Fiction:The Woman in the Holler

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 08:24 AM

Just minutes after disappearing from the porch, Mjolnir returned, dragging with him a vile smelling bone he had retrieved from the shallow pit Duke thought he had cleverly hidden it. The taste in his mouth was revolting, How could dogs enjoy gnawing on what was essentially carrion?

With great relief he dropped the bone fully in view of the old hunting dog and hunkered down, pretending to gnaw on the decidedly unappetizing object, infuriating Duke.

As Mjolnir had known it would - the sight of a *cat* usurping Duke's favorite bone nearly drove the dog berserk. Duke threw his weight against the screen door, belling loudly at the feline's audacity. In the quiet air of the holler his cry, voiced at full hunting timber,rolled out from the porch and echoed from the surrounding hills, even as the dog continued to throw himself at the door.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 10:22 AM

Janie! Wonderful...can't wait to read more! You, too, MMario.

Janie, this would be a wonderful NaNoWriMo novel!!

luvyakat

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 10:41 AM

I was afraid Mjolnir would thrpw Janie off - but she seems to have woven him seamlessly into her narrative.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: GUEST,Janie
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 10:47 AM

I have had a lot of experiences, but to the best of my knowledge, I have never been thrpwed off. Would i recognize it as a thrpw when it happened?

Mmario--my son has to know...do you play Runescape? (And thankyouthankyouthankyou for that wonderful cat and for coming out to play)

Kat--what's a NaNo WriMo?

Janie

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 11:00 AM

no - I don't do role-playing - I tried but drove people (especially the guys running the games) nuts because I never did what they expected me to.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 07:04 PM

Louie heard the frantic barking of a hound somewhere in the holler below, but couldn't tell where it was coming from because of the way sound bounced around down low like that. "Danged, if that don't sound like Duke," he thought. He knew, however, that Duke was too well trained to run deer. He had half a mind to track down whatever dog it was. Any dog low enough to run deer deserved to be shot as far as he was concerned. "Naw," he muttered to himself. "I just want to get home, get warm and dry, and get that nap in." He turned back onto the trail and kept walking.

Duke was absolutely furious at that arrogant twit of a cat. If he ever did make it through the screen door he'd chew that cat worse than he had ever chewed any bone. But it hurt his old shoulder, slamming into the cross piece of wood on the door, and he finally appeared to wear himself out. Tweren't like he was backin' down from a coon now, was it? It were just an old stinkin' bone. He hoped it made the furball sick. Still, the door appeared to be weakening. He thought he might have cracked the vertical 1x6, and he was tempted to make one more run at it. Then he saw the cat move away from the bone for a minute, retching. He decided it would be more fun to watch Mjolnir be miserable, and sat down squarely in front of the door to watch. Mjolnir was was furious himself. He'd subjected himself to that vile carrion smell to no avail, and now the brainless, sorry excuse of a four-legged was actually sitting there laughing at him, thinking he'd done something. The drooling embecile had beat himself almost silly on the wood brace, not even able to figure out that he could have simply gone for the screen itself and torn through it with one good lunge. Mjolnir needed another plan.

He moved back around the corner of the house again, where he could crouch in some dignity while his digestive tract settled from the terrible experience of the bone. He hoped Cassie and Cathy appreciated all that he went through for them. Immediately he chastised himself for that unworthy thought. Breathing deeply, he refocused himself. Ah! The cat trotted out at a brisk pace, headed for the farm at the mouth of the holler. It wouldn't take long to get down there.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 07:30 PM

The deer trail ran right along the old broken fence of the graveyard at the top of the ridge. Louie wasn't up this way much, but when he was he always took the time to sit a spell with the folks up here. Old Cassie and Aunt Cathy were probably the only people on earth that really knew Louie; Knew the depths of the young man who most people thought of as a clown and a redneck. Truth was, Louie had the true heart of a hillbilly. He had poetry in him, right down to his toes. He knew what mattered.

