* This is a continuation of a work of fiction.
...Waves from the lake made the only constant noise as they walked except for the occasional bird or gust of wind. Mable would ask Lucy to stop at certain places and she would tell Lucy all about different plants and trees. She didn't mind listening even though she didn't exactly love plants. Hearing Mable talk made her wish so badly that she had, had more schooling, but life hadn't dealt her that card. They passed trillium, holly, willows, magnolias, and pines. Lucy knew many of the trees and plants they passed, but there were also those that she had never even noticed before. She wondered how you could live in a place and not notice what you were walking in. To Lucy's amazement, Mable knew a little something or from what it sounded like, everything about each one. She would tell all these little stories woven into stories about each plant and how they came to be in that spot, or in this country, or on their trail, and how she had Nellie had found it in some odd place and brought it back to live with them. Lucy didn't mind all the talk and even forgot a couple of times that she was at work.
"I sure wish I could have had the same schooling as you, Mrs. Mable. You're just 'bout the smartest woman I know."
" Oh, Miss Lucy", Mable laughed deeply. "I quit goin' to school in the seventh grade."
"Seventh grade?"
" Yes, Miss Lucy, the seventh grade. I was just a little baby when I had to leave. Broke my heart at the time, but didn't have much of a choice. My family was poor; not poor like today with a car in the drive and a satellite television. We were poor, poor. We were dirt farmin' poor. The no shoes or food kind of poor."
"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Mable. It's rough to get ya' start from behind. Feel like I been playing catch up my whole life. Seems every time I get close to catchin' up, someone realizes who I'm and knocks me back down."
"I'm not, Miss Lucy. I didn't even know I was poor till I turned seventeen and my family lost our little farm and were forced to move to town. I've always had a good time. All my friends were the same as me. We always found some way to have us a big, ole' time. Using your imagination is a kid's best toy. All these toys nowadays do the creating for you and look pretty borin' to me, and they all seem far too safe. My mind made up some pretty crazy things and I would hate to leave it up to some company to try and recreate that. They just couldn't do it."
"I know what ya' mean about kids and toys today. I wonder when its all going to catch up with us. Seems like a lot of it already has. But how can you know all this stuff 'bout plants with you only being a twelve year old and havin' ta' leave school? I can't even remember any science from even my senior year of high school and that wasn't that long ago. All I remember 'bout the seventh grade is bein' twelve and feelin' pretty awkward 'bout most everything, but mostly my body. Seemed like everything was going crazy and my mind was just tryin' to stay even with the craziness. I didn't know what I was doin' half the time. Some days, I think I'm still tryin' to recover."......
Be on the lookout for Snippet 6,
David
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