Nora Ray (Ray Trilogy)

chapter One

1955

Seventeen year old Nora Ray lifted the last heavy five gallon bucket of milk to carry it into the room where the separator was kept to take the cream from the milk. Once the cream was separated, it could be sold for more money than as straight whole milk.

After completing her chores she slipped out to her favorite rock to rest for a few minutes. She lay there looking straight up at the azure blue sky rubbing the kinks from the small of her back.

She realized her mom would be cooking the evening meal by now. She needed to return to the house, she worried that she had been gone too long.

She walked the short distance along the edge of the cliff, by the crooked tree, then up the path through the oaks and hickory trees. After walking beyond the sumac, she came into the yard. On impulse she stopped to gather wild flowers along the edge of the yard. She grabbed a fruit jar off the cabinet, arranged the flowers, and filled it with water from the pump on the back porch.

"Mom, see what I brought you? Some wild flowers, aren't they pretty?" Nora called out as she set the bouquet on the table.

Her mom, Laura smiled and nodded. Nora’s heart warmed with pride to give her mom something to make her happy.

Her parents, John and Laura Ray owned a small dairy which etched out a meager living for their small family. Her Mom and Dad did all they could to make the dairy a profitable enterprise. There was no money to hire workers to help so Nora had to help in any way she could. She had a nine year old brother Danny but he couldn’t do much but get in the way most of the time. At least that was Nora’s take on the situation.

She loved her Dad but too many times lately when there was heavy lifting to be done he seemed not available. She wondered how much longer she and her mother would be able to handle the work. Fortunately, they had milking machines, but carrying those buckets full of milk really wore her out. Maybe her dad thought she would get stronger sooner or later, if she was, she hoped it would be soon.

The next afternoon, Nora slowly walked home from the school bus. She dreaded the unending milking, lugging the heavy milk canisters, separating the cream, and then packing the jugs back and forth to the cooler.

It seemed that the back breaking job was more than a five foot; one hundred pound girl should have to do. She also knew if she didn’t do her part; her mother would have to do almost all of it. Her father helped with the milking but he soon found something else he needed to do elsewhere.

Nora enjoyed taking care of the cows, like pouring the feed into the stalls. She watched as the cows came into their small milking barn. Each cow knew which stanchion was hers. The cows munched the feed as the milking machine was attached and to take their milk. When the cow was released from her stall she immediately left to go back to the holding pen.

Nora enjoyed routine. It allowed her the time to appreciate the process without having to study out what to do next. After the cows left, she shoveled out the muck, swept the floor, sprinkled lime on the floor to sanitize it then swept the lime into a neat pattern on the floor.

Laura was already in the milk room readying the milk to be separated in the creamer. After Nora got to the milk room, Laura left to prepare the evening meal. She watched the cream separate from milk and go into different containers as she hand cranked the machine. The blue john milk as her mother called it was set aside to be fed to the pigs while the cream was put into the cooler to be taken to town to be sold.

The cream in a week’s time could provide enough money to buy sugar, flour, and other essentials that were needed in the kitchen. Selling chicken eggs also provided weekly money. Occasionally, she and Danny bought a new pair of shoes and a pair of jeans for school out of the cream and egg money.

Her little brother, Danny, took care of the chickens now. It used to be her job until she grew big enough to help in the barn. She had always enjoyed pouring the chicken feed in the old tires that were split down the middle, while the chickens scurried over her feet hoping to get one of the first bites. Then she had carried lard buckets full of water from the pump in the back porch to the tractor tires split down the middle in the chicken yard for the chickens. That was Danny’s job now.

I guess that is part of growing up, she mused to herself.

She walked through the back porch into the battered old kitchen. She expected to see the meal almost prepared and her mother to tell her to set the table, but the kitchen was empty and no meal was being prepared.

“Mom,” Nora called out.

She heard quiet voices in the living room. She softly entered the room. She saw her mother and her Aunt Betty Johnson, her dad’s sister, sitting on the sofa talking in hushed tones with tears in their eyes.

Laura motioned for her to sit beside her. Gingerly she sat on the edge of the sofa with questions in her eyes. Her mom reached over and held her hand, saying, “Your little cousin, Jordan, was diagnosed with polio this morning. You know that he has been crying a lot and complaining about his legs. Your Aunt Betty took him to the doctor and that’s what he said was wrong with him.”

“Oh, no,” she shook her head. “No.” She leaned back on the sofa. “Why does little Jordan have to hurt so much? He’s so little,” she grieved. She felt such a pain in her heart.

“How is he taking this?” Nora asked her Aunt Betty.

“He doesn’t really understand what is going on. He just knows that he hurts.”

Aunt Betty and Laura held each other’s hands and then her mom wrapped her arms around Aunt Betty while she cried.

Nora made her excuses and went to her rock to digest all the information and the pain that that she felt. As she sat there, she thought of all the hurt in her family. She thought of the struggles to maintain the dairy, the pain of doing the heavy work, her mom trying to make all the ends meet financially, then her father who seemed to shove the work their way rather than taking the lead in completing the work. Now there was her little four old cousin diagnosed with polio. Where will it all end? What is the answer? Is there an answer?

Somehow there has got to be a better way. Happiness in her family was there but so fleeting.

She groaned under the burden. What can a seventeen year old girl do? Finding a job somewhere was impossible. There was no transportation for her. She couldn’t in good conscience leave all that work for her mother to do. Screaming at her shiftless father was what she felt like doing. He should provide better for the family. It should be his responsibility, she thought.

Her next thought was, How does getting angry at my father help little Jordan?

She lay on her back on her thinking rock feeling exhausted and emotionally spent until she began to feel her strength come back to her.

Nora knew her family needed her. Right now her mother needed someone to cook the evening meal. Her little brother Danny needed comfort, food, and somebody to help get him ready for bed. With new determination and fortified with purpose she headed back to the house to see what needed done first.

She was amazed. Aunt Betty had left, her mother had tucked Danny in bed, and her father was washing the dishes. “I fixed you a plate. It’s sitting on the cabinet,” he pointed to her meal.

She felt her mouth hanging open. She reached for the plate, and muttered, “Thanks.” A slight smile merged from her lips totally on its own.