No one would ever have believed that Louie read poetry, that he had committed to memory countless poems that moved him, that really said something. Truth to tell, he would have been mortified for most anyone to know that about him. Why, they might think he was a pansy or somethin'! He remembered, as clear as a bell, the first poem he memorized because it meant something. He had been in the 7th grade when Muriel Miller Dressler came to talk to his American Literature class. He had rolled his eyes and thought about cutting class the day the teacher announced that the Poet Laureate of West Virginia was going to be there. But he didn't--he was afraid of the hiding he'd get if his Paw found out he had skipped school. And boy, was he ever glad later that he had been there. Otherwise he might not ever have learned to notice that words could be magic. He listened as she recited that poem, "Appalachia", and his spirit was changed forever. He went home and spent three nights memorizing those lines that were his story, that shed light on the heartwood of his people.

And whenever he stopped here in the graveyard, up on the ridge, he took the time to speak those magic words to the folks laying up here in the ground. He thought it important that they know they still mattered.


Appalachia----by Muriel Miller Dressler

I am Appalachia! In my veins runs fierce mountain pride; the hill-fed
streams of passion, and,
stranger, you don't know me! You analyzed my every move--you still go away
shaking your head. I remain enigmatic. How can you find rapport with
me--you who never stood in the bowels of hell,
never felt a mountain shake and open its jaws to partake of human sacrifice?
You, who never stood
on a high mountain, watching the sun unwind its spiral rays; who never
searched the glens for wild
flowers, never picked mayapples or black walnuts; never ran wildly through
the woods in pure
delight, nor dangled your feet in a lazy creek, You, who never danced to
wild sweet notes,
outpourings of nimble-fingered fiddlers. who never just "sat a spell" on a
porch, chewing and
whittling; or hearing a past time the deep-throated bay of chasing hounds
and hunters shouting with
joy, "He's treed!" You, who never once carried a coffin to a family plot
high up on a ridge because
mountain folk know it's best to lie where breezes from the hills whisper,
"You're home". You, who
never saw from the valley that graves on a hill bring easement of pain to
those below? I tell you,
stranger, hill folk know what life is all about; they don't need the pills
to tranquilize the sorrow and
joy of living. I am Appalachia; and , stranger, though you've studied me,
you still don't know me

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 08:06 PM

He remembered the college students with VISTA that used to come up the holler when he was a young boy, gonna make their lives better some how. They were nice kids, really, with their New York accents and their eagerness to 'save' these 'poor, ignorant, poverty-stricken' hillbillies. Some of 'em even stayed long enough to learn to play a pretty good fiddle. (The holler folks used to laugh at those that moved into the really old, abandoned places with no water or electricity. "Tryin' to 'out West Virginia us'," some folks said, resentful. That resentment came from somehow feelin' shamed, and Louie remembered feeling that shame himself.) Those kids thought they were gonna 'live off the land.' Well, some of did, for a little while. But ten years, three kids, an emptied trust fund, and one divorce later, most of 'em headed back up North.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 08:24 PM

But Miss Cassie hadn't had any shame, nor any resentment. Many of those kids learned to play the fiddle right there on Cassie's porch. Aunt Cassie had gone away, and years later, had come back. She knew there was goodness and evil in hearts anywhere. She knew the power of music to draw people into knowledge of their real kinship. She knew it was good to see other places, and just as good to have a sense of place. And she forgave, but never forgot, what it was like to be a 'woods colt'up these hollers, to be forever an outsider.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 08:37 PM

LOVE IT!!

NaNoWriMo

katwhoisat26,634wordsandcountinghavingbeeninspiredbyhesperisandCapriUni!:-)

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 02:43 PM

The world seemed disjointed as Mjolnir headed for the farm at the mouth of the holler. Not a good sign at all, and he ought to know.

