To Walk in Sunshine by Sally Laity

Author:Sally Laity [Sattler, Gail; Laity, Sally]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-68322-192-0
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2002-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

I think I have enough strawberries in my pail now. It’s time to go back to the house. Papa should be arriving back very soon, and then it will be time for dinner.”

Elliott didn’t know which held less dirt, his face or his clothing, but he couldn’t stop himself from wiping the berry juice from his mouth onto his sleeve when Louise turned her head. The strawberries had filled a void, but he anticipated dinner like no other time in his life.

“Thank you,” he said as he rose and followed Louise through the bushes until they emerged from the trees. She slowed her step for him to catch up, but he hesitated, not wanting to walk beside her in his present condition. However, neither did he mean to insult her, especially considering her generosity. Elliott quickened his pace and walked beside her at what he hoped was a respectable distance, downwind, toward the house beside the train station.

“I won’t tell Mama you’ve eaten your dessert first.” She turned to smile at him, and Elliott forced himself to smile back. He’d never felt less like smiling. While he knew she was probably only trying to lighten the moment, it didn’t make him feel any better. He’d always said he would rather die than accept charity from a stranger. Now his lofty ideals had been reduced to exactly that—accepting charity versus the harsh reality of dying of starvation. And he’d never considered the possibility of accidental death from the often dangerous predicaments he’d been forced into while riding the freight trains. He would never again speak such words lightly.

Instead of going in the front door, he followed Louise around to the back of the house.

“Please wait here, so I can tell my mother we have a guest.”

Elliott’s heart sank. A guest. He wasn’t a guest. He had been reduced to begging. He was a vagrant. A bum. Or, as the new term dubbed him and other men in his situation, a hobo.

Living as he had been recently gave him an entirely new perspective on what was needed as the bare minimum to survive. He’d been given many lessons in pride and humility like he’d never experienced. Never in his life would he have thought he would be surviving only through the help and sacrifice of anonymous strangers.

While he waited, he tried to figure out where he was. Louise had said they were in a town named Pineridge, but he’d never heard of the place. However, as he’d passed through the countryside, he had also learned a lesson in geography such as he’d never been taught in school.

He’d traveled through countless cities, towns, and communities of varying sizes, but this one had to be the smallest he could remember. From where he stood at the rear of the Demchucks’ house, he could only see a handful of buildings—eight total. He surmised that this small outcropping was the hub for the local community of farms in the area.

He found himself staring at the school.

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