Whitlee Asks Grandma Lu For a Favor

 Grandma Lu got up to see who was at the door. She was stiff from sitting so long in her rocking chair. "It's time to let that go for awhile. I've been sitting too long. I wonder who is ringing the door bell." When she opened the door she was surprised to see Niki standing on the steps. She said, "Is Marlee ok? Oh look here comes Whitlee. Did you want to come in?" She was a little confused because they had never been to her house before. She only saw them at Marleewood. Niki said, "Well actually Whitlee wants to talk to you."

Grandma Lu grinned from ear to ear. "Well of course! Come in Come in. I'll get some snacks for us. I just love company. Did B come with you? Where is Marlee? Oh she's in school? Well come in out to the kitchen. Excuse the mess. I've been going through old papers of my mother's. Seems like I've been at it for a long time, but love learning about all of my ancestors. I can't put them down it's so fun to read."

She got everyone seated with a cookie and a drink and looked at Whitlee and said, "Okay, little one. What did you want to talk about?" Whitlee said, "Want to be in your story."  Grandma Lu chuckled and said, "Well you were in the last story about Unicorns, remember?" Whitlee said, "Want to be in old stories." Grandma Lu looked at Niki with a question on her face. Niki said, "Bonnie has been telling us that you have been learning a lot about your family and how they helped settle the town you were born and raised in. Whitlee wants to be in a story about them if you write one."

Grandma Lu grinned, tipped her head to one side like her father used to do, then she patted her knee and said, "I think I know just the thing for you. You give me a few days and I will start writing down all of these stories that I'm finding and then you can be in my story. How does that sound?"

Whitlee smiled and said, "Can Zeke too?" Grandma Lu gave her a hug and said, "Absolutely. That's a deal and they shook hands on it. One was a bit sticky...

After they left she went back to her boxes of papers and letters and pictures. "Oh my. I can't believe that I didn't go through these things years ago. I thought I did. Oh, now here's a story Whitlee might like to be in. My great grandfather Hayes had an adventurous side to him. He prospected for gold at Pikes Peak when he was twenty-two years old. He mined and prospected, but I'm thinking how long did it take him to get there from Iowa to Colorado. It was over five hundred miles. So much of the story is left off. He didn't get to my hometown of Cherokee, Iowa until he was thirty-three. The sad thing of it was when he was there there was no gold from what I've read. They didn't find gold until 1893 closer to Denver. I think he would be really interested to know that a woman , Kathryn Lee Bates climbed Pikes Peak in 1895 and wrote the song American the Beautiful. It has a plaque there with the words that were in the song. What a wondrous thing that would have been to see.

 I can't believe it. I had Marlee prospecting for gold when she was just about Whitlee's age. I'm going to look back and see if I still have some of those pictures. Oh look at that little Marlee. She loved those mini donkeys and horses out at the Mini Farm. I had so much fun writing her little adventures. If I remember right she learned a valuable lesson in that story; true gold is family and love of family." Then she started to laugh when she remembered that Marlee had packed ice cream and potato chips for the trip the night before. It was all over the kitchen floor. "Oh B was not a happy camper. That was a fun story to write."

"Well, Whitlee Jo, where shall I put you in a story of my ancestors if I ever get down to writing one? Should I put you in Scotland in the 1700's or in the 1800's where my great grandparents had such an interesting life. Of course, I could put you in my mother's life, or even my life growing up on my Great Grandfather Hayes' farm. Well, first I have to get through all this stuff, but I will find a place for you little miss and of course,  Zeke.