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Since Thanksgiving I haven’t had much time to be on LitNet and I’ve missed it terribly. I think it’s addictive. But I vow to spend more time here this year. I enjoy reading what every one writes and the comments they have to say about what everyone else writes. In my very humble opinion, it makes us all better writers to be here.
The Short Story Competition for the year has ended. My story came in second. Robbed by Petrich’s Love was the winner. I don’t mind being second to such a wonderful story.
My story, A Chance Meeting, is about my Mother and Dad. They met in a small town in Northeast Arkansas where their families moved to in the late 1930’s in order to find work. They were both from the “hills”. If you have read A Painted House by John Grisham, then you know that the Arkansas hill folks moved to the delta to find work in the cotton fields. John and his family were from the same area I am from. Black Oak, the town where his story takes place, is a very small community next to the town I grew up in. Black Oak kids when to school with us in Monette, Arkansas after their school burned down. Most of John’s descriptions of the town of Black Oak sounds like he was really talking about Monette.
Anyway, my Mom and Dad met in the cotton fields and married very young. After two babies, they moved to Illinois in order for Dad to work at the Caterpillar Plant. After that and five more babies, their marriage fell apart and my Mom moved back to Arkansas with all seven kids. We all worked in the fields at some time. It was the traditional summer job for anyone living in the delta. Both my parents died in their mid 40’s. There are so many stories I would like to tell so that my Mom and Dad will be known by my grandchildren and their children. I worried at first that I’d be embarrassed to have someone else read what I write. But it turns out that this is the best place for me to write them. If I mess up, there is always someone to tell me how to fix things. I appreciate that more than anyone could know. Instead of making me self-conscious, it give me confidence. Weird isn’t it?