Somehow he knew things would stabilize soon and Cathy would tell her kin as much of the story as they could handle; Mjolnir himself might finally be able to rest.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Annie
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 10:44 PM

Go Janie. You're doing just fine! I'm really enjoying this. Can't think of a thang to add. Fuzzy will chime in soon as she wakes up.

A

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 11:13 PM

From his perch in the graveyard high up on the ridge, Louie gazed out over the low, rugged mountains. On this cold, wet November day, the fog lay heavy down along the hollers. Up high, where he stood, the mists were thin, lightly veiling the ridgetops and muting even further the sepia tones of the mountains in early winter. In this dreamscape, the thin, faint sound of a flute gradually penetrated his awareness. It was a melody he remembered hearing Cassie play when he was just a very small boy. Suddenly nervous, he glanced around the graveyard and then took a good hard look at Miss Cassie's grave, actually relieved when he saw nothing unusual.

Reassured, he listened more carefully to the flute, trying to locate the sound. He finally decided it must be coming from Aunt Cathy's place. He wondered if Big Bill and Billie had come up early, and decided to head down the ridge to Cathy's to see.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 11:24 PM

Mjolnir trotted into the farmer's yard and headed for the shed behind the house where the little mountain feist was confined. He jumped onto the chair beside the door, stood on his hind quarters and pushed on the oblong block of wood that served as a latch. The door swung open. The dog within looked up in surprise as Mjolnir jumped down into the opening, raised his tail, sprayed the door-facing, then took off running like a bat out of hell. The feist sprang after him, outraged at the temerity of the old cat.

Calling on sources of strength and stamina not available to other cats, Mjolnir headed back up the holler to Aunt Cathy's, the little mountain feist running hard behind him.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 17 Nov 06 - 10:31 PM

(Well hiya Sis! I'll be e-mailing you pictures of our new baby, Stella, tommorrow. Be sure Fuzzy gets to see her brand new 1st cousin.)

Janie

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 17 Nov 06 - 11:06 PM

Louie dropped off down the side of the mountain, headed down into Grizzly Holler. There were some rhoddedendron thickets, as well as two steep, rocky outcrops he had to skirt around, but with the underbrush mostly dormant for the season, he was able to take a fairly straight downhill course to reach the branch at the foot of the ridge. He emerged from the woods into the old, abandoned apple orchard at the head of the creek at about the same time as Mjolnir, the mountain feist bitch in hot pursuit, raced around the back corner of the house and scrambled wildly up into one of the trees in the backyard. Louie heard the frantic yelps of the feist, then, in quick succession, the crack of splitting wood, a loud bang that sounded like a screendoor slamming, and Duke's sudden and frantic bellowing.

"What in tarnation is going on down in Cathy's backyard?"   He could no longer hear the flute. It's song had stopped when he had reached the foot of the ridge. By the time he reached the gas well, the yelping had stopped and Duke's voice had also gone silent. Suddenly apprehensive, Louis broke into a trot as he approached the gate in the wire fence that marked the start of the backyard. When he got there he notice two things--Duke locked up with some small bitch in heat, and the busted screendoor.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Effsee
Date: 19 Nov 06 - 09:32 PM

And? AND?

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Nov 06 - 09:39 PM

Its MUSIC to MY eyes !!

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Nov 06 - 09:40 PM

IF I was a writer , I would turn this into a bloody good song !

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 12:40 PM

I don't care whether it is above or below the line. There was a consensus, a number of months, maybe even more than a year ago, that those starting a story would start the thread with the fiction prefix, so I followed that convention, and it seems the moderators have concurred.

But again, it really doesn't matter to me. If it really matters to you, Guest, a post to the help forum would insure the moderators see your request. They may or may not see it in the body of the thread. I suspect you already know that, but just in case....

Janie

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Effsee
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 09:20 PM

I don't care either, but ....and, AND!

