The Long Road Here

Delia had begun to verbally abuse the girls in many ways She smugly informed them that they were no longer the focus of their father. In fact, they were on the outside looking in, for they weren't even considered as family in her eyes. She insulted their beloved mother by saying that she was unable to bear sons for her husband. Instead, she could only give him four black cows that would grow up to be nothing but big disappointments. Surely he would be sorry they were ever born. She also informed them that she was not their mother for she had not adopted them and she had no intentions of doing so. They had to stand there and listen with their heads downcast. Soon they started to feel as if they were nothing, merely existing. They caught on to the fact that Delia especially disliked Pherrys and so she became their way out of being blamed for doing things, by blaming as much as they could on her. ; It must have ripped their hearts apart to constantly see their baby sister getting beat and sent to bed with no food, but someone had to suffer so the thought was "better her than me"... Wintertime finally arrived. In Ohio, winter is truly winter with snow up to three feet sometimes four. The children had to shovel snow so that dad could get in and out of the garage and their walkway wouldn't become a hazard for someone else, so the children had to get up while still dark, go outside and shovel snow in the freezing cold. Most of them did not possess gloves nor did they have adequate footwear, but that didn't matter, a chore was a chore...One morning as punishment for some unknown crime Pherrys had to do the majority of the shoveling. However when she entered into the house and went to the basement, her feet and hands were so extremely cold and throbbing that she stuck her foot into a basin of warm water to get it warmer. Her toes immediately swelled and turned red and the pain was excruciating! She hurriedly snatched her foot out of the water and wrapped the cloth around it. She looked at it in horror for her big toe looked as if it were about to burst!...Certainly she couldn't tell anyone and she had to hurry and get dressed for school. So putting her cold, wet socks back on and leaving her holey, run down shoe boots at the side door to dry out, she went upstairs, walking as normal as possible, thankful that Delia was still in her bedroom...This morning Delia didn't even bother to get out of bed early, which meant that Pherrys would be able to have oatmeal today. Thank God! Finally some breakfast before school... The dishes were washed and put away and out of the house they went without a word from their Stepmother. Pherrys silently thanked God for that small miracle. However the walk to school was long and painful and Pherrys started to limp. The ground was cold from the snow and her feet were frozen. Her big toe started to feel wet, probably from the water seeping in from the bottom of her boot, she surmised. However upon arriving at school, she went into the lavatory to inspect her foot. Removing her worn out shoe boot ;she noticed that her sock was red. Carefully she removed her sock to reveal a swollen red and bleeding big toe which had actually split from the cold. This frightened Pherrys. "What am I gonna do now?" She said to herself..."If Mommy finds out, I'll get a whipping", she reasoned. So Pherrys resolved not to let anyone know about her foot and off she went to class, favoring her big toe as much as she could. Actually, no one ever found out that Pherrys had a frostbitten toe. It is safe to say, no one even cared. Please visit Patricia Je's website at pjemmott.com for a closer look at the author and her new book, reader reviews and more!