The Wooden Nickel

by Alisha Paige

“You don’t aim to catch any fish?”

  “Ah, heck, no. You just stick your pole in and hope one jumps on if you’re lucky at all. Mostly, you just lounge by the waters and dream the day away.”

  “It sounds like a fine way to pass the day,” Louise said, feeling extra naughty for skipping school, but really she had no choice. Mrs. Crowfoot might yell at her if she thought she was spreading her disease all about to the other children.

  Cliff found two sturdy looking sticks and a shady tree near the bank of the creek. He had the good foresight to grab one of the old horse blankets from the barn and he spread it out, over the dry grass before taking Louise’s hand and helping her to her knees. She pulled her coat about her neck against the cold wind.

  “You cold, sugar? Maybe I should pull the blanket into the sun a bit,” he offered, helping her back up as he moved the blanket to the warm sunshine.

  “Thanks, that’s much warmer,” Louise said as she watched Cliff tie some string to two sticks.

  “What’re you gonna bait them with?” Louise asked, shielding her eyes with her hand as she gazed at the handsome boy who had turned her life upside down in a few weeks.

  Cliff winked at her as he fished around his coat pocket. He unwrapped a small piece of bacon and tore off two pieces, tying them to the ends of each pole. He handed Louise her pole and she took it, just staring at the tiny crispy square dangling on the end of the string.

  “Fish eat bacon?”

  “Seems strange don’t it, but they seem to like the taste of pig as much as we do.”

  Louise laughed. Gee, this was fun. And to think Lily was stuck in the old school house. Well, she deserved it too after what she’d made Louise think.

  Cliff checked his pole now and again, but nothing ever seemed to want a nibble of their bacon. Cliff finally fixed them both into the earth and left them hanging in the water, just in case.

  “See that cloud up yonder?” Cliff asked, pointing to the largest one straight ahead.

  “That one that looks like a cow?”

  Cliff laughed and nudged Louise in the ribs. “A cow?”

  “Sure, see the legs there and it’s one of those spotted cows,” Louise explained, pointing out each feature.

  Cliff squinted his eyes and nodded. “I see her udders.”

  Louise laughed and laughed as Cliff took her hand and while still holding it, pointed out a dragon. His hand warmed her whole body. Louise imagined she must have swallowed some sunshine. She wanted to burst clear open. They lay side by side all afternoon, watching clouds and seeing all sorts of characters. Dogs, cats, horses. Cliff even pointed out a car and a train.

  “I bet that train goes straight to heaven,” Cliff exclaimed, pointing it out.

  Louise wasn’t sure if it did or not, but she knew for sure how the passengers on that ethereal train felt. She couldn’t ever remember having a better day in her entire life. Cliff sure knew how to spend a good sick day and make it seem near as joyful as heaven as one could get without having to die. Even though it was her first attempt at playing hooky, Louise knew it wouldn’t be her last. Louise decided right then and there that she loved to fish.

  Skipping school made her feel a little guilty, but Lily made her do it. And to think she was lying by the creek on a sunshiny day with such a dreamy boy, too! A boy that Lily secretly loved! Louise was sure that Lily had been right on target when she told her that she loved Cliff. That would sure enough explain her bad behavior. Why, she was jealous mostly! Lily couldn’t stand it at all. For the first time in her perfect life, she was unable to have exactly what she wanted and worse, her stinky, little sister, Louise had it all along.

  ~ * ~

  Louise and Eric sat in the sunroom at the breakfast table snapping green beans for dinner.

  “Look, Grandma. There’s two hummingbirds on the feeder at one time,” Eric exclaimed as he snapped another bean and tossed it into the colander.

  “Oh, I see. Those two are called ruby throated hummingbirds. See how their necks are painted red?”

  “They’re real pretty and I can hardly see their wings. They’re just a blur,” Eric whispered, thinking he might scare the birds away, even though they were separated by glass.

  “That’s because they’re flapping so darn fast,” Louise explained. “And see that tall tree behind the bird feeder out yonder?”

