was sitting. She nodded her understanding.
“Well, I have to check on this roast for supper,” Grammy said changing the subject and jumping up and going to the stove.
Bob heard Barbara ask if there was anything she could do to help with supper as he was walking into the living room. He asked Jenny if she would help him bring in the luggage from the car.
“Why can’t John help?” Jenny whined.
“He is helping your grandfather with the chores.” Knowing how prissy Jenny was, Bob then added, “Would you rather go down there and help them?”
Jenny just shrugged her shoulders and shuffled back through the kitchen to the car. Jenny was having trouble carrying two suitcases on the stairway. Grammy came up behind her and grabbed the larger of the two and bounded up the stairs, talking all the way.
“Now child, you know you shouldn’t try to carry two of these heavy things at once. Take your time.” The next words Grammy said were muffled as she had already rounded the landing and went into the North bedroom. Jenny was so frustrated that she had been shown up by an old lady. Jenny followed Grammy into the North bedroom and dropped her mother’s suitcase onto the four-poster bed that her parents would share. Jenny always imagined that Lincoln must have slept there when Grammy was a child. The pictures of Poppy’s parents hung in drab oval frames above the bed. Their stares seemed to follow Jenny as she walked across the room and made her skin crawl. Bob startled Jenny as he walked into the room with his suitcase.
“Oh!” She cried as she jumped when he walked up behind her. “You scared me!”
“Sorry,” Bob said as he put his suitcase on the burgundy velvet fainting couch across from the bed. “Are Grandpa and Grandma Madison staring at you again?” He teased Jenny as he ran his fingers up her back.
“Stop it,” Jenny snarled. “They give me the creeps.”
“You had to know them,” Bob said. “They were really great people.”
Grammy had opened the room earlier in the week to air out. The perfume of the climbing honeysuckle floated through the windows. Bob took a deep breath before letting out a refreshing sigh.
“Ah!” he sighed. “I remember waking up to the smell of the honeysuckle. Doesn’t is smell good, Jen?”
“I guess. It’s so hot in here,” Jenny complained. “Why don’t they have air conditioning?”
“It’s not bad up here, Jen,” Bob said. “It’ll cool down even more once the sun goes down and the breezes kick up off the river.”
“I’ll die,” Jenny said as she fell across the bed.
“I don’t think you will,” Bob said. “Let’s get the rest of the things and you can relax. Maybe Mom will have some lemonade downstairs.”
“How wonderful,” Jenny said sarcastically as she got up to go downstairs.
After bringing all of the other bags up, Jenny finally came up with her suitcase and small vanity bag. Grammy met her at the top of the stairs.
“Jenny, this year you will have the East room,” Grammy said with a smile on her face.
Jenny perked up when she heard that. The East room was the most beautiful room in the house. No one ever used it. The windows went from the floor to the ceiling and they were draped with sheer beige lace curtains. The French doors led out onto a small balcony over the front porch of the house. There was a table and two chairs made of whicker on the balcony with a bouquet of flowers on the table. The room was bright and airy. There were smaller windows to the north and south also. Between the south windows was a large vanity dresser with a beveled mirror and a velvet padded seat. Across the room on the north was a chest with a pitcher and bowl sitting on it and a towel and hand cloth hanging neatly nearby. The large canopy bed was against the West wall looking out toward the French doors. The canopy, bedspread and shams all matched in a pattern of small pink roses hand-embroidered by Grammy’s mother many years ago. An old wooden rocking chair sat empty next to the bed. The walls were papered in a pale green pattern matching the throw rugs on the oak hardwood floor.
Jenny couldn’t believe that she was allowed to stay in this room. Many times she and John were scolded for even entering the room without permission. She gingerly sat her suitcase on the floor near the closet door. She walked over to the vanity and placed her vanity bag on the chest. She didn’t know what to do first. Grammy stood in the doorway, not saying a word, just smiling.
Back downstairs, Barbara was slicing the roast and Bob was whipping the potatoes. John walked in behind Poppy and followed him into the downstairs bathroom to wash up for supper. Grammy came downstairs giving orders and carrying platters of food to the dining room table. Jenny even helped set the table with silverware and napkins. Soon all was ready for the family to sit and eat.
Poppy came in and took his seat at the head of the table. John rushed up to sit to his right. Jenny sat next to John with their parents across from them. Grammy sat at the opposite end of Poppy, closest to the kitchen. Poppy lowered his head and folded his hands. The others followed his example and Poppy said a rather long prayer thanking God for the blessings before them, the healthy animals, that the family had a safe trip; he then began to ask for continued blessings on the farm and family. John’s stomach was almost ready to start growling when they all answered with a devout “Amen”. Poppy started filling his plate with the roast and then passed dish after dish around the table. Soon everyone’s plate was full.
