Tales Of Comfort

By J Merritt

Within these pages are tales of comfort, tender and stirring stories, and essays. Each heartwarming tale enriches and uplifts the soul, presenting the planting of good seeds into the lives of others. These stories will not only be an inspiration but will also motivate the reader to reach for the higher good.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781684980116

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Puppy Dog

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

The Funeral

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Ten Years

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Epilogue

The Gloves

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

God's Eternal Grace

Mama

About the Author

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Tales Of Comfort

J Merritt

Copyright © 2022 J Merritt

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-68498-010-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-68498-011-6 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Acknowledgments

To my husband, Charlie, who always encourages me to write.

To my closest friend, Anne, who listened and edited over and over again for me. Thank you.

Puppy Dog

Chapter 1

Lucy Raye bounced out of bed and ran out of her bedroom down the hall into the kitchen. There was her mother standing over the stove frying bacon, and her father reading the newspaper. Her brother was eating his French toast and didn't even look up to speak.

Good morning, precious girl, her mother greeted her. Come give me a morning hug. Lucy threw herself into her mother's arms. She adored her mother. With her eight-year-old body, she stood on her tippy-toes, but her mother still had to lean over in order to hug her.

I'll have your French toast ready in just a minute.

Yummy, Lucy replied.

Hello, cute girl, her daddy said. Don't I warrant a hug?

Lucy skipped to his chair, and he leaned over and kissed her cheek tenderly.

Hey, Skipper, she said to her brother. He was eleven and too involved in gobbling up his French toast to give anything but a grunt for a good morning.

It was a beautiful spring day in central Florida in Sanford. The temperature was perfect, and it was Saturday, so there was no school. Lucy was excited and had already decided she would invite Sandy Robinson, her best friend, over to play. Sandy and her family lived just a block away. The girls could cut through a neighbor's yard and be at each other's houses in less than ten minutes. If you ran, you could make it even faster.

Mama, can I call Sandy and see if she'd like to come over and play?

Yes, that would be fine, Lucy. Your father and Skipper are going to play a round of golf. Isn't that right, Warren?

With that, Skipper looked up at his dad and said, I sure hope so. I am really looking forward to it.

His father winked at their mother and said, Of course, we are going. I just hope I can still shoot lower than Skipper. It's getting embarrassing to play worse than my eleven-year-old son. Warren and Lucille laughed. She smiled broadly at her husband and told them to have a good time.

What are your plans today, Lucille?

I think I am going to sew and make that dress I have been talking about. Our big spring party is in two weeks, and I still have a lot of preparations to do.

Lucy finished her French toast and called Sandy to see if she were still coming over. The answer was yes, and she would be there in thirty minutes. Her mother was making her clean up her room first.

Lucy went to her bedroom, picked out some shorts, a top, and quickly dressed. It was already barefoot weather, and she loved it. Out the front door she went, letting the screen door slam behind her. Lucy whistled, and bounding around the side yard came Bingo, running to her master. She was a beautiful Dalmatian, her spots perfectly spaced on her body. Lucy got down on the grass, and the two of them tumbled around together. Bingo was not yet a year old, and Lucy's mother promised her they would breed her in another year. Lucy was so excited. She could not wait for Bingo to have puppies.

Lucy talked to Bingo as if she understood every word. The dog would sit right in front of Lucy, rubbing her paw in the dirt and looking into Lucy's eyes as if she did understand every word.

The dog was very smart, and Warren had spent a great deal of time training Bingo. Not only could she do the normal dog tricks, she understood no and was extremely obedient.

Warren always said, Dogs are like people, only likeable if trained properly. In fact, Bingo was so trained that when the Rayes had guests over, they would show her off, getting Bingo to do her tricks which certainly amused their friends. One particular trick Warren was proud of was the steak trick. He would put a steak on a plate on the floor and tell Bingo no, and then have everyone leave the room. Bingo would be in her same frozen position when everyone came back into the room. Whether she licked it or not, no one ever knew! But she never ever ate the steak. Good dog.

Sandy's coming over today, and she'll probably bring that naughty little dog of hers, Buttons. Just ignore him, Bingo. I know he's irritating. Lucy hugged her dog and heard Sandy in the backyard.

I'm around in the front, Lucy hollered to Sandy.

Chapter 2

The neighbors directly across the street from the Rayes were the Palmers. Olive Palmer peered over the rim of her glasses, looked out her front window, and said to her husband, Hubert, There they are, those naughty little girls. Don't they have anything better to do than hang around in their front yard? Why the Rayes had to move across the street from us, I will never understand. Four long years, four long years, and still here worrying the life out of me! It makes my blood pressure rise just to see that little Lucy bounce out of their front door. I told her mother as much too. Didn't faze her. She just smiled.

Does she really bother you that much, Olive? You've got to get over it. They're just children playing. They are not even thinking about you.

Hmm, Olive retorted back to Hubert. They get on our side yard too, you know, and play behind our house by the railroad track. I don't like it.

There was an old unused railroad track behind all the houses across the street from the Rayes' house all the way down to the Holloman's at the corner. The track hadn't been used in years. A lot of debris and bushes had grown up around the track. The girls loved playing there and had built a fort.

The neighborhood was filled with stucco houses built in the 1930s, all painted different colors. Nearly all the homes on the Rayes' entire block were filled with retirees, mostly professionals, whose children were all grown and had moved away. In fact, Sandy was the only one of two little girls Lucy's age within walking distance of their houses. The other girl played with Sandy and Lucy on occasion, but generally, it was just Lucy and Sandy that got together on a daily basis. This had a lot to do with the fact that their parents were friends as well. All other visiting little girls had to be driven over by their parents by car.

Valencia Drive was a beautiful street that wound around in a circle, ending at the end of the street into the cabbage fields. The cabbage was lined up in perfect parallel rows of eight or ten, and then separated by a row of trees, only to begin again with another eight or ten parallel rows of cabbage. This area remained like this during the 1950s. But by the mid-1960s, long after the Rayes had moved, much smaller government homes were built in the cabbage fields, and the ambience of the neighborhood lost its charm. All the old neighbors on Valencia Drive had died or moved away, and the stucco homes fell into disrepair. Even the name of the street was changed.

But for Lucy, Bingo, and Sandy, every day was an adventure. Every house on the street had detached garages at the end of the driveway on the side of the house. Each house on the street had some special addition, an overhang to play on, a low roof to climb up on, an exciting garage to get into, or a small pond to play by.

One house in particular had an outdoor porch that they climbed up to from the back stucco stairs that wound around to the front of the house, and from the top, you could see the street. It was like a castle, and one felt like a queen on the top of her turret. Most of the houses were very close together except for the Palmer home. It had a large side yard where you could play ball or run as fast as you could playing tag, and even the dogs joined in. It was such fun to fall down in their lush green grass and roll over and over.

An added treat was that all the neighbors' yards were filled with citrus trees laden with luscious fruit, theirs for the picking. Every day, the girls would fill up on kumquats, tangerines, an orange or two, Florida cherries, Japanese plums from a loquat tree, and one man even grew little cherry tomatoes that were delicious. The girls had to be careful not to get caught as they filled their stomachs with the forbidden delights.

Most of the neighbors ignored the mischievous little girls. Sometimes Sandy and Lucy would go up to the doors of their neighbors and ask if they could have some fruit. The neighbors would always give permission but told them to be careful in their yards. They never did damage anything.

But Olive Palmer was selfish and mean to the children. She said she needed all her fruit as she mailed it off to relatives in other states. Naturally, this made the girls mad as she had the only kumquat tree on the street.

It was heavy with fruit, and each season, the girls watched much of the