  “I see it,” Eric answered. “What are we looking for? I can tell you see something by the way you look.”

  Louise laughed. “That’s right. Look up high. See that woodpecker up there?”

  “I see him! I see him!” Eric exclaimed, standing up and walking over to the window to get a better view.

  “Know what your Poppy named him?”

  “What?” Eric asked, still watching the red headed woodpecker bang his beak into the tall oak tree.

  “Red.”

  “I like that name, cause it fits him perfectly, since he has a red head specially. Does he come here a lot?” Eric asked.

  “Every morning.”

  “Gosh, I wish I could live with you, Grandma. I don’t want to have to go home and go back to school,” Eric cried, dreading Monday morning already.

  “Well, you know you can come visit whenever you want and besides, your mom and dad would miss you if you stayed here and think of all your friends back home,” Louise added.

  “Ah, I know, but we have so much fun,” Eric replied, sitting back down and snapping more beans with a frown on his face.

  “Wipe that frown off your face, silly. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and all your cousins will be here and we can have a bonfire outside and tell stories around it. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

  “Yippee! I can’t wait,” Eric said, smiling now and sticking his tongue through his missing front teeth.

  “That’s better,” Louise said taking a sip of coffee as she watched Red bang on the oak tree like a jack hammer.

  “So what happened next, Grandma?” Eric asked.

  “Well, where was I?”

  “Your Pa got Poppy a job at the newspaper. Did Uncle Hank move to Tennessee to work?”

  “He sure did, after the holidays,” Louise answered.

  “Is Uncle Hank coming to Thanksgiving?” Eric asked, suddenly remembering his favorite great uncle.

  “Yes, he is and guess who he’s bringing?”

  “Gabe?”

  “He sure is,” Louise exclaimed. Gabe was Hank’s six year old grandson and never failed to bring two stick horses, one for himself and one for Eric. Louise guessed they had rode for miles and miles on those silly things.

  “I can’t wait! How many days away is it?”

  “About forty-five.”

  “Forty-five?” Eric asked in disbelief. “That’s forever.”

  “It’ll fly by,” Louise promised. “Let’s finish these beans so we can take our walk.”

  “Okay,” Eric said as he started snapping faster. “Will you tell me more on our walk?”

  “I promise.”

  ~ * ~

  January 4, 1934

  Dear Diary,

  A lot has happened in the last three months! I barely have time to write you now. The only reason I am (I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, dear diary) is because we’re snowed in! Sure enough, Old Jack Frost paid us a visit last night and can you believe it? Mama says we don’t have to go to school today or tomorrow if it don’t let up any. It’s come a powerful storm out there, but it’s cozy enough inside with the old wood stove burning and guess whose job it is to keep it a flaming? No, not me like usual. Cliff! You heard me right. Cliff is staying right under our very roof. Sometimes he mostly stays in the barn with Hank, but Pa said its way too cold, even for a tough boy like Cliff to stay in the old drafty barn. I hope it snows for another hundred days!

  Mama is making us some hot chocolate to go with our biscuits and I think we just get to do nothing at all today, except celebrate our good fortune. Even Lily seems somewhat nicer. (And I’ll tell you about it later
dear diary, but Lily never did find out about Cliff and me playing hooky and fishing the day away!)

  Anyways, we had a glorious Christmas! And guess what Pa’s gift was to Cliff and Hank? Oh, you’ll never guess it! I might as well just tell you straight out. He sent for his Mama and two baby sisters and they got here on Christmas Eve on a real locomotive meant for carrying folks! I’ve never had the chance to ride one, but one day when Cliff and I are married, we plan on taking one to our honeymoon destination.

  I’m still not sure how Pa was able to get enough money for Cliff’s family to ride on the train, but somehow I think Pa has some money hidden away and just lets on that we’re poorer than dirt, cause most kids I know seem much more poor than us. We never go hungry and Mama just keeps sewing us new clothes when we need them. Mama says we are very blessed and makes us thank God every night and I suspect we should cause I really do think we have more and sometimes I wonder why. I even asked Pa if he just lets on that we’re poor to fool other people and he just laughed and laughed. He said that one has to learn to be thrifty and I’m not sure what it means, but I aim to ask Cliff. I’m leaning toward a meaning for it though, but I’m still working it out in my head. I’ll let you know when I’ve thought about it enough and come up with something worthwhile.

