Monthly Archives: August 2019

Ten Years of Love

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Less than 360 words into “Bluebell”, Rowena Kramer’s name has been mentioned three times by Willis Jefferson, a young black man on a road taking him where he never expected to go.  And, as we look at today’s QuotaBill, we learn, to some degree, the impact this woman had on Willis’ life.

“Miss Rowena,” he whispered, and tears blurred his vision.  He had been about twelve when she took him in, and he had stayed for over ten years.  It was the nearly four years, since then, that held his attention, and he wondered if leaving had been a mistake.  Been a long time.  He thought.  “A long time….”

What kind of woman was this whose memory brought tears to the eyes of a courageous young man?  To help you find out, here are three articles & two excerpts that will help introduce you to Rowena Kramer.  And what about Willis?  There’s much to learn about him in these recent posts…

 

Bluebell’s Top Ten

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What does 1,555 have to do with “Bluebell”?  It’s the number of times the Top Ten characters are mentioned, by name, in the novel, and in this issue of ‘First Acquaintance‘, you’ll briefly meet the first half of the group, listed in order of references.

290 – Carl Schenfield: I’ve written about Carl, the newspaper reporter, already in a ‘Character Confessions‘ article, but when he first appears on page 322, we learn that the scenes he was viewing on the road into Drewsport, “were not that different from those of his childhood in rural Montana.  The comparison brought recollections of the fanciful dreams and aspirations those days had known…As he had matured, Carl‘s imaginings begot curiosity about the world outside, and the first seeds of a career in journalism were sown.”

234 – Stacey Norton: It’s on page 44 we meet Deputy Sheriff Norton exercising “greater than normal care guiding his old Dodge along Main Street.  Beyond that, however, there was nothing to denote the tension building within him…When Mary Lou had called, she was extremely distraught, and it had taken several minutes for Stacey to unravel the story.  His first reaction had been to call up a posse, but a second, less dramatic, thought persisted.  His quiet, personal reconnaissance had been the result.”

175 – Struther Tanksley: Struther enters the story on page 8 as, of all things, a mechanical magician, and a whole lot more.  Struther is able to get an old, old  tractor running, completing the task as members of the town are rushing to the aid of a fellow citizen.  “At best, Struther had difficulty speaking; and, when excited, could experience a complete block.”  Yet when he heard about the injured townswoman, “He shook his head.  “That’s a mighty shame!”  The last words, as a pure extension of his instinctive feelings for others, came easily in his rich, rumbling baritone, but no question followed.”

174 – Tog Ericson: We meet Tog driving his two godchildren home from a fun outing on page 7, but within two pages, as they approach the home, life begins to dramatically change for him.  “As they came in sight of the house, Tog was surprised to see a man emerging from the field, a short distance ahead.  Scrambling through the fence, he hurried along the shoulder for a few hundred feet, before crossing, and disappeared into the woods…There was a drifter, he’d seen occasionally in town, but he was blond.  This man had dark bushy hair; but, even though his face had been obscured, in the short time he had been visible, Tog had sensed a familiarity about the man.”

166 – TJ McCretchen:  190 pages into Bluebell, TJ is introduced and within a short number of words, we learn quite a lot about his background.  “Even though TJ felt no great love for his black brothers, his association with the Klan had little to do with its manifesto.  What he found in the brotherhood was a manly image.  His mother had been very prejudicial, but her biases were not those involving skin color; so, lacking an inherited color prejudice, TJ’s biases were more or less benign.”

Coming in another ‘First Aquaintance’, we’ll meet Pastor Andrew Lindsey; Judd Connelly; Heta Rawlins; Dr. Bill Ferguson; and Jeremy Claymore; the rest of Bluebell’s Top Ten Characters.

Love to hear what you think…

  • Which of the first five most intrigues you?
  • Who do you want to learn more about?
  • Can you relate to one of the characters and why?

 

 

Find Someone to Trust

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Sometimes, that trustworthy soul will find you, as was the case for Willis Jefferson, in dad’s book, Bluebell.  Rowena Kramer, a white woman, rescued him, when he was a young child, on the plains of Kansas during a violent storm.  But however that trusted individual comes into your life, there can be a big benefit to finding someone to trust, as this brief excerpt shows.

Because of Miss Rowena he could read, write and speak correctly.  But far beyond that, her teachings had also reinforced those of his mother, which, having seemed inapplicable, he had been ready to cast aside.

“Two Miles?  Mercy.”  He squinted in the direction indicated by the sign.  “Must be a mighty small town.  Not even a water tank showin’.”

“Miss Rowena,” he whispered, and tears blurred his vision.  He had been about twelve when she took him in, and he had stayed for over ten years.  It was the nearly four years, since then, that held his attention, and he wondered if leaving had been a mistake.  Been a long time.  He thought.  “A long time….”

Anyone privy to the details of Willis Jefferson’s childhood would have seen Rowena Kramer as a greater force in his life than he might ever know.  Not only had she taught him about life, and instilled in him a love of it, she had implanted the need to share that love with all of God’s creatures.

Her guidance had given him a spiritual peace that allowed him to see adversity and conflict as merely challenging steps in his long, upward climb.  In academics, he excelled in neither reading nor writing, but with his introduction to numbers his true love was found.  He became an addict, going as far as she could take him in the years that he was in her care.

Wow…that’s a lot of benefit gained by finding someone to trust.  How about you…do you have a story to share about how somebody in your life made a big change?  Leave a comment and you just might inspire a fellow reader to be that person in another’s life.