Diary of a Wildflower
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Authors: Ruth White
DIARY
OF A WILDFLOWER
By
Ruth White
Copyright 2013 by Ruth White
All Rights Reserved
Cover design by Digital
Donna: digitaldonna.com
About
the Author
Ruth White grew up in the Appalachian Mountains
of Virginia, and went to college at Montreat and Pfeiffer, both in North
Carolina. A former teacher and librarian, she now enjoys her roles as full time
writer and grandmother. She lives in Hummelstown, PA.
White has published many novels for young
adults, including the award-winning
Belle Prater’s Boy
.
Diary
of a Wildflower
is her first novel for adults, and is based on her mother’s
early years. It is authentic in setting and characters.
Also by Ruth White
Belle Prater’s Boy
Way Down Deep
The Treasure of Way Down
Deep
Weeping Willow
Memories of Summer
Sweet Creek Holler
Tadpole
Little Audrey
Belle Prater’s Boy
_A Newbery Honor Book
White creates vivacious memorable
characters. She gives her two protagonists the courage to face tragedy
and transcend it…and the ability to pass that gift along to the reader _
Publisher’s
Weekly
Best Books ‘96
Way Down Deep
_Both fable and mystery….filled
with the heart’s own truths _Lee Smith, author
On Agate Hill
and
Fair
and Tender Ladies
Weeping Willow
– An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Written in crackling
vernacular, by turns funny, sweet and sad, this is a moving testament to the
power and resiliency of the spirit _starred
Publisher’s Weekly
Memories of Summer
_A Top Ten ALA
Best Book for Young Adults
A marvelous re-creation of
time and place and a poignant story that has much to say about compassion.
_starred
School Library Journal
Sweet Creek Holler
_ An ALA Notable Book
A triumph.
_
New York Times Book Review
Tadpole
_A
School Library Journal
best book of
the year
The power of White’s work derives from
her seemingly easy evocation of ordinary people as they stumble into enduring
truths. _starred
Publisher’s Weekly
Little Audrey
_a
Booklist
Top of the List
2008
Fierce in its honesty while remaining
utterly childlike….a tough, tender story. _Ilene Cooper,
Booklist.
Prologue
In a time and place where women have few choices
in life, Lorelei Starr, a dreamy blue-eyed descendant of the first English and
Scotch-Irish settlers in the Virginia hills, looks at the distant horizon from
her isolated mountaintop home, and wonders if there is something out there that
will fill the hollow place in her chest.
Throughout childhood she wavers between
two fantastic realms of imagination. One is a patch of tangled woods
where the hopeless Old Thing hides and cries away the years. The other is
the enchanted ice palace where the sleeping beauty waits for the kiss of the
prince. Lorelei learns about love from her older siblings, who nurture
her as their abusive father and distant mother cannot do. Daily she walks
down the mountain to the school in the hollow. The rest of her time is filled
with “woman’s work”.
Memories of certain incidents come to
haunt Lorelei – a sister being whipped by Dad, another being taken away to a
sanitorium. Then there’s the smell of strawberries, which are forever
associated with a harsh blow from Mommie.
But there are also moments of joy, such
as the visit from the traveling peddler who touches her heart by showing her a
bit of kindness, and her first visit to town when she rides in an automobile
and sees a moving picture show.
When
Lorelei is ten, her mother dies needlessly. This death is followed by
another one that carves a deeper wound, and she plans her escape from this
bitter home. When the opportunity comes, Lorelei leaves behind everything
familiar – family, kin, and the teacher who declares his love for her.
As a
teenager in the roaring twenties, Lorelei is swept into the carefree world of
flappers, bobbed hair, the Charleston, the IT girl, and the notorious
speakeasy. Most important she becomes a bit player in the high society
world of old money. Here she meets a different kind of creature – men who
are rich and handsome, well-bred and well-educated. One of them steals
her heart away, but how can a simple wildflower ever compete with that exotic
orchid by his side?
On a
trip back to Starr Mountain for yet another funeral, Lorelei comes to the
realization that a girl must create her own choices in life, and she finally
comes face to face with the promise of happiness.
