Choices Like Rivers | a novel | Chapter 16 Section 3
Choices Like Rivers by Nancy Jackson
Chapter 16 Section 2
Donna - May 1974
Spring had arrived and Donna welcomed it with open arms. At eight months old, Molly Sue had begun walking while holding onto the bed. She would stand looking out into the room. Donna thought she was trying to decide if she could take a step away from the bed. It was fun to watch her decide. So far, when she wanted to venture out into the cabin, she would drop to her knees and crawl.
With Molly Sue more mobile, Donna had to teach her about the stove. One day when Donna wasn’t looking she had nearly touched it, but Donna had been quick and grabbed her hand. Molly Sue had cried and once comforted, Donna began teaching her not to touch it. She knew though, that she would have to be more careful now.
Their lives had a rhythm to them. She had learned to wash their clothes in the creek. The worst was Molly Sue’s quilt diapers, which Donna also used for her cycles. Folded into three sections, they were bulky, but they worked.
She had encouraged Buddy to bring more variety in food. He worked to gather more eggs and chop more wood now. It seemed with the purpose of providing for Donna and Molly Sue, he worked harder. The increase provided him a way to buy foodstuffs they hadn’t had before.
The list on the wall had grown. Each day Donna said a prayer and then stood and read from the list what she was thankful for. Often something new was added. Today she had written, ‘living in the South.’ She knew that had they lived in the North they would have to suffer long hard winters.
She opened the back door and sat down. She held Molly Sue on her lap and they sat looking out. The trees were fully green now and the blossoms on some were falling to the ground. She hoped that they would be fruit-bearing trees.
As they sat and listened to the birds, Donna began to sing a little song that she had made up.
“Let’s all sing like the birdies sing, chirp chirp. Chirp chirp. Chirp chirp.”
Molly Sue would clap and try to repeat her words. Each day as they sat, Donna would talk to Molly Sue about life. She would tell her what things were, the table, the bed, the door. When she ventured out, she would stop and pick up leaves and stones and she would show Molly Sue the lines on the leaves and the colors of the stones.
Her goal was to teach Molly Sue the wonder of the world around them. She was determined to live life, their life as it was, to the fullest. Right now, she couldn’t change it. So, for her sake and particularly for Molly Sue’s sake, she wanted her to have the best life she could have.
Buddy worked longer hours since it was spring. He worked chopping wood until there were huge piles stacked all around. Donna had encouraged him that others would also buy his wood. It took some doing to encourage him to the point where he went to another man he knew and offered his wood. That customer had agreed.
There was still time though, to continue with their reading lessons. Buddy could write all the letters well now. Donna would call out a letter and Buddy could quickly write it without thinking. She had been teaching him small words as well, and as they would read the bible, he would grow excited when they came to a word he recognized.
Donna had also convinced Buddy to trust her with a needle and scissors as long as he was right there with her while she used the scissors. He would always take them back once she was done. Molly was growing and needed clothes.
Buddy had brought Donna all the clothes his mother had in her closet and Donna spent hours going through them and figuring out how to cut and sew clothes. She knew Molly Sue didn’t need many, two or three little dresses, so she saved the rest for later.
She had even taken a pair of Buddy’s father’s overalls and made a little pair of jeans so her knees wouldn’t grow sore crawling on the floor. For herself, Donna knew she only needed functional clothing and preferred to just wear the overalls.
Because of the chain, she couldn’t just pull the overalls on. So, she had split the leg on that side of each pair and had made buttonholes, and attached buttons which Buddy had found for her.
“Today we start a garden, sweet girl.” Buddy had brought Donna some seed packets the last time he came. He had used some of the money from cutting wood.
She had watched and decided that the sunny patch in the back to the left of the back door would be good. Buddy would be here soon to help her turn the earth. In the meantime, she had taken some small sharp fallen branches and worked them into the ground to designate the four corners.
Thankful that she had helped her mom grow a garden all her life, she sat and wrote down all she could remember. What plants needed the most sun, which plants needed to be mounded, and which plants needed to be staked, like climbing green beans and tomatoes.
She drew a picture of how she wanted to lay out her garden. She hoped to show Buddy so he would fully understand what she needed.
“I got a shovel Miss Donna.”
