Paperback
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781683701774 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Evergreen Farm |
| Publication date: | 11/27/2018 |
| Series: | Christy of Cutter Gap , #6 |
| Pages: | 112 |
| Sales rank: | 1,079,011 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.40(d) |
| Age Range: | 13 - 16 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Squeal! Squeeeeal!
Christy Huddleston was standing in front of her class writing on the blackboard when suddenly the hogs began squealing at the top of their lungs.
Squeeeeeal! Squeeeeeeal!
"What on earth?" Christy wondered aloud.
"Teacher, them ol' hogs is scared somethin' awful," Sam Houston Holcombe said.
"Must be a varmint got in with them," nine-year-old Creed Allen agreed. "Them's the sounds of hogs that are mighty afeared."
Squeeeeal! Squeeeeeeeal!
Christy put down her chalk. She sighed and rolled her eyes up to heaven. "Why me?" she whispered. She had to be the only teacher in the world who had hogs living under her classroom.
The hogs lived in the cool, dark mud beneath the school building, which also served as a church on Sundays. In rustic Cutter Gap, high up in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, the mountain people were too poor to afford two separate buildings.
Since the building provided some shelter for the hogs, Christy had learned to accept them — even though sometimes their smell was quite unpleasant.
Squeeeal! Squeeeeeeeeeal!
Suddenly a loud banging came from underneath the floorboards. The hogs were squealing louder and louder. They were making so much noise that Christy knew she couldn't continue with her lessons.
She walked down the aisle toward the trapdoor that led down to the hogs. "I suppose we had better see what's going on," she said.
"Ma'am, you might best be careful," Creed warned. "Them hogs is acting downright fitified!"
"Well, I have to see —" Christy started to say.
Suddenly the trapdoor jumped upward with a bang. Christy took a step back.
With a second blow, the door flew open, and a huge hog came leaping up from below. In a panic, it scrabbled on the wooden floor, then ran right for Christy.
"Look out!" Sam Houston yelled.
Christy snatched up her skirts just in the nick of time. The hog went flying through her legs, leaving a smear of mud on Christy's stockings.
Squeeeal! The hog tore around the room, banging into everything in its path.
"It's after me!" thirteen-year-old Ruby Mae Morrison cried. She jumped up on a chair. "Keep away, you old hog!"
Then a second hog seemed to explode up from below. A third hog followed.
"Look out!" Christy yelled. "Everyone be careful!"
Now there were three crazy hogs racing madly around the classroom. Children jumped out of their way. Desks were overturned. Books went flying. Papers were blown every which way.
Sam Houston stuck his head down into the hole and said, "I reckon I know why them hogs is so scared, Miz Christy. There's a fox down in there with them."
"Someone grab these hogs!" Christy said. "They are destroying the classroom."
"Dumb old hogs," Sam Houston said. "Can't no little fox hurt them none."
Squeeeal! Again one of the hogs ran straight for Christy. She jumped aside. But when she jumped, she bumped into a second hog, which knocked her off balance.
"Look out, Teacher!" Creed Allen yelled.
Christy teetered on the edge of the opening in the floor. Down below, she could see the quizzical gaze of the little fox, looking up at her. She windmilled her arms, trying to keep her balance. But it was no use.
"Aaaaaah!" she cried.
Down she fell. Down through the hole in the floor. Down into the mud.
She landed with a plop. The fox took one look at her and ran.
When she looked up, Christy could see the faces of her students peering down at her.
Then, one by one, three more faces appeared. The first was David Grantland, the handsome young preacher who ran the mission.
He smiled. "Is this some new teaching method, Christy?" he asked.
The second face belonged to Miss Alice Henderson, the Quaker missionary who had founded the mission. She poked her head over the huddled students. Christy could tell she was trying very hard not to grin.
"Why, Miss Huddleston," said Miss Alice. "Whatever are you doing down there?"
The last face to appear belonged to Dr. Neil MacNeill. He didn't even try to hide his smile. Instead, he laughed outright.
