Fiction:The Woman in the Holler

Subject: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 03:09 PM

Inspired by this thread.                  

                      THE WOMAN IN THE HOLLER

    The old woman knew they were coming well before she heard the sound of the engine and the banging of the truck chassis as it bounced along the rutted dirt road. The dogs had been carrying on for several minutes. When they started their baying she put down the book she was reading and stepped quickly to the kitchen to get a pot of water going for tea or instant coffee. She wondered how many would come this time.

      Stopping briefly in front of the mirror hanging in the dog-trot to check that her gray bun was neat, she stepped out onto the porch, hushed the dogs, and stood there, waiting, one hand shielding her pale blue eyes from the setting sun

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: wysiwyg
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 03:11 PM

[GO JANIE!!!]

~Susan

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 03:12 PM

(Here comes that book, right?! Yippee!!)

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 03:23 PM

"There she is!" cried Louie. Hanging onto the grip behind the truck cab with one hand, he threw the other up into the air to wave a greeting to the woman they all called Aunt Cathy. The truck hit another rut, and he toppled backward into the bed of the truck as several pairs of hands reached out to stop him from falling on the cased instruments.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 03:55 PM

Janie I know what the next line would be if I was writing the book,but I'm waiting for yours Louie

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 05:00 PM

"Dammit, Louie!" Joe grabbed his viola and jerked it out of the way as Louie tumbled on down into the truckbed. Sarah, Jake and Willie, on the other side of the truck, sat and glared at him.

Aunt Cathy had missed Louie's wave-the truck had passed behind a thin screen of black locust. As it rolled back into clear view, she absently noted the two feet waving in the air as she strained to see who had come to join her in music this summer night. She was always glad for the chance to sing and play a little music. But lately, she was thinking it was time to start talking, to pass on more than just the music. She wondered if tonight would be when she would start. It would mean something to have these people listen, and she really hoped her grand-niece and grandson were on that truck.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 06:41 PM

Aunt Cathy didn't realize how much trouble she was going to be in if she attempted to start a conversation with a group of musician when they only had one thing on their mind and that was jamming

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 07:39 PM

The truck pulled up to the gate and Louie jumped out and walked around to open it. The truck drove through and bounced on up the muddy track through the cow pasture. Louie trotted behind, keeping a wary eye the the dairy cow and the half-grown calf grazing about 15 feet from the track. That old cow of Aunt Cathy's could be mean sometimes. It didn't pay to not keep an eye on her.

The cow looked up from grazing as the truck drove past with Louie moving close behind. She lowered her head and turned toward Louie and for a minute he thought he might have to run. She must have decided not to mess with him this evening, because after one intent stare, she turned and went back to browsing. Louie sighed with relief and hurried on into the yard, closing the second gate firmly behind him. The others were already unloading their instruments and moving up onto the porch as He walked up to the truck. He reached over the side of the truck, grabbed his guitar and his concertina, and followed the rest up the steps.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 10:12 PM

Janie you failed to mention although Louie was not only a little unbalanced he also was not a cowboy or he would have been riding in the middle seat of that pu that way a cowboy never has to open or shut a gate.And another thing a range rider would never expose himself to a cow with a calf without a horse between his legs.That's the hell of it with a musician the only thing he has on his mund is a G STRING

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 10:31 PM

"Louie, when you gonna stop wishin" you was a cowboy and start rejoicing that you are a hillbilly?" Aunt Cathy smiled at her grandson's oldest friend, and extended a hand to carry the concertina as they walked into the house together.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 11:18 PM

(LOL with Louie Roy and nice save, Janie! This is great!)

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: GUEST,Janie
Date: 17 Jul 06 - 11:03 AM

"I had hoped Billy would be coming. Have you talked with him?" Cathy inquired about her grandson.

"He and Sharon will both be here late tonight or by mid-morning tomorrow. Sharon called this morning. If they weren't too tired after the final matinee they were going to drive on up from Charleston tonight. Otherwise they'll wait and come up in the morning" Louie nodded his head in the direction of the Parlour. "Sounds like they're about to start without us."   