Part I: Starr Mountain: Chapter One
Part II: Living with Ghosts: Chapter
Eight
Part III: Charlottesville: Chapter
Fifteen
Part IV: The Old Thing: Chapter
Twenty-Five
Dedicated to Lorelei’s grandchildren: Johnny, Mike, Jim, Steve, Mark, Brian, Marcia, |
|
The
William Starr Family of Starr Mountain, Virginia
Father:
William (Willy)…born May, 1866
Mother:
Gertrude Brown Starr…born Jan, 1883
Samuel…Feb,
1901
Trula…Dec,
1903
Luther…Feb,
1905
Roxie…Sep,
1907
Nell…Sep,
1909
Lorelei…Oct,
1911
Charles…Apr,
1913
Jewel…Aug,
1915
Daniel…Aug,
1919
Clint…Oct,
1921
Lawrence…June,
1927
:
Chapter One
August 4th, 1915
It’s
a golden day in summer, and Samuel takes me down the mountain to Gospel Road
where I can play in the creek that goes goes sparkling over the rocks.
Nearby the high tree branches break the sun into pieces and spills them on the
floor of the woods.
My
name is Lorelei, and I will soon be four fingers old. Samuel is my
biggest brother, and he has all my love. His eyes are the color of
bluebird wings, and he is the best-looking boy you will ever see.
I
am barefooted, and Samuel picks me up and sets me over the sting weed.
When we start back to the house, he lifts me to his shoulders where I can see
all the pretty world. I hear the katy-dids singing with their stringy
legs by the path.
We
pass the garden where the roastin ears grow from the dirt. We pass our
cows, Flag and Pansy, who give us milk from their titties. Daddy is
sleeping under the maple tree. On the plank porch Mommie is fanning
herself with a cardboard fan. Her belly is big and round. She
carries it on her hands. She has hung the overalls on the tree branch,
where they drip on the grass. Samuel puts his arm around her, and asks
her how she feels. She leans on him, but she has dark looks for me.
Trula
is the biggest girl. She is almost thirteen. She gets supper ready,
and I am set on a barrel at the table. It makes me tall. My plate
is tin. I have beans and taters and corn in it. Samuel taught me
the colors. Cumbers are green. Corn is yellow. Carrots are
orange. Maters are red. But we do not have blue food.
We
hear Mommie hollering in the loft. Aunt Sue is up there with her.
Daddy keeps on eating. He has food on his chin. Samuel does not eat
the summer colors. He is sick in his heart. He wants to hear Mommie
still.
In
the dark the swollen white moon bounces far out on the mountain tops.
Samuel says the twinkles are Milky Way. On the porch he holds me, and I
nearabout fall asleep. I go with Roxie and Nell to pee in the weeds.
Then
there comes a new animal noise. It is so pitiful, it hurts my heart to
hear it. Trula thanks Jesus that it is born. Mommie is hollered
out. Daddy reads the Bible book moving his lips.
They
call the squirmy little thing a Jewel.
October 19th, 1916
When
Daddy was a boy, he helped his pa, my Grandpa Wallace, dig a road through the
dirt and roots and rocks. It is called Willy’s Road, and it’s the only
road down off the mountaintop. Each one of the Starr brothers has a house
up here, but they are not too close to each other. Ours is on the
top. It’s the house where Daddy and his brothers and Aunt Sue grew up
together. It has logs in the walls with hard mud in the cracks. It
has wood on the floors. There is a fireplace of rocks. There are
stairsteps going up into two sleeping lofts.
Abe
and Barney are our mules. They haul stuff on a flat wagon. I can
ride on it if I want to, but Roxie holds me on tight. We have sheeps in
the pastures. They are fat and fuzzy with curly hair. Daddy and
Samuel and Luther shave them and take their hair down to Baptist Valley to sell
for making sweaters. Then the sheeps are skinny and cold without their
hair. They stand and shiver in the wind. Charles is the littlest
boy. Me and him play with the baby lambs.
Nell
says it’s my birthday, and I ask her how many fingers? She shows me all
of them on one hand. That is a lot.
Trula
cuts the orange pumpkin on the porch. Roxie and Nell sit on the planks
and watch. I climb on a chair and stick my naked feet up under my dress
to make them warm.
Trula
tells us a story she heard at the school house. It’s about the princess
who stuck her finger on a needle, and fell asleep in the woods for a hundred
years. She was sound asleep in the leaves, but she didn’t snore a
bit. Princesses don't do that, Trula says, or pick their noses neither.
