By Way of the Rose Read Free

free. After cleaning his catch, he took them in to be cooked for the noon meal.
    “Oh, these are nice fat ones, John. None of us will go without plenty today!” Marion smiled in approval.
    “Where's Poppa?”
    “He and D.J. are down checking the traps. You can go help them if you will.”
    John hurried along the way. Daniel and D.J. had already emptied three of the traps. There were two rabbits and a raccoon.
    “Hey, Poppa. Momma said I should help you empty the traps.”
    “Well, I'd rather you take these up to the house since you don't know where I placed the traps. I don't want you stumbling upon one that hasn't gone off yet.” Daniel threw him a gunny sack. John cringed as he picked up the dead animals and stuffed them inside. Daniel laughed. “Son, you are going to have to get over your squeamish ways. This is all a part of life. If they don't die, we do. A man has to do what must be done. You've got to toughen up, son.”
    “I know, Poppa, but do I have to like it?”
    “No, I guess not.” Daniel admitted. “Just so long as you do what you have to do.” He smiled. “You're a good son. You know, it's time you learned to shoot a gun, I'm going to take you hunting with me soon.”
    “How soon?” John frowned. “Will I have to shoot animals?”
    “Don't worry... it won't be today, just take those on home and be sure you tie the sack high on the porch.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Daniel Jr. walked up carrying two more rabbits and threw them on the ground in front of John. “Take these while you're at it.” The lifeless animals hit the ground with a hollow thud; a shiver shot up John's spine as he picked them up with trembling hands.
    Later Poppa would skin the animals, tan and stack their hides. He would sell the furs in town along with eggs, potatoes and corn. They would put the money up until winter shopping time.
    They would also get permission to glean and pick the leftovers in the plantation cotton fields before they were plowed under. Going through the humiliation of having to, in a sense, beg tormented Poppa's proud nature. But Momma's forcefulness won out. “There's no need to have it plowed under when it can help us and the owners don't mind!” She would say. So off they'd go to glean in the fields. Momma would comb out the seeds and cord up yarn for thread. Leftovers were used to stuff the feather mattresses or as batting for quilts.
    As the days passed, fall cleaning time came around. The pillows were opened and the feathers put out in the sun to air and fluff up. Sometimes there would be a tightly coiled wad which had to be taken apart. Marion told the children these were crowns. Feather crowns, she'd say, were caused by someone having a beautiful dream about Heaven or by someone's head pressing the pillow as they lay dying. Since no one had died they figured the feather crowns must have been caused by Heavenly dreams. John wondered if he'd had a heavenly dream and had just forgotten about it because sometimes he didn't remember what he had dreamed.
    While everything was airing and sunning, the inside of the cabin had to be washed down. Floors, walls, beds and tables were scrubbed. The stove was blacked and windows cleaned. There wasn't a spot that wasn't thoroughly gone over before winter started. “There won't be a bedbug on the place now. I doubt there will be one within a mile of here with all this ferocious scrubbing.” Daniel chuckled in his throaty manner.
    This was John's favorite time of the year. The heat of summer had passed and the field labor was over. The trees had turned colors and from far away looked like flowering bouquets. The falling leaves drifted on the breeze and coated the valley with a thick colorful carpet that crunched under his steps as he gathered the wild apples and hauled them to the back porch.
    John watched Daniel and D.J. as they skinned and cleaned the deer D.J. had shot that morning. Daniel cut and placed some of the deer meat in syrup cans, then nailed them to