Life on Heartsville Farm

By K.L. Smith

Life on Heartsville Farm is a fictional novel that tells of a family's first year on a small farm in eastern North Carolina. It is a sequel to Life Behind the Train Station. The story picks up where the first book ended. The Lister family moves to the farm seeking refuge from the prejudices and evil acts committed against them. The family is full of hope that they will be able to live a life of peace and acceptance in a community that accepts people based on their values as fellow human beings free from prejudices and hatred. The story unfolds in the early 1950s and is told mostly through the eyes of one of the young Lister girls. It highlights the challenges faced by the Lister family as they adapt to a new life on the farm. It details the hard work and struggles faced by each member of the family. Complications of family dynamics continues to place roadblocks in their lives that must be resolved, altered, or accepted. The Listers continue to practice their religion with prayers to seek strength and guidance from God. The Listers rely on faith and God's promises to navigate through the life that God has given them. Highlighted are the people that cross paths with the family in their new home. The Listers find many positive aspects to living in the rural community. The farm families concentrate on the enormous amount of work required to run their farms. There is little time to entertain hatred and prejudices. People are accepted without regard to their race, religion, economic status, or gender. Often the families gather to celebrate happy occasions. The families work together to harvest their crops. The community rallies together to offer support to those in need. They gather to mourn any sad times experienced by members of the community. Helping hands and loving hearts are common among the people of Heartsville. While there is no perfect place on earth, it is refreshing to find a community that lives by the golden rule to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In life, there are good people and bad people and people that can go either way. There will always be times of joy, times of laughter, times of sadness, and times of concern and worry. Heartsville is a community that allows peace and healing. It's just what the Listers needed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781643499352

Book preview

A New Beginning

The Lister family of seven was on their way to their new home in Heartsville. Everyone was quiet. Four-year-old Kaybaby was about to burst with anticipation. Her father, Leo, and mother, Gemmy, had been working to prepare a farm for the family to live. The Lister children had moved in temporarily with their great-aunt Eula at Gemmy’s family’s boarding house. Kaybaby watched the scenery pass the car windows. She was seeing a lot of wooded areas, cow pastures, and wide-open fields. This was very different than the neighborhood they were moving from.

Kaybaby had spent her four years of life in a two-story house behind Pineview train station. Nearly everything she knew and loved was there. The last memory at that house was of a brick crashing through their living room window and a cross burning in front of their house. Leo whisked the family away to the safety of Aunt Eula’s boarding house. He had sworn the family to silence about this event. Leo’s words were forever embedded in her mind. Keep your business to yourself. Stay in your place and stay away from wealthy people. Don’t volunteer any information about our Native American heritage. We are as much white as we are Native American. We are white enough that no one will suspect we are of any other descent. Many folks have a low opinion of other races. Wealthy folks look down on poor folks. Save yourselves a lot of grief by keeping your mouths shut.

Kaybaby remembered Ms. Estelle who lived next door to their former home. She had taught the Lister children that God loved all people equally. Kaybaby remembered that God puts us where he wants us to be, and he will provide our needs wherever we are. God knows better than anyone, who and what are right for us. Kaybaby knew she had to trust and obey God. She hated that she no longer had Ms. Estelle to go to for hugs and to answer questions or to explain anything that she was concerned about. Ms. Estelle had told the children that God was only a prayer away. Kaybaby knew she would have to talk to God more often at her new home.

Finally, Leo pulled off the highway onto a long, dusty dirt road. There were no houses along the road, just fields, pastures, and woods. They passed a house back up in a field.

Leo told the family, That’s where the Spencer family lives. They are a black family. I have met them, and they are good people. Will and Ethel Spencer are hardworking Christians. Will and his son, Russell, plowed our fields for us. He has horses and a plow. He is a full-time farmer. They have two daughters and a son. Nettie Belle is eleven years old, like Doodle. Emily is eight, and Russell is six years old. Will slaughters and processes hogs for everyone in this area. He uses the scaffolds mounted on our farm to process the hogs. There are big wash pots, or vats, at the scaffolds that are used for scalding the carcasses. Will said he can process ten hogs at a time. I figure we can raise hogs and get Will to process them for us. We’ve got a smokehouse behind the farmhouse for curing meat. We can save a lot of money on food by growing our own. The next farm will be ours. Jolly and his family live about two miles past us. The Spencer family is our closest neighbor. We’re about a mile past them.

Shortly, they pulled into the yard of their new home. It was a one-story, white wooden house with a red tin roof. Kaybaby saw their swing hanging on the front porch. There was a big barn in the yard across from the house. There was also a packhouse, smokehouse, and washhouse behind their new home. There were wide open fields, woods, and a creek running through the cow pasture. Kaybaby spied the outhouse and cringed at the thought of having to use it. She was looking forward to exploring every inch of their new home.

