Rose picked up her pencil and tried again to write her letter.
November 22, 1922
Dear Mama,
I am writing this letter as an assignment for school. Mrs. Carrier (Aaron’s wife, that was Miss Gussie Brown from Archer, Aunt Sarah says to tell you) is our teacher and she’s very nice. She lets me help the younger children with their reading and writing and such. I like school very much and I am glad I’ll be able to continue my learning.
I hope you are well, I am fine. Aunt Sarah asks me to give you her best wishes, and Aunt Happy asks me to say hello to you from her and Beauty. Everyone has been very kind to me and I’m learning how to be a help to Aunt Sarah. I share my room with Cousin Queen, who is Pearl’s daughter. Queen’s brother Daniel lives here as well and they are both very nice.
Rose sighed, and Sarah looked up at her.
“Why don’t you tell her about the pageant?” she suggested, and smiled at Rose’s look of exasperation. Rose picked up her pencil again, however, and continued writing.
Mrs. Carrier has written a Christmas pageant for the school, and Uncle Sylvester and Uncle Aaron come in the afternoons to teach us the music and the dances. Willie Lee and A.T., two of our cousins, are the Mother Mary and Joseph, and today they got in a fight over who was going to hold the Baby Jesus and ended up pulling off the Baby Jesus’ head which rolled across the stage and smashed on the floor below. Willie Lee screamed out “You killed the Baby Jesus!” and everybody laughed, except for Mrs. Carrier who made both of them sit down in two different corners of the room.
Rose fiddled with her pencil, tapped the eraser on the table, and stuck out her tongue at Marlene when she glared at the tapping pencil.
“Why don’t you ask her about Chicago?” Sarah asked. “Don’t you have some friends you want to ask her about?”
Rose rolled her eyes, but not so Sarah could see. She tried again to tell her mother something about her life in Florida.
I guess it must be very cold and snowy in Chicago by now. The weather here is very fine. Aunt Sarah says we’ll have a cold winter if you look at the wooly caterpillars, but Uncle Sylvester just laughs when she says that. He is very nice and tells me all about Daddy.
Please tell Mr. Thompson I said thank you for the money he sent for me to Aunt Sarah, but I’m earning my own money now and I give her part every week so there’s no need. I put aside money for college as well. Aunt Sarah says I’ll be able to go on to college if I keep studying.
I’ll write again soon and tell you all the news. I hope you’ll write soon.
Sincerely,
Your Daughter Rose
“That’s all I can think,” Rose complained. She didn’t look up when Sarah came over and read the letter.
“That’s fine, Honey,” Sarah told her, and patted her shoulder. “It’s a start. Get a stamp from my desk and run it down to the station, the last train can take it if you hurry.”
“There’s no hurry,” Rose muttered, but she went for her coat and called to Queen to join her.
“Here comes Daniel,” Queen said as they walked towards town. “He must have finished up at Wright’s store.”
Rose felt her face grow warm. Queen, watching her, grinned.
“You like him, I’m so glad,” she said, and Rose had to smile back at her, she did look so happy. “We really will be sisters.”
“Oh, go on, don’t be foolish,” Rose scoffed.
Daniel joined the girls, smiling at Rose, and the three of them just stood together until Queen finally broke the silence that shyness on both sides was building.
“Rose finished her homework letter. We’re mailing it off.”
“I’ll walk you two,” Daniel offered.
“You just came back from town,” Queen exclaimed, and Rose shot her a sharp look.
“That’s all right,” he said, and he moved between them as they turned towards the depot.
“You finish that math, Queen?” Daniel asked. Queen groaned.
“Yes, finally, but Rose had to show me again. I can’t seem to remember all the steps for fractions,” Queen complained.
“Oh, you did fine, hardly needed any help,” Rose assured her.
“Miss Gussie, she has a way to teach all that awful math. I don’t mind it so much now.”
“You girls feed those pigs yet?” Daniel asked.
“Yes, although I sure hate to.” Queen shuddered. “Big old pigs, mean as devils. Don’t you ever go in that pen, Rose, that great big one come right after you. It took a bite out of Daniel this summer.”
“That must have hurt!”
“Aw, Mr. Pig barely scraped me with his teeth. We get along all right. You give his back a good scratch with a branch, he gets all friendly.”
“You scratch a pig? I heard of some people, rather kiss a pig,” Rose teased, and Queen started to laugh, “But I never heard of nobody giving some pig a scratching.”
“Our granddaddy, Granny Goins' husband, he had a pig that would follow him around the farm. She used to lay down at his feet on the porch,” Daniel said.
“It’s true, that poor pig followed him all around the place. Cried at night when he penned her up,” Queen said. “Finally disappeared one night, she snuck out of her pen and a ‘gator must have got her, or a panther. Poor thing.”
“Et is et, sister, by some ‘gator or by some people,” Daniel teased. “And that’s what pigs are for. I won’t mind at all, eating old Mr. Pig, come Christmas.”
“And a big Thanksgiving feast next week. Sylvester hung up two wild turkeys this morning. You’ll get fat, between now and Christmas,” Queen teased her brother.
“There’s no fat on me,” Daniel bragged, and pulled up his shirt to flash his stomach at the girls, who squealed with laughter.
“Come on, we need to catch that train,” Queen called out as she took Rose’s hand and ran ahead.
“You go on, I’m right behind you,” Daniel called out, and when Rose turned to look he was right there, watching them, smiling at Rose.