Old Stone Chapter 3

Author’s Note: If you would like to read previous chapters of “Old Stone,” you can find them here:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2

The characters are as follows:
Vera Rose – mother
Erin Rose – 17 year old, daughter and oldest sister
Charlie Rose – 14 year old, daughter and middle sister
Kyree Rose – 10 year old, daughter and youngest sister
Tobin Lindor – old friend of Vera’s

I hope you will enjoy the story…

POV: Erin Rose, 17 years old

Mama, the girls, and I worked real hard on our sewing so we could make enough money to send Charlie to camp. This was on top of our daily farm choring. Our burden was so heavy, I was feeling like chewed twine. I’m sure I looked like it, too.

“We’re burning daylight,” Mama kept mumbling like that could make us go faster.

The thing with sewing, though, is you have to concentrate, so it looks nice.

“I want to help!” Kyree wailed more than once. “Y’all said I could help when I finished feeding the chickens.”

I didn’t stop what I was doing, but kept my foot going on the treadle in a steady rhythm. This old machine was all we had, and it wasn’t easy to get used to. It’d belonged to my great-grandma, given to her as a wedding present from her parents.

Dare I even mention what my daddy gave Mama for a wedding gift? It was a room dividing screen made of wood and painted with fancy ladies on it. No one knew where he’d come across such an outrageous thing, but even though he meant the best, that old screen always put Mama in a horn-tossing mood.

My sisters and I loved to look at it, fascinated by the stories we conjured up about the ladies. We thought they were the most beautiful women we’d ever seen and we often posed like them, pretending we were as gorgeous as they were. But when Mama spoke of it (which was rare), her face went red, and her mouth became a straight line to the point you couldn’t see her lips anymore.

Turned out, she was insulted whenever it caught her attention. Not because of the fancy ladies, (she claimed they was painted real nice), but because she thought he’d give her something practical like bed sheets, or some towels or something. She didn’t have much use for a room partition.

I hope if I ever get married, my new husband will give me the most impractical gift like Daddy gave to Mama. And I hope no matter what he gives me, my mouth don’t ever look the way Mama’s does when she looks at that screen because it is a frightening sight to behold.

Almost getting nicked by the needle as it plunged downward, I turned my full attention back to my sewing. Mama and Charlie were doing all the handwork each piece needed, and they were in deep discussion about a dress they were working on.

“Are you certain you measured Miss Claudia right?”

“Yes, Mama.”

Mama eyed the dress again, shaking her head slightly. “Seems to me she’s bustier than what we’re putting together, and her waist ain’t as small as this.”

Charlie referred to a little notebook where she’d recorded the measurements for Miss Claudia.

“I got her as 34, 23, 37.”

Mama took the notebook, looking at it herself.

“That can’t be right,” she said, shaking her head again. “Not Miss Claudia. Not unless she’s on one of them crazy diets.” She gazed at the dress form again, then back to the notebook like the numbers had magically changed, clicking her tongue the whole time. “Tell you what. Don’t have Erin sew the zipper in ’til you measure that woman once more just to be on the safe side.”

Charlie rolled her eyes and gave a vast sigh as she was wont to do ever since she turned fourteen.

“Y’all said I could help!” Kyree wailed again.

“All right, all right,” Mama said, putting her hands on her hips. Then she got an idea. “You run over to Miss Claudia’s real quick, and tell her she needs to try this dress on today, if she’s able. Can you do that?”

Kyree straightened her posture, her right eyebrow rising. “Is this an important job? I only want to do an important job.”

Mama smiled a little and patted Kyree on the shoulder. “It’s the most important job I got and you’re faster than any of us.”

Kyree grinned. “I’ll be fast as greased lightning, Mama!” she called as she ran, slamming the screen door behind her.

Turns out, Miss Claudia was happy to come try on the dress, and it actually seemed to fit. Regardless, after she left, Mama told Charlie to let it out in the bust area a bit before I was to sew the zipper in.

We worked up until supper, then again for a few hours afterwards until bedtime. Charlie and Kyree had just gone upstairs to get ready for bed when I realized Mama had disappeared.

Standing real still, I heard a faint, weird sound coming from the front porch. Sneaking up to one of the front windows, I slid it open a crack to investigate the foreign sound.

It was Mama laughing!

Yes! I wouldn’t joke about this. Even though I couldn’t see her, I sensed someone else sitting out there with her, and I swear, she laughed.