They stepped into the parlour. Joe was over by the piano, viola tuned up and ready to play. Henry, Cathy's only contemporary in the group, was showing a new fiddle tune to Sarah.    Louie settled on the couch with his guitar on his lap as Cathy moved over next to Sarah, where she had already laid out her flute, recorder, pennywhistle and panpipes. She glanced down at the flute case, with all its stickers from so many places and venues, and thought back to that cold December night so many years ago, when she had been given the flute--an answered prayer.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 17 Jul 06 - 11:18 AM

Louie walked inand handed his beat old guitar to Joe and sid I think this is out of tune.Since this was one of Louie's favorite tricks he took the guitar and headeinto the next room where it was a little more quite and he could control his temper,Sarah,Jake and Willie glared at Louie ,but he knew that they wouldn't get to irate since he was the lead guitar player.Janie you forgot to mention that Aunt Cathy was their Aunt by marriage to Uncle Zeke who was over in the next Holler visiting with his new girlfriend.bAunt Cathy still had other thing on her mind besides playing music

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: GUEST,Janie
Date: 17 Jul 06 - 11:49 AM

(You hush your mouth now, Louie Roy. Cathy has her eyes set on Henry. He thinks she's a widderwoman and not a grass widow. He's a good Old Regular Baptist, even if he does play the fiddle where he don't think the Association will hear of it. Cathy won't have any chance with him if he finds out she's still married to that old rooster over on Tupper's Creek!)

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 17 Jul 06 - 12:17 PM

I'm wondering what is going to happen when Zeke drops by unexpected and Bapist Henry is giving Cathy a fiddle lesson without too much music envolved.This was common practice over in Randolph County where Zeke grew up for the husband to ocassionly stop by even though he had more than he could handle over on Tupper creek,but that's a common practice of a hillbilly living in his own ego

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 18 Jul 06 - 09:48 PM

It was almost midnight when the dogs started up again. Henry, Sarah and Cathy were taking a smoke break out on the front porch, talking quietly and watching the quarter moon that had just risen above the ridge. Louie had been banished to the couch on the back porch. As usual, he had hit the whiskey bottle too hard and had become so obnoxious that Cathy had banished him from the main house. Joe, Jake and Willie had been hard at playing ragtime for the last 30 minutes or so, but from the sound of it they were starting to wind down a bit.

An old VW van chuckachugged up into the yard. Cathy smiled with pleasure as her grandson Billy and his cousin Sharon stepped out onto the ground. Her smile widened as she saw Big Bill, Becky and Ralph emerge from the rear door of the van. "My Stars and Bars," she exclaimed, "It must be Christmas in July! I can't believe you all have come all the way up Paint Creek from Charleston to see me. Come in! Come in!"

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 19 Jul 06 - 11:24 AM

Louie came to about 2 AM and to say the least he was extremely pissed that his friends would put him out on the back porch to sleep off a little too much of Cathy and Zeke's white lighting and the mosquitos had nearly ate him up.They made the best moonshine in slippery hollow and many people would drive all the way up from Charleston to buy it.He looked around and Cathy and Henry were still on the porch pitching whoo,Joe,Sarah,Jake and Willie were crapped out in various places throughout the house.Although they were up in slippery hollow they still had some of the modern things that was sold at the hardware store in Charleston.He thought now it my chance to get even so he started up the gas 110 honda generator and cranked up the Amp to the max strapped on his electric Yamaha guitar and blasted the entire valley with the black mountain rag.As this tune drifted down the valley Joe,Sarah,Jake and Willie came out of their sleep with blurry eyes and joined him and after about 10 minutes with this tune rocking the house and anything else that was standing within a 100 yards he tuned the amp down and changed the tempo and tune to his rendition to In The Mood and finished up with Sentimental Journey that brought tears to everyones eyes and earned him a standing ovation and forgiveness for his earlier action

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: GUEST,Janie
Date: 19 Jul 06 - 01:06 PM

(Psst...what is 'pitching whoo'?)

