Willow Creek: A Novel

By Wendie Kryselmire

It is the 1870s in the picturesque community of Willow Creek, Missouri. To casual observers and westward-moving settlers, the town is a bustling, rural community. Beneath its quiet surface, however, ill feelings are beginning to fester between two of its citizens.

Hardworking farmer Samuel Sindell and his three sons already possess a large farm on which they grow crops and pasture herds. But Samuel is not satisfied and wants acreage belonging to the easygoing miller, Amos Becker. Samuel, who is undeterred by Amoss reluctance to sell, uses underhanded manipulation to acquire the land. Unfortunately, his quarrelsome attitude and exploitations spark strong resentment in Amos. When Samuels animosity and Amoss passive needling slowly reduce their relationship into a feud, the rift between the families grows as greed, pranks, and vandalism escalate and threaten to divide the community.

In this compelling historical tale set in late 1800s Missouri, the future of Willow Creek hangs in the balance as two stubborn citizens and their families engage in what is about to become a life-changing battle over one hundred and sixty acres.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491763773

Wendie Kryselmire

Wendie Kryselmire is a retired teacher who discovered roots and inspiration in southwest Iowa while living there. She now resides on an Ozark ridge in southern Missouri with her husband and dog. This is her debut novel.

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WILLOW CREEK

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A NOVEL

BY

WENDIE KRYSELMIRE

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WILLOW CREEK

A NOVEL

Copyright © 2015 Wendie Kryselmire.

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.

Certain characters in this work are historical figures, and certain events portrayed did take place. However, this is a work of fiction. All of the other characters, names, and events as well as all places, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-6378-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-6377-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015904881

iUniverse rev. date: 5/9/2015

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

CHAPTER 1

T HAT BLASTED BECKER! HE’S ALWAYS been a thorn in my side. Now he’s turned just plain wasteful and lazy besides, grumped Samuel Sindell.

Have some more potatoes, Samuel, urged his wife, Amy.

Taters ain’t going to make me feel no better, but I’ll have some more, anyway.

Now, Pa, we got plenty of land already. Why’d you want Becker’s, too? asked his oldest son, Justice.

He ain’t using it, and one of these days, one of you’s going to get married and need a farm of your own. I’m just trying to plan ahead, looking out for you all.

Pa, ain’t there some other way to get ahold of that land? Like, maybe, what if one of us kids marry up with one of the Becker kids? Then old Amos’d sell it, maybe even give it to us, suggested Elizabeth, the only girl-child.

Samuel slammed both of his calloused hands onto the dinner table, making his wife and four children jump and causing the coffee in their cups to vibrate so badly that it nearly slopped over the rims. There will be no marrying up with any of them Beckers! They’re all a bunch of lazy, lying sons of guns. ’Sides, I ain’t going to do nothing backhanded to Becker. That’d be low-down, just like him, and I ain’t going to be that low. No.

"What do you want, Pa?" asked Justice.

What I want is … is I just want Amos Becker to sell that land to me, fair and square. That’s what I want.

Well, Samuel, would it do any good for me to talk to Gladdy about it? We ain’t exactly friends, but we both go to Thursday night quilting bee. Maybe if I talk to her …

"No! shouted Samuel again. This ain’t nothing to be handled by womenfolk. And I ain’t asking Becker again. No, I ain’t."

The family ate in silence for a few minutes.

Maybe old Becker just needs someone to thump him on the head so’s he can think clear. Then he’d sell it to you, Pa, suggested Jonathan.

Why, Jonathan, gasped Amy. Your pa don’t work things out that way, and you shouldn’t even be saying such things.

No one said any such things for several weeks after that dinner conversation. None of the four Sindell children mentioned the Becker land, but whenever Samuel thought about it, his face turned red, and various members of the family tried to lighten his mood by bringing up some happier topic. Nevertheless, the thought of that quarter section just sitting there festered in Samuel’s brain like an open wound.

Only a few blocks away at the Becker home, Michael, Amos and Gladdy’s son, occasionally brought up the same subject.

Pa, he started, you ain’t using that land. Why not just sell it and get rid of it? We got enough work to keep us too busy to farm it.

Have you been out there? It’s beautiful. There’s all sorts of wildlife. There’s a few birds that even hop onto my finger so’s they can eat corn from my hand. One of the squirrels and a pair of chipmunks come right up to me. I can just sit out there and praise God for all I see and hear. And someday you just might get married and need your own place. That’d do for you.

Yeah, that’d be nice, Pa. Do you think that if I was to marry Elizabeth Sindell that would stop all this arguing about that land?

Gladdy gasped so loudly that her husband and son both looked to see if she was having a seizure. Amos, a quiet man, tried to speak calmly as he said, Michael, I love you dearly, and I look forward to giving that place to you. But marrying Elizabeth won’t change my mind, nor Samuel Sindell’s mind, neither. It’s better to just leave the subject alone. So the sale of Becker’s extra 160 acres wasn’t mentioned through the winter of 1870.