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 11:03 PM

Louie made a bee-line for the back porch and the broken kitchen screen door. He could not help but grin at Duke in passing, giving him a wink and high sign, but he did not slow his pace. He saw Kathy as soon as he entered the kitchen. Moving toward her, he called her name, then knelt down at her side. Immediately he began to assess the situation, his VFD 'First Responder' training kicking in. Aunt Kathy was conscious, but appeared to be in shock. She looked at him and slurred "She said you would be right here...."

After checking her vital signs, he got blankets from the bedroom and threw them over her, then went to the phone and dialed 911. He returned to Aunt Kathy's side to more carefully assess her condition. The room had gotten very cold with the back door opened and he was concerned she was hypothermic. He talked to her, assessing her level of consciousness. She was somewhat confused, saying Cassie had been there and had called him, but she was able to tell him she had fallen and probably had broken something in her hip. Assuring her he would be right back, Louie went into the bedroom, got some more covers and hung them over a chair by the living room heater to warm them. He returned to the kitchen to find Mjolnir curled up against her side. He closed the back door, checked Kathy's pulse again, went to the living room to get the warmed blankets, exchanging them with the blankets that he had first thrown over her, took those covers back to the living room to warm, checked her again, went to phone and dialed Dougherty Company where Big Bill ran the sheet metal shop. Hanging up, he went back to Kathy and sat down, telling her that Big Bill would meet them in the ER at Charleston Memorial.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 11:22 PM

After the ambulance squad arrived, Louie walked through the house, turning off lights and the space heater. Turning to take one more look around before he walked out of the living room, his gaze fell on the flute case, sitting open, the silvery metal of the flute gleaming against the wine-colored velvet. He felt the hair raise on the back of his neck.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 11:52 PM

On this cold, wet November day, the fog lay heavy down along the hollers. Up high, where he stood, the mists were thin, lightly veiling the ridgetops and muting even further the sepia tones of the mountains in early winter. In this dreamscape, the thin, faint sound of a flute gradually penetrated his awareness.

Bee-yew-tee-full descriptions!! Gives me the shivers. Well done, please don't leave us hanging for too long...:-)

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 21 Nov 06 - 12:56 AM

"Dammit, Billy, I ain't crazy, and neither is yer grandmaw! It weren't the wind playin' tricks on me. I heard that flute and it is what brought me down the mountain. Aunt Kathy'd prob'ly be dead now otherwise." Louie glared at Billy across the table in the hospital cafeteria. Aunt Kathy had been moved back to her room last night after surgery, and the boys had sat with her all night. Louie had kept quiet about the flute as they had all sat and waited during Kathy's surgery, not sure what to make of his experience. But when Aunt Kathy woke this morning, still groggy and on morphine, she had talked of Cassie coming to her, of Cassie summoning Louie with the flute. Weird and spooky as it sounded, Louie knew she had to be telling the truth. It fit exactly with what he had experienced.

Zeke had come up to the room just a while ago, so the boys had come down here to give him a little time with Kathy alone. Louie had just told Billy about how the sound of Cassie's flute had lead him to head on down to the little house, thinking Billy would take Kathy's conversation as confirmation. But Billy was obviously skeptical. "Tell you what," said Billy, wanting to pacify his friend, who had indeed rescued his grandmother. "Let's give Aunt Kathy a few days to get her mind clear. Then she can tell us what happened." Louie knew Billy was just humoring him, but was too tired right now to press his point. The boys headed back up to the hospital room. It was fine for Zeke to have a little time with Kathy, but they both knew that a little Zeke went a long way where Kathy was concerned.

Zeke stood when they cam back into the room, and handed Billy a package. "Make a thermos of tea with this and bring it in every day for Kathy to drink as much as she wants. Don't say nuthin' to the nurses about it, though." He turned back to take his leave of Kathy, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Thanks for bringing the comfrey root, Zeke" she said with a weak smile. I'm not worried about my kidney's, I just want my bones to heal fast so I can get home. These doctors don't know everything. "She waved weakly as he went out the door.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 23 Nov 06 - 02:06 PM

Three days before Thanksgiveing, Cathy was moved to Carver Rehabilitation Center. She'd be there for 2 to 4 weeks, and if all went well, would be released before Christmas. The doctors were amazed at how quickly she was healing from the surgery on her hip, especially considering her age. One of them even allowed that there maybe was something to Cathy's insistence that the comfry root greatly speeded up bone repair.