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 19 Jul 06 - 01:12 PM

(pssst - Janie. "sparking"? "canoodling"? watching for submarines? There are a bunch more euphimisms.)

They were neckin' - probably on the porch swing.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Jul 06 - 03:04 PM

(Well, the pitching refers to just the pursuing party.)

~S~

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 19 Jul 06 - 03:12 PM

mutual pitch?

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 19 Jul 06 - 03:45 PM

Janie I think I spelled whoo wrong it should be like haggard's Okie Fro Muskogee we like holding hands and pitching woo.Or maybe I should have said they were making out

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Jul 06 - 04:55 PM

Naw--that's ok. I just had never 'heared tell of it' before. Now I am better edumacated!

Janie

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 19 Jul 06 - 09:19 PM

The blast of music startled Henry so bad that he jumped about 3 feet, breaking the liplock he had on Aunt Cathy. "What in tarnation!?" he cried, as Cathy hurriedly straightened her blouse before the others stepped out onto the porch. The noise set the rooster to crowing and the guinea hens to carrying on something fierce. But in just a few bars of Louie's seductive rendition of "In the Mood", they began to settle and soon were back to sleep, dreaming whatever birds dream.

Henry soon calmed also, and tho' it was 2:00 am, they were soon all out on the porch in the soft July night, listening to the katydids and other night-singing insects. A moonvine climbed a porch pillar and scented the night air. The moon was high up in the sky now. The folks from Charleston marveled at the night sky out here where there were no citylights to dull it.

Cathy picked up her flute, and looking up at the moon, began to play.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 19 Jul 06 - 09:48 PM

It had been a long time since she had all these dear people gathered near her. It had been weeks, in fact, since she had seen or talked to anyone but the boy who brought her fresh milk from his father's cow every other morning. He was a nice enough boy, but he was half scared of her and tended to just drop the milk off, mumble something unintelligible and leave. She could imagine the tales and the rumors that went up and down the holler about her and this old dirt farm at the head of the holler. They were probably pretty close the gossip she had heard as a girl about the old woman who had given her the flute, Miss Cassie. Well, this ol' holler WAS full of magic and mystery, as had Cassie been herself. The magic of the moonshine (in the sky and in the still,) the mystery of the mists that settled into the holler as the nights cooled, the music of the old hills and the creek and the worn-out pastures.

She never thought she'd live here after Cassie died. After Cassie had been buried there up on the ridge, Cathy had cleaned out the place, sold off the livestock, locked the door behind her and gone back to Cross Lanes to tend to her husband and kids. She remembered she had been almost annoyed when the will was read and she learned Cassie had left the place to her. Just something else to have to pay property taxes on.

No doubt about it, Cassie did 'see' things, though she never volunteered any information about what she 'knew.' Cathy had often wondered-did Cassie leave the place to her as payment for taking care of her, or had she 'seen' what was ahead for her protege, and done what she could to provide a refuge?

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 19 Jul 06 - 10:05 PM

The sound of the flute suddenly ceased. With abrupt movements, Cathy set the flute in it's case, snapped the lid and rose to feet. "At 83 years old, I don't have any business sittin' out here with you young fools, playing music all hours of the night. I'm going to bed," she snapped, turned on her heels, and marched resolutely into the house.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: GUEST,Janie
Date: 20 Jul 06 - 07:57 AM

Henry scratched his head, looking puzzled. He was thinking she was a bit long in the tooth to be PMSing. He shrugged. Womenz. 85 years old, and he still hadn't solved that cipher.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 20 Jul 06 - 12:31 PM