When the spring thaw melted the snow in northwest Missouri, though, Samuel swallowed his pride and approached Amos Becker one more time. Hearing from the men who hung out at the barbershop that Amos had ridden the two miles south of Willow Creek to the very land in question, Samuel, too, rode out. He found Amos sitting on a huge limestone rock, not far from the muddy road. Samuel could see footprints where the heavyset, stocky mill owner had been walking around the uncleared land.

Howdy, Amos.

Howdy, Samuel.

Land’s looking good.

It is good.

I want to offer you good money for this piece of property.

And I still don’t want to sell it, Amos replied stubbornly.

Will you at least think about it?

"Mmm-hmm," Amos answered noncommittally.

As he rode back to Willow Creek, Samuel wondered what Amos meant by that humming sound. Might he actually plan to sell it? Maybe Sindell was making some headway with old Becker. He’d just have to wait and see.

A while later, Amos also rode back into town. It was a nice town, a good place to live. If only old Samuel would let Amos and his land alone, it couldn’t be any better. As he rode west on South Street toward the home he shared with his wife and three children, he spoke or nodded to almost everybody. Willow Creek was a bustling community centered on the two-story brick courthouse in the middle of Sayers County. The courthouse was surrounded on all sides by dirt streets that were muddy from October through April. The townspeople accessed the stores around the courthouse via wooden walkways. The post office was on the southwest corner, kitty-corner from the courthouse. Leonard McDowell’s general store took up most of the block between South Street and North Street on the western side. Ed Gramby’s blacksmith shop was set a ways up, north of the northwest corner of the square, which was all right with Albert Holmes, who managed the Livingston Hotel on the north side of the square. Albert didn’t want the smells from Ed’s shop to drive away hotel customers.

A few other shops that met the needs of the community were scattered along the other sides. The Willow Creek Bank was on the east side, across South Street from the sheriff’s office. The two most frequented businesses on South Street were The Roadway Inn and Carl Martin’s barbershop, where some of the townsmen hung out on nice days.

Amos did not realize that one of the favorite topics of discussion at the barbershop was the growing feud between himself and Samuel Sindell. The barbershop men chuckled whenever Samuel and Amos disagreed about anything. In fact, the two men seemed to disagree about almost everything. Samuel took everything so seriously, and it appeared that Amos enjoyed needling Samuel a bit. This current disagreement over Amos’s quarter section amused most of the men at the barbershop. Neither Amos nor Samuel needed that land; they both had plenty of other parcels. Yet every time Becker or Sindell said something about it, it was like a whole new chapter in an old, old book.

In fact, it was because Samuel had always been serious, even as a boy, that Amos got a certain pleasure out of needling him. Not that Amos would ever willfully hurt Samuel with his teasing, but he knew Samuel didn’t really need Amos’s land, so Amos found a little amusement in refusing to sell it. Things went a little sour, though, when Samuel just wouldn’t accept Amos’s no. Amos could tell that Samuel was very serious about acquiring that particular acreage, but he just couldn’t see what was so all-fired important about it. He finally speculated that Samuel wanted it just because Amos refused to sell it. Samuel’s idea of a compromise was to rent the land, but Amos didn’t want to do even that. Amos guessed that maybe he was holding on to the land just because Samuel wanted it so badly. That stubbornness is what kept Amos from selling it when Samuel finally got really nasty and threatened to blackmail Amos.

Well, it wasn’t really blackmail, but it was a kind of extortion. It seems that the Becker boy, Michael, had been meeting Elizabeth Sindell secretly. They had to meet secretly, or their fathers would have tanned their hides. The relationship between Elizabeth and Michael might never have come to light, except one month Elizabeth was late. Frightened of the possibilities, terrified of what her father would say or do, and nearly hysterical for fear that she would never be allowed to see Michael again, she told her mother all about it. Well, not all about it exactly, just that she’d been sparkin’ with Michael Becker, and they might have set off a little dynamite. Amy, intensely indignant about her own daughter getting mixed up with a Becker, managed to comfort Elizabeth anyway. Amy told her that Mother would take care of everything and sent Elizabeth off to get some rest. That good night’s sleep worked a miracle, because it became apparent the very next day that Elizabeth was not in the family way.

