God Fixed It

Molly Fay

Description

Molly was black-balled fifteen minutes after she arrived at church camp. Unable to shake off the unpopularity and low self-image that followed, she turned to God to fix it. God listened, maybe chuckled a bit and probably shook His head in sympathy at Mollys mishaps. Since girls were not allowed to wear pants to school, Molly tells this story:I would do as Mother suggested: whip my pants off in the cloakroom in the morning and straighten my skirt, then put my pants back on for the ride home after school. The storm, true to Mothers prediction, lasted all night.I jumped off my bike at the street crossing and pushed the front tire off the curb. In that split-second, my pants tumbled down circling my shoes. My skirt remained wadded up around my fanny. Kids behind me gasped, and someone started to laugh. The sound pierced the still morning air like laughter on Jack Bennys radio show. Within moments all the kids giggled and pointed at my struggle to get my pants up.The crossing guards startled look made my face get hot with embarrassment before I could get my pants buttoned. I wanted to tell him he could see I had a skirt on Mollys inability to say no followed her into marriage. She used the saying, You made your bed; now lie in it, to adjust to wrong decisions until what she wanted the most was denied. What would she do now?

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Inspiring Voices
• Date de parution: 13 août 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781462406814
• Langue: English

Extrait

God Fixed It
 

 
Molly Fay
 
 
 
 


Copyright © 2013 Molly Fay.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
Inspiring Voices books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:
 
Inspiring Voices
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.inspiringvoices.com
1-[phone]
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
 
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
 
ISBN: 978-1-4624-0682-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4624-0681-4 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013913011
 
Inspiring Voices rev. date: 8/7/2013
Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Epilogue
Dedication
 
This book is dedicated to my husband for his patience and understanding and our family.
And those who know or want to know that God does fix it.
Acknowledgements
 
Dorothy Lindsay Allred, childhood friend whose memory refreshed mine.
Dr. Iver Lou Duncan, Professor Belmont University
Dr. Larry Greely and Rob Spiegel, authors and my mentors at SouthWest Writers
Prologue