Louie met Cathy at the door and asked her if she'd checked the still tonight to make sure the carding pot was operating correctly,the water barrel was full of water for the cooling coils,that there was plenty of fire under the copper boiler to finish this batch of mash.She told him on but she would check it out and since it was a couple of hundred yards down to where the stillwas at he said he'd go with her.As they strolled down to the still with a full moon shining brightly she was a little bit disoriented from all the heavy petting that her and Henry had been doing for the past couple of hours.When they arrived at the still Louie asked her what she was using in the carding pot and she told him several pair of Zeke's wool socks some of her old sik panties and several loaves of stale bread and as she bent over to check it out her dress flew above her head and Louie was looking into her honey pot.His 8 inch colonel hit him on the belly button so he reached around and got a hold of spawk plugs hanging down fro Cathy chest and her carbrurator started leaking and Louie Couldn't restrain him self any longer so he slowly slipped in the 8 inch colonel and the fun began.After about 3 minutes she started having organsism and few men will ever have the pleasure to experience this for when an 83 year old women starts having orgasism they continuie about every 30 seconds for at least10 minute.When they got back to the house she smiled at everyone and then headed offf to beb.:ouie told all the musician he came with to get the instruments loaded and they would head back to Grizzly Holler,but he was riding in the back of that rough old Pick UP he was driving

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 20 Jul 06 - 06:39 PM

"Gawd, you're absolutely discusting!" Louie woke with a start as Big Bill grabbed him by the shirt collar and lifted him up from the arm of the old horsehair sofa over which he had passed out last night. The faces of the guffawing men and the distainful women blurred past his vision as Big Bill manhandled him into the bathroom and shoved him the shower, clothes and all. "How in hell some one as drunk and passed out as you were can manage to have a wet dream is beyond me."

"You better straighten up, boy, and start acting like a decent human being, or you won't be playing music with us anymore, I don't care how good you are on that guitar. And I happen to know that Aunt Cathy has about had it with you too. She loves you as much as she does Billy, but she is not going to continue to tolerate your churlish behavior."

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 20 Jul 06 - 10:35 PM

Louie ,Joe,Sarah,Jake and Willie were just starting up Grizzly Holler when Billy contacted them on his cell phone and told them that they have no idea what Big Bill was smoking or if he was high on meth or maybe too much of white lighting but he came in and grabbed Baptist Henry called him all kinds of names and throwed him in the shower and also calling him Louie.Several of them finally were able to wrestle him to the floor and get him tied up.About that time Henry came out of the shower dripping wet and took off on the run down slippery holler and probably this will be the last time you will ever see him up this holler again.Louie knows what happened that night and he will take it to the grave with him.As he said before only a few men have the experience of having sex with a lady in their eighty.If there's another chapter to this Louie will be up Grizzly holler picking and grinning with his friends.Adios

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 20 Jul 06 - 11:27 PM

Smell of coffee brewing and bacon in the frypan awakened Aunt Cathy about an hour later. She pulled a house-dress over her head and walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Big Bill had just pulled a batch of bisquits from the oven. Sarah was slicing German Johnson tomatoes that Billy had brought in from the garden. She passed the thick, sun-warmed slices on to Becky and Joe to put on the biscuits with the bacon.

Come on Angel band
Come and around me stand
Carry me away on your snow white wings
To my eternal home.

Becky and Joe harmonized as they assembled the biscuit sandwiches. Aunt Cathy hummed along softly as she headed for the coffee pot on the back of the stove. She joined the rest of the crew at the big old maple table in the middle of the kitchen. Although a little bleary from the late night of music and moonshine, everyone but Louie seemed in good spirits. He wouldn't look her in the eye as he muttered an apology about spilling something on her sofa. She sighed but told him not to worry about it. She'd use spot remover on it later.

By 10:30 the 'party in the pickup' had driven off, with ample hugs and promises to come back in a month to do it again, and several pints of jam made from the black raspberries that grew all up and down the holler. The day promised to be hot and humid. Big Bill and Billy headed to the shed for garden tools and the lawnmower. They wanted to get the hard work done before the day heated up any more. Aunt Cathy, Becky and Sharon headed for the house. Becky and Sharon insisted that Cathy just sit and visit while they cleaned up the kitchen. Their dear friend Ralph was somewhere up along the ridge, scouting out ginseng, goldenseal and black cohosh to gather in the fall.

