Getting up off the ground rubbing his jaw, Jerry yelled, “You little assholes, you know I hate snakes, I’ll really put a hurting on you if you ever do anything like that again.” Jerry cursed as he stalked off and Roger and Matt howled with laughter.
Secret thoughts: (In my heart I know that Jerry deserved exactly what he got for harassing my brothers because he treated them so disrespectfully, but I couldn’t show that I didn’t like Jerry to anybody after all he is my brother too.)
All the boys graduated high school however, none had the desire to go on to college. They liked working outdoors and they seemed to be content working with their father.
Amelia’s father, Henry is a very ambitious man. He runs a construction business and works the farm they live on too. They have livestock and plant corn and hay. A tall man with dark good looks he stays lean and trim and keeps himself well groomed. His well-cropped hair and trim beard was a contrast to Jerry’s unkempt look that Henry hates. Henry’s main interest is in making a good living to provide for his family. He works very hard and expects all of them to do the same. He bought pickup trucks for Jerry and Roger, and a motorcycle for Matt. Henry loves his family, he is very thankful he has three strong boys to help him and he loves his lovely, young daughter, Amelia too. He is good natured and always says Amelia is the one that sweetens the pie with all the masculinity around. It pleased him so much when Amelia told him she wanted to work with the boys and do what they did.
Amelia was about 12 years old when she told her father she wanted to change her name. He chuckled and asked her what name she wanted. Amelia told him she wanted a name that sounded like a boy. That tickled Henry and he said, “Do you want us to call you George or Pete?”
“Oh daddy, don’t be so silly,” Amelia said, annoyed because he was not taking her seriously.
“I hear ya,” he said, “how about we compromise, and we’ll call you Mel,” he said with a smile. “That sounds like a boy’s name and it’s not too far off your name.”
“That’s good, now I can work for you like the boys do.”
“OK honey, I’ll put you on the payroll,” he said laughing, not thinking she was serious.
Amelia worked with her father and brothers and had to do household chores with her mother too. Her father tried to keep Amelia occupied and happy with jobs that were not too strenuous. He appreciated how much she wanted to help. He tried giving her easier tasks than the boys did, but she caught on quickly and understood what he was up to and objected fiercely.
Being upset with her father for treating her differently than her brothers Amelia approached him and asked him why he was doing that.
“Mel,” he said to her, “you can’t forget, your brothers are older than you and boys naturally have more muscle than girls. That doesn’t mean that what you do isn’t important or good enough, it’s just that you have to learn to work with what you have.”
It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear, though she knew it was true, so she accepted it.
Lynn, Amelia’s mother didn’t look like the average farmer’s wife. She loved sequins and rhinestones, dressing up and going into town to shop. She did the housework and chores around the farm and enjoyed taking the kids to school events when they were younger. Now they were almost all grown up, she missed going to all those school social events, in truth she was bored. Lynn had Amelia help her with all the housework and often Amelia had to finish up the chores and then fix dinner for the boys as Lynn called them, while she got dressed up and went into town by herself to meet friends, go to community dances, or to play bingo. Henry didn’t mind because he thought that made her happy. He would tell her how nice she looked with her golden blonde hair piled up on top of her head and wearing her fancy outfits and cowboy boots. Sometimes he went with her. They seemed to get along well.
[ Chapter 3 ]
Amelia was almost 14 years old and when Lynn sat her down for the “talk.” She asked her about all her friends and if Amelia had a boyfriend. Amelia told her she didn’t really have any boyfriend but got along with all the boys at school and there were two girls she that were her friends.
“You mean nobody has tried to kiss you yet, what’s the matter you’re pretty enough.”
“I really don’t have much time for boys, I’m busy with schoolwork and chores,” said Amelia.
“Well if that’s OK with you,” Lynn said as she looked in the mirror putting on her lipstick, “I guess it’s alright with me. When I was your age, I already had 5 or 6 boys chasing me. See you later girl, I have to go pick up Claudia we’re going to the dance.”
