THE SURPRISE
She stood in the doorway watching as he hammered, sawed, nailed and hammered some more. The smell of dried apples cooking on the wood stove was very pleasing to the nose on this fine autumn day. Fried apple pies would make him happy, this husband of hers who was always trying to surprise her with little things he could do for her.
He was reminded that winter was on the way, as this was late September and in the early mornings, you could feel the nip in the air. Woolly worms were seen crawling in the yard and garden and the grasshoppers were slow moving, seemingly on their last leg. Beautiful butterflies lay on the ground, wings opening and closing slowly as if they too were drawing the last breath of life. Soon, the leaves would begin to turn and frost would hurry down the mountainside to finish off the garden plunder. The root cellar was filled with jars of foods the colors of the rainbow. Green beans, yellow squash, red tomatoes, black-eyed peas, golden apples and blackberries that sparkled when the light hit the jars making them look like ruby gems. Cotton sacks hung from the rafters in the loft, filled with assorted dried fruits, along side the strings of leather britches, dried pumpkin and braids of onions, prettily done up as any child's hair might be when headed off to school.
The sun was way past the high noon and leaning towards the west when she peeked out the window of the cabin. He was carefully wiping and putting away the hand tools, which meant his job was finished. She hurried to the wash pan to clean her hands of the flour that had collected in her fingernails and on her wedding ring. She gave a swipe with a rag to wipe what she could from her face, just as the door opened and he came in, a big grin on his lips and a merry twinkle in his blue eyes. Motioning towards the door, he took her hands in his and gently pulled her along with him to see what awaited her outside in the yard. Nearing the doorway, he asked that she hide her eyes for a surprise. She put both hands over her eyes as he led her carefully down the steps. Telling her it was now okay to look, she slowly lowered her arms and squinted a bit in the sunlight. Holding up one hand as if to salute, she shaded her eyes from the sunshine. Then, she saw the surprise. There in all their beauty sat her new quilting frames. Quilting frames she has wanted for a very long time. Lovely maple wood quilting frames; even better than Ma had at home. These would last forever and would be handed down for generations to come. She could just see a future great granddaughter, beaming with excitement, as she went about putting in a quilt for her own family. Tomorrow she would put in one of the quilt tops she had pieced last winter. One for each bed. If she put one in right away, she was sure she could have them both done for this winter. This was a day to write home to Ma about. This was a good day. A day to be remembered. The day she got her new quilting frames.
Jay Cee ~~
ŠJuly 27, 2002
INDEX
Section III
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First Published: 21-Mar-2009 10:56 AM - Last Update: 29-Mar-2013 12:42 PM
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