Under The Red Oak
by
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Mabel began to put the groceries away as Clara slipped out the front door and headed to the barn. Clyde gave a welcome neigh as the young girl entered the barn. The horse wanted a treat and welcomed the rub on the nose she gave him. Fetching an ear of corn, Clara fed the horse that began to chomp the kernels loudly. She entered the storeroom off to the side of the barn and shut the door behind her. The heat obviously didn’t play favorites as perspiration beaded on her nose. Sitting down at the stool, she began to play the make-believe piano on the tabletop. Clara had found a one by six inch board just about the correct length of a piano keyboard. She had drawn keys the full length and blacked in the upper keys as well. It had taken two weeks to finish the keyboard. She remembered many of the songs that she had learned in Tupelo. The piano she left in Tupelo would have brought much comfort to her here in the country. Her fingers gently traveled from key to key as she heard the sound in her head. After playing two songs, she reached for her notebook and opened it. Notes were drawn across the pages as she added more now. Playing the wooden keys, her fingers would stop and then write more notes just as if her fingers made sound. At times, she would hum the notes as her fingers played. Thirty minutes passed quickly. With her back toward the door, the pair of eyes could not be seen staring through the cracks. Several more minutes elapsed and the eyes on the other side of the door began to fill with tears. Carefully Mabel eased out of the barn wiping her eyes with her apron as she walked back to the house. Ray was right, as he usually was, maybe she was too hard on the girl. Guilt began to rise up inside her, recalling the harshness with which she had used toward her granddaughter.
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About the Book
Clara was a godsend. She had to be, for few experienced such talent at 16 years old. The ability of playing the piano required hard work, but she learned quickly and easier than most. From experiences out of her control, she moved from Tupelo to the middle of the Mississippi delta. Though a loving grandmother welcomed her, the move was life changing and difficult for the both of them. The piano she left behind was her first love and when her fingers were on the keys a gentleness and soothing came over her. Her mouth could never speak how her heart felt. Memories of the past plagued her with fear at times as she was now alone, except for her grandparents. Clara became friends with a dark auburn haired young man, who worked on the railroad. He too was from the "hills" and recently moved to the delta. She finds the southern delta people very different from those in Tupelo, but soon steals their hearts.
About the Author
Joe T Massey was born and raised in rural Mississippi, but working in Seattle as a aircraft manufacturing manager,he chose to return in to his roots in 1999 and start his own business. He wanted his family to experience the simplicity, integrity and kindness found in the culture of the south. Joe lived and experienced the southern lifestyle, visited the towns and traveled the actual roads of which he writes, he desires to share with the world the richness and quality of life that exists in the south. Joe owns a business only fifty feet from his actual birthplace, so he writes as time permits, but one day in the near future, he plans to write full-time.