Hettie’S Powers

By Arline R. Gaugler

This story takes place in a small town in the late 1950s through 1970. The main character, Henrietta W. Brooks, who is affectionately called Hettie by her friends, lives in rural American with her parents. She is immersed in a small community with common, down-to-earth people who adore her.

Hettie loves people and she has a special gift for communication. She develops a strong, dynamic personality as she grows and matures. Many who know her describe Hettie as having an extraordinary power of persuasion. Hettie is very intelligent, but most importantly, she has good common sense.

When Hettie reaches her thirties, some big changes occur in her life. This amazing story chronicles her ability to live a very happy life through it all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781503520370

Arline R. Gaugler

Arline Gaugler began writing her first manuscript for a book in 1992 shortly after she retired from working at the age of sixty-four. In total, Arline has written twelve manuscripts, which have all remained unpublished until her self-published Benjamin Makes His Mark in late 2012. At the age of eighty-four, Arline Gaugler was finally able to see her dream of publishing her first book come to pass. Arline was born in Bally, Pennsylvania, in 1928 and lived with her parents, Eva Reigner Gaugler and Harry Warmuth Gaugler, for her entire life. Arline was never married and did not have any children. She began reading paperback novels after the death of her mother in 1992 and then decided she wanted to write books. Stories of the past that her parents and grandparents shared with her were precious to her, and they became the focus of her writing. Arline worked most of her life as a telephone operator before the time of automatic call switching. She connected callers by manually plugging in phone lines to complete the connection. She originally worked for the Conestoga Telephone Company in Sassamansville and later in their Boyertown office in rural Pennsylvania. When technology eliminated the need for manual switch operators, Arline finished her communications career as a private switchboard operator for C. S. Garber & Sons Inc. well drillers in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. Arline believes that anyone who has words stored in their hearts should share them with the world no matter what their age. It took Arline eighty-four years to make her mark.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Here she is, Henrietta W. Brooks, thirty-six years old, everyone close to her telling her she is attractive and should start to get a life, meaning she should put some spice into her life.

Since Howard Loring passed away in a car accident at the young age of twenty-nine (Hettie was thirty-three at that time), she has thrown herself into her job and seldom associated with anyone but the family, a few girlfriends and, later on, a friend from her school days—Bernie.

Bernie to her was more like a brother in her eyes, but let’s get back to Howard.

At first, Howard was just a childhood acquaintance. They became more friendly later on. He started calling on her, and they dated rather frequently. You couldn’t call it a closely knit relationship on her part, but she DID know that he had fallen in love with her. Then she herself started experiencing feelings that had never existed in her life before.

When Howard died, the loss was devastating, but with her friends’ encouragement, she came to the realization that she MUST pull herself out of her rut, or she would be miserable the rest of her life. From here on in, she would smile a big smile to everyone who crossed her path. She would acknowledge even strangers. Also at first, unknownst to Hettie, her smiles helped to make her a very popular and dynamic woman.

Hettie had always been a caring person, but now, she was warm and outgoing as well.

I should explain her nickname. HETTIE was started by Grandfather Ammon Brooks. Thereafter, everyone called her Hettie EXCEPT her parents. They still call her Henrietta.

Hettie has one brother, Westley Brooks, age thirty-four. He is married to Jennifer, who is thirty-three years of age. Westley and Jenny have two children: a daughter, Stephanie Brooks, eleven years old, we call her Steffie (well, most of the family do), and a son, Parker Brooks, who is eight years old.

Hettie’s parents are a perfect couple, at least in her eyes. Her father, Roger Brooks, is now sixty-two years old, and her mother, Amy Weatherly Brooks, is now fifty-eight years old.

Hettie is thirty six years old.

Her parents first met at the library here in Bladesville, Pennsylvania, where Amy was working. She was in charge of it. Amy was twenty–one, and Roger was twenty-five years old. Amy was an only child, the daughter of Jonathan Weatherly and Kirstan McFadden-Weatherly. Jonathan is now seventy-six, Kirstan seventy-five years old. Hettie’s grandfather is a retired grade school teacher, while his wife worked in an office at the high school and retired before Amy was born.

Now Hettie’s grandparents do volunteer work. Presently, they help serve Meals on Wheels for the senior citizens of our town, which is handled at the senior center in town.

Hettie’s grandfather, Ammon Brooks, was seventy-five when he passed away. Her father, Roger, was fifty-two years old then. Her grandmother, Katie Logan Brooks, passed away before her husband. She was seventy-four when she died.

Hettie’s father, Roger, had worked for his father, Ammon, all his life in his father’s grocery store.

I forgot to mention, Hettie loved both sets of grandparents equally and had a difficult time dealing with the emptiness she felt when they lost Katie and Ammon.