Then
the handsome prince comes by and kisses her on the mouth and she wakes up
smiling. He carries her off on his white horse, and they live happily
ever after.
Happily
ever after? What does it mean? Trula has the dreamy eyes. She
says it means the prince and princess fell in love. How far is that to
fall? I think it is a long way. I rub my cold feet.
Mommie
cooks the pumpkin and spoons it on the white dough. There is brown sugar
to go in it, and spicy stuff too.
It’s
dark when Samuel comes in. He is fifteen. He works outside in the
cold and his ears are red. When I am a big girl, I will make him a warm
thing to go on them. He has a package for me. He says it is a
birthday pleasant. I never had a pleasant before. He tells me to open
it up Lorelei, honey. I shiver as I tear away the brown paper.
Samuel has brung me shoes from the store. One to go on on each foot!
July, 1917
Samuel
says that me and Roxie and Nell can go to the store at Deep Bottom with him and
Luther. We take Barney to pull the wagon. I am scared of
Barney. He’s a mean old mule. He
does not like me either. Samuel walks on one side of
Barney, and Luther on the other.
Riding
down Willy’s Road me and my sisters hold tight to each other on the wagon cause
there are bumpy places. Gospel Road is better, but not by much.
There are houses here. Our Aunt Sue’s girls, Min and Callie Collins, are
on their porch. They holler and wave to us.
We
stir up a lot of dust, and it settles on the weeds. The Deep Bottom road
is better. It is packed tight by wagon wheels. Samuel points out an
automobile that is pulled over beside the creek. I have seen pictures,
but this is the first automobile I ever saw for real, and I'm sorry it’s not
moving around, so I can watch it.
Barney
stops in front of the store. It’s a brown board building with a little
porch hanging on the front where there’s a sign with a pretty girl drinking
from a bottle.
In
the store I see big glass globes full of yellow lemon drops and red and white
peppermint balls and brown horehound sticks. Samuel sets me up on a
counter, and reaches me a bottle from a cold box. He gives one to Roxie
and one to Nell too. When I drink from the bottle, it makes the tears
start up inside my eyes. And the fizz burns my tongue.
The
store man is Mr. Call, and he wants to know who are these little barefooted
gals? Samuel says we are his sisters, Roxie, Nell and Lorelei. Mr.
Call smiles so big his eyes sink into his face. He brings out hair
ribbons, and gives me a red one, Nell a green one, and Roxie a blue one.
He says we look like all the rest of the Starrs with our square jaws and blue
eyes. Samuel says that’s the English and Scotch-Irish blood running
through our veins.
We
drink our pop and watch people come in with nickels and dimes to buy all kinds
of things in pokes and cans and bottles and jars and boxes. Samuel and
Luther get things Mommie wrote on a piece of paper. We take home sacks of
flour and sugar and corn meal. We have coffee, salt, black pepper, and vinegar
too. There’s barely enough room on the wagon now for me and Nell and
Roxie. But we scrunch up together and hang on as we head back up Gospel
Road.
I
don’t want to go. I want to stay here in this place where there’s lots of
houses, and people on their porches waving at you, and you see more stuff in
one room than you ever sawbefore in your life. But we have to get up the
mountain, and as we ride away, there is a lump in my throat. I look
behind me for a long time, till there is nothing left to see but dust swirling
around the bend in the road.
August, 1917
A
new preacher brings his pretty wife from West Virginia and starts up a Sunday
School. The church is a little bitty white building beside of the creek
at Deep Bottom, near the mouth of Gospel Road. Me and Nell and Roxie
and Luther go to it on a Sunday morning. Trula and Samuel stay home with
Mommie and Daddy and Charles and Jewel.
This
time we have to walk. I have little legs and feet, and I can’t keep up,
so Luther carries me on his shoulders for a spell. I try to reach the
green leaves.
Some
of our cousins are at the church house. Uncle Green's boy, Vic, is my
age, and I like him the best. Nell likes to play with Uncle Ben's girl,
Opal, who's closer to her age. Opal is sweet and friendly, with golden
hair on her head. Luther buddies up with Uncle Tom's boy, Allen, and
Roxie likes everybody the same. They all like her too. When the
mountaintop gets lonesome, I think Sunday School is a good place to go, but
Trula’s stories are better.