The family had always gathered at Aunt Cathy's for the major holidays. That obviously couldn't happen this year. Zeke invited his son and grandson over to Tupper's Creek for Thanksgiving dinner. They were reluctant to go, but Cathy urged them to accept. "They'll be serving a fine dinner right here in the dining hall, and it will give me a chance to get aquainted with some of the other folks here," she insisted.

"We're planning to come and eat with you in the dining hall," said Big Bill. He didn't much like his father's girlfriend, or her cooking.

"I'll be fine here. You all go on to Zeke's." She was insistent. Cathy appreciated time and attentiveness her family had shown since her fall, but she was feeling the need for a little space. They'd been hovering around her like worker bees around the queen, and it was beginning to wear on her. "Use that phone right over there. Go ahead and call him and say you'll be there."

Big Bill and Billy looked at each other, then shrugged. Big Bill nodded at Billy, who walked on over to the phone and dialed Zeke's number.

Janie

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 23 Nov 06 - 02:15 PM

Billy hung up the phone and looked over at Big Bill. "He says we'll sit down to eat abut 2:00. Says to leave our instruments at home. His girlfriend don't like music."

Big Bill snorted but made no other comment. He turned to his mother. "We'll come by here for a visit Thanksgiving evening, then. Except for the year I spent in 'Nam, there's never been a Thanksgiving I haven't spent with you, Mom. I'm at least gonna see you."

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: GUEST,Technical Non-fiction Mind
Date: 23 Nov 06 - 02:18 PM

Janie,

I am a technical guy, I hate fiction, and usually only like the written word that teaches me something. However, I enjoy your writing. I am sure many more do also but just do not bother to say so or do not want to interfere with the continuity of your story line. It also took me a long time to bother opening the thread since it said Fiction.

This thread does belong up here in the music section and not down below in the mud of Mudcat where people would miss it.

Keep on writing, you have a talent, and thank you.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Effsee
Date: 23 Nov 06 - 09:45 PM

Well said Guest 02:18, I entirely concur! Wonderful. Go Janie, go!

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 23 Nov 06 - 09:52 PM

Big Bill and Billy were surprised to find Louie visiting with Aunt Cathy when they walked into her room at the rehab center on Thanksgiving evening. He usually drove his mother up to Dayton, where they spent the Thanksgiving holidays with Aunt Edith and his cousins. Edith and her husband had moved to Dayton 25 years ago, unable to ride out another long lay-off when the coal industry slumped again. In Dayton, they had both found work in a plant turning out radial tires.

"Edith and Bill drove down here this year," said Louie, in response to Billy's question. "They're starting to look around for a place to buy, somewhere on this end of the county. Both of 'em will retire next year, so they're getting ready to come on back home.

"Come on in and sit down. Aunt Cathy and I was just gettin' down to comparin' stories about that day she fell."

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 24 Nov 06 - 10:24 AM

"You go on with what you were saying, Louie," Aunt Cathy said once her son and grandson had pulled up chairs and settled in. "He was just telling me about hearing Cassie's flute," she explained to Big Bill and Billy. Louie was reluctant to continue their conversation in the presence of the other two men, but Cathy said it was time the story got told and pressed him to continue. "You two keep your mouths shut for awhile, and just listen," she warned. "You're going to hear some things that are going to be hard to swallow, but you ought to know by now you can trust me to know what's true and what's real. We'll start with that day I fell, just by way of introduction, Now go on, Louie, tell us what happened."

