Learning to Care For the Fragile-Buried Treasure-Betty's Story

The summer had been dry and fall had come early.  Betty was living in the old graveyard house with her sister Joyce, her nine brothers, and her mother and father.  It was no more than a tin roofed, three roomed shack.  Betty had made peace with living next to the headstones, running in and out and playing between them.    

One particular day as she and Ardner were out playing what they called "Ghost in the Graveyard," crisp colored leaves seemed to sweep up from the graveyard and dance in the wind, like a spirit toward the wood. Into the wood the two auburn haired children skipped, behind whatever woodland fairy called their name. They were supposed to gather kindling, but they forgot the chore of the afternoon.

 After investigating under several old logs, picking up rolly polly's, frogs, pretty rocks and such, the two settled down on a felled tree to rest and inventory their plunder.  Betty pulled her sweater off and wrapped her doll up.  She said Sally was getting cold.  She was a fragile doll with a painted, paper, shellacked face.  Betty had gotten her for her birthday back in May.  She was her treasure, one of the few gifts that she had ever received. 

"Betty Mae.  I think we oughtta pretend like Sally there is a ghost -thet she'uz the one that led us into these here woods."

"Okay then, what do we do?"

 "First, we build a straw house with rooms.  Then we make up a tragedy.  Then we gotta have funeral."

So the two of them built the straw rooms, and they invented a story of a horrible house fire.  Ardner dug one lone, wooden match from his pocket, struck it and lit the straw.  As the straw blazed up, Betty wrapped Sally up even tighter in her sweater, a shroud for the mock funeral.  Ardner dug a hole with his hands in soft dirt, and Sally was placed in her shallow grave. 

"Ardner, are you sure thet she'll be okay?"

"Yes Betty Mae.  We're gonna dig 'er right back up."

Just then the fire from the pinestraw was swept up with that naughty wind.  In a matter of minutes, it seemed the entire wood was ablaze.  Ardner and Betty tried to stomp out what they could, and when their effort failed, they took off running for the graveyard house.

By the time they got home, Ida, their mother was, like so many times before, livid with the pair.  Hands on her hips, she demanded answers.  When she saw the fire in the distance, she became more afraid for Betty and Ardner than she was angry.  She knew, when Doc got home, there would be a heavy price to pay.

That was the only time Betty and Arnder ever heard their mother lie.  When Doc got home in the expected drunken rage, Ida told him that there had been some old lumberjacks out cutting wood that day, and that they must have ignited the fire.  She also explained that the kids couldn't gather kindlin' with the woods on fire.

Betty and Ardner were solemn when they saw Ida swipe a tear from her cheek.  Shame.

That night, thankfully, a much needed downpour came and soaked the embers and kept the fire from spreading further.  In her bed, Betty cried, thinking of Sally alone in the wood.

The next morning, as soon as she finished her morning chores, Betty headed to the wood to find Sally.  Charred, soaked ash was all around, but the rocks that they had piled over the tiny grave were in tact.

Betty ran to where Sally lay and dug frantically.  Sally was ruined.  The blues and pinks of her painted face had cracked and run together.  There was nothing she could do.  She rewrapped her treasure, placed her back in the grave, and covered her little love.  Tears watered the small mound as Betty Mae sat trembling and torn.

Ardner came up behind Betty Mae with bunch of wildflowers.  Tears were freely running down his freckled cheeks.  He handed the crushed bouquet to Betty who placed them over Sally's final resting place.   

"Betty Mae, I am sorry.  It is my fault."

He hugged his sister tightly, regret and shame tearing at his very soul.

 It was in that day that the graveyard ghost had taught Betty and Ardner the haunting importance of carefulness.  No more were they to follow capriciousness like the wind.  That day they learned to care for the treasures of the earth, the wood, and the treasures of the heart, Sally.  Sadly, the hardest lesson they learned, was how they had seen their mother's integrity suffer to protect them.  They learned that careful sobriety can save more than themselves. 

 *   *    *   *

 Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

 *   *   *   *

 There will be more of Betty's stories to follow.  This was part 4 in the series.

  *   *   *   *

Thanks for adding me. I would like to ask you a favor. I have entered the First Chapters Romance Contest and would appreciate your consideration.   Only votes of ten are counted in the final tally.  If you read it and like it, I would appreciate your 10 rating.   If you are inclined to leave comments, then know that I encourage and I covet your honest praise and critique.  If you prefer to email any negative critique, I still would like your input.  This is my first novel, and I have already taken much advice to heart.  I cannot make corrections during the voting period. Thank you for taking a peek.   This is the link: 

 http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977126565