Roger inherited his dad’s grocery store when his father passed away. His brothers never cared for the grocery business, so their dad started those two up in businesses that they cared for.

Roger’s brother Herbert wanted to be a good carpenter, so his father paid for education in that field. Before long, Herbert was a successful builder. His brother Samuel Brooks chose to open a business selling feed, grain, and hardware all wrapped up in one place.

Sam made it a huge success too after his dad started him off financially. The business is located on the edge of town, on Creamery Road. There is good farmland surrounding the town, as well as large dairy and chicken farms.

Dad and Mother own some of the farmland, a few acres. We go out there to relax and have a picnic.

Uncle Herbert is now sixty-five, and his wife Joan is fifty-nine years old. Joan works in a bank. They have two children, a daughter Patricia Patty Brooks Showalter, who is married to Dan Showalter. Patty is thirty-eight. They have a son, Herbert Herbie. He is now seventeen.

Uncle Herbert’s son Randall Randy Brooks is thirty-nine years old. Randy is married to Lucy Kerns. They have two children: JoAnn Jo Brooks, who is eighteen, and John Johnny Brooks, who is sixteen years old.

Getting back to Samuel Brooks, he married Annie Hofman. Annie Brooks is sixty years old, and Sam is sixty-three. They never had children.

Besides the business on Creamery Road, they have a bed-and-breakfast business in their home.

The boardinghouse is for overnight travelers or whoever wants to have a room. In some cases, they stay a few days. They are only served breakfast. Some people refer to it as a bed-and-breakfast place. Annie’s Boardinghouse is the name of the establishment and is run mostly be Annie herself. Besides Sam, she has no other help.

I want to tell you about our town, Bladesville, Pennsylvania. It is a small town. On Main Street, we have a post office, OUR grocery store, a gift shop, two shoe stores—well, actually only one. The other is a shoe department in a department store. The large department store is also on Main Street, along with a drugstore that has a nice lunch counter, and there is the seafood house restaurant.

On DeVeto Street is the Italian restaurant called Mammas. They also have very good food and is a popular place to get takeout food. Pizza, for instance, is a big takeout item. Young people often stop in for pizza and a soda after bowling or a movie and so forth.

There is an elegant restaurant on Oak Street that goes by the name of The Oak Cluster. It too has excellent food. I think the restaurant got its name because of a cluster of large oak trees nearby on Oak Street. That property was made into a small park.

There is a large bandstand in the middle of the park—some call it a gazebo—which Uncle Herbert built. There are several park benches surrounding the park just off the sidewalks. Sometimes in the summer, an ice cream vendor comes by. People bring beach chairs when a band is scheduled to play.

There is a tennis court, newspaper office, and a bowling alley on Button Avenue.

The police department and town hall are on Second Street. Attached to the town hall is a youth and senior center. The huge parking lot is macadamized, and a part of it is used by the shoppers.

Dr. Boyer’s office, a family doctor, is on Fifth Street. Also, the dentist, Dr. Burns, is on this street.

The two churches are on Blade Street, along with some fine, stately old houses and a flower shop.

The beauty shop and barber shop are side by side on Sixth Street. The firehouse, ambulance building, movie theater, and dry cleaners are on Fourth Street.

The schools are located on Walnut Street.

Uncle Sam and Aunt Annie’s boardinghouse is located on Maple Avenue, which is just off Main Street. Next to it is a gas station and garage. There is also a small convenience store nearby that sells bread, milk, luncheon meats, cheese, sodas, the daily newspaper, and that sort of thing.

The bank is located on Bank Street, which has old, large, and beautifully maintained houses.

On Locust Street, we have a blacksmith shop run by the veterinarian’s son, James Harner. Since most of the farmers have tractors these days, his business usually comes from horseback riding. He shoes horses by appointment only these days. Jimmy also has boarding stables that can be rented, besides boarding and taking care of other people’s horses. He has a good business. A lot of people arrange to go riding there. It is so nice to walk by there when the tall locust trees, the lush green land, and trees as far as the eye can see are in bloom. It is a truly wonderful land to go horseback riding on.

Doctor William Harner, the veterinarian who is Jimmy’s father, operates his business there too, next to Jimmy’s office.

Well, I think I have covered all the important landmarks, the businesses, and the family tree.

I have been working in my dad’s store even before I graduated from high school. Now I have charge of the office and all the paperwork for dad. Once in a while, I help with other things on a Saturday morning like stocking shelves or something.

The office is located one flight up, and it has windows surrounding it that we are able to look out over the store. Many a time I glance out the window, someone will be waving up at me.