Leo parked the car beside the side-stoop of the house. The family entered the kitchen. Gemmy and Leo had placed all the furniture in readiness for the family. The kitchen was huge. Leo had installed an electric pump, so Gemmy could have a faucet and large kitchen sink. There was a big wood-burning heater on the side of the kitchen next to the long-screened porch. Beside the heater, there was a big box full of scrape blocks of wood from the furniture mill. These scrape wood blocks would fuel the two wood-burning heaters in the farmhouse. The dining table was in the middle of the kitchen. A large pantry was just off to the left side of the kitchen. Gemmy had put all the family’s food in the pantry, and there were still many empty shelves.

There were two easy chairs and two rocking chairs around the wood heater. Gemmy’s radio was setting on a table between the easy chairs. The kitchen looked so cozy. Kaybaby could imagine that the family would spend most of their leisure time in this big kitchen.

The long, screened back porch was awesome. Every room in the house had a door that led onto this wonderful porch. Leo had placed seven ladder-back chairs on the screened porch. There was a hand pump with a surrounding counter. Gemmy had placed drinking cups for each member of the family on the pump counter. Kaybaby drank a cup of water from the pump. It was much better tasting and cooler than the water that came out of the faucets at their former home.

Leo and Gemmy’s bedroom was next to the big kitchen. There was a twin bed for Phyllis at the foot of their bed.

There were no hallways in this house. The house was L-shaped. Each room was separated by a door. A huge living room was adjacent to Leo and Gemmy’s room. Leo had erected a wooden frame in one corner of the living room. Gemmy had installed drapes on the frame to separate Doodle’s room from the rest of the ample living room. There were two double beds in Doodle’s room. Male guest would use the second bed in Doodle’s room. The living room opened onto the front porch on one side and onto the screened back porch on the other side. There was a big wood-burning heater in the living room. There was a large box of wood blocks, like the one in the kitchen.

Next to the living room was the girl’s room. There were two double beds. Amber and Kaybaby would sleep on one bed and Pansy would sleep on the other. When female company came, the three Lister girls would sleep on one bed and the guest would have the other bed.

Next to the girls’ room was a smaller bedroom that Gemmy was using as a closet for the family. There were no closets in the farmhouse. Each room had some pegs on the wall for hanging clothes or coats. Gemmy had set up her sewing machine in the small room that they were using as a closet. Leo had built shelves and installed rods for hanging their clothes. All of Gemmy’s sewing supplies were in this room. The shelves held the family’s linens and bath towels. All the medical supplies and family toiletries were stored in this closet. Leo had built individual cubby shelves for each family member to store their personal items. Kaybaby loved this walk-in closet.

Kaybaby loved the long, screened back porch most of all. She loved that every room in the house had a door that opened onto this porch.

Kaybaby asked, May Pansy and I go out and look around?

Gemmy responded, You two can go, if you take Phyllis with you. I need Amber to help me with dinner. Don’t stay out too long. I’ll need you to set the table in about an hour.

Kaybaby was disappointed that Phyllis had to tag along. She was no fun. She couldn’t walk very fast and often wanted to be carried. Neither Kaybaby nor Pansy could carry Phyllis. She was too heavy.

Kaybaby replied, Okay. Pansy, come on. I know we won’t be gone too long if Phyllis has to come.

The three youngest sisters went outside. Pansy suggested they explore the big barn first. There were no steps into the barn, so they had to hoist Phyllis into the barn. Kaybaby and Pansy easily climbed into the barn with no assistance. The three ran around on the first floor of the barn.

Kaybaby spied ladder steps on the side wall. Look, Pansy. Those are steps to the second floor. Let’s go up to see what’s up there.

Pansy and Kaybaby scampered up the ladder to the second floor.

Phyllis started hollering, Me want up too. Me want up too.

Kaybaby stood at the top of the ladder. Well, if you want to come up, you’ll have to climb up. If you aren’t able to climb up, you’ll need to stay where you are.

Phyllis threw herself on the floor and started kicking and screaming. She was so angry that her skin broke out in pink-and-white splotches. She said, Tell Mama on you! Tell Mama on you! Me want up! Me want up!

Pansy went down the ladder. She said, Let me see if I can help push you up the ladder. I will get under you and catch you if you fall. You’ll have to climb the steps yourself. We can’t carry you.

Phyllis immediately got off the floor and went to the ladder.

Kaybaby replied from the second floor, Pansy, are you sure about this? If she gets up here, is she going to be able to get down? I don’t believe you can catch her if she falls. Maybe we should come back another time when Phyllis is not with us.

Phyllis shouted, No, no! Me want up. Me want up.

Pansy replied, Okay. I don’t want to get you started again. Come on, Phyllis. You’re going to have to help.