Cathy wondered if now was the time to start talking. It was, at the heart of it all, a woman's tale, two women's stories in fact, interwoven, but different stories none-the-less. "That's not true," she thought. "It's also Zeke's story, and Mr. Howard's story, and, ultimately, it is Big Bill and Billy's story too, for who knows how their lives might have been different if they had lived through a different story than the one she had lead them through. Not their stories exactly, for each will have their own to live and tell, but it is their history of their bloodkin and their heritage just as much as this little wornout piece of holler is. Yep, it's a packaged deal, my story and the holler. I best bide my time until we
re all together for dinner this afternoon."

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 20 Jul 06 - 11:33 PM

Oops, Louie Roy, I took so long on that last piece I didn't realize you had come back in with some more. It'll sort itself out I suppose.

Janie

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 21 Jul 06 - 12:48 AM

Make that 'disqusted' a couple of posts back--

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 21 Jul 06 - 01:00 AM

crappola. disgusted.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 10:39 PM

"I'm suprised Henry didn't stay over. It was past 2:00 when I went up to bed. I wouldn't have thought he'd have driven out of here in the middle of the night." She had noticed his absence as soon as she come down this morning, but hadn't wanted to say anything in front of Big Bill and Billy. They might mention something to Zeke, and then he was likely to start dropping by more often. He didn't want her anymore, but he didn't want anyone else to have her either.
    She imagined his reaction if he were to know of what passed between her and Louie last night. Briefly, she imagined everyone's reaction if they were to know. She faked a coughing spell to cover the giggles that suddenly rose up in her throat.
    Becky turned from the sink to make sure Cathy was okay. She and Sharon had looked at each other awkwardly when Cathy mentioned Henry. They didn't know what had got into Big Bill when he jerked Henry up off the couch like that--he hadn't had THAT much moonshine--but they doubted seriously if Henry would be back. Aunt Cathy had a temper on her and they didn't want to be the ones to tell her that Henry was probably gone for good. She and Big Bill could have epic rows, and it was best not to be around when that happened.

Janie

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 23 Jul 06 - 10:18 PM

Sharon began to tell them about the last performance of "Appalachian Spring." Based on Copeland and Graham's ballet, it had been adapted as a play with music by a drama professor at Appalachian State College down in North Carolina. It had been so well received that he and his students took it on tour. To save money, they hired musicians locally whenever possible and Billy and Sharon had successfully auditioned to play during it's week run at the Municipal Auditorium in Charleston. Sharon had really enjoyed the experience and was sorry for it to end. She was also sorry not to have a chance to get to know Aaron better. Aaron had played the male lead and Sharon had been rather smitten. But he was gone now, on his way back to the ANorth Carolina mountains, and although they had exchanged addresses and phone numbers, Sharon doubted they would keep in touch.

    As Sharon had hoped, the talk of the play distracted Cathy from further inquiries about Henry. The three women chatted amiably about family doings and events until the kitchen was cleaned up. Then, all three of them tired from the late night, they each went to lay down for a nap until it was time to start dinner. It being Sunday, Cathy would fix a big sit-down meal along about midafternoon, when the mean had finished the yardwork and had had a chance to clean1up and rest.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Jul 06 - 10:43 PM

(Well-done, Janie!)

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 23 Jul 06 - 11:05 PM

It was so hot in the house they decided to eat out on the porch. The men laid boards across a couple of saw-horses they had brought up from the shed to make a table. Becky ironed a cotton sheet to use for a tablecloth, and they all helped bring out the food. There was a platter of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, big soft, white yeast rolls, and corn, cucumbers, tomatoes and half-runners from the garden. Aunt Cathy and Billy stepped out onto the porch with a big pitcher of sweet tea and a plate brimming with slices of musk melon. Aunt Cathy said the blessing, and they dug in to the fine eats spread before them.

