encourage everyone
Bundled up in 2 puppy coats
Running through the soft powder with abandon
Tunneling his long snout to build a snowball
Circling the building to potty at the big tree
Back inside his warm home I dropped the leash
Schroeder hurried to the kitchen
Where the nose snowball fell off
And he quickly ate it before it could melt
Wish I had video but it wasn’t safe to be one handed in the morning snow ~ Sheila
© 2022 All Rights Reserved
Part 1 – The memorial service was held in the beautiful Victorian home at 3148 Maple Street. Painted smoky blue with white trim, her great aunt’s house had a prize-winning garden. So many memories swirled through her mind. Lila Jane politely smiled at a neighbor consoling her mother as she wiped a tear from her eye. She thought of playing the Cootie game on the first Sunday afternoon each month with her Aunt Susannah who she called Aunt Cootie since she was three years old.
A touch on the shoulder made her look around to see her mother’s face. She handed Lila Jane an envelope, “This is for you.” She recognized Aunt Cootie’s beautiful penmanship and sniffed her familiar lavender scent. Lila Jane opened the envelope and scanned the handwritten note. “I consider you one of my most loved treasures in life. I left you a gift in my home. Being the inquisitive girl you are will help you find your treasure. Loving you, Aunt Cootie.”
Part 2 – Lila Jane stayed long after the mourners had left. She poured another glass of sweet tea sipping as she read the note again hoping to solve the mystery game left for her. As she walked room to room, she moved chairs and tables and looked under the orange-flowered Victorian rug in the parlor.
Finding a bronze key under the rug, she tried three bedroom doors before gaining entrance to the last one. There were no closets in the house. Just chifforobes. When she opened the old cedar chifforobe, she noticed the broken mirror inside had a door behind it. Lila Jane cut two fingers trying to pull the broken mirror door open. Wrapping her hand in a lace handkerchief she found on top of her aunt’s ivory gloves, she stepped through the secret door.
Part 3 – She scanned the hidden room looking for clues to her promised treasure. A pine bookcase with neatly folded calico printed fabric sorted by color. The old Singer sewing machine with a partially finished wedding dress still under the sewing foot. Two matching bridesmaid dresses lay on the ironing board. A small flower girl’s dress with a three-tiered skirt was on the rocking chair with Aunt Cootie’s cigar box of notions on top. She opened the box and fingered the buttons and spools of Coats & Clark thread. Picking up the small dress, she sat down in the old rocking chair.
Reminiscing about the dresses her aunt made for her as a child made her realize she had never seen the sewing machine or watched her aunt sew before. These were for her oldest sister’s wedding, and she was going to be the flower girl. Then her sister came home with a black eye and busted lip 2 weeks before the scheduled nuptials. All the sewing stopped abruptly. Church reservation cancelled. No floral bouquet. No three-tiered cake was baked. Tickets for a honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls refunded. Nobody explained it to Lila Jane at the time. She found out years later after her sister married a loving, Christian man. The family was thankful she did not marry the abuser.
Part 4 – The secret room was cold and dusty with no windows for natural light. Mysterious. Curious. Why were all of these things hidden in a room no one seemed to know about? Her hands tightened around the dress touching the hem of each tiered ruffle. There was a crunching sound as she squeezed the fabric. Was it interfacing? She took the seam ripper from the cigar box and cut the thread on the top tiered ruffle near the waist line. Opening the seam about three inches, she pulled the stiff interfacing out. She couldn’t believe what she saw! A small stack of $100 bills! She kept pulling out the thread until her lap was full of money. The seams of the other two tiers of skirting were ripped out, and Benjamin Franklin notes overflowed from her lap to the floor.
The last stack of money had a paper note from Aunt Cootie, “Find your favorite scripture in the family Bible on my nightstand, and you will be blessed.” Lila Jane stuffed the green bills into a potato sack she found in a box of bags and exited through the chifforobe. The door was closed and locked as she left. No one would be told yet about her findings.
Part 5 – Walking into her great aunt’s bedroom stirred her emotions again. She picked up the family Bible, and stopped to record Aunt Cootie’s proper name on the family page in front. Susannah Miriam Talmadge, B. 1940 D. 2024. Turning to the book of Acts, she read aloud to herself, “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35).
Lila Jane realized Aunt Cootie taught her a final lesson. She saved money for her because she knew Lila Jane’s heart. This money must be passed on. She prayed about what to do with the money and asked the Lord to direct her path. Thinking through the events of the day, she made the decision to donate the gift to the White Dove Home. She remembered how much the staff helped her sister who was inspired to volunteer there herself. The family rallied together and started a Susannah Talmadge Foundation for the continuity of the White Dove Home. All because of Aunt Cootie and a hidden room. God used them and their circumstances for goodwill.
Writing prompt: write about a hidden room.
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