"No, no, Christy," he said. "It's supposed to be you in the classroom and the hogs down below. Not the other way around."
"Very funny, all of you," Christy said through gritted teeth.
David stuck his hand down. "Come on, I'll help you up."
Christy tried to climb up out of the hole. But the sticky mud held on to her skirts and resisted her attempt to escape. She slipped and fell back again. One of her shoes was so stuck she had to unlace it to get free.
Finally, after several tries, she emerged back into her classroom. The three hogs had been shooed outside. But it was too late to save Christy's dress. Or her dignity. She was covered from head to toe with mud.
"You're not setting a very good example for the students," David said with a laugh as the others joined in.
"I'm glad you're all enjoying this," Christy said.
"Actually, we came to discuss a serious matter with you," Dr. MacNeill said. Then he wrinkled his nose. "But I think first you might want to see about a bath."
"I'll watch the class," David volunteered.
Christy left David in charge of the class and marched out of the schoolhouse to the mission. She was definitely not in a happy mood.
Miss Ida, David Grantland's older sister, stood in the doorway of the mission house. "Surely, Miss Huddleston, you don't intend to track all that mud into my clean parlor!" she exclaimed.
Christy just glared at her.
Miss Ida decided it might be best to step aside.
Twenty minutes later, Christy felt almost human again. She had taken a quick bath, using plenty of soap, and had put on a fresh skirt and blouse. She found Dr. MacNeill and Miss Alice in the parlor, waiting patiently for her.
Christy set down the basket she was carrying, filled with her muddy clothes. It was going to take hours to get them clean. They seemed to have picked up ten pounds of mud.
"Feeling better, Christy?" Miss Alice asked.
"Yes, Miss Alice, I am. I apologize if I seemed ungracious before."
"Ungracious?" Dr. MacNeill said. "You looked like you would have bitten the head off anyone who crossed your path."
"I believe Christy had reason enough to be snappish," Miss Alice said kindly. "Perhaps you had best tell her your news, Neil."
The doctor grew serious. He leaned forward in his chair. "It's Bessie Coburn," he said.
At the mention of Bessie, Christy's face clouded with concern. Bessie, who was thirteen, was Ruby Mae's best friend. The two of them were inseparable. Since Ruby Mae lived right in the mission house, Bessie was often there too. That is, until very recently, when she'd become ill.
"Is Bessie's condition worse?" Christy asked the doctor.
"Yes. I'm afraid it is," Dr. MacNeill said. "Much worse."
CHAPTER 2"Bessie is in increasing pain," Dr. MacNeill continued, "and it will only get worse. I am certain now that we are dealing with some sort of a cyst or abscess. I don't believe it's life threatening — at least not yet. But it is very painful. It will have to be removed."
"Surgery?" Christy asked. "Poor Bessie. She's just a child."
"Yes, we'll have to perform surgery. And it is more than I can handle here in Cutter Gap. I need the facilities of a real hospital. And I would dearly love to consult with Dr. Hugo Mecklen. He is a surgeon who specializes in this area of medicine."
"Whatever it takes to help Bessie," Christy said. "Only ... what about the money?"
"Naturally, I'll contribute my services free of charge," Dr. MacNeill said. "And I believe Hugo will as well."
"But there are still the costs of the hospital itself, and of medicines," Miss Alice said. "We all know that the mission doesn't have much money. But I don't see how we can avoid this expense. It will mean no more books or school supplies for a while." Miss Alice smiled confidently. "But we have always managed."
Christy bit her lip. No books! Already the children were sharing books between two, and sometimes even three, students. But of course Bessie's health came first.
"I've already spoken to some friends on the railroad, and they've generously agreed to let Bessie and her companions travel for free," Miss Alice said.
"We'll be leaving as soon as we can get Bessie's parents to agree," Dr. MacNeill said. "Once that's arranged, we'll only have one problem."