With that, the struggle began to get Phyllis up the ladder. Finally after much effort, Phyllis was on the second floor. She was so proud that she was up the ladder. She started waddling all around as fast as she could move, squealing with glee.

Kaybaby said, Let’s go. I’ve heard enough of that. We’ll come back another time. We still have a lot to explore outside.

Kaybaby scampered down the ladder. Pansy was coaching Phyllis on how to get down. Phyllis was not cooperating.

Phyllis started crying, Carry me. Carry me.

Phyllis, let me get on the ladder, and then, you get on the ladder just above me. You’re going to have to help me. I cannot carry you down, Pansy replied.

Phyllis was getting angrier by the second. No! No! Carry me! Me tell Mama on you! Carry me!

Kaybaby declared, If you want to tell on somebody, turn your butt around and come down the ladder. That’s the only way you’re going to get down. Or you can stay up there and cry and throw a fit about it. I’m going outside. It’s time to go in and set the table for dinner.

Pansy tried unsuccessfully to get Phyllis down the ladder.

She gave up and said, You can stay up there until you decide to come down. Nobody can carry you.

Pansy and Kaybaby went to the back porch and washed their hands. They entered the kitchen.

Gemmy shouted in a panic, Where is Phyllis? What have you done to her?

Kaybaby answered, She’s in the top of the barn. She won’t come down.

Gemmy ran out the door and into the barn. Phyllis was squalling. Gemmy carried her down the ladder.

Gemmy came into the kitchen. She was getting Phyllis quieted down. She spoke, You two are in for a whipping as soon as your daddy gets in. My baby could have fallen down from the second floor and been killed. Don’t either of you, ever, do anything like that again.

Kaybaby and Pansy set the table dreading the whippings they were sure to get.

Kaybaby thought to herself, I’m not sure this is going to be a fun place to live. Phyllis ruins everything. She takes the joy out of my life.

The Punishment

Leo came onto the screened porch and washed his face and hands. As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, Phyllis ran to him pointing to Kaybaby and Pansy. Whip them. Been mean to baby. Bad girls!

Gemmy said, Pansy and Kaybaby put Phyllis up in the top of the barn and left her there. I had to go get her down. She was squalling her head off. She could have fallen down the ladder and been hurt or worse! I told them to look for a whipping when you came in.

Leo looked at Kaybaby and Pansy and said, Instead of a whipping, you two can help me in the fields after dinner. I need some help, and the two of you can think about treating your baby sister better while you work.

Kaybaby and Pansy were relieved. Phyllis was upset. She screamed, Whip them! Bad girls! Whip them! They been mean to baby!

Leo picked Phyllis up. My little piggy, come to Daddy. Working in the fields is their punishment for being mean to my baby. They will think twice before being mean to you again.

Kaybaby thought to herself, That crybaby. I won’t have to think even once about being mean to her again.

The family sat down to a dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, butter beans, biscuits, and sweet iced tea. After dinner, Amber, Pansy, and Kaybaby washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. When the kitchen was clean, Pansy and Kaybaby ran out into the fields to help Leo.

Leo was planting corn. He showed the girls how to bank the dirt into rows. He needed ten rows, and each row should be about thirty inches apart. He made a pencil mark on the hoe handles to show the girls thirty inches. They each started on a row. The long hoe handles were getting in the way. Pansy unintentionally hit Kaybaby several times with the end of her hoe handle. Leo took the hoes and cut the handles down, to better fit the little girls.

Kaybaby went to work. She thought, This is fun! We’re out here in the sunshine, and all we have to do is bank up the dirt to make rows. At least we don’t have to deal with Phyllis.

Finally, the ten rows were banked and ready for planting the corn. Leo had a thick stick of wood with two protruding nail heads on the end. He explained that he would make two holes with the stick about one and a half inches deep, and each two holes would be a foot apart. He gave each of the girls a big bag of dried corn seeds. Leo told the girls to drop a seed in each nail hole and showed them how to cover each hole lightly with dirt. He let Kaybaby take the first two holes and Pansy the next two. Leo quickly went down the rows making the holes, and Kaybaby and Pansy raced to keep up with him. He finally got a good ways ahead of them. When he finished making all the holes, he told the girls to take a short break by drinking a cup of water from the hand pump on the back porch.

The girls ran to the back porch for water and a break. They sat on the ladder back chairs to drink their water.

Phyllis came waddling out onto the porch with a cookie in each hand. She looked at her sisters and said, Me have cookies. Bad girls don’t get cookies. Been mean to baby.

Leo came onto the back porch with three pails and three cups. He told Kaybaby and Pansy to each fill a pail with water and take their filled pail and cup back to the cornfield with them. The girls did as they were told. Leo followed with his filled water pail and cup. Leo showed the girls how to pour one cup of water on each set of seeds they had planted. After the pails were empty, Leo told the girls he would have Doodle help him water the rest. He told them to finish planting the corn seeds.