That next night it was Amy’s turn to break down and tell someone about it. She told her husband, explaining that while Elizabeth wasn’t pregnant, she wasn’t a virgin, either. Samuel was ready to get a posse and string up Michael Becker right then, but Amy managed to restrain him. When he was done ranting and raving around the house, Samuel collapsed on his bed. His muscles were so tense and his nerves were so on edge that he could feel the ropes holding up the mattress underneath him. Amy lay too quietly beside him. He got up and stood at the window, looking eastward over the frozen plot of ground that would be Amy’s garden in a few months. Beyond that was the Willow Creek, for which the town was named, and Samuel could see the outline of Becker’s mill in the distance to the east. Just the thought of Amos Becker began to rile Samuel again, but then he saw how the situation between Michael and Elizabeth could be used to secure the Becker land he so craved. Of course, Samuel didn’t want his daughter marrying a Becker any more than Amos wanted his son marrying a Sindell, but Samuel saw the incident as ammunition to get what he wanted. What he wanted was Becker’s land, and if Amos wouldn’t sell it, or at least rent it to Samuel, then Amos was going to get Elizabeth as a daughter-in-law, in a shotgun wedding if necessary.

The next day, Samuel sent Amy on a little visit to see Gladdy Becker. The visit in itself was quite an occasion because the Beckers and the Sindells had as little to do with each other as possible. Amy Sindell had had time enough that morning to really get herself worked up. She was hurt that Michael and Elizabeth had been sneaking around to see each other. She was angry that Michael Becker had seduced her daughter. Angry? She was outraged! She was more than anxious to lay into Gladdy Becker. She prepared herself as well as she could, pinning her long, mousy-brown hair up on top of her head and covering it with a bonnet. She wore her Sunday-best dress and tucked a clean handkerchief into her left sleeve, just in case she needed one. Carefully covering her dress with her long wool cape, Amy marched determinedly to Gladdy’s house and knocked loudly on the front door.

Gladdy Becker was more than surprised to see Amy Sindell at her house midmorning. Gladdy recovered soon enough, patted the hair on top of her head down into place, and invited her caller in as she smoothed her apron over her full muslin skirt. She was a little unsure where to have her guest sit, not that there was a lot of choice. The first floor of Gladdy’s house had only one big room, a bedroom, and a mud-porch in the back. The kitchen, the dining table, and the stone fireplace with a few chairs by it filled the main room. Gladdy decided the visit from Amy must be pretty important, so she asked her to please be seated by the fireplace. It seemed more formal than at the table, where family and close friends usually gathered.

After looking around the comfortable but plain room, Amy took time to shake her cape off and fold it across the back of the chair on which she was going to sit. Once settled, she pulled the handkerchief from her sleeve, gently dabbed at her cheeks and neck, and then fussed with it as she tucked it back into her sleeve. She shrugged herself into the chair some more and began nervously tapping the toe of her right boot on the floor. Finally, she got to the point of her visit.

When Amy first told Gladdy about Michael and Elizabeth, the boy’s mother refused to believe it. Of course, Amy didn’t let on that Elizabeth wasn’t pregnant. Gladdy thought her son had more sense than to get mixed up with any of the Sindells, and that’s just about the way she put it to Amy. Then there were some mighty hot words exchanged, a lot of which weren’t usually uttered by Christian women. Amy made some pretty nasty accusations about Michael, and Gladdy had a few choice words about Elizabeth. The conversation ended when Amy tossed her cape back over her shoulders and stormed out of Gladdy’s house, her mission accomplished. She had vented her anger at Gladdy, and she had stirred up a hornet’s nest in the Becker household.

Gladdy could hardly wait to get her husband alone in their bedroom that night to tell him about Amy’s visit. Amos got so mad, his voice cracked in the middle of a swear word. He put his pants and boots back on and pulled Michael out of bed by his ear. He hauled the boy out to the barn, but the rest of the family heard every word, nonetheless.

After he confirmed Amy Sindell’s story, Amos pretty well whipped the dickens out of his son. The father was hurt, angry, shocked, ashamed, and disappointed. He didn’t get much sleep for the rest of the night. He was still tired the next morning and probably wasn’t thinking too clearly when Samuel Sindell rode over to the gristmill to talk about buying or renting Becker’s quarter section, or else! Of course Amos refused, but Sindell suggested Becker think it over for a while, but not more than a few days, just in case an emergency wedding was needed. None of the Sindells had let on that Elizabeth wasn’t pregnant; they wanted the Beckers to sweat it out, and sweat they did. That was another sleepless night for Amos and Gladdy. She carried on about Christian duty, and about Michael and Elizabeth loving each other. Finally, she said that a baby of that union would still be their grandchild and that Gladdy and Amos couldn’t turn their backs on their own grandbaby. That last argument really got to Amos; he almost broke down and cried for his son and his grandchild, reckoning that the Sindells in their meanness might not let them see Michael’s baby.

The following morning, Amos realized how much he despised Samuel Sindell and the whole Sindell clan. What did he care if there was a scandal about Elizabeth and Michael? Elizabeth had more to lose than Michael did, since she would be considered a loose woman. Michael was just sowing his wild oats. Believing that, yet not quite sure that Samuel wouldn’t do something worse, and hating Samuel Sindell more every hour, Amos finally realized that the only way to get any peace for himself and his family was for him to make