give me that feeling too. I knew it could be him any day.
We kept watching the mailbox for letters from Daddy. Even the girls could tell if he sent one or not, since it come in a special brown envelope. It was called V-mail—V for Victory. It had an oval-shaped window in it for our name and address to peek through. The letter was always in Daddy’s handwriting, but it wasn’t his ink—it was just a picture of the letter he wrote.
On the radio they said V-mail saved lots of money onstamps. They said the army could take pictures of the mail and send it to the United States on a roll of film. Then they printed it out and sent it to the soldiers’ families.
Daddy wrote back fast after I told him about Bobby.
My dear little children,
I know you have a heavy load to bear right now. But you know you can do whatever you put your mind to. Ida and Ellie, I’m counting on you helping Ann Fay. Don’t make her do all the work.
Your momma is doing the right thing staying so close to Bobby, even though it’s hard for you. If you need anything, be sure to call on Junior or Bessie. They’ll do good by you.
Don’t worry about me. The good Lord is keeping me safe, and I will come back to you just as soon as we get done fighting this war.
I reread your letters every chance I get. I pray for each one of you by name and I can see your sweet faces in my mind. Don’t forget to pray for me.
Love,
Daddy
Daddy was right about Junior and Bessie Bledsoe. Junior come by every day to drop off some food Bessie had fixed or just to help me in the garden.
Sometimes the girls would help real good. But other times they come up with excuses like headaches and tummy pains. If they argued with me the least little bit, I’d back right down. I knew if I had let Bobby play when he wanted to, maybe he wouldn’t be in that hospital right now.
The first corn and tomatoes got ripe while Momma and Bobby was at the hospital. I hated that because I knewMomma had a hankering for tomato sandwiches and corn on the cob.
And speaking of tomato sandwiches—one day I broke a promise I made to Peggy Sue a long time ago. I took my little sisters for a picnic in Wisteria Mansion.
I don’t know what got into me. I guess I got to thinking, what if Bobby never got to see that place? It would be a crying shame if a body had to go through this world without a glimpse of how beautiful it can really be. Not that I expected Bobby to die or anything. But the thought would cross my mind once in a while—especially at night when the house seemed so empty and quiet, when all I could hear was the twins stirring in their bed and the clock ticking on the wall and the crickets singing outside my window. Sometimes I would go curl up on the girls’ bed just to feel them breathe.
I reckon I took the girls to the mansion on account of I was scared I might miss my chance if I didn’t do it now. And then again, maybe I was just trying to escape to a place that was free of trouble.
Anyhow, we made tomato sandwiches. I even sprinkled a tiny bit of sugar over some blackberries and we packed them up and went off for some adventure.
“Where are we going?” asked Ellie.
“Back behind them vines to a special place where bad things don’t happen.”
Well, I reckon them girls needed to see a place like that as much as I did, because the next thing I knew, I was leading them with their eyes shut through the tangle of wisteria vines.
“Now,” I said when we was inside the mansion with the thick wall of wisteria vines and the pine trees all around us. “Open your eyes.”
“Ooooh,” both girls said at the same time. From the way they stared, I could tell they never expected it to be so light and beautiful inside.
“Of course, it looks much better when the wisteria is blooming,” I told them. “There’s nothing in the world as beautiful as that. But you’ll have to wait till next spring to see it.”
The girls ran from room to room exploring all the nooks
We kept watching the mailbox for letters from Daddy. Even the girls could tell if he sent one or not, since it come in a special brown envelope. It was called V-mail—V for Victory. It had an oval-shaped window in it for our name and address to peek through. The letter was always in Daddy’s handwriting, but it wasn’t his ink—it was just a picture of the letter he wrote.
On the radio they said V-mail saved lots of money onstamps. They said the army could take pictures of the mail and send it to the United States on a roll of film. Then they printed it out and sent it to the soldiers’ families.
Daddy wrote back fast after I told him about Bobby.
My dear little children,
I know you have a heavy load to bear right now. But you know you can do whatever you put your mind to. Ida and Ellie, I’m counting on you helping Ann Fay. Don’t make her do all the work.
Your momma is doing the right thing staying so close to Bobby, even though it’s hard for you. If you need anything, be sure to call on Junior or Bessie. They’ll do good by you.
Don’t worry about me. The good Lord is keeping me safe, and I will come back to you just as soon as we get done fighting this war.
I reread your letters every chance I get. I pray for each one of you by name and I can see your sweet faces in my mind. Don’t forget to pray for me.
Love,
Daddy
Daddy was right about Junior and Bessie Bledsoe. Junior come by every day to drop off some food Bessie had fixed or just to help me in the garden.
Sometimes the girls would help real good. But other times they come up with excuses like headaches and tummy pains. If they argued with me the least little bit, I’d back right down. I knew if I had let Bobby play when he wanted to, maybe he wouldn’t be in that hospital right now.
The first corn and tomatoes got ripe while Momma and Bobby was at the hospital. I hated that because I knewMomma had a hankering for tomato sandwiches and corn on the cob.
And speaking of tomato sandwiches—one day I broke a promise I made to Peggy Sue a long time ago. I took my little sisters for a picnic in Wisteria Mansion.
I don’t know what got into me. I guess I got to thinking, what if Bobby never got to see that place? It would be a crying shame if a body had to go through this world without a glimpse of how beautiful it can really be. Not that I expected Bobby to die or anything. But the thought would cross my mind once in a while—especially at night when the house seemed so empty and quiet, when all I could hear was the twins stirring in their bed and the clock ticking on the wall and the crickets singing outside my window. Sometimes I would go curl up on the girls’ bed just to feel them breathe.
I reckon I took the girls to the mansion on account of I was scared I might miss my chance if I didn’t do it now. And then again, maybe I was just trying to escape to a place that was free of trouble.
Anyhow, we made tomato sandwiches. I even sprinkled a tiny bit of sugar over some blackberries and we packed them up and went off for some adventure.
“Where are we going?” asked Ellie.
“Back behind them vines to a special place where bad things don’t happen.”
Well, I reckon them girls needed to see a place like that as much as I did, because the next thing I knew, I was leading them with their eyes shut through the tangle of wisteria vines.
“Now,” I said when we was inside the mansion with the thick wall of wisteria vines and the pine trees all around us. “Open your eyes.”
“Ooooh,” both girls said at the same time. From the way they stared, I could tell they never expected it to be so light and beautiful inside.
“Of course, it looks much better when the wisteria is blooming,” I told them. “There’s nothing in the world as beautiful as that. But you’ll have to wait till next spring to see it.”
The girls ran from room to room exploring all the nooks
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