Once Upon a Summer Read Online Free Page A

to find an answer on my own.
    Before, I had always been able to go to Auntie Lou with the things that bothered me, but I knew this was one problem that I couldn’t discuss with her. On the one hand, I found myself achin’ to tell her so that she would be warned; on the other hand, I knew that I would do all that I could to hide the ugly facts from her—to protect her from knowin’.
    Guess I should explain a bit about Auntie Lou and why she is only five years older than me. Grandpa had met and fallen in love with my grandma, a bubbly wisp of a girl. They married young and went farmin’. A year later they had a baby boy whom everyone said was a combination of the two of them. He had the colorin’ and the size of my grandpa who was a big man, but the disposition and looks of my grandma.
    When my pa, who they named Chadwick, was three years old, Grandma was stricken with some awful illness. I never did hear a name put to it, but she was dreadfully sick and the baby that she was expectin’ was born only to die two days later. Grandpa and the doctor were so busy fightin’ to save my grandma that the loss of the baby didn’t really hit them until Grandma came ’round enough to start askin’ for her. She had wanted that baby girl so much and she cried buckets over losin’ her. For days she grieved and cried for her baby. The doctor feared that she would jest sorrow herself right into her grave, so he had a talk with Grandpa.
    The next day Grandpa washed and combed my pa and dressed him in his fanciest clothes. Then he lifted the little fella up in his arms and they paid a call to Grandma’s bedside. Grandpa never did say what words were spoken as he and the boy stood there by the bed, but Grandma got the message and from then on she laid aside her sorrow and determined to get well again.
    It was a long uphill pull, but she made it—by sheer willpower many said. But never again was she strong enough to be the bouncy young woman that my grandpa had married. He accepted her as she was and gradually talked and loved her into accepting herself as well. She finally agreed that rest periods must now be a part of her daily schedule, but it took awhile to adjust to her new way of life.
    The years slipped quickly by. My pa grew to be a lanky kid, then a young man. But all the while, though her eyes glowed with pride over her son, deep down in her heart Grandma still yearned for a baby girl. Finally she admitted, “If the Lord wills, I still wish to be blessed with a daughter before I leave this old world.” My pa was twenty when his baby sister arrived. Grandma was beside herself with joy. She named the wee baby Louisa Jennifer, the Jennifer bein’ her own name.
    Even though her prayer had been answered—her dream fulfilled—Grandma never regained her strength. Most of the fussin’ over her new baby had to be done upon her own bed, she bein’ only strong enough to be up for short periods of time. She smothered love on my Auntie Lou. Grandpa often said that Auntie Lou had no choice but to be lovin’ when she had love piled on her in such big batches.
    Lou was only two when Grandma’s condition worsened. Chad, my pa, was about to go farmin’ on his own, havin’ met and married a certain sweet young gal by the name of Agatha Creycroft—my ma. That’s when Uncle Charlie was sent for. He came gladly and has been with us ever since.
    The next winter Grandma passed away and the two men, a father, more up in years than most fathers, and a bachelor uncle, were left to raise a little girl not yet turned three.
    She was a bright, happy little sprite. Grandma always declared that God sure knew what He was doin’ when He saw fit to answer my grandma’s prayer. Lou was their sunshine, their joy, the center of their attention. Odd, with all of the love and attention she got that she didn’t spoil, but she didn’t. She grew up jest as ready to love and accept others.
    Then I came along. My folks were farmin’ only four miles