Five
____________
Howling
Coyotes
One very hot August
summer night a long time ago, we moved my parents’ large iron bed outside so
our mother could sleep. I was much younger, but I remember that Ma’s time came
to give birth and Pa had ridden off to fetch the doctor. I remember hearing the
coyotes howling and the echo of their cries being gently muffled as they
resounded across the rolling hills of dry grass. We all were so happy the next
morning because we four Charlton kids had a new little sister…Sarah Jane.
Sometimes this memory seems like only yesterday
and at other times it seems like nothin’ but a faded dream.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Look!” shouted Richard as he pointed into the
distance. “It looks like Pa and the doctor are comin’.”
Hilda Charlton held out long enough for the
doctor to arrive and deliver the baby who they named Sarah Jane. The little
newborn girl was placed snugly with her mother as the doctor instructed the
family to move the mother and newborn back inside of the house to prevent any winds,
dust, or even wild animals from disturbing them. The doctor listened carefully
to the coyotes howling in the background as he reminded the family of some
pertinent details for the care of a newborn and Mrs. Charlton.
“Thanks Doc,” Mr. Charlton said.
“I know this baby thing ain’t nothin’ new for
you folks, but I always remind my patients of the basics. Sometimes one can get
a bit too excited with the birth of a newborn to remember everything.”
Once the doctor rode off into the night, Rae Ann
said, “Ma can use my bed, that way we can move her now.”
“Well,” her father thought for a moment, “that’s
a good idea, at least for the time bein’.”
Rae Ann smiled.
Mr. Charlton continued, “Once we get your Ma
situated, I want you boys to help me move the bed back into the house,”
Richard and Teddy just looked at each other.
Both new it was late and that they had school in the morning after they
completed their early morning chores.
“And I’d really appreciate it if you,” John
addressed Rae Ann, “could round up all the fixins for all you youngins’ lunches
for tomorrow.”
“Do we have to go to school tomorrow, Pa?” Teddy
lamented.
“As of right here and now, the answer is yes,
but we’ll take a relook at things in the mornin’. Your Ma may be needin’ some
help around here and if one of ya is gonna be stayin’ home from school you all
might as well be stayin’ at home. Anyway, we got a lot of chores around here
that need catchin’ up on.”
The remainder of that night raced by faster than
a wild horse crossing the distant horizon. Morning came none too soon for Rae
Ann and her younger sister Mary. The two girls wanted to see their new little
family addition. Mr. Charlton decided that all of his children would stay home
from school for what was left of the week.
The children were assigned specific tasks by
their father, “And if you be seein’ somethin’ that needs to be done, just go
ahead and do it if you’re able. Otherwise I want you to write it down for me to
see when I get back later this afternoon. I’ll be takin’ a short work day until
your Ma’s cousin arrives to help later this evening or sometime tomorrow.”
“Who’s comin’, Pa?”
“Never you mind that now, just get to work. Less
talk… more work. You can’t talk and work. Talkin’ distracts you from workin’.
You can talk tonight in your sleep.”
The siblings understood that their father did
not get much sleep, if any, during the night, so they made no complaints and
offered no additional comments.
While Richard and Teddy tended to farm and
barnyard chores, Rae Ann and Mary straightened up the house.
“You just help me by gettin’ stuff I ask you
for, Mary,” Rae Ann instructed her little sister.
“But I want to work too,” Mary insisted.
Rae Ann knew how important it was to be included
in the actual work around the house, so she thought about what her little
sister could do and replied, “Ok, Mary, how about you scrub the kitchen sink?
Take your time, but be sure to come when I call you. And take extra care
climbin’ down off of the stool when you’re cleanin’ the sink, that is if I call
you and all. I don’t want you to slip and fall and get hurt.”
Mary’s face beamed as she scampered off toward
the kitchen. Rae Ann continued folding the laundry she had retrieved from their
clothesline in back of the house a few minutes prior.
“Hello, anyone?” came the cry from the Charlton
parents’ bedroom. “Hello?”
“I’m comin’ Ma,” Rae Ann replied.
Rae Ann entered her mother’s bedroom and, to her
surprise, saw her mother standing at the foot of the bed changing her new
little sister’s diaper.
“I know it’s a bit messy, Rae Ann, but can you
put this cotton cloth diaper in the wash tub so I can wash it later, please?”
Mesmerized by her little sister’s kicking and
squirming, Rae Ann was slow to respond, “Oh, sure Ma, but you never mind, me
and Mary can take care of the chores for you.”
“You two are so sweet, but I think you’ll have
more than enough to do without havin’ to take on dirty diapers. Anyway, I need
a little break now and then from motherin’ duties.”