Louie didn't look at the other men as he recounted how the sound of Cassie's flute lead him down off the mountain to Cathy's backdoor. He didn't want to see the skeptical looks he knew they were exchanging.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Nov 06 - 01:17 PM

This is nice but it belongs in BS

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: GUEST,Technical Non-fiction Mind
Date: 24 Nov 06 - 02:17 PM

This thread belongs right where it is.

I first thought the same thing you did GUEST until I finally opened the thread and read it. See my post above.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 11:02 PM

"Big Bill, if you know what's good for you, you'll change the way you're lookin' at me right this minute!" declared Aunt Cathy when she had finished telling her part of what happened the day she fell. "You've spent your adult life runnin' from it, but you know as well as I do that you have got a touch of the Sight' yourself."

Big Bill started to sputter a denial, but his son leaned over and put a hand on his thigh. Billy looked over uncertainly at his grandmother. Her pale blue eyes met the same blue eyes of her grandson, and she studied him for a long moment. No one spoke. Then, she nodded as if satisfied and leaned back on the pillows propped up behind her on the bed.

"Dad, I've heard Cassie playing her flute, up there in the graveyard. Not often, maybe only 2 or 3 times in the ten years since she passed over. And I have sensed her presence there at Aunt Cathy's – grandmaw's – many times since she died. And you have to. I know this because you talk in your sleep."

"Funny that you have never mentioned it before," Big Bill retorted.

"I'd a been a fool to talk about it to you, Dad, the way you have always ranted when I've tried to tell you about such things.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: frogprince
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 11:07 PM

Tune in...next week? Whenever you can, Janie; we'll be waiting.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 01 Dec 06 - 08:45 AM

hmmmm - have to figure out if the Carver Rehabilitation center takes pets. Not that Mjolnir technically qualifies as a "pet" - but that's the way the staff would view him.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: GUEST,Janie
Date: 01 Dec 06 - 01:52 PM

Sorry the goin's so slow, Frogprince. Working late a lot of nights and no time to write.

Mmario--we have a new cat. Zip her up inside your jacket or a covered basket and she is snug as a bug and happy as a clam and ....well--don't worry about if he is 'allowed' or not.

Janie

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: frogprince
Date: 01 Dec 06 - 03:58 PM

My intention was more encouragement than complaint, Ms.Janie; I was assuming you have some other priorities in life : )

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 12 Dec 06 - 11:16 AM

Mjolnir allowed himself to be carrassed by a number of hands as he wove in and out of numberous legs, those of people and those of chairs and tables. He ignored the soft murmers of 'Here kitty, kitty' but did deign to stop and sniff delicately at a saucer of lox conveniently placed on the floor next to one wheelchair. He nibbled a bit and gave the occupant of the chair an extra stropping before moving on across the floor of the common room at the Carver Rehabilitation Center.

He hadn't managed to make it into Cathy's room yet - the staff at this facility was *not* well trained in the appropriate behavior towards felines; but over the last day or two had made himself a fixture in the common areas od the center. That he had not yet encountered Cathy outside her rooms concerned him a trifle. But if there is one thing cats excel in, it is patience.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 07:44 PM

It was during Emma's visit on Thanksgiving Day that she told Cassie they would be moving to Paint Creek. The young girl felt confused and guilty at her reaction to the news she would be going to live with her mother. She loved Emma, looked forward to her visits, and often day-dreamed about being with her mother all the time. But in those day-dreams, her mother came to work and live with Cassie at the orphanage. Cassie had only vague memories of living with her mother in Charleston. The orphanage was her home. The other children were as sisters and brothers to her, the caring overseer like a father.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Cruiser
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 07:50 PM

Good to have you back ma'am.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 08:33 PM

The Sight would not come fully to Cassie until she reached puberty, but she possessed intimations of the 'gift' from a very young age.   That had made the day dreams seem even more plausible to this young girl who often had some diffuse sense of what was coming, even if she couldn't exactly name or predict it. So her mother's announcement that she would be leaving the Masonic Home by the 1st of the year was an especial shock. Cassie was alternately excited and hopeful then fearful and sad. The staff at the orphanage recognized and understood the conflicting emotions she was experiencing and were wise enough to let her feel them. They did let her know that, because they loved her, they were excited that she was going to be able to reunite with her mother, even as they would miss her and knew she would miss them and the other children.

