He Was A Young Private That Fought In The American Revolution

 Grandma Lu had not been feeling well for quite some time. At first it seemed like a little cold, then it turned into a cough. She had gone to the doctor twice and had been taking lots of medicine. At long last she had slept all night long without coughing. She was congratulating herself as she fixed herself some coffee when she heard the phone ring. She answered it with quite a rough sounding 'hello' when her friend answered back and said, "You sound terrible!" Grandma Lu chuckled and said, "Thanks a lot, girl. I am getting better. I guess this just takes time to get over. I have heard a lot of people are have the same thing. Actually you don't sound so hot yourself."

As the ladies visited Grandma Lu's friend said, "You  must not be feeling up to snuff. You haven't written any stories lately and even today, you haven't written your usual story about Veteran's Day."

Grandma Lu shook her head and said, "You know what? I haven't even looked at a calendar except for doctor appointments lately. I tell you what. I'm going to finish my coffee and sit down and see if I can think of something new. People are probably tired of hearing my same old stories." She started to cough and she and her friend said their good-byes, I love yous, and take cares and hung up their phones.

Grandma Lu walked over to her computer with her big cup of cold water. "I have had gallons of this stuff to drink. I think I should just float away." She turned on her computer and just stared at the screen trying to think of the first time she had ever heard about a veteran in her family. She started to type and thought, "I was just a child at my grandparents' house. They had lots of company that day. There was a lady there whose name was Lois Kuderle. I can remember my mother saying that she was the historian of the family. That lady wore her hair in a bun at the nape of her neck and was so old she was bent over! Children were not allowed to talk or be close to the grownups at a family gathering, but I can remember that lady opening up a very large book that my grandma called the Hayes Family Bible. That lady wrote something in the Bible and put a tiny newspaper clipping in it. That was not a bit interesting to me at all. I promptly forgot all about it for about seventy years. At least seventy years!

Many many years later...

I was cleaning and sorting my mother's house and of course, opened up my mother's Family Bible she had inherited from my grandmother. As I leafed through the pages of family history there it was. The tiny newspaper clipping about a several times great grandfather Hayes being a soldier in the American Revolution. I can remember covering my mouth thinking at that time over two hundred years ago a member of my family was fighting for my right of freedom and he didn't have a clue that I would ever exist. He just knew that freedom was worth risking his life for. He did live to know that his fighting for freedom was a success because just a few months later the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Grandma Lu sat by her computer thinking of all the men that followed that young private. Her late husband in WWII her many brothers-in-laws, uncles, and brother and cousins. There was even a cousin that was a girl that was in the Army! War is Hell they say, but not having freedom would be unthinkable. Grandma Lu shut off her computer and thought to herself, Thank you. Two words that mean so much, but sound so simple. Thank you to all the Veterans that made our freedom possible throughout the many years.

Grandma Lu Gets A Visitor Late At Night

 Betty watched Grandma Lu gather cups and a small plate of cookies to the kitchen table. It seemed like she  couldn't take her eyes from her. While Grandma Lu put things on the table,  Betty took her folder of pictures and put them on the table. Grandma Lu sat down and took a sip of her coffee. "You know I will suffer for drinking this, this late at night. I used to drink it to stay awake when the kids were little. My how things change over the years."

"Let's see what you have here. She started going through some of the pictures until she got to one. The picture of her home when she was just a little girl. It was the only picture she had of it. "How did you get this picture? I have one just like this. As far as I know there aren't any others."

Betty let out a sigh of relief and wiped tears from her eyes. "I was right. I just knew that I should know you. There was something about how you told your stories and  the way you held your head. You look like pictures I have seen of her. I don't know for sure where this picture came from, but I am thinking at one time it belonged to my grandmother or some relative. People seldom wrote on the back of the pictures, so I really didn't know what I had. Here is a picture of a lady called only Margaret. I think she is a distant relative."

Grandma Lu held that picture and shook her head. "Yes, that is Margaret. My mother's closest friend and cousin. Your three times great grandmother only had one daughter and several sons when she married my great grandfather. They had only one child after they  married, and that was my grandmother. Just a minute I think I have some pictures out that I was looking at the other day."

"Betty, here is a picture of my mother. She baked for grocery stores and other folks to put my sister through nurses training. She was a really good cook."  Betty just shook her head and said, "Just look at these pictures. They could be twins!" 

The pictures were priceless in Betty's mind. Pictures of men and women she had never known. Working on a farm, posing on a porch. Who were these people? Were they nice? Were they poor or rich? She had so many questions and there was probably only one person alive that could answer any of them: Grandma Lu. But she knew it was getting late.

Betty saw the older lady yawn and apologized for stopping by so late. "I am so sorry for coming late. I should have called first. People say that I am a bit ..Grandma Lu interrupted and said "A bit like your great grandmother, Margaret?" She laughed and so did Betty. What an odd day, but as she left she thought, I just might have a whole new family. Such fun. Fun is something she hadn't had in a very long time. Thank goodness for her small son, Joey. He brought in the sunshine when she felt only the dreary day blues on some days.

