The Belly of the Whale

By Tenise Cook

As a young farm girl, Bonnie, lives through tragedy when her younger brother dies in a fire. 

Just as Jonah from the Bible did, she learns how to continue her faith in God with the help of her family.

This journey through heartbreak and hope in small town living is set in the 1940's and is captivated from stories passed down and based on true life experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tenise Cook
• Release date: Apr 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215517116

Tenise Cook

Tenise Cook is a Texas teacher and mother who enjoys writing about her own true life experiences, as well as, those told by family members.  Her passion and faith drive her journey to share stories for others to hear, relate and hopefully encourage.

Book preview

The Help

Roll! Roll! I screamed, Get on the ground and roll!.

I had never been near a fire except for the small ones Daddy would make for burning trash or in the fireplace to keep us warm. So seeing Annie running through the yard, her tiny body covered in flames was something I wasn't ready to help with. But there I was, just me, the only one to help and the only word I could think of was 'roll'. I don't know what made me think of it, I'd never heard of anyone ever being on fire in my whole ten years of life.

I heard the explosion as I rode my bike around the yard of the field hands' house. It was a one bedroom white stucco house that set just across from the corn fields. Daddy was a farmer and hired help during harvest season. This season he hired Annie's family from Oklahoma. They were our usual help but sometimes others would come through. Annie came from a big family. They had seven kids and Annie was the youngest. They were all brought down to help their parents harvest. I'm not sure how they managed to fit their family in that tiny two bedroom house, but they did.

I watched those kids, most of them teenagers,  work each year in the heat and the wind to pick cotton and harvest corn, peas and okra. They never said much, never played like other kids and were never caught anywhere they weren't suppose to be.

I loved hiding under the big pecan tree in the yard and watching them work. Mother said they were from Oklahoma but made it there all the way from Germany somehow. I loved listening to them speak their German talk. Their mother was always cooking, hanging clothes on the line or carrying Annie around on her hip. She carried that girl like a baby just about everywhere. She could walk just fine but being the baby of a family full of older children, she was treated a little different. She was five and had long golden hair with curls. Skinny little thing but always seemed to be hungry. I thought of her as Goldielocks not just for her hair but because she was always getting into things.

It never seemed like she got into trouble when she caused mischief.

One time she snuck into the corn and ate up a whole stalk! Every day, Daddy would go out and see some of it gone and swore it was old Mr. Parker's goat that kept roaming around our farm. But one morning I was out to milk and I saw her running out of the fields when her mother had called her. She had a cob in her hand and was wiping her mouth as she dropped it.

I never really got to know the helpers on our farm. They were too busy. Annie was the only one that had much to do with us. The oldest boy, Kenny, was very handsome, with big strong arms, dirty blonde hair, a crooked nose and would smile and nod at us when we were out in the yard.

The yard separated our house from the little house they were staying in. It was nothing but dirt and rocks with a few patches of grass.

If Annie wasn't attached to her mother's hip, she was usually following Kenny around. He came out on Sundays with the other boys of the family to throw a football in the yard. I'd watch as they'd let my brother, Michael, join them. He was much smaller and younger than them teenage boys being only seven years old. He'd run out there and put his hands on his knees with his bottom poked out waiting for one of them to throw the ball to him. They would toss it to him and cheer for him when he caught it. They'd speak some of their German talk only to each other and spoke in English to us.

Mother told us not to be picking up their language. Germans weren't liked too well after the war and so they kept to themselves, only going to town when they really needed. They even changed their German last name to something else because of how mean people were to them wherever it was they lived before Oklahoma.

Daddy knew people in town wouldn't be too kind to them so most of the time he'd go get what they needed for them. Daddy didn't care where you came from, what you spoke or how you looked as long as you'd work hard. He didn't have time to be judging people, he had a family to provide for.

Kenny always seemed to be eating apples. He had a pocket knife he used to shave off a piece at a time to eat. When Michael would come running through the yard Kenny would toss one to him. Michael would wave and then wipe the apple on his shirt before biting into it. Sharing those apples was like a secret handshake for them.

When Kenny got sent to do small jobs Michael would tag along. One time they went to gather hay for the cows.

Kenny was in the tool shed getting a pitch fork when Michael came up, Can I go with?, he asked.

Kenny pulled out the wheelbarrow and looked at Michael as he patted the empty barrow, Hop in.

Michael didn't hesitate at all, he just hopped right into the wheelbarrow and Kenny handed him the pitch fork to hold.

Kenny wheeled down to the field with Michael in tow and that was the beginning of their friendship.

Everytime Kenny was going to the fields to work Michael would jog up to him, I'm coming!, he'd say as if Kenny had asked him to come.

Kenny never asked Michael if he wanted to go with him. Michael would just watch him going to gather whatever tools he needed and head over to him. He became Kenny's shadow when it came to doing jobs.

The Parkers lived on the other side of our cotton field. They were an older couple with two grown children that had families of their own. Daddy would grumble about Mr. Parker's field being unkept and would even try to go help him, but Mr. Parker refused any help.

Mr. Parker grew wheat and some vegetables but unlike Daddy, he didn't like others in his fields.

One time us kids and Annie got to playing and some how ended up in the wheat. Mr. Parker came down in his truck with a whipping switch in his hand hollering, I sees you little boogers! You'd best get outta my wheat!.

We saw the switch and realized we'd gone too far into his field and started running back to the yard.

That evening at supper Mother asked us if we'd been meddling again in the wheat. We looked at each other and then at Mother not knowing whether to admit it or not.

You all know you're not to be playing out in his field., she said, Next time he comes telling me about it, you'll be out scoopin'.

Our heads dropped