“Ok Ma.”
Rae Ann dropped the diaper off in the wash tub,
washed her hands, and then returned to her mother.
Mrs. Charlton added an additional request, one
that was well received by her daughter, “Can you fetch Mary and come and give a
little kiss to Sarah Jane?”
“Oh, Ma…yes,” replied Rae Ann as she raced out
of the bedroom to fetch her sister.
Looking down into the kitchen sink Rae Ann
commented, “Mary, you know, I ain’t seen a much cleaner sink in all of my life.
Ma said we can go see Sarah Jane now.”
Hopping down from the stool, Mary ran ahead of
her sister to their parents’ bedroom. The two sisters gazed in amazement at the
newest addition to their family. The sun shone through the bedroom window and
twinkled across the bedspread like glistening light across a pond.
“Her feet are so small,” Mary commented, “and
her hands, too.”
Mrs. Charlton laughed, “They’ll be gettin’
larger soon enough, dear. You youngins tend to grow faster than weeds.”
“We can hardly wait to grow up, Mamma,” Mary
stated.
Mrs. Charlton responded, “And when you get older
you’ll be a wishin’ you could be young again. Ain’t that a strange thing?”
Rae Ann interjected her penny’s worth of
thought, “I guess whatever time we find ourselves in durin’ life’s days,” she
took a deep breath and sighed, “we always think another time in life’s journey
might be better.”
“A wise observation, Rae Ann,” her mother
pointed out.
After Rae Ann and Mary had played with their new
little sister for a spell, Rae Ann said, “I guess we be better gettin’ back to
work. Don’t want to rile Pa none.”
“Never you mind your Pa,” Mrs. Charlton laid
Sarah Jane in the middle of the bed and placed some large pillows around her
about eighteen inches from where she lay, then continued, “How about if Mary
stays here and helps me a bit and you continue on by yourself… would that be
ok?”
“Sure, Ma, anything you want.”
“Look,” Richard shouted from the back of the
barn, “I found my missin’ marble!”
Annoyed, Teddy responded, “What marble you be
talkin’ ‘bout Richard? I ain’t no mind reader.”
“My favorite big glass one, you know, tinted
black and all. The one I won last summer.”
Richard’s favorite thing in all of the world to
do was play marbles. He had a knack and an eye for the sport like no other. He
never had any trouble knocking other player’s marbles from the ring. He almost
never lost a marble, so it had plagued him to no end as to what had happened to
his favorite marble.
“Yeah, I think I sort of remember,” Teddy
replied.
“Hey, let’s play us some marbles, Teddy. Go get
yours and I’ll get the rest of mine.”
Knowing his brother had not thought things
through, but was caught up with the emotion of the moment, Teddy reminded him,
“Pa had a mind for us to work, so I think we better be a doin’ that for now,
but maybe later.” Teddy quickly added, “That is, if it’s just a game for fun, I
don’t want to be a losin’ my marbles to you,”
“Ok, ok, I forgot workin’ and all for a moment.
Yeah, we can play just for the playin’ sake of it all. After all, it is good to
be practicin’ and just play the game,” Richard surmised, “whether ya win
anything or not.”
Changing the subject abruptly, Teddy commented,
“I think it’s good we got us another baby sister.”
Richard wondered why his brother would think
such a thing and inquired, “What’s your reasonin’ on the matter, Teddy? Why you
be thinkin’ that way?”
“We’d be a night bit too old to play with a boy,
but Rae Ann and Mary, well, playin’ with a baby girl is like playin’ with a
doll, I suppose. It never would be a problem for them two… maybe.”
“Your somethin’ else, Teddy,” Richard laughed,
“somethin’ else.”
Later that evening, after everyone had eaten and
the house settled down, the family gathered in their small living room to say a
few words on why they were thankful for Sarah Jane’s arrival. Once each of them
had expressed their feelings, Mr. Charlton led them all in a quick prayer
before each one retired for the night.
These first two days of Sarah Jane’s little life
became a very fond memory, especially for Rae Ann. She cherished her thoughts
about how her two brothers and sister had joined together to help their mother
and father around the house and farm. After a few months everything around the
farm returned to a more normal routine and this pleased Richard and Teddy very
much. Rae Ann continued to volunteer to help her mother whenever she could. She
and Mary continued to play with Sarah Jane as often as their mother and time
allowed.
Photo
Doctor Everett R. Cooper
on horseback, circa 1925
Photograph courtesy of
West Virginia State Archives
Dr. E.R. Cooper
Collection.
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