Anna

Standing on the hilltop Anna could see all the way down to the tiny black shack.  Dark smoke chugged from the chimney.  Someone was there.  Anna crouched down in the tall weeds and waited until there was a sign that the little cabin was empty.  The sun was getting ready to set and Daniel would surely be fixin to leave for some drinking down the road with the Shinners. 

At long last Anna heard Daniel whistle for the mare to come and get saddled.  It was only a matter of time before Anna could get her things and get away.  Her life long dream.  To get away.

Daniel threw her out three nights ago.  The night she had her fourth miscarriage.  Daniel didn't want a woman that couldn't give him sons.  No man wanted any woman that couldn't give them sons.  There was no way one lone man could farm his land and feed himself.  You need home born workers and you needed a woman that could have them.  

Three nights ago Anna became no good to anyone.  Daniel won't take her back and her parents couldn't afford to keep her.  She is on her own at sixteen, with barely an education.

As she lays in the tall grass, her body aching from the miscarriage and lack of care, she wonders what is to become of her.  She thought that maybe for a few nights she could sleep down the mountain at the schoolhouse.  Come Sunday when the Preacher comes for service, maybe he could find a place for her.  Maybe she could take care of some rich woman's children and have a small little room all of her own.  Daydreaming of a real bed and nice clothes she hears Daniel ride off.

She makes her way back to the horrid little shack.  Anna wants the china plate her Grandma had given her on her and Daniel's wedding day.  There is some lace and a quilt Anna made.  A few pieces of clothing and a pair of shoes.  That is all she has.  She wishes she could carry half of the jar goods she put up.  It doesn't seem fair that Daniel should eat from her effort any more.  Angered and empowered Anna begins smashing the quart jars to the floor, letting the dogs lap up the contents. 

With the noise of the jars crashing and the dogs yelping, Anna didn't hear Daniel in the doorway.  She turned at the exact moment the shovel smashed her head in two.  She was dead before she hit the floor. 

The next day two old ladies came from down the mountain and took Anna to the schoolhouse.  They laid her there, until the Preacher came on Sunday.  The Preacher did the best he could.  Daniel wanted nothing to with her and her parents had no money.  The preacher and the ladies said some words of God and placed Anna in the ground, right next to school house.  They buried her wrapped in her quilt, with her lace upon her broken head, they placed her china plate in her arms and laid her shoes at her feet.  With last shovel of dirt upon the mound under which Anna laid, they planted a white lilac bush and that was the last moment anyone was to ever think of poor Anna.