Secret thoughts: (I’m wondering about my mother and father’s relationship. My mother was going to town on her own more and more these days. I’m worried that she is going out so much and not wanting to get out of bed early the next day. I try to cover up for her by doing most of her chores on days like that. If daddy is aware of all I know it must make him angry.)
At fifteen Amelia has long chestnut brown hair, deep brown eyes and a very pretty face. One of her strong points was her beautiful complexion and her smile. Unlike other teenagers, she was free of acne and wore very little makeup. She was strong for a girl, but not plump or chubby. She had a solid body which was maturing. She was filling out, developing nice female curves, and had more than a budding bosom. She often wore jeans and bulky shirts that hung loosely so her family never realized what a lovely young woman Amelia was becoming.
One day out on the construction site, one of the heavy equipment operators didn’t show up for work. Jerry, Roger, and Matt already had been given work to do for the day. Amelia overheard her father say that they had a deadline to meet and wondered what he was going to do for an operator. Amelia thought this was her lucky day, her chance to show her father she could be of use on the job. Amelia got up in the backhoe and blasted the horn. When Henry looked up, Amelia waved; Henry looked surprised and waved back, then ignored her.
Amelia blew the horn again longer this time, until her father turned around.
“Mellie get out of that machine; you’ll wear the battery down blowing that horn like that. What do you think you doing up there anyway young lady?” he called to her.
“I’m going to run this backhoe for you today, daddy.”
“What are you talking about?” he said.
“I can do it daddy, please let me,” she begged, “Roger has been teaching me and I know I can do it.”
Henry took off his hat, scratched his head, and thought a moment. Then he said, “Ok, let’s see what you can do, backup about 100 feet and let me see you dig a hole.”
Amelia backed up and dug the hole.
Henry said to himself, “Well I’ll be dipped and rolled. I guess I could give her a try.”
From then on, when there was a need, Amelia was the substitute operator for her father’s company. In the beginning, they only let her do some of the menial jobs with the backhoe, like cleaning up and filling gravel tubs, she was slow, but she worked at improved her skills every chance she got. When she wasn’t running the backhoe, she did other jobs at the construction site. She practiced running the backhoe every chance she got and worked on Saturdays and Sundays to clean up the construction site they were working on. She leveled the area around the construction site and made sure it had no voids or humps and all the construction debris was put in a neat scrap pile or in the dumpster. She liked putting things back in order.
During the school year, Amelia could only work with her father on holidays or weekends. She always had to help her mother, in the kitchen doing the household chores and other farm jobs. In the morning she fed the chicken and collects the eggs before school trying to hurry so she wouldn’t miss the school bus. After school, she rushed home to do her homework and help her mother cook supper for the family. Evening chores were done after supper, work with daddy, and the boys on Saturday and Sunday after church, it was a grueling pa
ce. No matter how busy she was, she always tried to read at night before going to bed, often falling asleep with the book in her hands. That left Amelia with little time for herself.
Amelia enjoys school and is a good student especially at math and science, which was a bit unusual for a girl. She gets along well with all the kids at school though she certainly is not a member of the popular, Three J’s club. The president, vice president, and secretary were Janis, Jean and Joan. It didn’t matter because when one of them needs help with a math problem, they didn’t hesitate to ask Amelia, they knew she would try and help. Amelia gets along well with her classmates; they just didn’t include her in most of the things they do, especially extracurricular activities. After a few times of asking her to join them and getting turned down every time, they know she probably was not interested or didn’t care if they didn’t invite her to join them. She wouldn’t have time to participate because of her work with her family.
[ Chapter 4 ]
The Stillwater’s were eating supper one night, when Jerry blurted out that he joined the Army and was leaving for boot camp in two weeks. Amelia’s father became furious that Jerry didn’t tell them about his plans before this and just flat out said that he was leaving. Henry told Jerry in no uncertain terms what he felt.