I had to probe closer to find out what on earth could cause Mama to do this strange thing? Sneaking out the front door, I made sure the screen door didn’t clap shut behind me.

As I approached, they couldn’t see me yet, but I heard Mama say, “I was born tired and I’ve since suffered a relapse.”

Then came a man’s voice, “C’mon, Vera. We’ll paint the town and the front porch, too.”

My jaw dropped, and I stood there with what must’ve been the stupidest expression. Was he asking Mama on a date?

There was that laugh again coming from Mama!

“Oh, Tobin, I got too much to do yet tonight, not to mention my responsibilities during the day.”

“Well, now, at least say you’ll attend the Fall Festival with me then?”

They both looked up as I approached. Mama was sitting on the bench, and the man, Tobin, was gently rocking across from her.

Mama’s face was relaxed as she gazed at me, and if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought she was drinking. But Mama wouldn’t have touched hooch with a ten-foot pole.

“Here’s Erin, my oldest, now.”

“I remember Erin, but of course, she was just about as big as the little end of nothing last time I seen her. I’m an old friend of your daddy’s, Tobin Lindor.”

His voice was a pleasant baritone, not too loud, not too soft, and his eyes were kind. He had smooth, dark skin, gray eyes, and I could swear that salt and pepper mop of hair on his head was a badly placed toupée. The huge mustache was real, though. He was an older man with a double chin and a rotund belly.

Apparently, Mr. Lindor was originally from this area and had grown up with Daddy. When I was just a little girl, Mr. Lindor left to find work in the city. He came back for Daddy’s funeral, but I didn’t remember him.

“Come sit with us, Erin!” he said as he jumped up from the rocker and plopped down next to Mama, making sure he’d moved his hat out of the way first.

Slowly, I sat in the vacant rocking chair. Had he moved just so he could sit next to Mama? My insides were all jumbled up, and I saw Mama in the newest way ever. It had never occurred to me that someone might be interested in her. She was the prickly type. Why, I once heard daddy tell her she could start a fight in an empty house.

Yet there she was, her eyes bright, color in her cheeks… one could even say she was… pretty.

I thought I knew all there was to know about Mama. At least the important things. These past few weeks, though, she’d surprised me left and right. Was I noticing new things about her because I was getting older and I could understand more? Was I just more observant lately than usual? The answer eluded me.

Either way, I felt some relief that maybe she wasn’t as grim and unhappy as I’d always thought. You see, I wanted to get my scholarship for college and leave this isolated farm. But I had worried about what would happen to Mama, and in turn, my little sisters, if I left.

Maybe they would be all right, after all.

We chatted for a few minutes about nothing in particular. Then, Tobin grabbed up his hat, picked off a loose string that must have come from our frantic sewing sessions, and put it on his head.

“Welp, it’s time to put out the fire and call in the dogs.”

They both stood.

“I’m so pleased you moved back to the area,” Mama said, almost gushing with enthusiasm.

“Don’t forget, Vera, I’m just two hoots and a holler away.”

I watched in wonder as they briefly hugged one another. Then Tobin Lindor did a hop and a skip down the porch steps, turned back our way again, waved his hat, mounted his horse, and set it to trot down the road.

I’d been so distracted, I hadn’t even noticed the horse, if you can believe that one!

Mama was still standing in the same spot, but her face was back to normal now. Her dark eyes stared at me as if she was waiting for something.

“Well,” she said, “don’t just sit there gawking. Get up to bed. We’ve got a hard day tomorrow.”

Special thanks to Bee (Stories by Bee / Poses by Bee) for editing this story.

Thank you so much for reading, liking, lurking, and commenting! I hope you have a terrific weekend!



Credits:
World: You can purchase Hidden Springs from EA for $19.99 HERE
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Sewing Machine Mod: TS2 > TS3 Functional Sewing table [BETA V2.0.0] 
Premium Content: You can purchase the Milkin’ it Dairy Corral from EA for 495 SimPoints HERE; You can purchase the Fowl And Feathers Chicken Coop from EA for 456 SimPoints HERE; The Punjab Partition (from the Dreams of India – 1,550 SimPoints – set) can be purchased for 28 SimPoins HERE.

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Citation:
Dingus, A. (1994, December 1). More colorful Texas sayings than you can shake a stick at. Texas Monthly. https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/more-colorful-texas-sayings-than-you-can-shake-a-stick-at/



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