New Beginnings & Cherished Memories
New Beginnings & Cherished Memories
The fourth series in the Dusty Town sequence.
Morning Light. Episode 5
June 2, 1899
“Grampa, Grampa, Grampa!!! Wake up!!! I want to show you your new house!! C’mon Grampa!!!” Jacob awoke to the happy excited face of his grandson Jake.
“You do, do you?! Well, give Grampa a little time to wake up. I’ll be there in a minute. Go on now, get yourself some breakfast.”
“Oh alright Grampa, but hurry up! We will have so much fun today!!!!” And with that, Jake ran out and Jacob was alone with his thoughts. He began journaling like he had done for so many years.
I am back in Kansas, back home. It amazes me how so much remains unchanged since I was a small boy. It is like a town time has forgotten and I am glad.
It is often said boys grow up to be like their fathers and girls like their mothers, and just like my father had found comfort in the unchanging of this town, I am grateful for it too. Oh, the people have changed. Many have passed on from the days of my youth, but most of the families are still here, the next generations farming the same land, running the same shops, certainty in it all.
Unlike my father, I have known first hand, though the certainty is a comfort, like old friends are, outside this town times are changing and always had been and the certainty here is merely a haven from it. Some, like my father, had wanted the comfort of certainty, and stayed forever. Some, like me, had been stifled by it, and left as soon as we were old enough to go. Having seen the changing times and bustling city life stifle me in their own way, I am thankful this dusty town has welcomed me back.
I reckon I’m gettin’ a bit on in years to be thinkin’ like all that, Jacob laughed to himself as he closed the journal. He heard Betty Lou’s voice in the kitchen and in came Jake again, this time grabbing him by the hand. “Grampa, let’s go see your house!” And the day had arrived.
Jacob found them all in the kitchen finishing up breakfast. “Mornin’ Pa!” But Jacob didn’t hear his son. He just saw the kitchen with the morning sun coming in and all he heard was Maddie getting the coffee ready for him and breakfast after the morning chores. Willie was right, somehow she was still there, the memories were still so fresh!
Betty Lou knew, of course she knew, and looked at Jacob the same way she had looked at him those years ago when he needed to stop blaming himself for everything that had happened to his family. It was her “stop it Jacob, you will get through this” look once again. Sue knew it too, and offered Jacob the chair next to Betty Lou as she went to get him some breakfast. Betty Lou very quietly whispered to him, “Don’t worry, it will be alright,” and smiled. Jacob smiled back, yet like those years ago, he wasn’t too sure.
But then Jacob remembered what Willie had once written to him in urging him to return to Kansas, I know it won’t be the same like it used to be, with Ma and all, but sometimes different can be nice too if you give it a chance. He turned to Betty Lou and nodded, as if to say, it will be alright.
Read Prior Episodes of New Beginnings & Cherished Memories
Starting Over Again in Kansas. Episode 1
Nothing’s Changes. Everything’s Changes. Episode 2
Knowing What to Do When the Time Comes. Episode 3
Still Plenty of Sweet Living Left for Them. Episode 4
Morning Light (This one)
