Continuing with SO WONDERFUL AS WANT Ch. 16, Ex. 8 Likes, comments, shares appreciated. No, she couldn’t hate Dinah; she loved her too much. And despite Zach’s denials, he did too. A car horn sounded and the children ran out to their mother’s car. Ginny forced a smile and a wave as they drove off. Then, in true Finney fashion, she pulled herself together and resumed her chores. She might have given up pride when she married Zach, knowing he wasn’t over Dinah. But, for better or worse, she was his wife now, and she had a duty to be the best wife she could possibly be. With that in mind, she decided to make hot cornbread to go with the ham hocks she’d planned for lunch. Zach had always been partial to cornbread. She’d just sifted the dry ingredients and was about to combine them with the wet, when she realized Emily forgot to gather the eggs. Braving a trip to the hen house, she cautiously entered the coop. “Go on, shoo, git,” she said, snatching up eggs as fast as she could. She’d nearly filled her basket and was about to leave when something startled the fidgety birds. They began to squawk and flap their wings; a pullet darted in front of her; another flew at her head. She stumbled and her egg basket crashed to the floor. Suddenly, all manner of commotion ensued. Shielding her eyes against a cloud of dust and feathers, she bolted for the door. But before she could reach it, her foot found the egg slime and her leg slid out from under her. Slammed against the wooden stanchion of the egg-laying rack, she struggled to maintain her footing as an excruciating pain shot up her leg. Then, moaning, she crumpled to the floor. She tried to focus her eyes, but everything was swirling around—feathers, dust, chickens. When the haze finally cleared, she gasped, horrified to see her leg grotesquely twisted beneath her. It was then she spotted the blood, running into her eyes from a gash on her head, pulsating from a jagged rip in her thigh. She tried to sit up, but pain, like a meat cleaver, pinned her to the floor. Clutching her swollen belly, she watched dully as the crimson pool spread. Aware that Zach was too far away to hear her cries, she attempted to crawl to the door. But the pain in her belly was too intense. Most frightening of all was her overwhelming urge to bear down and expel that which was tearing her apart. Helpless, Ginny lay there as her life’s blood drained from her body. She thought of her father’s blood trapped in the pores of her hands after she’d scoured it from the porch. Someone else would have that horrid task now. The dust settled and the hens quieted, whatever had spooked them forgotten in the eerie silence that followed. Too weak to reach the dead child between her legs, Ginny recited the only Bible verse she knew by heart. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want . . .” Her voice faded. Then, fearing no evil, she closed her eyes and walked into the valley of the shadow of death. * * * Links to book page in comments below.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 18:16:50 +0000
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