And If I Die by John Aubrey Anderson

Author:John Aubrey Anderson [AUBREY ANDERSON, JOHN]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: FIC000000
ISBN: 9780446511803
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2008-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

The days passed in peace. Except for trips to the gin and church, Mose and the dog stayed close to Cat Lake. Days became seasons. Cotton was raised, and picked, and planted again. Years passed.

In 1912, four years after Mose came home, they lost money on the farm; 1913 was worse.

The next year they used the last of their cash money to buy cottonseed.

Their crop came up strong, and it was all but ready to pick when a late-summer hailstorm put every smidgen of it on the ground. Pap stood at the edge of the muddy field and surveyed their loss. “There may’ve been folks that went broke bigger than us, boy, but I don’t reckon any of ’em ever did it any faster.” He was eighty-five years old that year, and the loss took a lot out of him.

Mose made a little money picking cotton for other folks, but spent the biggest part of it on medicine for Pap. They had no money left for food, but they wouldn’t starve as long as they could eat fresh dock for greens and go fishing. By the end of September, they had a few teaspoons of coffee left, less sugar, no salt, and precious little cornmeal.

Pap spent the last week of September in his old bedstead. Late on a Friday afternoon, he said, “Moses.”

Mose came to the side of the bed. He was thirteen years old, and Pap had never called him anything but boy or son. “Yessir?”

Pap was propped up a little. He motioned the boy closer. “You ain’t very old, son, but you’re as good a man as ever I’ve known. The good Lord knows what He wants from you, an’ He can get it without me bein’ here.” The old man’s eyes smiled. “I’m fixin’ to leave you here on this earth, but you’re not by yo’self. You understand me?”

Mose had known all day his great-grandfather was dying. He wanted to plead with him to stay, but it wasn’t Pap’s choice to make. He nodded. “I understand, Pap. God’s here.”

“He is here, Moses; He says so.” He closed his eyes and rested. His chest rose slightly and fell . . . and rose again. He opened his eyes and reached for the boy’s hand. “You needs to get closer to Him, son. Me an’ you talked about this . . . He wants yo’ heart to be completely His. An’ you needs be listenin’ real careful. He’s gonna speak yo’ name, an’ you got to go be ready when He calls.”

“I’ll listen, Pap.” He gripped the man’s hand with both of his; tears welled at the edges of his eyelids. He waited quietly while Pap rested.

“I wrote you some things on a sheet an’ put it in the Bible yonder. You keep my words, son. An’ you tell ’em to yo’ children.”

“I will, Pap. I promise.” The boy’s lower lip wouldn’t stop trembling. He was almost a man—he shouldn’t be crying like a young child.

“The devil’s here on this earth, son.

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