Sally Matilda: The Thomas Sisters, #2

By Kathryn Spurgeon

A Short Story.  Sally Matilda, once a high school football queen, marries the school's most handsome running back. Her perfect life shatters when he falls into abusiveness and addictions. How will she respond when a life-changing crisis arises?

THE FIVE THOMAS SISTERS

Each of the Thomas sisters faces extreme circumstances that test their faith. Living in Oklahoma during the 1930s Dust Bowl makes these issues more challenging.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Memory House Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Dec 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9780997334777

Kathryn Spurgeon

Kathryn Spurgeon, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, is a Christian historical novelist. An award winning author, she has published hundreds of devotionals, poems, articles and short stories. She and her husband have six children and twelve grandchildren. They help international college students and make their home in Edmond, Oklahoma. Visit her website at www.kathrynspurgeon.com

Book preview

Sally Matilda Thomas Ready

Born January 10, 1888

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Chapter 1

July 1930

I stood at the front door of our ramshackle house and yelled at the second born of my four boys. Thomas, go fetch a bucket of water! The kids lounged on the porch steps in the late afternoon looking so much alike with their overalls hanging over bare feet and their skin tanned darker than mine. They were as handsome as their father. I wished we could do more for them, but we didn’t have much besides this shack in the far southwest corner of Oklahoma.

I hoped the ‘30s would usher in good luck and a better life for my family. Almost forty-two years old now, I was hankering for some quiet living in this farmhouse near Hollis, but that wasn’t likely to happen in our home. Not until the man I’d chosen for a husband came to his senses.

Ah, Ma. Thomas could whine like a champ. It’s Junior’s turn.

Frank Junior, my youngest boy at eight years old, sat on the front steps and looked up at me with his sweet, compelling grin. My baby boy hardly ever did anything wrong, if you know what I mean. Fights were his siblings’ fault, and even though he was prone to pick on his big brothers, I overlooked it. His puppy dog eyes pleaded with me, even though it probably was his turn to fetch the water.

I looked back at Thomas, the fifteen-year-old, and shook my head. I didn’t want to get the water myself. My middle stuck out so far I couldn’t move faster than a snail. After so many pregnancies, I should have been accustomed to feeling huge as a mama bear, but each pregnancy drew out a little more of my irritation. Irritation aimed at an old man who wouldn’t take care of the young ‘uns he already had.

Your pa’ll be home sometime tonight, and I bet he’ll want a glass of cool water. Not to mention I need water for supper.

Thomas muttered, Bettin’ he’ll be full of whiskey instead of water.

I lowered my chin and lifted my eyebrows at him. Thomas ducked and slithered off.

Howard, my oldest, inched to the side edge of the long, wooden porch. I knew what he was doing. Sneaking off to see a girl in town. Mattie Neal, I suspected. He’d had his hair cut by my brother-law, Tommy Akin, taken his weekly bath without arguing, and been gone almost every Friday night for the past month. Howard, you get home before supper, you hear? Don’t need you getting in trouble with those drunken hooligans stirring the town.

Yes, ma’am. Howard took off toward the road.

Glad I had taught the boys manners along the way. They knew not to talk back to me. Even at my age and in my condition, I could outwrestle any one of them, or at least I’d convinced them I could. Fortunately, they hadn’t tested me in a while.

I hollered, And if you see your pa, remind him to get home early for supper.

Howard practically ran toward the dirt road and almost bumped into the fence post. I declare, that boy was as tenacious and headstrong as his mama.

That’s how I am, headstrong. I’ll be who I am, and who I want to be, but whoever in blazes named me Sallie Matilda Thomas had no idea of my personality. Never have been a Sallie. Never will be. Mama learned right early how headstrong I was, and agreed to shorten my name to Till.

It took years for me to wake up to the fact that most of my troubles were by my own doing. Like jumping off the horse before it completely stopped or traipsing out after midnight to meet my honey. And after years of trouble, of all things, I was dragged into believing in Jesus, and all through those trying times, I prayed he’d be there when I needed him.

I backed into the house and watched through the window as Howard disappeared on the dusty road and Thomas sauntered toward the water well. Then I gazed past the boys at the golden sunset lighting up the wide-open prairie for miles around on all sides, streaking it with a blaze of pink and purple. I stilled and heard a covey of quail in the distance. Beauty took snatches of my day, and I pulled in a deep breath. The place cottoned to splendor in the evenings when I had time to gaze upon it.

My attention went back to my boys. They were all good-looking boys, smart boys, and someday they’d turn girls’ heads. Looked like Howard already had. Maybe soon,