Doodle had been busy cleaning out the cow barn and the chicken coops. Leo planned to have a cow and calf delivered next week. Leo and Doodle were planning on building a chicken brooder to stock with baby chicks. Things were progressing well on the farm.

Amber was helping Gemmy in the house and helping take care of Phyllis. Kaybaby and Pansy finally finished planting the corn seed. Leo and Doodle finished watering the newly planted corn. The sun was getting low in the west and supper time was fast approaching.

The planting crew headed to the house to wash up for supper. Kaybaby looked at her hands. She had blisters on both hands from using the hoe. One of the blisters had popped and was bleeding. Kaybaby saw that Pansy’s hands were the same.

After they washed their hands, Kaybaby asked Leo, Will you bandage our hands so we can set the table?

Leo looked at their hands and said, You have worked hard today. I know your hands are sore now, but hard work will give you calluses. With calluses, you’ll be able to work and not get blisters. Hard work will harden your hands. Let me put some salve on your hands and a light bandage. Your mama can put better bandages on, after you take baths after supper.

Kaybaby and Pansy set the table. Gemmy had fixed a big pot of chicken pastry, baked sweet potatoes, biscuits, and sweet iced tea for supper.

Kaybaby and Pansy were too tired to eat. They drank their tea, hoping they could get through cleaning up the kitchen and baths before falling to sleep. Pansy took the dishes off the table and scraped the scraps into the slop buckets outside by the side door. They were still saving table scraps for Jolly Jacobs. Leo planned to get some hogs to raise for food in the near future. At that time, they would use their table scraps to feed their own hogs.

Pansy stacked the dirty dishes on the side table by the kitchen sink for Amber to wash. Pansy wiped off the kitchen table and stove while Kaybaby swept the kitchen floor. Kaybaby and Pansy both dried the dishes, cutlery, pots, and pans.

As soon as the kitchen was clean, Gemmy started boiling bathwater for the galvanized, metal cattle trough that would be used for the family’s bathtub. The cattle trough was stored on the pantry wall. Leo put the trough in the corner of the kitchen. Gemmy gave Phyllis the first bath. Amber, Pansy, and Kaybaby bathed together. Leo emptied the trough onto the fig trees and peach trees. Gemmy boiled more water. Doodle took the next bath. Gemmy bathed next. Leo emptied the bath water onto the apple trees. Gemmy put her homemade beef tallow salve and bandages on Pansy’s and Kaybaby’s hands. All the children went to bed. Gemmy boiled water for Leo’s bath. Leo was on the back porch shaving while the water boiled.

Kaybaby and Pansy fell asleep immediately. They were exhausted from working in the cornfield.

Eight-year-old Amber had time to ponder over her day before falling to sleep. She was tired of having the responsibility of caring for fifteen-month-old Phyllis. Phyllis was so spoiled. She expected to always get her way, or she pitched a fit when she didn’t. Mama and Daddy catered to Phyllis. Amber knew that wasn’t the way it was for herself, nor her siblings. She wondered why Phyllis was treated so special. Amber missed her friends from the old neighborhood. She felt so isolated here. Would she ever get used to living here? She wished Kaybaby or Pansy hadn’t gone to sleep so soon. She needed someone to talk to. Amber finally cried herself to sleep.

Early to Rise

The next morning, Kaybaby was awake and starving before the sun came up. Her stomach was complaining that she didn’t eat supper last night. Her hands were sore and throbbing. She got out of bed and walked quietly to Pansy’s bed.

Kaybaby whispered as she shook Pansy, Wake up, Pansy. I’m starving, my hands hurt, and I have to use the toilet. Please, get up and go with me.

Just give me a minute to wake up. Wow! It’s still dark. I wonder what time it is? Pansy asked while slowly getting out of bed.

The two girls scampered out the bedroom door, onto the screened back porch. They ran out into the yard and around the house to the toilet.

When they arrived at the toilet, Kaybaby hesitated. Pansy, It’s too dark out here. I can’t go into that thing. I’m going to go behind the toilet.

Me too. Using this thing is going to take some getting used to. I’m afraid of falling into the hole. That would be a mess!

Kaybaby replied, I know. We’re going to have to get used to it. Maybe it’ll be better in the daylight. Let’s go see if we can get into the kitchen from the back porch. I’m starving.

They quietly went onto the screened porch. The kitchen door was locked. They went to their bedroom door. It was also locked. Kaybaby stated, At least we can get a drink of water. We’ll have to sit out here until somebody gets up.

They waited for what seemed to be a long time. It began to get light outside.

They suddenly heard their Mama scream, "Leo! Get up! Kaybaby and Pansy are gone! They’re not in their beds! We’ve got