"What problem?" Christy asked.
"It's not a very big problem," Miss Alice said, with a grin. "It's simply that we'll need someone to travel with Bessie. Her mother can't go. Not only is she expecting another baby soon, but she's needed to help plant the corn crop. Anyway, we thought perhaps you might wish to go."
"Me?"
"The hospital I'll be taking Bessie to is the one in Asheville," the doctor explained with a smile. "You could turn it into a visit home."
Home.
Christy glanced at the basket filled with her muddy clothes. Her mind traveled back to her home in Asheville. There in her room was a large oak wardrobe, a lovely armoire. Inside hung a dozen or more dresses. Clean dresses, clean blouses, clean everything.
Here in Cutter Gap, it seemed, nothing was ever truly clean. No matter how hard they all tried.
She pictured her tidy, well-decorated room. There were lace curtains on the windows and rugs on the floors.
Here at the mission, her room was almost a cell by comparison.
Most of all, she pictured her bed. Her big, fluffy, soft feather bed.
Had she ever been able to sleep as well here on her lumpy secondhand mattress?
"So will you go with the doctor and Bessie to Asheville?" Miss Alice asked.
"And me," David added as he strode into the middle of the room. "I'll be going too."
"I take it all's well at the schoolhouse?"
David grinned. "The children are on their way home, and the hogs are back where they belong. I just stopped by to see how Christy was doing."
"Well, she's no longer covered in mud, if that's what you mean." The doctor grinned, then added, "And I don't see any reason why we need you along on the trip, Reverend."
Christy exchanged a knowing glance with Miss Alice. The doctor and David were both "sweet" on Christy, as Ruby Mae liked to say. "The doctor and the preacher are like two hungry old coon dogs, circling around one bone," she'd told Christy once.
Christy wasn't sure she liked being compared to a bone. But she supposed there was some truth to what Ruby Mae said. In fact, David made no secret of his affections. He had even proposed marriage. Christy had turned down his offer, but with the understanding that she might reconsider at a later time. David was very special to her.
As for Neil MacNeill, well, he clearly didn't want her to marry David, but most of the time it was hard for Christy to know what was going on in his mind. Her feelings toward him were usually equal parts affection and annoyance.
"I'll be going to Asheville on mission business," David said. "I've been invited many times to visit some of the churches there and tell them about our work at the mission." He looked at Miss Alice. "I know we never ask for contributions, but if I were to go to Asheville and tell the people there about our work, and if they happened to want to help us ..."
"We would never decline help," Miss Alice agreed. "As long as it's freely given, from the heart."
"I see," Dr. MacNeill said skeptically. "All of a sudden, just because Christy is going to Asheville, you are moved by an urgent need to visit your fellow preachers? Isn't that just a bit of a coincidence?"
"I have as much right to go to Asheville as —" David began.
Miss Alice interrupted him. "Gentlemen, gentlemen. Please. I don't believe Christy has even agreed to go."
"Oh, she'll go," said the doctor. "If I am not mistaken, she is already seeing visions in her head of clean sheets and cozy fires and meals that do not involve possum stew."
Christy started, jerked out of her daydream. It was very annoying, the way Neil could sometimes read her mind.
"I'll go to see my family," Christy said frostily. "And to help Bessie. She's the only thing that's really important here. Not because I'm thinking of those other things, Neil."
"There is still one problem," the doctor said. "As I mentioned, I haven't yet obtained permission from Kyle and Lety Coburn to perform the operation on Bessie."
"But why would they object?" Christy questioned in surprise.
The doctor shrugged. "I suppose it's a combination of things," he said. "Fear of losing their daughter. I've admitted to the Coburns that no operation is ever one hundred percent safe. And then, there's the usual problem: the Coburns are a very traditional clan. Kyle Coburn still believes in the old ways, the mountain cures."
"So Bessie might have to suffer?" Christy was outraged. She had tried to learn to respect the traditions of the mountain people, but to turn away from modern medicine at a time like this was simply foolish.