“What’s wrong with you Jerry? Don’t you have any brains? Why didn’t you tell us that you joined the military? It’s so soon son, when you know we have crops to bring in? Can’t you stay for another month yet,” asked dad, “Until our yield is in the barns or sold?”
“Nothin is wrong with me dad I just can’t do it anymore dad. I hate farming and construction work, I want to get as far away from it as I can, I don’t want to do it anymore.”
“Is that right,” replied Henry, “you don’t hate eating, and living here and driving that pick-up I bought you, do you.”
“Dad,” said Jerry, “the truth is I do, not that I don’t like mom’s cooking; it’s just that this life doesn’t suit me, the work is too hard. The recruiter told me I had to sign up and leave in two weeks or there wouldn’t be a chance for me to sign up again until 6 months from now. They are gonna give me a desk job, so I won’t have to get my hands dirty.”
“Get your hands dirty? Get your hand dirty? Dirty hands have been putting your food on the table all these years. You didn’t seem to mind when dirty hands bought, you’re your truck, did you?”
“Dad I, I I,” Jerry mumbled.
“Stop! You don’t have to say any more, and you don’t have to wait two weeks, you can pack up your stuff, and leave right now, and son, leave the keys to the pickup.”
Jerry was really jerked out of shape by what his father said, he jumped up from the table, took the truck keys from his pocket, slammed them on the table, and stomped off to his room. In a few minutes Jerry came downstairs with a backpack filled with his stuff and was carrying a pair of cowboy boots. He walked into the kitchen, stopped to kiss mom and ruffled up Mellie’s hair, said good-bye to Roger and Matt, ignoring his father, then he banged the screen door behind him, and he was gone.
Lynn was crying. Henry said to her, “Don’t cry Lynn that boy has to find out for himself what life is about, maybe the Army will straighten him out and give him some ambition. He was ready to go no matter what, I knew he already had his stuff packed.”
Secret thoughts: (In my true heart I’m happy that Jerry is leaving, now my brothers and I will get much more done without arguing with Jerry about who did more work and Jerry constantly trying to get out of doing any work.)
Amelia waited a week after Jerry left to approach her father to ask if she could drive Jerry’s truck. Matt had a motorcycle and Roger had his pickup truck, so Jerry’s pick-up was parked.
“Daddy I will be sixteen in two months. I’ve been driving the tractor and the stake body truck for over two years; I would like to drive Jerry’s pick-up I can handle it. I’ll only drive to school and back.”
“I don’t know,” Henry murmured, “having a vehicle is a big responsibility.”
“Please daddy I could get home faster to do my chores, and get out to the construction sites by myself,” begged Amelia.
“I never thought of that,” said her father, “maybe you have a good point there. I’ll let you drive it, but if you have an accident and it’s your fault, I’ll take the truck away.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” thanks daddy, “Yippee! Now I have wheels.”
No one at school was impressed that Mel now had a vehicle; because it was an older truck and Jerry didn’t keep it up very well. It has dents and ding and scratches and had only been washed about 2 or 3 times since Jerry got it. Dad made Jerry change the oil and do the engine maintenance, but cosmetically it was not very pleasing to the eye. Mel didn’t care, it kept her from riding the school bus, and now she got home earlier. After chores and homework, maybe she would have a little time to herself for a change. Amelia was thrilled that she could start driving to school and back.
Amelia was coming home from school on the third day she had the truck and was almost home. Ahead down the road she saw their neighbor Mrs. Brown walking alongside the road but paid no attention to her. Amelia looked down to switch the radio station, when suddenly she heard a thud. She screeched to a stop and got out of the truck. There was Mrs. Brown lying on the ground not moving.
“Oh My God no,” Mel screamed, “Please God don’t let her be dead. What am I going to do,” she thought as she raced to where Mrs. Brown was lying on the ground.
Amelia kneeled beside Mrs. Brown and heard her moan. “What a relief, looking up at the sky Amelia yelled, “Thank you God, she’s alive.” Amelia tried to wake her and called to her gently saying, “Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Brown are you Ok?”
