The Old Cellar

FICTION The Old Cellar_______________________ Alethea Adams (1775)-A large pine tree sheltered the fine Tennessee walker horses as they lazily swatted flies while their master sat on the front porch of the newly built store. The men sat stately so as not to wrinkle their silk riding attire. They laughed, traded men jokes, and gazed at the store-keeper's beautiful wife as she carried each sealed jar to her cellar. Oh, how it delighted her to see her pretty jars all shiny and sitting with labels upon the newly built shelves! As she walked by the store, she'd hold her head down and wink at her husbandman, thanking him for this fine cellar he had built just for her. They had been married for two years, had one daughter, and life could not be better for them. A nanny watched the baby as the fire-boy kept the cans the right temperature and the late butterflies were grasping life's sweetness from the late summer flowers. Yes, life was so sweet and so young! She loved this fine prosperous year of 1773. Most ofthe wild Cherokees had been removed from this area and promised better things somewhere down in Tennessee. The young woman stopped for a minute to give her baby girl a mama's sweet kiss and tickle her button nose with a flower! Then on back to her canning. "Yes, I shall have at least five hundred jars canned for 'winter selling' in my husband's new store!" Later that night as she knitted new booties for their baby, they talked ofhaving a son to carry on the business ofthe store and ofhow he must have a good marriage. A wife that would can and keep the store well stocked for selling. As time passed a son was born and raised; eventually they became grandparents and they watched their son carry on the business. Now maw and paw tended to their grandchildren so often but mosdy the Alethea Adams, born in Pikeville, Kentucky, was stricken with polio when she was two weeks old, and did not walk until she was seven. All through school and college, teachers encouraged her to write and paint. The author ofthree books, Message in the Wind, Somebody's Child, and Zady in the Moon, Adams lives in Salt Lick, Kentucky. 21 nannies did the children's chores. The two of them were needed most days down at the local church. "Yes, my life is good and all is well. My daughter-in-law is doing fine with stocking my cellar!" (1875)-As the flowers flourished, the garden produced and the hens laid many eggs, Nadine was so happy! The large farm thatwas a gift from her in-laws was a great one! Some Cherokee war and removal was over and she was singing, canning, and her work-hands were setting the jars gendy upon the cellar shelves under her watchful eye! The store had now become so busy with sales and many gents' talks that a post office was added on. Her husbandman tended to everything. All she wanted to do was see her children marry well, tend her gift garden, and plant her flowers. Everyone knew they had to be of great wealth or they couldn't have put up that five-hundred-dollar bond so her husband could become a selfappointed postmaster. Only one thing bothered her. Their one and only son had been seen with the family buggy, riding upon the ridge with some Cherokee woman. She prayed that this sin would surely pass by. Their other children had married and moved to Northern states and were doing well. Their only business heir was becoming an embarrassment! That night, their son walked in with whisky on his breath. That was nothing new, because his father was bootlegging from the store. But when the son bellowed out that he was drinking his Cherokee moonshine , this set his parents aflare! "Why, Son!" the father blared at him. "You are a disgrace to us! Why ... we can't hold our heads up in our church cause of that squaw." The son grinned, leaned up against the fancy oak door facing and...