Chapter Sixteen

The Spinning Wheel

 

The following is an excerpt from Chapter Sixteen of Mama Root: The Old Woman of Loop Road

 

 

~~~     “’Liz’beth was with child when her husband started building the spinning wheel.  Time he was finished she had the baby – little girl they named Charlotte.  ‘Liz’beth figured the wheel would ‘specially come in handy now, ‘cause she’d be able ta’ spin yarn ta’ make clothes for the littl’un.  Things was goin’ well for them ‘til late in sixteen hundred an’ ninety-two.  Husband was outside a ways from the house when a blizzard come up outta’ nowheres.  He tried ta’ get back but it was nothin’ but white out there; he lost his way an’ froze ta’ death.  That hurt ‘Liz’beth terrible bad, but if that weren’t ‘nough she woke up one mornin’ a month or so later an’ found baby Charlotte dead in her crib, all stiff an’ pale like a little china doll.  That drove poor ’Liz’beth near crazy with grief.  She just sat in the house alone day after day; didn’t see no one, didn’t spin, didn’t even eat.” ~~~