The Texas broiling sun had little mercy on Molly’s mother Fae as she hurried across Berry Street, a short two blocks away from her home. She thought only of the searing heat and WWII. It never occurred to Fae that a decision she would make at noon today would have disturbing consequences for her young daughter Molly.
Born in Indian Territory Oklahoma and raised in Ft. Worth, Fae’s body had gotten used to the city’s summer sun, but wished the temperature would drop. This month of June had been hotter than June in years past, a typical predictor of above average temperatures for summer’s scorching days ahead.
Fae stepped off the sidewalk to duck beneath the shade of an old elm tree’s leaf-filled limbs and hoped it would help her cool down. Her left hand pushed jet black hair away from the blobs of perspiration gathered on her forehead before a welcomed puff of breeze crossed her face for a few moments of relief.
Fae learned as a young bride the maxim, “You made your bed, now lie in it”, coined out of the mouth of her Irish father. Jack, or Papa C as he had been dubbed by his children and grand children, took pride in his Corbitt name even though the famous Irish-American boxer spelled his last name with an e instead of an i.
Fae took a deep breath and walked faster toward her home. Like most mothers she did most of the training of her children.
The early morning squabble between her kids, Molly, nine, and Bryan, four, ended when Fae picked up Molly’s toast and told her children: “Remember the saying. I’ll give the toast to the birds. Both of you share in the blame for the upside down broken plate filled with Bryan’s buttered toast.” An added benefit to the adage helped her live with whatever mistakes she had made in the past.
Sweat from the heat and humidity clogged up her eye lashes as she passed a neighbor’s home and a bed of zinnias wilted by the heat. Her thoughts turned from the current news of the War and her marriage to Judge, who wasn’t a judge at all.
Most of her high school and college classmates had married well-to-do men. Their fine brick homes testified to it. His family didn’t quite know what to make of a college-educated wife but for the most part his sisters accepted - possibly because Lollie had become a milliner and Cossette a department store manager. The youngest of the Anderson siblings, Trina, and husband owned a grocery store.
Fae shook her head while she walked and thought about the happenings of the last two days. Yesterday at the store, Judge, so named by his siblings because he had a great tendency to judge others, had said to her, “Since the peaches are about ripe and Molly can’t climb the tree, I’ll take this tall rack home for her to climb on after I close tonight.”
How fortunate Molly didn’t hurt herself seriously when she fell and banged her head on the side of the rack, Fae said to herself. Judge took the rack back to the store.
She continued her walk from their Anderson’s $.0five to $five.00 Variety Store, located across from Texas Christian University (TCU) campus. If she could read the future she would never have opened the letter about to be deposited in the mailbox.
She prepared the usual peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with milk for their lunch.
“Oh, Mother, I think a stray cat did his business in the sandbox. Bryan found some dirty stuff in there when he went out to build a fort in the sand.”
“Did you get it out?”
“Well, uh, no.”
“I just played with my big truck around it,” Bryan offered.
“You could have gotten it out with the little hand shovel, right Molly.”
“Yessum.” Molly didn’t dare contradict her Mother.
“Why don’t you get the shovel out of the garage when you finish eating and toss the mess into the garbage can?”
Molly knew better than to ask why me? She knew the answer.
Fae’s early lunch break worked well for her and Judge. She could check on their kids before noon and Judge would check in later in the afternoon. Neither had qualms about leaving the children since the store sat three blocks away. A four party line connected the home phone to the store’s phone if needed in an emergency. Checking on their kids took priority in her life. During her first year of marriage she had lost their first baby. Doctors didn’t know why the baby was stillborn. Fae’s mother Eula and Jack told their daughter it was because she had to sleep in the car when Judge decided they needed to take a trip to Corpus Christi late in her pregnancy. No vacancy signs fluttered in the breeze when the two reached the coast. When blistering August heat bakes most any living thing in Texas, large numbers of Texans flock to the Gulf to escape the scorching sun. It would be cooler for her, Judge had said. Fae’s labor began on the way back to Dallas. They buried the child in Dallas and didn’t give him a name except for Baby Anderson.
Two years later Molly squalled her arrival so loudly she could be heard throughout the Denton hospital. The doctor said, “This one is in good health and has a strong set of lungs.”
In the days that followed, Judge’s typical erratic outbursts when something didn’t go his way took a turn for the better. His remarks softened as Fae’s next pregnancy progressed.
Nineteen months after Molly’s birth Sunny June smiled her first smile. Sunny June’s smile didn’t last long. Continued crying and smelly diapers told a story local doctors didn’t figure out until too late. Nephritis, kidney disease, claimed the child’s life before her first birthday.
Fae washed and dried the lunch dishes, made certain Molly had dumped the cat mess, and pulled several potatoes out of the ice box. She grabbed a paring knife and began to cut the potatoes into small hunks for cooking. Thoughts of what she had hoped her future would be crept into her head. Marriage to a handsome, wealthy bachelor and becoming a career journalist may have been possible. Didn’t being voted the most popular girl at Pascal High School, Ft. Worth’s largest high school, with a bevy of boys begging her for dates count for something? Her brother, Jack Jr., and she made quite a couple. He played the licorice stick and she coaxed the 88 keys on the piano to stand up and shout. The Charleston rage kept her and Jack in demand by their friends wanting play dates in their homes. Off to college after high school, Fae soaked up the college atmosphere. She completed two years at Texas State Teachers College in Denton, Texas, before she met Judge. From the beginning their personalities clashed on more than one occasion. Did nine years difference in their ages prevent their marriage from achieving balance?
Judge had always been independent, ran away at fourteen to South Texas and rode into the sprawling King Ranch spread. Got on as a ranch hand. He managed to find a way to make a good living. His dad B.J. had done various jobs to earn a living. He raised bees and sold honey by the side of the road east of Dallas. He didn’t earn enough to support the family in the life style Fae’s Daddy had created. Papa C managed a large furniture department store in downtown Ft.Worth, stayed active in city affairs, and provided his wife and children a brick home in an up and coming Ft. Worth neighborhood.
Fae, not able to stop her ruminations, went to the ice box and pulled out more potatoes. She knew bickering had led to arguments that shaped h