Under the Magnolias by T.I. Lowe

Author:T.I. Lowe [Lowe, T.I.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Southern, FICTION / Coming of Age
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2021-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

SNAKE CHARMING

March 1984

Warm temperatures and newly developed blooms of all sorts proudly declared spring was in the air, the vivid sunshine and cloudless sky reiterating it. But the only thing in the air at Nolia Farms was attitude, of the nasty variety. Each one of us was carrying it around like the burden it was—shoulders slumped, feet dragging, heavy frowns. Talk about a sour bunch.

Me, especially, and my attitude was close to spilling out all over the place as I scrubbed water troughs that Peg’s ornery behind was supposed to be cleaning. I’d just had it out with him after he mouthed off about chores for the umpteenth time. When I finished ripping him a new one, I expected my brother to do what was right and get to work. Instead, he’d slung a bag of chicken feed to the ground, spilling it all over the place, and said, “To heck with it all!” before storming off as fast as his gimp leg would let him. Seemed we were all at the end of our patience.

So Peg was sulking somewhere out of sight, Boss was lying down on the couch with an earache, Charlotte had snuck off to Miss Wise’s, and I didn’t even want to think about Pa and the useless state he was in at the moment. That only left Raleigh and the three-year-old twins to help get things done, which basically meant I was on my own since his hands were full with keeping an eye on the little ones.

On my own . . . always on my own, and I was getting right sick of it.

On that night back in January, something broke inside me and a bitterness had poured out of the wound. Vance happily packing up and moving did nothing but make that bitterness spread like an irritating rash. Shoot, I couldn’t even stand myself most days lately. His school workload was hefty. When he managed to come home, it was for a family function that I didn’t have time to attend. Our visits had become a hit-or-miss deal, and when he did show up, it was always accompanied with treats for the kids and lots of sweet-talking and sugared-up excuses for me. Something else I was right sick of.

Grumbling under my breath, I pushed Vance—and missing him—out of my thoughts for the moment so I could focus on washing the gunk off the goats’ trough. The smell was just as sour as my attitude, reminding me of how long Peg had ignored this particular chore.

Peg came hobbling over again, and so I waited for him to start the next round, but instead his face looked more perplexed than furious.

“What now?”

“You seen the new chicken coop?”

“Yeah.” I dropped the scrub brush and grabbed the hose. I doused the trough, sending a stream of green goop and suds to puddle at my feet.

“No. I mean have you got a real good look at it?”

I picked up the scrub brush and held both it and the hose a little higher.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.