  Cliff’s mama is very nice and pretty, too. (I think that’s where he gets his good looks from, but I never got a chance to meet his Pa since he’s already in heaven.) His sister’s are very sweet and Ida just had a ball playing with them. They loved Ida to pieces and braided her hair close to a hundred times. Why, sometimes we’d have to go searching for all three girls, cause they’d take off somewheres unknown and they were powerfully quiet. But, we’d find them, playing happy as can be. They might be playing dolls or doing Ida’s hair or even playing school. Ida cried and cried when they left yesterday and Hank left, too.

  Pa has a friend that was able to get him on at the TVA and he got on a train that’s gonna take him all the way to Tennessee to start working on getting all them poor folks electricity like us. (And for the first time, he didn’t have to play the part of an old hobo.) That way, Hank can make some money and help out his Mama and his Mama got a job, too. Can you believe it? Things are looking up. She’s working in a sewing factory, making clothes for a living, store bought clothes. Even we don’t get store bought dresses! She’s really lucky too, cause Cliff has an aunt that moved to their town and she has a new baby and she watches Cliff’s little sisters when his mama is working. So, it’s all working out just fine.

  I felt kinda bad when his mama was telling us about her new job, but I couldn’t help but daydream a bit. Since Lily’s so good at sewing, I was hoping she could go home with Cliff’s mama and work in the factory, too. Isn’t that an awful thought? I shouldn’t have dreamed it up I know and Lily is acting a lot nicer these days, but I only think it’s cause Mama had a long talk with her one night about setting a sample for us younger girls. I don’t know what that means and I plan to ask Cliff about that, too. He’ll know right off. He’s powerfully smart.

  And when the snow lets up, Cliff is gonna go work with Pa at the newspaper and learn how to become a reporter and maybe in a year or so, he can start writing for America. Pa thinks he can get him on that new program that President Roosevelt opened up for the artistic people. Cliff thinks it will be boring asking people about their dull lives and writing stories about them, but Pa said he won’t be bored at all. He said most folks lives are very interesting and he said Cliff will be recording history and called him a future historian and I know enough to know the words are related, so it must mean that he’ll write about history. If you ask me, it seemed an awful long and fancy way to say it.

  If you’re wondering, dear diary. Yes, I am still in love and yes, I am still engaged to Cliff Emberton. We don’t plan on telling anyone though until I’m at least sixteen, which if you can even think that far ahead, is five long years away. Cliff will be nineteen and lots of folks get married at that age and some younger, but we think by then, Pa will give us his blessing. Cliff scares me sometimes though cause he says we may have to be separated for a long time if he joins the TVA like Hank and I just can’t see how I’ll live through it. I might die of love sickness or something, but he says I will and that I’d even be more in love with him when he gets back. I don’t see how. I might kill over from that much love. It might burst me wide open and my parents would feel awful about it and they would never know that I really died of too much happiness. It’s a strange thought if you ponder it.

  I have to go now, dear diary. Mama is calling from the kitchen. The hot chocolate is ready and Cliff is gonna help me and Ida build a snowman!

  Love,

  Miss Louise

  P.S. Happy New Year! And if you’re wondering, I got my first New Year’s kiss on the back porch!

  Four

  “Can you drive a car yet, son?” Louise’s father, Bill asked as he drove Cliff to his first day at the newspaper.

  “No, sir,” Cliff replied uneasily, shifting in his seat. He looked down at his shiny, new shoes and couldn’t help but smile.

  Bill had read his thoughts and smiled to himself. “Mighty spiffy shoes you got there.”

  Cliff blushed and smiled back. “The nicest shoes I’ve ever owned. Gee, I sure hope I don’t disappoint you, Bill.”