In a few moments Mrs. Brown seems to stir, “Oh my, I don’t know exactly what happened, I saw you driving down the road and I felt a little dizzy and next thing you know, I was laying on the ground,” said a bewildered Mrs. Brown.
Amelia got an old jacket from the truck and covered Mrs. Brown with it. Then she got in the middle of the road and waited for a car to come up the road, when one did, she flagged it down. The family didn’t have cell phones they were very expensive. It was old Mister Pierce, who lived three farms over, and he stopped. Amelia asked him to go to her parent’s house and call the ambulance and to ask her father to come to the accident scene.
In about a half hour, which seemed like an eternity to Amelia, others arrived. The ambulance took Mrs. Brown to the local hospital emergency department. Amelia and her father followed it there. Mrs. Brown had a broken leg and the doctor said she probably fell because she was dizzy, she forgot to take her blood pressure medicine. He assured Henry that the accident was not Amelia’s fault. Although Amelia’s father heard what the doctor said, he was not going to let her off the hook so easily.
“I don’t care what the doctor said,” he insisted, “you are supposed to have your vehicle under control at all times.”
“But daddy,” Amelia argued, “I didn’t hit her with the truck. The doctor said she fell into it.”
“You should have veered to the other side of the road when you saw she was so close to where you were driving. I’m not going to take the truck away from you, but you will have to help Mrs. Brown with her chores now. Her son is grown and gone. Her husband is working at the milling plant, in the next town, and is not home a lot. Until she’s up and around again, she will need somebody to help her. I don’t know very much about the family, but we have an obligation to them now. That means after your chores at home are done you will go over to Mrs. Brown’s and do whatever she asks you to do.”
“Yes, daddy,” said Amelia, woefully.
“Oh, and go over to old man Pierces place and thank him for his trouble too.”
“Doesn’t everybody call him old man?” Asked Amelia.
“Yes, but you can’t that would be disrespectfully.”
Secret thoughts: (Shit! Shit! Shit! So much for free time. Now I have to go and help some lady I don’t even know, and I know that won’t be fun. Once I heard some kids say she made them work hard in school. She’s probably crabby and mean, she’ll make me scrub the floors and cook and clean I hate that Daddy’s making me do this!)
[ Chapter 5 ]
Amelia was now in the biggest hurry ever and would have to work even harder. She resented the fact that she would have to spend time doing chores for Mrs. Brown now especially since the accident wasn’t her fault.
Amelia’s anger didn’t abate but stuck in her brain that the whole thing was very unfair and not her fault, even the doctor said so. Amelia had a scowl on her face and a chip on her shoulder, when she arrived at Mrs. Brown’s house after school.
Amelia knocked on the door several times before Mrs. Brown came to see who it was.
“Amelia how nice it is you came to see me. Come in and sit down.”
Amelia remained standing, “What would you like me to do Mrs. Brown,” asked Amelia, in a snotty voice, “my father says I have to help you.”
Mrs. Brown was an attractive older woman who was in good health outside of her high blood pressure problem. She was quite active before she retired and often went to the library and shopping when she wasn’t working. Now she hardly ever went out except to get groceries and to go to church. Her husband worked in the next town, which was a fair distance away, or at least too far to commute on a daily basis, so she was alone all week, until he came home on weekends. Although she lived in the same house fairly close to the Stillwater farm for the last 30 years, she didn’t know Amelia’s family or the other neighbors well. She knew of them only through others and church, because she worked in town and was away all day.
“Oh, Amelia, thank you, for coming honey, I appreciate you checking on me,” Mrs. Brown replied, “I would like it if you would bring in my mail and the newspaper, and help me fold the clothes I have in the dryer. It’s kind of hard to balance on crutches and do that stuff.” When she was done with the work, Amelia asked is there anything else I can do for you. Do you want me to make you supper?”
Secrets of Amelia Page 2