    Cathy waited until everyone had a chance to take the edge off of their hunger, then she began to speak. "Miss Cassie would be awful pleased to see all of us sitting here on her front porch. None of you ever got to know her well, but she loved every single one of you. She's been visiting me in my dreams lately. It seems like she wants her story told at last. Be warned. You will likely learn some things you'd just as soon not. I can't tell Miss Cassie's story without telling some of mine that I've kept close hid for many years. But you are bloodkin to both Miss Cassie and to me, so this is your story too, and you need to hear it."

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Amos
Date: 23 Jul 06 - 11:52 PM

(Dang, Janie, this is teeriiffic!! A.)

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 09:06 AM

As Cathy began speaking to her family, 'round the corner of the porch and up the stairs flowed a lean, long, battle scarred tomcat. With feline dexterity he wove through chair legs, rockers and feet until he was able to spring up onto the porch rail. Settling himself in classic cat pose, he curled his tail about his feet and assumed statue-like immobility - only the occasional slow blink of his eyes and a metronome-like twitch of the last inch of his tail revealing his interst in the goings-on of the two legs he had watched over for eight lifetimes.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 10:03 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 11:17 AM

"Miss Cassie was my mother's second cousin on the Adkins side of the family. Big Bill, you may remember that your Mawmaw didn't have much use for the Adkinses. She used to say....Well, that is a story for another time. Anyway," Aunt Cathy paused to pour herself another glass of tea. "Miss Cassie was the bastard daughter of Uncle James and Emma Cooper. Uncle James denied it for years until he was on his deathbed. But Ms. Cassie favored him so much that no one in the family ever doubted that she was his.
    "James and his wife Clara had a bunch of sons, but no daughter to help Aunt Clara with the house. They had got poor Emma from the orphanage over in Ironton and brought her to the farm to help with the women's work. And work that poor girl did. She was just little when they got her, probably only 9 or 10, but they worked her from the start like she was a mule. Miss Cassie said her mother had scars on her back from the beatings they gave her."
    "Everybody in Clay County knew that Uncle James was one to cat around," Aunt Cathy reached over to the old Tom and scratched him under the chin.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 11:25 AM

Being of an enlightened nature, the old Tom allowed the woman to caress him; gently nudging her hand into the proper spot with a quick movement of his jaw and a slight tilt of his head.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 12:45 AM

After two weeks up Grizzly holler with no jammig Louie was getting a little parenoid after all music is a hill billies life,maybe if he contacted Aunt Cathy she would invite him and the gang back up for another and more organized jam.He placed the call and got the answering machine. He left a message and would keep his finger crossed and his cell phone open for her repy

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 01:56 AM

""A lot of the Adkins men were like that. People up and down all the hollers off Paint Creek had a good time gossiping and keeping up with his doin's. But he supported the local school from the revenues from the moonshine still he ran, he could be counted on to help a neighbor in need, and he gave his 10th to the church at the mouth of Grizzley holler. Besides all that, Aunt Clare was known to be a quarrelsome and difficult woman. Mawmaw was always kind to her in spite of her mean ways. Said she reckoned she'd be mean and bitter too if she had to live with the likes of Uncle James.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 08:30 AM

"Emma was 14 when she turned up pregnant with what she said was Uncle James child. If it could have been blamed on one of the boys Clare might have let her stay, but they had all left home by then.

"She drove Emma off, and Uncle James just stood, shame-faced, and watched.

