Main Street
A Gables and Gingerbread Story
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
A knot twisted in Martha's stomach, despite the bright light from Tillie's prayer and Tommy's reassurance. She stopped retreating to the living room like the days before Tom's death. She liked helping Hattie instead, now. Standing at the kitchen window, she noticed the leaves turning colors, almost at their peak, “Hattie, you ever notice, if you stand in a grove of yellow leaves, you feel enveloped in gold? It shines, even if it's rainy or cloudy. Do you remember that from being a kid?” Martha glanced sideways from the window, her eyes not wanting to leave the scene.
“Yes, ma'am, but it so much better when the sun is shining like today,” Hattie replied.
“Well, I want to be in that gold all the time. I want that glowing, something that you feel from the inside.”
“Ma'am, I'm not sure how you get that. I just go by every day.”
“Oh, Hattie, I know. I feel like that, too. But my mother and now Tillie seem to have that gold. Do you think it's religion? I can't seem to understand the Bible and I like Reverend Grove, but what could the poor man say at Mr. Sloan's funeral? It seemed a lie, the eternal life and Jesus welcoming a person in His arms. I lived with all that hatred for eight years and didn't do anything. Why didn't God nudge me, give me courage before Mr. Davis died, if I'm His child? I was baptized in the church. I attended. I guess I wasn't religious enough,” Martha's face never left the window, as she pondered these things.
Hattie didn't know how to respond. She, too, only went to church and tried to live a good life. She knew as a working girl, she didn't have much hope for bettering her life. She would never have what Mrs. Sloan had. Her prospects for marriage were the likes of Bennie, the grocery delivery boy. She didn't even graduate from high school, because she needed to work. Now, she felt she needed to take care of the Sloan's; that was the only thing in her life.
“I guess we'll find out some day,” was all Hattie could muster.
“It is sad, that all this beauty lasts for a short time and we know it signals death. I guess to have that gold, you have to die, eh?” with the dishes dried and put away, Martha retreated to the living room to read the morning paper and pick up the mending. Hattie wondered at the conversation as she went about her work.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Martha and Tom Sloan build a family and life on Main Street in a beautiful home in the early 1900’s. Tom searches to better their way of life with expansion of his livery commerce into the new auto business. Life for Martha centers around her children, school, and neighborhood. One night they venture out to a new form of entertainment. They view a moving picture that fuels Tom’s sense of superiority and ignites a flame of hatred. Martha finds herself increasingly isolated as Tom’s actions bring that hatred to their front door.
A tragic accident on a stormy night emboldens Martha to fight against the hatred. Martha and Tom’s reactions to the aftermath of the accident provide a glimpse at worldly and godly sorrow.
A working woman's novel and a great choice for book clubs because the short story delves deep.About the Author
Mollie started putting stories to paper by drawing in the margins of her mother’s cookbook. As soon as she could put letters into words and words into sentences Mollie wrote stories for her drawings. And soon the writing outshone the drawings.
Mollie loved writing assignments throughout school and nursing school. Thirty two years of nursing--traveling the roads for home health--have built many stories in her mind. Researching local history led to her desire to write historical fiction.
Mollie has been married for thirty two years. She lives with two adult daughters, two cats and a dog. She plans to write many more stories based on her experiences, family, and local history. You can read her blog at Miss Mollie’s Musings, missmolliesmusings.blogspot.com.