"Don't worry," David said. "I'm sure Kyle Coburn will come around in the end."
"Yes, I'm sure you're right, Reverend," the doctor said. Then, with a sly grin at Christy, he added, "You'll get your trip to the city yet, Christy."
"Let me make this clear, Neil," Christy said. "My only concern is for Bessie. I just want her to get better. The fact that the hospital happens to be in Asheville is unimportant." She stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
She grabbed the basket of muddy, hog-smelling clothes. What she'd told the doctor was true — Bessie was all that really mattered to her. Still, she thought as she wrinkled her nose at the smell, it wouldn't really hurt to enjoy a few nights in her old room.
* * *
After she had cleaned the hog smell out of her dress, Christy decided to go visit Bessie and see how she was doing. Perhaps she would get an opportunity to talk some sense into Kyle Coburn.
"Can I come along?" Ruby Mae asked. "I ain't seen Bessie since yesterday."
"Sure, Ruby Mae. That is, if Miss Ida doesn't need you."
"No, Miz Christy. I tried to help her with her cooking, but she said I was just chitter-chattering so she couldn't hardly hear herself think. That's what she said."
Christy smiled. Ruby Mae did have a tendency to talk constantly, while Miss Ida preferred peace and quiet.
"All right, Ruby Mae, I'd be pleased if you'd come along with me."
It was late in the afternoon, but now that it was practically summer, the days lasted longer. Christy hoped to make it to the Coburn cabin and get back before it was dark, in plenty of time for dinner.
It was a pleasant walk. The day was warm, and wildflowers bloomed yellow and blue and pink in the grassy meadows.
Christy had long since accustomed herself to Ruby Mae's stream of chatter. She listened with one ear to Ruby Mae and with the other to the songs of the birds that were arriving back in the mountains after their winter escape to warmer southern climates.
They were close to the Coburn cabin when something Ruby Mae said seemed to jump out at her.
"What was that you just said, Ruby Mae?" Christy asked.
"I was just sayin' as how when we're in Asheville it would be fine if we could look into some of those shops where you get your citified clothing."
"When we are in Asheville?" Christy repeated.
"Yes, Miz Christy. Didn't you know? I'm a-goin' too."
"Who says you're going? Did Dr. MacNeill ask you to go along?"
Ruby Mae looked thoughtful. "I don't recollect rightly if it was the doctor. I just know I'm a-goin'."
"Ruby Mae, I don't think —" Christy began.
Suddenly there came a low, sad moan, carried on the wind.
Christy pointed. "It's coming from the Coburn's cabin!"
"That's Bessie!" Ruby Mae cried.
"Ooooh, it hurts," the girl groaned. "Somebody help me, please!"
CHAPTER 3Christy ran toward the cabin, with Ruby Mae right behind her.
"Oooh, it hurts," the voice wailed.
Christy stumbled up the uneven wooden steps and burst through the door. Inside, Bessie lay on a simple cot. Her blond hair was matted and tangled. Strands of it were glued to her forehead by sweat.
"Bessie, what's wrong?" Christy cried.
Bessie's mother suddenly appeared in the doorway behind them. She had an armful of small branches and twigs. She ignored Christy and Bessie and ran to her daughter. "Is it bad again?" she asked.
"Yes, Ma, it hurts somethin' fierce."
Mrs. Coburn dropped the wood near the fireplace. Close by was a small, handmade cupboard. A table, three crude chairs, and the one cot were the only other furnishings. The cabin was orderly and clean enough, but still smelled of smoke and cooking odors. The only light filtered through a single window, which was covered with oiled paper instead of glass.
Mrs. Coburn went to the little cupboard and pulled out a bottle and a spoon.
"Here you go, sweetie," she said. She poured a spoonful from the bottle and gave it to Bessie.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Christy's Choice"
by .
Copyright © 1995 Marshall-LeSourd, LLC.
Excerpted by permission of Gilead Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.