A Woman so Bold by L.S. Young

Author:L.S. Young [Young, L.S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781682911914
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Published: 2016-08-31T05:00:00+00:00

“My tried and true girls.” He kissed Lily’s thin cheek. “We’ll have to give you our extras this winter, Pretty,” he said. “Least Landra’s got some meat on her bones.”

“That’s because I tuck it away like you taught me, and she eats like a bird as she learned from your wife,” I said.

“Beauty before pleasure,” said Lily.

“Survival before beauty,” I retorted.

“Don’t quarrel now, girls. Can’t have that. I’m going to salvage what I can of the corn. Landra?”

I removed my apron, hung it on its nail in the corner, and followed Daddy to the field. I was stronger than Lily, and with Eric gone, it fell to me to help in the fields. I surveyed my hands and fingers ruefully, red around the cuticles from washing dishes, but shapely and lovely still, they’d be cut and torn to pieces before day’s end.

I came in from the field around lunchtime, joined by the children. Lily gave them sandwiches made of leftover grits between slices of cornbread, slathered with cane syrup. Esther and Ephraim had filled their flour sacks with pecans and helped Ezra fill his coffee can to overflowing with acorns.

“What’ll we do with the acerns?” asked Ephraim, his mouth full. The morsel I’d given him after his whipping hadn’t done the trick, and he was stuffing himself as if the world were ending.

“Eat them, of course.”

“I thought only squirrels could do that!”

“No, the Indians do.”

“Is dey nice to eat?” asked Ezra. This was his favorite question regarding anything small enough to fit in his mouth.

“Are they, not is dey. And not very, but roasted or mashed with molasses, they’re tolerable.”

“How will we get them open?” asked Esther. “They’re so small and sound. Not like pecans.”

I took an acorn from Ezra’s coffee can and found a crack in the shell, prying it open with my fingernails. “See?” I showed them the orange meat inside and broke it apart for them to try. Ezra spat his out, and Esther shook her head, but Ephraim chewed and swallowed his, looking thoughtful. I smiled at him.

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