Cotton Fields
Fiction
White as snow blowing in the early November breeze,
the cotton was ready for the gin. Jim took a long slow look over the fields
that stretched as far as he could see. It had been a long hot summer, and the
cash crop was badly needed to pay the bills. He lived with his wife, Mary, and
their three year old daughter, Makayla, in an unpainted farm house at the edge
of a cotton field. Jim was a sharecropper, working someone else's land for half
the profit. Life was not easy when payday came only once or twice a year.
Mary cooked all the
meals, and at lunch time she even took over driving the tractor while Jim ate
and kept an eye on their daughter while she napped. Then Jim would go back and
work the field until after dark. Now that it was harvest time, he prayed for no
rain and that the harvesting crew would arrive on schedule.
Makayla loved to
walk through the cotton fields, letting her hands float across the tops of the
white balls. She starting talking very early and already was talking like an
adult, asking about everything and absorbing it all. Starting when Makayla was
eighteen-months old, her mother would write words on a small chalkboard and
pronounce them slowly until Makayla could pronounce them correctly. Her mother
would show her or explain what the words meant until Makayla understood.
Sundays were a
special family time, when they would drive into town early to attend church,
then spend the rest of the day at the library, museum or the park. Makayla was
very curious about the school, always asking questions and looking forward to
attending. In the park a group of elder men were always playing checkers and
chess. Makayla was fascinated with the game of checkers and watched all the
moves made quickly by the men. She then surprised them by saying, "Can I
play?"
One soft-spoken,
gray-haired man said, "Sure, hop up here on this barrel and we can play a
game."
Makayla had watched
the moves that were made by the winners. She moved her checker pieces out from
the edges, leaving a "V" shape in the center of the board. After a
few moves, the man realized that he could not make a move without giving up at
least two of his pieces. All the other men soon gathered around to watch. The
man she was playing was one of the best players in the park! They were already
giving him a hard time about being outdone by a three year old. After that day
in the park, she would come each Sunday and play one game with the men. She
quickly realized that she could easily win every time, but it drew too much
attention, so she would give them a real challenge, and then at the end, make a
bad move and let them win.
The house had a lot
of old discarded library books left by the previous owner. The shelves were
full of books for all ages, and Makayla, by the age of four, had read all the
children's books.
The cotton harvest
was good that year, and Jim was able to pay all the bills, with a little left
over. Mary and Jim were both worried about making it through another season,
and so they were looking for work in town. Mary could get a waitress job and
Jim was a good mechanic, so they decided to move into town before Makayla
entered school.
The school
principal was skeptical when they asked if Makayla could enter the first grade.
She had just turned five a few days before school was ready to start. After Makayla
talked with the principal in private and read to him from some books he took
off his shelf, he called in the first and second grade teachers. They spent
more than two hours asking Makayla questions and having her read harder and
more difficult books. In the end they agreed that Makayla could enter the
second grade.
As Makayla grew,
her favorite book to read was the Holy Bible. She soon had large sections of
Scripture memorized, and she found that she preferred the adult Sunday school
class rather than children's classes. During the discussion time, everyone
starting listening to Makayla as she explained bible passages and compared
different books of the bible. The adult class had to be moved into the
sanctuary as the class grew because so many people wanted to listen to Makayla.
As the years passed
Makayla worked hard to not appear superior to the other kids in school, but
when the tests were given, she always gave them her best effort and made
perfect grades. To keep her challenged, the teachers gave her increasingly
difficult course work, until at the age of 12 she was doing college level work.
At the age of fourteen Makayla graduated from high school with a college
associate degree in sociology. After two years at a seminary, Makayla became
the minister of one of the largest churches in the area. She was very popular
and went on to write several bestselling books.
Each November Makayla would preach a sermon on the pure white cotton fields that reminded her of the love of her parents. She told the story of the young drifter that came to their house when she was only three years old. He gave her a small New Testament and explained how Jesus came to earth to provide a way that we could live with him forever. The drifter only stayed for a few days, but he had a great impact on her. She prayed that she would someday meet him again. The stranger also taught her how to win at checkers.
Copyright © 2015 Hubert Clark Crowell
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