    Christmas Eve was a poignant time for all of them. Mrs. Hodges, Cassie's dorm mother and music teacher, had to excuse herself several times to hide her tears from Cassie and the rest. Her gift to Cassie was the rather ragged violin Cassie had been play8ng on ever since she began her instruction with Mrs. Hodge. The music teacher had included a note to Cassie, which Cassie declined to share or discuss with anyone, including Mrs. Hodges herself. Emma had written to say she would be there to get Cassie on New Year's, but she could not afford two train fares so close together and so would not be able to come to the Masonic Home on Christmas, as was her wont.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 08:50 PM

Christmas night, Cassie dreamed she was floating down a river on a leaf. She had the violin with her, which she hugged for comfort, but did not play. As she drifted downstream she could hear music playing, and see flickering images along the banks that appeared to be the people making the music. The music, and the images changed as she floated along with the current, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. There were times as she floated that the leaf rocked and threatened to spill her out into the waters that surrounded her, or when the leaf got caught in a whirlpool, spinning her round and round until she was dizzy and gleeful, then sick, before the eddy spat the leaf, with her still clinging to it, out into the main current again. Other times, the leaf rocked gently and the music she would hear would go soft and sad. At some point along the way, she began to see occasional glints of silver coming from the images along the riverbanks, and she realized she kept hearing a flute, and that the flute itself seemed to be drawing her and the leaf down the river.

She wouldn't recall having that dream the next morning. But the memory of it would spring full blown into her mind on Christmas, 10 years later.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 11:00 PM

One week later, on New Year's Day, 1903, Emma and Cassie boarded a passenger car at the C&O Station and headed east, to Paint Creek. The railway ran overland until it reached St. Albans, and from that point it paralleled the river. Cassie watched coal barges move along the river below them. Emma pointed out the steam packet that ran three days a week from Charleston to Point Pleasant and then down the Ohio to Huntington. Cassie wondered what it would be like to travel on the packet. At the Masonic Home, they were occasionally allowed to go down to the Ohio for a picnic, and Cassie always watched for the paddlewheelers that traveled up and down that river. She'd run down to the riverbank and wave if one passed by near enough. Sometimes she could hear the sound of a piano and other instruments being played from somewhere inside the boat. At night, she would listen for the distant sound of the steamer horns and whistles as she lay in her bed, waiting to be carried off into sleep.

    Cassie turned and look up earnestly into her mother's face. "Momma, somethin' always stirs in my brain when I see riverboats. I can't say exactly what it is, but it feels kinda scary and kinda thrillin'. Do suppose I'll be a steamboat captain when I grow up?"
      
    "Whatever do you mean?" asked Emma, studying her daughter.
    "I mean just what I said, Moma. Can a girl be steamboat captain."
    "I got that part, Cassie, it's the brain stirrin' I'm asking about. I hope you haven't inherited my headaches."

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 11:27 PM

"No, Momma, not like a headache. It's like...I can't put words to it...a stirry, shifting feeling that I get sometimes a knowing that isn't really. Nevermind. What's the name of this river again? The Kanawha?"

    Mr. McJunkin came onto the train at Charleston and he and her momma talked business for the remaining hour of the ride.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 07:39 PM

"Cassie said she never forgot that first day-did I tell you it was New Year's?-on Paint Creek. It was the first time she ever heard a mountain fiddle."

Aunt Cathy, just back from physical therapy, was no longer surprised to find Little Billy, Louie and Sharon waiting in her room. This was their third day back in a row. It sure made her stay here more bearable, and took her mind off the pain and fatique of the physical therapy. She had been moved to see these young people were genuinely interested in this story she had to tell. She was more aware than ever that her days on earth were limited, and it was a relief to be able to tell what needed told. To tell the young ones what she thought it important they hear.

