Cindy
An e-Book by:
Douglas Kapin
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Smashwords Edition
Fiction at its best
Copyright © 2010 by Douglas Kapin
Email: OneOfTheChildren@Hotmail.com
Smashwords Edition, License Notes:
This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This story is a work of Fiction. It’s all made up. That means that these aren’t real people or real places, or real events. I really made it all up. This is Fiction, not Fantasy, or nightmares. Once upon a time, in an imaginary time, in an imaginary place, and most of all an imaginary society.
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To ‘The Dreamers.’
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I am really blessed; I have many really good friends. The foremost of my friends is my wife of now thirty years, Linda. She put up with the long nights of my writing my first book, and she’s never read it, probably never will. (It’s really awful) When I started this book, I took the first few pages to her and she loved it. She’s put up with my jabber about the various aspects of the story. My Cat, Gumball (Then ten, She’s gone now) has taken her usual place on the table beside my keyboard and settled down for her nap. Even after the long hours on this book, they still love me.
My friends have been busy reading and bleeding all over my manuscripts. If it weren’t for my computer and Microsoft’s wonderful Windows ’95 and ‘Word’ program and spell checker, this would have taken years to write. I would have given up around page ten. I use Word 2010 now and Windows 7.
So then I give my special thanks to:
My wife Linda for her faith in me
My cat Gumball for her patience and companionship
My friends and family (Too many to mention)
Microsoft Corp.
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Cindy is a work of Fiction. This story takes place in the Horse and Buggy days after the Civil War in the United States. Cindy’s Husband was killed. This is then, the story of her life, finding a new husband for her family, losin her new husband, (Boy what a mess) and then . . . This story takes place in the South, Virginia (below the Mason Dixon Line) and then moves to the North, Vermont. (well above the Mason Dixon Line)
The Author:
Douglas Kapin
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Table of Contents:
Cindy:
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Cindy:
Hello, my name is Doug.
This is a story about the most wonderful woman in the world, my mom.
My mom’s name is Cindy, my dad is Donald O’, and my sister is Laura, she’s ten. Me, I’m twelve at the start of this story.
I’ve just got to tell this story, my mom won’t tell it, that’s just the way she is, I don’t think Laura really understood what was going on, so she can’t tell it, and dad, well he’s been dead since I was six. I don’t think Laura really remembers him. She’s heard the stories told so many times, she remembers him just like she had actually been there.
Mom didn’t keep a diary or anything like that, none of us did. But we used to sit around at night and talk things over. We’ve done that since I can remember.
Dad was in the trading business. He’d find people who wanted to buy stuff, like cotton, or peanuts or even gold or diamonds. He’d go find the stuff and then bargain for a good price. He made good money and we lived very well. We have a big farm or plantation in Virginia; I guess the name depends on which side of the Mason Dixon Line you’re from. We live in a big house and we have a cook named Niva. Niva, and Nora, the housekeeper have been around since I can remember. Neither of them have ever been married, though there have been lots of men here to see both of them.
After dad died, they both sorta lost interest in men, and they dedicated their lives to taking care of the three of us.
I don’t want you to think that mom is helpless or anything. She gets right in there and cooks, and she puts in a good garden every year. We always have lots of preserved fruits and vegetables that we put up every year.
I guess it’s just that mom has kept the two of them on because she loves them so much. I know they spend hours doing things together. It’s not the doing, it’s the talking and remembering and just being together. No one will ever replace dad, but then, no one wants him replaced, he’ll always be my dad, even if mom should remarry. That’s been the subject of many a quiet nights discussion and prayer.
Old Joe is the same way. Mom couldn’t bear to see him go. He tends the garden, and keeps the place looking nice. He’s slower than molasses in the dead of winter, but then nothing grows very fast, except kids. He’s always been good company for the two of us.
Then there’s Joe; he’s our mechanic. He keeps things running. He can take just about anything apart and put it back together again. He keeps the farm equipment all working. He’s a good blacksmith and makes parts for the wagons and plows and such. He cares for the horses, shoeing, tack, and the such. He has help with the day-to-day care. Must be a hundred horses, I never counted them myself. I guess he and mom and Phil know how many there are, that’s enough. He made Laura and me saddles one year. He keeps them all oiled and repaired, and keeps them the right size for us too. He enjoys seeing us ride.
Phil, he’s something altogether different. He manages the field workers and gets everything to market. He was here before dad got killed. He was manager then, and still is. He talked mom into buying the Orvil place and the Williams place. They both but up against us, he took to the Williams place and moved in there bout two weeks after they moved out. He keeps the big house open, but won’t have help cept Bill, his man. Bill takes care of Phil, cooks, washes, cleans and sometimes drives the carriage to town for Phil. Phil would go crazy if he knew that Bill has a woman living there with him. We think Phil knows, but then if he knew, he’d have to let Bill and her go, now wouldn’t he? They just seem to get along good together. Phil eats alone most of the time. Sometimes he eats with us, He’s got eyes for mom, but they agreed long time ago not to do anything about it. He’s not happy about it, neither is mom.
Mom now, she’s a very special lady. Like I said, she can do anything; I think she could shoe a horse if she’d a mind to. The horse would probably thank her too. She’s from Ireland. Dad picked her up when he was on a business trip. There’s always been a twinkle in their eyes. I never did see anyone so much in love with each other. She still looks like that when she looks at his picture.
Anyway, mom has the reddest hair I’ve ever seen. She’s two inches shorter than me, and the same size as Laura. We all measure with the book on our head, so mom’s hair gets smashed down. She’s taller than me with her shoes on and her hair done up proper. She likes to be done up. I’ve seen her puttin in the garden and she’s still got her hair up nice. I’ve never seen her with her hair down, Laura has though, she says it goes all the way to the floor.
Now, Niva and Nora, they are big ladies. They’re a big contrast with mom. She’s pert and pretty, got a figure like an hourglass. There’ve been men trying to court her since they wrote the story of dad’s death in the paper. He was set-upon by highwaymen. He wasn’t even carrying much money; they killed him and left his horse. She was worth more than the money they got off of him.
Mom’s rich, probably richest woman around. Phil watches out for her like a combination of father and husband.
Dad’s been gone now six years. Mom still looks like she did the day they buried him, cept the black clothes. She won’t wear black anymore. Except for the thin black choker she wears. I think that’s for dad, I don’t remember her wearing that before he died. She’s got a little gold locket on the ribbon. None of us have ever seen inside it.
Well anyway, mom likes to go to town every Saturday afternoon. Joe hitches up the surrey and puts two of our best blacks in front of it. He brushes them down real good and shines all the buckles and brass.
The three of us go to town in our best, we go in all the stores and mom buys us candy and a sarsaparilla. We sit together in the window of the drug store and drink our sarsaparilla and watch the people walk by. Mom knows everyone and what they are doing, or not doing. She’d wave to them and then tell us the story, or gossip if you prefer.