A Common Bond of Collective Memories

By Marie McGifford

Short stories encompass a body of work that reflects easy characterization. These short stories are considered a brief flash of lengthy experiences and some are crafted to define my personal expression and artistic passion for writing. While reading through this short story book, my intent is for readers to find comfort, humor, encouragement, inspiration, and most of all witness the love and the power of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493186907

Book preview

A FLAW REPUTATION

I felt proud of myself; I earned a great reputation in the eyes of my neighbors, friends, coworkers and family. I won awards, trophies, and received certificates. I’d become well known in public, but behind closed doors there was something different going on.

I had a reputation of being a vegetarian. My calendar was full with various appointments to coordinate vegetarian luncheons, dinners, parties and public speaking engagements. Every meeting I conducted, my guest would invariably expect my vegetarian menus that would consist of examples such as:

These vegetarian meals gave many options that everyone loved. When I would hear of how much my friends, coworkers, neighbors and family appreciated my services, this would bring a smile to my face. I would serve many samples of these tasty dishes and my guest would often say, Have a seat and join us. I would give a hearty laugh and in return say, I’ll eat soon thank you. There were others that would compliment me and say, Since you’ve become a vegetarian, your weight is coming down nicely. And I would say, Oh yes I’m a size smaller. There was a time in particular when one of my guests leaned over and whisper in my ear, Is that one of your smaller sized blouse you have on now? I quickly grabbed a hold to my blouse, subconsciously hoping my pins that were holding the top together were not showing; then I whispered something back that rationally saved the moment. Everyone always left satisfied, thanking me, and full of wonderful comments.

At my vegetarian seminars, we would discuss how healthy ways of eating can have a positive impact on your life; strengthen the heart, increase energy levels, help muscles in the body so they work more effectively, and so on. I would even comment on foods that were not healthy like: greasy foods, starchy foods, sweets, pork, and many other factors that have harmed us down through the years. Being overweight, no exercise, and not getting the proper rest are all examples that are linked to having an impact on your life in a negative way.

Many times after my meetings, I would return home hungry and tired. Now behind closed doors, there I was, flaw and eager to satisfy my cravings that were haunting me all day. We all have them! Flaws they are. Flaws are shortcomings or blemishes that are often concealed. Our shortcomings only stay impaired if we don’t work on them right? Well I’m working on mine. I orchestrate meetings to encourage healthier ways of eating; feeling confident that I will slowly but surely get there. As of today, nothing would stop me from preparing my personal meal that I’d been looking forward to all day long.

As I enter my kitchen, I pulled out my pots and pans and opened my refrigerator to make sure I had all the ingredients for my favorite meal. Smoked meat, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken and all the goodies for my homemade pound cake. Then I looked in the freezer making sure I had my Blue Bell butter pecan ice cream to go along with my cake for dessert. After preparing my meal, I looked at my table that was set with china ware and lit candles, kicked off my shoes with anticipation, took a seat and dug in. With no reservations, I took the first bite of my fried chicken. I was enjoying myself to the fullest and felt like Paula Dean; A queen of deep fry.

By Marie McGifford 01/14/2012

A SUMMER VACATION

TO REMEMBER

GRAYS LANDING

School was out for summer vacation, we ran out of our school building everybody screaming and shouting, School is over. One of the girls that really didn’t like me said in front of the other classmates, why are you so happy Marie you never go anywhere during our school breaks? I replied; We are going out of town to Grays Landing. Shirley laughed and said, Where is that, the next town over? The girls standing around laughed and I said, No Shirley, since you must know, it’s called Grays Landing, Pennsylvania when school starts back, you will hear all about it.

We are going to visit our cousins, aunt and uncle that summer and me and my brother, Earl was so excited, we could hardly wait. Grays Landing was a little coal miners town with approximately 300 people living there in the 50’s, and the closest large city was Pittsburgh. Another nearby city was Uniontown, which was our family’s hometown, where both my Grandmother’s lived and many other cousins, aunts and uncles.

When we got home from school we begin washing our clothes, ironing and packing. My mother had to do my hair, so after she shampooed, conditioned and dried my hair, then came time to press it with the hot comb. When she was done, it was pretty and I loved it. I jumped out the chair, gave mother a kiss and dashed off to the bathroom to take a bath. When we were all packed and ready to go, my father was waiting for my brother and I outside in the car. Mother leaned down kissed and hugged us and prayed that God would grant us protection and a good trip. She also gave us instructions on how to behave, to be helpful, respectful and to always use our manners. So off we went to the Greyhound bus depot. When we arrived, dad handed us our tickets and we said our goodbyes.

As we traveled we saw many sights that you don’t see in a big city I kept hitting my brother and pointing as we passed farm houses with large front porches and three or four rocking chairs on their porches. We also passed many corn fields, cows, horses, white wood fences and red barns. We ate our snacks then fell asleep. My big brother woke me up and pointed out the window at a gigantic billboard that said WELCOME TO PENNSYLVANIA THE LAND OF KEY STONE STATE. YES, I hollered. Then my brother laughed heartily at my excitement.

When we entered the city of Pittsburgh, I saw tall mountains and an elevator going up on the side of the mountain. That’s scary, I thought, I like flat land. As we continued to travel, I asked my brother what is at the end of a steep mountain when we get to the very top. A big drop he said. I hid my face as we approached a mountain, then descending down, I felt my stomach drop.

We finally arrived in the town of Grays Landing, Pennsylvania; our relatives were all waiting. We all hugged and greeted my aunt, uncle and our five cousins. In my little heart I whispered a prayer of thankfulness for a safe trip. After the long ride, I needed to use the bathroom. My cousin Cheryl took me outside of the house and we stood in front of a tall shed or stall; she handed me the roll of toilet paper I grabbed it, opened the door and felt for the light switch. It was pitch dark! It was a large round hole in the ground and it smelled bad. Dirt ground floors, yuck; where’s the tile floors, I thought to myself. When I finished, I ran out of there. When the stall door slammed I looked back in disbelief and let her know that I needed to wash my hands. OK follow me she said. We were not walking towards the house. We kept walking and then we were standing in front of a well. We don’t have running water, we use this she said, handing me some soap and using the stationary pump attached to the well. Cheryl pumped the water into a bucket and poured the water over my hands. As I shook them dry, I told her that I needed to call my mom and dad to let them know we made it safe. Again she said, Follow me. And again we were not going in the direction of the house. We went down the hill and when we reached the bottom, we turned left went down another hill, turned left and entered a grocery store just right off of the dirt road. Wow, I thought. Everyone spoke as my cousin introduced me to the store keeper and let him know we needed to use the phone. My cousin took me behind the counter and straight to the back of the store. It was good hearing mom’s voice and I let her know we made it safe.

We begin walking back towards the house and up the hill. It seemed harder going up than walking down. When we got to the top, we turned right toward the house and then I saw it all. The outhouse, and across from the front porch of the house, the well stood with the bucket and the pump attached to the well; also the