A Pleasant Dream And A Knock At the Door

 "My stars it's getting so cold outside, Grandma Lu grumbled when she came in from outside. The wind is blowing fifty miles an hour I swear." She rubbed her arms and thought about when she was a young girl on the farm. My mother knew what would make us warm when the weather got colder. She would get out her sauce pan, a can of Hershey's cocoa and make us some coco (that's how I spelled it in my head when I was about eight or nine)," she grinned. She called into the living room. "Would you like a cup of hot chocolate? I'm going to make myself some." She got the answer she knew she would so she took two envelopes of hot chocolate mix and two cups of water. Heated the cups of water in the microwave, stirred in the chocolate mix and that was it. Instantly it seemed were two steaming cups of hot chocolate. She carried them into  the living room beside each chair. Then she wriggled herself into a comfy sweater and waited for the familiar feeling of home. It didn't come. She tasted the mixture again. Nope it certainly wasn't like what her mother made. It wasn't even like the hot chocolate she used to make for her children.

"When they say 'times change or it's progress', that doesn't make it automatically better." She turned and watched her husband doze after his warm drink. "That's about all this did for me; make me sleepy." 

Grandma Lu dozed off as well with sweet dreams of her childhood on the farm. She could see her mother and her old silver saucepan, a pint jar of cream, a pitcher of milk, a cannister of sugar and an old can of Hershey's cocoa. She smiled in her sleep as she relived the smells and the wonderful taste of homemade cocoa. There they all were; her little brother, her older sister, and of course, her dad. They were all waiting for the wonderful warm drink. Wait they did, because the stove had to be heated, the milk had to be just the right temperature and of course, the taste testing by her mom. Then her mother's smile, meant that it was just right. There was as always, a plate full of home made cookies to go with the warm drink.

A knock at the door woke Grandma Lu up from her wonderful dream. She shook the cobwebs out of her sleepy head and wondered who would be knocking at her door after dark. She soon found out. There stood Joey's mother, Betty.

Grandma Lu said, "Well, hello! May I help you? Betty smiled and said, "I think that you are a relative of mine. If I am wrong I apologize, but I have just had this feeling ever since I started listening to your stories at the library. May I come in?"

Grandma Lu said, "Of course, you may. Come on out to the kitchen. All I have to offer you is a cup of instant hot chocolate. Not like the old days, but it will warm you up. So what is this all about? You think you are related to me? Why is that, do you think? Oh, you brought pictures. I love pictures. Maybe we can get this sorted out. No, of course, I don't mind. Oh there's the bell on the microwave. That didn't take long did it? There you go. Okay, let's see what you have there.

A Quiet Treasure

 Grandma Lu had been so busy with her yard sale. She finally was finding time to put things in totes. Some things for her next yard sale and some things just needed to be organized and labeled in a storage cupboard. On this particular day she found a strange looking tin box. It had a handle and it was green. "This must be Fran's, she thought. I'll set this aside and show it to him. He will either want to throw it away or save it for some unknown treasures." She shook her head at her husband's uncanny ability to save things that had no value. Often things (broken tools) were saved because they could be fixed someday or mainly just because...) 

She decided to have a cookie and a cup of coffee after working a few hours. Her husband walked into the kitchen and said, "Look what I found! Pretty cool box, don't you think? Wonder what's in it." He sat down at the kitchen table while Grandma Lu fixed him a cup of coffee all the while grinning. That man of hers!

When she sat down she watched him open the box and it was full of old papers. Really old papers. He passed one to her. She was only five years old when it was printed. The paper was soft as butter. It was his mother's box that he had saved and forgotten about. In it were just two things. The Bandwagon newspaper which had all of the old song lyrics printed in it along with very strange advertisements.

The other paper was a letter to Fran's mom and dad (their name was spelled wrong) informing them of their new real estate tax for the next year. Thirty seven dollars! They both laughed at how taxes had increased over the years. In that envelope was another letter telling them that they would from now on have to buy or make a number at least 2" high and wide to put on the front of the house. It would have to be visible from the street. It was the number 9. The envelope was only addressed to them as the street, no number. This took place in 1964.

This forgotten little green box started a conversation that lasted long after their coffee was cold. What an interesting letter. How it reminded Grandma Lu of letters she still had of her mother and father's. There was no address on the envelope. Only a name and a town and state. How in the world did the mailman find them?

Also Grandma Lu and her husband talked about how the tax assessors would come to the house and look all over. At one time she could remember that the tax man said that if her parents put in wall to wall carpeting they would have to pay a tax on it. Plus they counted all the pigs, chickens and cows! My how things have changed!

Grandma Lu cleared the table while her husband made his way to a cupboard with the little green box. "So what are you going to do with that box and those papers?" He grinned and said, "Well save it, of course, the kids might like to see them someday."

Grandma Lu shook her head and thought. "We won't see that box again for years. It was fun to look at, but it will be a surprise again the next time we find it." She chuckled to herself as she fixed supper. Aah the phone is ringing. I wonder who that is. The caller ID said it was an unknown number. So she didn't answer it. "You just can't be too careful nowadays. If they want to talk to me they can leave a message."

Betty was disappointed when Grandma Lu didn't answer the phone, but wasn't ready to leave her a message yet. Maybe she would see her again at the library.