We have very good employees. I think a lot of it can be contributed to the way Dad and Grandfather treated them through the years. They all get a bonus around Christmas time, and their paychecks are nothing to sneeze at either. We have some elderly employees who have been with our store for years, and they still get as much accomplished as the young ones.

*     *     *

Mother, I won’t be home for supper tonight. Mary’s husband is out of town for Reserves Weekend. Remember, after military service, he had signed up for the reserves, and so every now and again, it means a weekend out of town for him. She doesn’t want to eat alone tonight again, so I promised I will meet her at the Italian restaurant, and then we will go to the movies after we eat. She has been waiting for this movie to come to town, and it’s here now. I better be going if I want to be in the office by seven o’clock. I see Dad already left.

All right, dear. Oh, Henrietta, you wanted me to remind you to take along your good green dress to drop off at the dry cleaners!

Gee, thanks, Mom. SEE, I would have forgotten it. And she dashed up the stairs for the dress. Amy, her mother, gathered the breakfast dishes and started with the Friday cleaning. Since they have their main cooked dinner at suppertime, perhaps Roger would be in favor, she thought, of going out for supper tonight too since Henrietta wasn’t coming home.

Amy thought, Boy, could I eat a good seafood meal without cooking it myself. I guess I’ll call Roger at lunchtime and see if he approves.

Hettie had a very full day in the office, but everything was running smoothly.

Why is it that Friday seems to be the busiest day in the store? Well, for that matter, all over town. The traffic is terrible too. Time to close the office finally arrived. I met Mary at Mammas restaurant. We were both starved, and we stuffed ourselves with spaghetti and garlic bread. We decided to eat garlic on our salads too since neither of us had a man to go home to this evening. We had some time before the movie started, so we walked around town a bit, window-shopping. We even stopped in to see Aunt Annie before we drove to the theater. After the show, I followed Mary’s car to her house. She felt better about going into an empty house with me along. I promised I would come over tomorrow night, and we would play cards or something. It had been a very funny movie, but each time I set foot in a theater, I think of Howard Loring.

I hope I will overcome Howard someday.

I believe that night air did you some good, Henrietta! I can’t remember when you stayed in bed this long on a Saturday morning unless you weren’t sleeping but sitting at your desk.

"No, Mother, I WAS in bed. I could really lay this morning. Dad told me you two were going out for seafood last night, did you go?

Yes, we went. We haven’t been there for quite some time. I always enjoy their coleslaw. I assume they use heavy cream.

Yeah, Mom, I agree, but I’m glad you don’t use it when you make coleslaw. We don’t need all that fat, besides, yours is great as it is. What is there to clean? I’ll tackle it right away.

Nothing left to do, dear. I finished what needed to be done yesterday.

Well then, Mother, I will get dressed and go out shopping. I will walk uptown to burn off some of my weight I must have gained last night.

CHAPTER 2

"Mother, Mary and I had a lovely evening. We really stuffed ourselves. It has been a long time since I had wine with my meal. And the movie was good. I don’t know when I laughed so hard. Howard and I used to go to the movies when there was a Western or comedy playing.

Is there anything you want me to get for you at the drugstore or anywhere? Or maybe you want to join me?

No, I don’t want anything, and I don’t know what your dad’s plans are for today. We might just take a drive to see the house Westley and his men are finishing up.

Okay, Mom. I decided to drive to the store and walk from there because I also want to stop in to see Dad. There was a question I had meant to ask him in the office yesterday.

*     *     *

Of all people to come into the store now, it’s Bernie.

He pretended he needed milk, but I know he has seen my car on the parking lot. He asked me out on a date. I was glad I had committed to being with Mary tonight. I like Bernie, but not the way he would like me to care for him. It’s the way he looks at me, sitting across the table from me in a restaurant.

I told Bernie I would go horseback riding some Sunday, but not tomorrow. I said he should give me a call sometime.

I think I will tell Mary to spend the night at our house. I’ll call her and arrange to pick her up. After we eat our supper, we can play cards, and then she can sleep in our guest room. Mother told me anytime I want to bring someone home for the night would be fine with her and Dad. In fact, on second thought, if Judy and Bob are free, I’ll ask them to come over to play cards about 7:00 p.m. I will run that by Mary first and see how she feels about it. If Bob doesn’t want to play, he can chat with Dad, and then Mother can join us girls.

Well, I guess I’m ready to do some shopping now.

Later

"Hi, Mom, Dad, I’m home. Gee, it was full of shoppers today. I found the cutest navy blue dress. It will go perfectly with my navy blue heels and handbag. Just perfect to wear on Easter to go to church. It is a material that can be worn all year around. I don’t usually find something I really like in the first store I shop in. This was different, my entire shopping today was a pleasure.

"I also bought nice costume jewelry