Walking
back home, it’s so hot I can’t stand it, and Willy’s Road is steep.
Luther won't carry me again, so they leave me behind. I stand there
bawling until Roxie comes back for me. She says she can't carry me, but
she will not leave sissy to walk home all alone. It is too hard a thing
for a little girl on such a hot day.
October, 1917
A
while back I started going to the school house at Deep Bottom with Nell and
Roxie and Luther. In the cool mornings I can walk for a long ways without
giving out. Charles and Jewel are not as big as me. They can’t go
to the school house. Trula and Samuel went one time, but now they’re too
old. I can read some of the writing. I can count all my fingers and
toes. My hair is dark and curly. It falls down my back. Trula
plaits it in pigtails. I wrap a belt around my school books and sling
them over my shoulder. It’s a wore out belt, and the buckle is busted.
The
school house sits out behind Mr. Call’s store. There are two rooms in
it. One is for the first four grades, and the other is for the fifth
through eighth grades. We also have two toilets in the woods outside the
school house, one for just girls, and one for just boys.
My
teacher is Mr. DeLong. The other teacher is a girl. When Mr. DeLong
reads stories to us, his voice is the only sound in the room. He
reads about boys and girls who live in towns. He shows us the pictures
too. There’s a daddy who holds his little girl’s hand, and a mommie who
smiles. She wears a pretty blue dress. I wonder if Mommie had a dress
like that, would she smile too? Or has she forgotten how?
December 25, 1917
Wake
up it’s Christmas. I blink at Roxie whispering in my ear. She is
ten years old, and the fairest one of all. Her hair is yella as butter,
and her eyes are like morning glories. She has dimples when she
smiles. Roxie is the smartest girl in the school house. She's
teacher’s pet and Daddy's pet too. He teases her and calls her his sweet
Rox.
She
says she’s got something for sissy Lorie, and she puts a tiny baby doll in my
hands. Roxie says she made it herself out of cloth, and stuffed it with
goose feathers. She embroidered its eyes, nose and mouth. She took
fur from an old coat in the charity bag and made hair for it. She's the
prettiest doll I ever had. She’s the onliest doll I ever had. I
will name her the softest name I can think of – Beth Ann. It's two names
I put together from a reading book at the school house.
At
breakfast we each get one orange by our plate and a piece of peppermint candy
that Samuel brung us. We can’t eat it yet. Trula pours milk gravy
from the stove into the white round bowl. Daddy talks to God, thanking
him for good health. Beth Ann lays on my lap. I pet her with my
hand. I say thank you to God for my doll and for the orange and the
peppermint. And thank you for Roxie and Samuel and Trula.
When
Daddy is through praying, Trula fills up Charles's plate for him and Jewel's
too. I am big enough to fill my own plate. Mommie pours coffee for
her and Daddy, Samuel, Trula and Luther. Trula pours milk for Jewel and
Charles and me and Nell and Roxie. This morning we have rice and sausage
to pour our gravy on. And we have eggs and biscuits and butter and hot
blackberries and cherry preserves.
On
special days Daddy talks about Bible stories while we eat. This time he
tells us how Eve tempted Adam, and they fell down together, but it was all her
fault. God told her because she was so bad she would have to bring forth
children in pain and sorrow. And her husband would rule over her.
Uncle
Artemis brings Grandpa Wallace over to stay the day with us. He’s got
long white hair on his face, and he is grumpy. He says young'uns should
be seen and not heard. That’s in the Bible too. He hollers at me to
bring him that orange I’m trying to hide behind my back. I reach it out
to him, but Trula takes it and gives it back to me and says Grandpa can have
her orange. I offer to share mine with Trula, but she says no I should
eat it, cause she does not like oranges. I know that is not so.
In
a little while Grandpa snoozes in front of the fire in the main room. His
old stinky smoking pipe is hanging off his fingers, about to fall on the
floor. When nobody is looking, I ease the pipe from his hand, and throw
it real quick in the flames of the fire. He will never know where it went
to.
I
let Nell hold Beth Ann for about one minute, but Jewel is too little, and she
smells like pee. We suck our peppermint candy, and whisper the day away.