Country Girl is an eclectic selection from my collection of over one hundred award-winning stories, essays and poems.
"Each piece in Country Girl stands alone; stitched together the stories and poems form a colorful patchwork quilt displaying the versatility of a talented writer."
--- Madonna Dries Christensen
Writer, Author, Editorial Board, Doorways
Excerpt
The Great Depression had swept our country, leaving thousands of men unemployed. But my dad found work at a dairy farm.
Our home on the farm was an ugly gray, weather-beaten old house on a hill overlooking railroad tracks and the Ohio River. We picked coal from the tracks to feed the kitchen stove and living room fireplace. Our water came from a rain-filled cistern. Mom covered the cracks in the walls with newspapers and the windows with Grandma’s old lace curtains.
Yet life was still exciting with unfamiliar woods to explore, a sparkling stream to wade, and added excitement when a hobo stopped by for a mug of hot coffee and a slice of my mom’s bread spread with her homemade butter and jam.
In 1940, I started school. My brother, a fourth grader, and I rode the bus to a school in town. I wore long brown cotton stockings, brown shoes laced to above my ankles, and dresses my mother had made from feed sacks. I envied the town girls with their beautiful store-bought clothes, white socks, and shiny black shoes. I yearned to be a town girl too, but I was poor and poor, in my mind, was country and country girls were always teased. I felt I was not as good as my classmates.
But my seventh birthday in March changed everything.
Instead of Mom’s cake, I wanted a bakery cake like other mothers brought to school for my classmates’ birthdays. Those times were grand and exciting to me. My family never celebrated with fancy cakes and parties. So I wanted to be like my new friends and have a bakery cake, too.
Without a car or telephone, my parents couldn’t order a cake even if they could afford one. But I wanted that bakery cake desperately. To me, it was the difference between being a country girl or a town girl.
I prayed to God each night to grant me just this one small wish.
“I’ll be good forever, God. I promise! But I need this cake, okay?” Then, I added, “A very pretty one, please.”
The morning of my birthday over a foot of snow covered the ground, causing the schools to close. I stared out my bedroom window, anxiously waiting for my special day to develop. Suddenly, out of the blowing snow, an old man appeared, his shoulders wrapped in a heavy gray blanket. I screamed for Mom to come see the hobo.
Mom opened the door and the old man walked in and hugged her. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Mom said the man was Al, a distant kin, whom she hadn’t seen in years. She hung his wrap over a chair by the kitchen stove to dry. In his arms was a big brown bag that he placed on the table.
We Will Stone Him is a raw, unfiltered trauma memoir about surviving childhood abuse, emotional manipulation, and the lifelong wounds that follow. This true story marks the beginning of the Rising From The Ashes Trilogy, John Gambacorta and his survi
A passionate and poignant memoir written by a woman whose life has been guided by the words: "I am here to learn how to love well." The book is a deep examination of relationships, family, motivation, and honoring of the Self.
She never felt safe at home as a young girl, and didn't understand why when she finally escaped she wasn't safe in the big wide world either ...effectively jumping out of the frying pan into the fire!