“The children are staying long enough to watch the fireworks with us, Hank” Grammy said to Poppy. “They are all settled in already, too.” Poppy acknowledged her with a slight nod.
“We got all the cows fed and the sheep put in for the night and I even collected about a dozen eggs,” John bragged. “After supper, Poppy and I can go close up the chicken house.”
“You’re a good little helper,” Grammy complimented. “I don’t know how Poppy gets all his work done when you aren’t around to help him.”
John just beamed. It was quite a compliment for the 12-year-old boy. Poppy nodded in agreement and reached over and tousled John’s chestnut hair. John just grinned.
After supper, John went with Poppy to finish up the chores. Barbara and Jenny helped Grammy clean up the dishes. Bob went upstairs and put his and Barbara’s clothes in the closet. Afterwards, he went into his childhood bedroom and put all of John’s clothes away. Bob loved his room. It still had his Cardinal pennant on the wall from his old high school. His Hamilton High School letterman’s jacket was still hanging in the back of the closet. Grammy had put it in a plastic cleaner’s bag. Thinking about it a second, this was a great place to grow up.
After tucking John in bed and saying goodnight to Jenny, Bob and Barbara went down to the dining room to talk to his parents. Poppy was leaning back in his chair sipping on a cup of coffee.
“Now son, what’s wrong? If there is something troubling you, you can tell us about it,” Grammy rambled.
“Mom, Pop, we want to move back here. It is getting crazy in the city. I am afraid for the kids. There are policemen stationed at their schools, the kids walk through metal detectors when they go into the building. At Jenny’s school, they have canceled all sporting events because of problems. Neither of the kids will have the opportunity to play any sports or participate in any extracurricular activities. It’s a shame. They will lose out on so much.” Bob leaned back in his chair. “Twice already there have been threats against teachers and shots fired at the school from passing cars. We are losing a lot of our good teachers because they are afraid to come through the area to get to the school. I’ve had enough and I want my kids to feel safe at school.”
“The children don’t have anywhere to go that is safe anymore. The gangs have taken over the parks and the mall. We don’t even shop in any stores in the area. Bob picks up groceries on his way home from work.” Barbara sighed heavily before continuing. “It is so different from when I was a child. Everything has changed.”
“I can work from home if I have to. I can e-mail and fax everything to the main company from any where we live. I want the kids to enjoy their childhood as much as I did,” Bob said.
“As I recall young man, you were in an all fired big hurry to get out of the boon docks,” Grammy said. “I guess you never know what you have until it’s gone. You remember that, Robert?”
“Yeah, Mom, you’re right. So, what do you think? Can we move back here? We’d kind of like to look for a house while we’re here now.” Then, Bob directed the next question to his father. “I would like to leave Barbara and the kids here while I go back and try to sell the house and get everything settled with my job. Is that all right with you?”
Poppy nodded as Grammy said, “Of course, Bob. Barbara and the children can stay for as long as it takes. And there is no need to look for houses here until you get your house sold in Chicago. Take as long as you need.”
“Thanks, Mom, Pop. That takes a big load off of my mind,” Bob said with a sigh.
Barbara and Bob said goodnight to Poppy and Grammy and went up to bed.
Grammy said, “Hank, it will be good to have them here,” Poppy just nodded.
Professional Reviews
Becky Coehlo has a tremendous gift.
Her gift is with words, and I am privileged to recommend her book “Through the Crystal” to anyone who has a desire to find meaning and purpose to their lives. Anyone who works with young people needs to read this book, and allow the lives described in this book be a “heads up” to share with others along your journey. Becky’s gift comes from God and I pray that God will use her words to inspire all who read “Through the Crystal.”
Bruce A Rice
Executive Director
Great Commission Broadcasting Corporation
Quincy, IL
Through The Crystal
A heartwarming book that you can't put down! Evokes every emotion. Have kleenex ready and enjoy one of the best books I have read in a long time
Wonderful Story - Well Written
This is a story of love, family and forgiveness. I have never wanted to meet characters of a book more so than Jenny and Granny and Poppy. I felt as if they were my own grandparents from years ago. I highly recommend this book to anyone for a good feel good book of family love in this day and age of craziness. Like the previous reviewer said. Keep your tissues handy. Love it!!!
Let this coming of age story of a boy named Bean take you back to a simple time. Set in a small southern town in the 1960's, encircled by a river and gleaming white cotton fields.
The familiar lament of dual-career parents raising children is, "I just can't do it all." The Libra Solution provides an alternative - a more satisfying and sustainable work and life approach - to the overwrought modern day norm.