"Emma had no where to go and no one to turn to. She managed to get a ride down to the Union Mission in Charleston, and Reverend Murdock arranged for her to go the the unwed mothers home in Parkersburg. When Miss Cassie was born, Emma refused to give her up. She went back to Charleston and went towork as a maid at the Daniel Boone Hotel. You all know the Daniel Boone as a flop house for down-and-outers, but back in those days it was where all the lawyers and businessmen stayed when the legislature was in session.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Louie Roy
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 09:26 AM

Billy was taking notes to what Aunt Cathy was telling and was relaying the info to all the relation down in Grizzly Holler with his cell phone because he was sure Aunt Cathy would never repeat this info again.Louie was still waiting for an invite back to the next jam session up Slippery Holler and one thing he missed the last time he never got to jam with Baptist Henry a champion Banjo player who had won many contest throughout the state.He had also spent countless hours with Louie teaching him the tunes and proper tempo so Louie was deeply indebted to him

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 10:42 AM

"The hotel provided rooms to the housekeeping staff, but Emma couldn't stay there because of Cassie. She rented a room in a boarding house close by and paid the landlady to watch Cassie while she worked. Emma soon realized that many of the women at the boarding house were 'ladies of the night" who worked Frye's Alley near the hotel. But they didn't bring their tricks to the boarding house--the landlady wouldn't allow it--and it was all she could afford, so she stayed. The women were mostly quite nice and doted on Cassie. So Cassie spent her 1st four years in what amounted to a whore house.

"As Cassie began to get older, Emma knew she couldn't continue to stay in the boarding house with the hookers, nice as they were to her little girl. She also was determined to save some money and she couldn't do that while paying for room and board. With some reluctance, she wrote to Uncle James. I don't know if she threatened him, or if he came willingly, but a few weeks later he appeared at the Daniel Boone as Emma got off work.

"Uncle James was a Mason, and Emma prevailed upon him to make arrangements for Cassie to go stay at the Masonic Home in Huntington. Emma moved into the free room provided by the hotel, and would go down to Huntington every 8 weeks to visit Cassie."

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: MMario
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 10:57 AM

The old tom stretched on the porch railing, and lifting a spread paw to his muzzle began cleaning the razor sharp claws. He remembered having to give James a little "encouregment" to make that trip to the Danial Boone. Not that somewhere deep down, James hadn't been willing to go, but a few not so shallow pinpricks in the leg had certainly added to the pinpricks his conscience had been giving him.

Subject: RE: Fiction:The Woman in the Holler
From: Janie
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 06:59 PM

Aunt Cathy talked on as Big Bill and Becky cleared the trestle table and brought out bowls of vanilla ice-cream with slices of fresh peaches. She told of Cassie's time at the Masonic Home. "Cassie liked it there. The people were kind and there were other children with whom to play. Best of all, one of the house mothers was a music teacher. Cassie had shown promise from an early age, when one of the prostitutes started her playing a penny=whistle when she was only 3. The music teacher, recognizing Cassie's interest and talent, took special interest in her and soon Cathy was playing piano, flute and violin.

"She waited eagerly for the bimonthly visits from Emma. Emma was working hard, saving money, and making plans for their future. She had become head housekeeper at the Daniel Boone. One day, when Cassie was 10, her mother arrived at the Home flush with excitement. Mr. McJunkin, who was a manager with Island Creek Coal, was a frequent quest at the Daniel Boone. Over the years he had come to appreciate Emma's hard work, diplomacy and integrity. He had come to her with a proposition. He owned a boarding house up Paint Creek but was never there enough to properly oversee the running of it. He knew it could make money if properly run and had given up on finding some one he could trust to take care of the business for him. He offered Emma a 1/3 stake in the Boarding House if she would move to Paint Creek and run it for him."

By now, Cathy had been talking none stop for nearly two hours. Sharon had run out of tape in the recorder, and the tom, to whom Cathy looked occasionally as if for confirmation of the story, had disappeared off the porch rail.

"I guess I've worn your ears off this afternoon, and haven't really even gotten to the good parts yet. If it suits you all, I'll just stop now, and can tell you more when you back up here next month. I've already got a call from Louie. He and the rest of the gang are eager for another jam. Would you call them, Billy, to see if when they might come back?"