The day after Thanksgiving, Little Billy and Louie had come back, bringing Sharon and a tape recorder with them. "To catch Big Bill up," said Billy, "When he's ready to hear."

"Cassie said when she heard that fiddle, it stopped her dead in her tracks. Her momma was eager to get on to the boarding house, less than a block from the train depot at Pratt, but Cassie stood in the middle of the muddy road, listening, refusing to budge. Remember where Pritchard's store use to stand, before it burned down? Cassie said there was a little gatherin' of people in there, for a New Year's get together. There was a wood stove and she could smell the corned beef and cabbage simmering in a cast iron pot on top of it. When the song ended nothin' would do but she had to go right up to the fiddler. Okie Hernshaw is who it was, Old Man Jacob Hernshaw's pa.
"She asked him the name of the tune. 'Thorny Patch' he replied. 'I'm new in town,' she said. 'Will you teach me to play a violin like that?' Can't you just see that, Billie? This little ten year old girl marchin' up like that, just as bold as you please?

"He told her straight away that when you played it like that, it wasn't no violin. It was a fiddle.

"You'd think it would be movin' into the boarding house with her mother that she would remember. but she never said a word about that."

"Well, hello old friend! I wondered when you'd turn up." Mjolnir had found his way to Cathy's room.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 07:51 PM

From the campfire: Brava! So good to see you continuing with this, Janie!

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Effsee
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 09:40 PM

Hear hear!!

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 12:03 AM

Mjolnir jumped up onto Aunt Cathy's bed, as delighted to see her as she was to see him. Cathy paused in her story to make over him, stroking his back as he turned back and forth under her hand, purring, arching his back. He had been feeling a little down--it was Cassie and Louie who had actually rescued her. All he had managed to do was see to it that the idiot hound got his rocks off. But the welcome he received from Aunt Cathy drove the sef-doubt from his mind. When he thought about it, protecting her from corporeal dangers really wasn't in his job description anyway. he settle in her lap, continuing to purr loudly while his front paws kneaded the blanket that covered her.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 12:19 PM

Mjolnir strolled, tail aloft in regale display, through the common room of the Carver Rehabilitation Center on his thrice daily inspection tour. A harder then normal winter had reduced the number of visits from Cathy's kinfolk, and slowed the pace of life in general. This pleased the feline as Cathy was slowly regaining strength she hadn't realized she had lost; and he himself didn't mind the time to recoup health and spirit. The afternoons spent on her lap as she mentally reviewed and composed her tales for the next visit were welcome to them both.

But Mjolnir also gave attention to many of the others in the Center, visiting the common areas several times a day. Since his advent at the center the staff had instituted a policy that allowed what they called 'companion animals'. Mostly this had resulted in a number of the residents bringing yappy little brainless lapdogs to their rooms.

What the creator had been thinking of the day the Shih Tzu came into existance Mjolnir didn't know - but strongly suspected a lapse in judgement had occurred.

However, last week a large perch had been installed in the corner of the 'Media Room' - right next to the wide screen television; and upon the perch now rested a large Hyacinth Macaw, the purple-blue iridescence of her feathers brightening the corner. Mjolnir had heard the Director of the center discussing the bird, (and the problems involved in the legalities of housing it) with the parrot owners grandson. It seems this particular parrot had the distinction of having belonged to one family since well before the War Between the States.   But Isis had been placed in the media room rather then the patients private room as the venerable macaw genuinely preffered socialization with many people.

Mjolnir purred as he walked beneath Isis' perch. Though they had never met before her arrival at the center, recognition had been instant and mutual. Like will draw to like;no doubt about it.

Mjolnir had seen more then a little interest light the eyes of Isis' human Abraham when Cathy had come into the commons. The people hadn't spoken to each other yet, but Mjolnir and Isis were both aware it would happen. Most likely sooner rather then later.