Page 34
Story: Heaven (Casteel 1)
a foot long. My heart was broken to see "Child
Casteel" buried near my own mother. There wasn't a
date put on her tombstone.
"Don't look at it," whispered Tom. "Your
mother's been dead so long, and it's Granny we're
going to miss most. Didn't know until her chair was
empty just how much she added t'our lives--did ya
know?"
"No," I whispered, shamefaced. "I just accepted her presence like she'd live forever. We're going to have to do more for Grandpa, he's so lost and alone
looking."
"Yeah," agreed Tom, catching my hand and
leading me away from a sorrowful place that did little
to communicate love to us. "We gotta appreciate
Grandpa while he's still with us, an not save our
caring for his funeral day."
A week later Pa came home looking sober and
very grim. He pushed Sarah into a chair, pulled up a
second one, and spoke in a strained voice while Tom
and I paused outside the window to spy and
eavesdrop. "Went t'see a doctor in the city, Sarah.
That's where I been. He told me I was sick, real sick.
Told me I was spreading my disease all over, and I'd
have to stop what I was doing or I'd go insane before I
die too young. Told me I can't have sexual
relationships with any woman, not even my wife.
Told me I needed shots to cure what I got, but we
don't have that kind of money."
"What ya got?" demanded Sarah in a cold, hard
voice, not at all sympathetic.
"Got syphilis in its first stages," Pa confessed in
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34 (Reading here)
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131