Forever Country Read Online Free PDF Page A

detached from her friends and the
community she loves?
    Once the food is put away, I say, “I’ll take
the eggs down to the church. I need to get some exercise
today.”
    “ Thank you, Abel. I’ll
start dinner while you’re out.”
    Once I’m dressed for my
run, I take the bag holding a few dozen
eggs from the counter. “Hang on, your dad went to the basement to
get some walnuts. He thought maybe someone from the church could
use some, bein’ so close to the holidays and all.”
    A memory comes into my mind of my brother and
me collecting fallen walnuts from the tree along the side of the
house. It was considered one of our chores in the early fall.
    “ Does that tree still
produce nuts?” I ask in disbelief.
    Momma smiles as she wipes down the counter.
“Sure does, more now than she ever did. The peach tree on the other
side of the house provides more peaches than I know what to do
with.”
    Pops appears from the basement with a large
brown paper bag of walnuts. Momma smiles as he sets them down on
the kitchen table. I watch her as she walks into the pantry and
returns with a box of freezer baggies.
    We all pitch in as we fill several bags full
of the walnuts.
    “ This should be plenty.
Abel, are you sure you can carry all of this?” Momma asks as she
places the nuts into another bag. I watch Pops, who has the
nutcracker out and is already cracking open some of the nuts for
himself to eat.
    “ It’s fine. I’ll take this
to the church, run for a bit, and then when I return I’ll feed the
animals. I also want to look at the light outside of the barn. I
noticed last night that it was burnt out.”
    “ Levi’s been wantin’ to
change it, just not enough hours in the day,” Momma says as she
hands me the grocery bags.
    I smile and she kisses me on the cheek before
I leave.
    “ Thank you,
Abel.”
    “ Momma, you never have to
thank me. I’m happy to do it.”
    I walk towards the driveway and look over at
the huge walnut tree. It’s much bigger than I remember. It still
produces nuts and my family still harvests them. This should not
surprise me. I have very fond memories of gathering them with Levi,
peeling the foul-smelling green husk from the shell and then seeing
who collected the most. Momma and Pops always had something special
for the child who did the best, collected the most, or helped out
when they weren’t asked. It wasn’t much, maybe a couple pieces of
candy, or a cookie. But it was enough for Levi and me to always
want to do better.
    When I arrive at the church, I see the woman
from the grocery store leaving. I nod at her and she gives me a shy
smile. The preacher is still standing at the door, watching her
drive off.
    “ Thank you for bringin’
these by so quickly, Abel. Your folks never let the church
down.”
    I smile and hand him the
two bags with the eggs and the walnuts.
“They’re good people. They also sent some walnuts.”
    He smiles and peeks into the bags. “I was
hopin’ they would. They do that every year. With the holidays fast
approachin’, these will be nice to have.” He looks up from the bag
and says, “Please, thank them for me.”
    “ I will, have a good
night.”
    “ You, too.”
    I don’t run. Instead, I walk around the old
neighborhood. I look at all the homes and try to remember who lived
where. It’s too cold for people to be sitting outside, but I can
see them through their windows. Although the community is poor, it
doesn’t lack love or happiness. I can see smiling faces and can
imagine the laughter coming from within the house. I smile. It’s a
good feeling.
    I walk past the houses in the direction of
the old Rose Farm Elementary School. It’s disheartening to see the
building in such shambles. The busted-out windows and the graffiti
on the walls are painful to see. What makes it worse is that it’s
in the middle of town, within view of many homes. I once wondered
why no one fixed it up, but now I understand the financial reasons.
I also have to