  “Now don’t you go second guessing yourself, young man. You will make a fine reporter.”

  “But I know nothing about writing or interviewing folks for that matter,” Cliff argued as he smoothed his freshly ironed slacks and fingered the shiny buttons on his new vest.

  “But you will, son, you will. Have faith! We’ll take it slow, but I have a feeling that you’ll be a natural.”

  Bill drove slowly through town. Cliff was surprised at the number of people that looked up and waved as they passed. Suddenly, he felt as though he were with someone very important and wondered how important Bill was to the community. Every lady behind a stroller had a wave and a smile for him. Every businessman had a newspaper tucked under one arm and a briefcase in the other as they all nodded to Bill.

  Downtown was filled with life and excitement and Cliff was glad to be alive for once. He felt like he were a part of something and silently thanked God for meeting Louise. He felt so lucky, almost like he’d won a sack of money, but only better. He was beginning to see that her father was a very important, well respected man and suddenly, it began to rub off on him. He sat a little straighter and began waving back at people, even though he saw the surprise on some of their faces and if he wasn’t mistaken, he thought Bill looked like he was proud to have him riding shotgun.

  The shiny Ford rounded the corner and pulled into a narrow alley before parking in the back of the building that housed the printing press. Bill swung his wide legs out of the Ford and stood with his hands on his hips and his legs spread a foot apart, accentuating his grand size. He took a deep breath and stared at the back of the building, looking upon it as if he were the building’s proud papa.

  “This is where it all starts, Cliff.”

  Cliff copied his stance, squaring his much smaller hips and placing his hands on his waist. Boy, Louise’s Pa really was proud of what he did and Cliff had to admit, it was mighty admirable. Shoot, Bill must be the best reporter in all the city. Everyone seemed to know him. They must have waved to fifty people on the way here.

  “Is this where I’ll work?” Cliff asked, trying to act as moved as Bill seemed at the sight of the back of a building in a dirty alley.

  “No, son, no. This is the printing press, where the newspaper is printed. Come on, I’ll show you around.”

  Bill unlocked the back door and held open the door for Cliff to enter. Cliff walked inside and the smell of ink and paper filled his senses, mingling with the click clack of the printing press. As Bill led him past the busy workers, their spines stiffened as they waved hello to the tall man with the wide smile. Bill tipped his hat as he passed by and then led Cliff into a cluttered
office at the end of a short hall. Bill hung his hat on a hall tree and took Cliff’s hat and did the same.

  “Wow, I didn’t know you run the printing press, Bill. Why, you let on that you were just a regular reporter,” Cliff replied, wide eyed and clearly amazed.

  “I started as a reporter,” Bill explained. “I was only a couple of years older than you are now.”

  “How long did it take before you started running the printing press?”

  “I don’t run the press, son.”

  “You don’t?” Cliff asked, scratching his head, more puzzled than ever.

  “No, I just show up now and then.”

  “Huh. Well, it just seems like everyone in town knows you and the people out there kinda act like you’re their boss. So, what is your main job then? You still write?”

  “Occasionally I do. I have a weekly column in the editorial section,” Bill explained as he sat down in a plush leather chair and stretched his long arms behind him.

  If Cliff didn’t know better, he’d think Bill was showing off. Come to think of it, he must have been, cause of the smart look on his face. He almost looked like the cat that ate the canary. Bill just seemed happy as a gopher in fresh dirt. Cliff knew enough about the newspaper to know that the editorial section was just a fancy name for the part of the paper where people wrote about their thoughts and opinions on a certain matter. Cliff knew that everyone was entitled to their own opinion and that’s exactly what that part of the paper was for.

  Somebody’s opinion.

  His own pa had explained that to him one day over breakfast.

  “That’s a pretty important part of the paper, I reckon. You get to say what you think without having to interview anyone, right?”

  “That’s right, son.”

  “Why, that must be the easiest job on the paper, cause you don’t have to go anywhere to find a story.”

  “Ah, not always, I’m afraid. I have to be careful about what I write. I don’t want to upset anyone or incite folks.”