Hidden History by Melody Carlson Read Free Book Online Page B

time for me to quit school and work on the farm, it was Alice who opposed the idea. I suppose that is why this year has been so much harder. With Alice gone, I am forced to fight my own battles with my father. My mother is a good woman, but she is intimidated by my father. I have only seen her stand up to him once, when I was a small boy, and that did not go well. I believe she is worn down and weary from living with such a cantankerous man. The light in her eyes seems to be mostly snuffed out now. Although I see it flicker ever so slightly when she sees me come into the room or when she is reading her Bible. Other than those two things, I cannot see even the tiniest bit of joy in her life.
    “That poor woman,” said Jane. “To think of what she had to put up with after having all those children, and losing two.”
    “Very sad.” Louise shook her head.
    Sometimes I dream of leaving this place and taking Mother with me. Other than hurt pride, I do not think my father would miss us very much. In my dream we wait until he goes off with friends since we know that means he may not be back for hours or even days. Then we pack everything we can fit into my mother’s big garden cart and we slip away without even leaving him a note. We walk and camp until we reach another town where I go to work and earn enough money to support us. I am certain that we could live together quite happily. I think, in time, the light would come back into Mother’s eyes. To support this dream, I am saving as much money as I can from my job at the newspaper. I have worked my way up from delivery boy to janitor, but only being able to work for a few hours after school each day does not pay very much. I suppose I will have to give up school entirely after Mother and I run away from here. Perhaps that will make my father happy.
    “Do you think he really does it?” asked Jane. “Did he actually run away from home with his mother?”
    “Not that I know of,” said Louise. “But I am sure that we will find out.”
    Alice paused to sip some tea. “That’s the end of the first entry. Do you think we should save the next one for tomorrow?”
    “Is it very long?” asked Jane. “I feel as if that wasn’t enough.”
    Alice thumbed through the next entry. “It’s only a couple of pages.”
    “Do you want to read it?” asked Louise.
    Alice nodded, then continued.
    November 5, 1925.
    This is nearly a month later.
    Today is a happy day for this Englishtown farm boy. Unbeknownst to me, Mr. Dolton entered an essay I had written for English class in a statewide contest. It was only an essay on fishing and not very special. If I had known it was to be entered in a statewide contest I might have chosen a more impressive subject, but Mr. Dolton assured me that it was a perfectly fine paper. So fine, in fact, that this afternoon, Mr. Dolton announced to the entire school that my essay had won. For a prize, I will receive twenty dollars. I have never had that much money in my entire life. Mr. Dolton had already notified the newspaper where I work part-time, and they came over to the school and took a photo of me and will compose a short article about my good fortune. They will even print a copy of my essay in the newspaper after the contest people return it to me. This is all very good news, and I am most thankful to Mr. Dolton, but I wish there was some way to keep my father from learning about the prize money. Twenty dollars would go a long way in helping Mother and me to get away from here, but I am afraid that my father will find out about my windfall and insist that I contribute it to the farm. Harvest has not been good this year, partially becauseof him and partially because of the inconsistency of the elements, not to mention the falling price of corn. I suppose I should be willing to share, and perhaps I will. But I wish I could save it. I feel quite optimistic to think that my essay was good enough to win. Mr. Dolton says that if I keep up this kind