The Farmer's Daughter: Becky's Story

By Cordelia Jackson

Seventeen-year-old Becky Campbell could never have guessed how her life would change when she saw that car billowing dust behind it that hot August summer 1977 afternoon. Toby Mountgomery, a medical student, burst into her life, and she and her family would be forever changed by the event of that first week.

Follow Becky through the twist and turns of that fall and winter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514409831

Cordelia Jackson

Cordelia Jackson, the author, took her pen name from her great-great-grandmother’s name. Grew up and currently lives in Barry County, Missouri, graduating from high school in 1977. She has been blissfully married to her soul mate, Bill, for fifteen years. Her son and wife and baby girl lives in Colorado. This is her first published book. Writing has always been her goal, and she is thrilled to share with you her first book.

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The Farmer's Daughter

Becky's Story

Cordelia Jackson

Copyright © 2015 by Cordelia Jackson.

ISBN:      Softcover   978-1-5144-0984-8

                 eBook         978-1-5144-0983-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 09/23/2015

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A cloud of dust slowly billowing along the roadway heralded the arrival of visitors. Seventeen year old Becky Campbell rocked back in her chair on the porch, sipping her sweet iced tea, idly playing out in her mind who would dare the muggy 1977 August heat as a huge bead of sweat rolled down her neck and between her breasts, further drenching her already soaking shirt. It couldn't be kinfolk or neighbors; they'd have more sense than to be out in the heat of the day unless it was an emergency, in which case they'd be moving a whole lot faster down the road. Whoever it was, they must be half crazy. It hadn't rained in weeks in the Ozarks and the parched earth cried out for mercy. Even the dogs found it too unbearably hot and humid to get far from the shade of the porch.

The vehicle finally rounded the last corner and started up the long driveway. Yep, they were crazy all right, and not from around here. Folks around these parts favored sturdy pickup trucks and station wagons, not little sports cars that wouldn't hold up six months traveling over these rough roads. So, it must be a traveling salesman of some type: encyclopedias, vacuum cleaners, brooms and brushes, some college kid trying to earn his way by selling to poor farmers with large families. It happened pretty much every year about this time. Becky grinned ruefully and shook her head as she walked into the farmhouse. Just because her Dad wasn't likely to fall for the sales pitch didn't mean she couldn't freshen up a bit and look more presentable when the poor fool arrived. Cutoff shorts were no way to meet company, no matter how crazy they were. She almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

From her bedroom window, as she mopped the sweat off her chest and neck and changed her shirt and into a pair of faded blue jeans, she could see her father slowly making his way to the young man's car. With a shock she realized her father was aging suddenly, like an old dependable tractor that had just a few too many years and repairs to work properly. When had THAT happened?? Maybe Becky had been a bit too preoccupied with wanting to be free like the other kids her age and too resentful of the workload put on her since her Mom got cancer three years ago and died last year. The younger sister and twin brothers weren't going to raise themselves after all.

Becky had stepped up and tried to fill her Mom's shoes around the house and farm, but there was a lot she hadn't learned from her mother before the cancer struck and the slow slipping away had commenced. By the time she admitted that her Mom was wasting away, it was too late to try to get thirty-eight years of knowledge pulled out and written down. Brian Campbell was in a depressed daze, just trying to keep putting one foot in front of the other till the kids were all grown.

Lost in thought, Becky automatically spritzed on a bit of cologne, and then she made a face. Why on earth had she done that? This poor goober of a salesman would think she'd done that to impress him, when nothing could be further from the truth. Just because she wanted to look presentable didn't mean she was hoping the stranger would be a good-looking nice guy; it was just that all the guys around here were either kin to her or might as well have been, they'd all grown up together and knew each other better than they knew themselves. Few people moved into the area each year, most had been here for generations. The few who did move in always fascinated Becky. What had the kids done to make their parents move them out to such a secluded area? Or was it something the parents had done? Either way, it was best to treat all newcomers with a bit of suspicion till you had all the facts.

The young man had gotten out of his car and was shaking her father's hand, then putting his arm under her father's arm to steady him as they headed for the house, carrying a large case in his other hand. Yep, a salesman for sure, but if her father needed help getting to the house, it sure wasn't going to come from a stranger, not while Becky had two good arms and legs. She hurried to the front door of the house and held open the screen door as the two men made their way onto the porch. The young man nodded to Becky without a word and came on into the house, assisting her father to his recliner. My goodness! Becky had never seen eyes so blue that you could literally drown in them; it quite took her breath away. And oh my, how tall he was! She shook her head, cleared her throat, and mumbled her thanks for his help. Her father glanced at her and she hurried into the kitchen, returning with iced sweet tea for both of the men, then perched herself on the edge of her Dad's chair, swinging one leg to and fro, waiting to see what the sales pitch would be this year. Brian Campbell was no fool; he should make quick work getting rid of this interloper.

My name is Toby Marshall, the young man began, and I represent the World Book Encyclopedia. I'm selling these books to pay my way through college. I'm a second year medical student at the University of Missouri in Columbia. I know that these books are expensive, but the company has a very affordable payment plan, and the knowledge contained within these books can help equalize the playing field between your children and the ones who grow up near large libraries. I spent many a summer at my grandparents' farm, and pored over their encyclopedias to open up a whole world of information I would otherwise not have been exposed to, which is why I chose to sell these books to other families with kids who have a thirst for knowledge.

Becky felt her Dad flinch at the sound of Toby's words. Yes, they did live quite a ways from the nearest library, and maybe chores came first around here instead of expanding their minds' horizons but Toby didn't have to hurt the old man just to make a sale. Anybody who knew her father knew he was doing his level best to provide for his children the best he could! They raised nearly all their own food, and even though Becky might not know a lot about canning, she'd figured out tons of ways to freeze stuff for the winter. Between a huge garden, butchering a steer and hog every fall, and thirty or so chickens every summer, they did pretty well. They had their own fresh milk, eggs and butter, too.

Who did this guy think he was, anyhow? She started to say something, but her Dad put his hand on her arm to still her. Boy, I know you're right about these kids needing to learn more than they can teach them at school. Jobs around these parts are hard to come by, and most people just take what they can find and are stuck there. I want better for my kids, true, but I have to be realistic in what I can afford to provide for them, too.

Toby's face flushed; he hadn't meant to shame the old man, after all.