The Nash Sisters

by Leatha Marie

  I told Dianne we better stop, because this baby was jumping all around in my tummy. And the laughing was making me pee. Dianne said, “That baby is singing with us! That proves it! It’s a girl!”

  As Sadie pulled up to the general store, I realized I was not just peeing. It was a lot more, and it was pooling around my feet in the wagon. “Look, Dianne!” I said.

  Dianne gasped and said, “This is what Momma called breaking water. The baby will come soon! We need to get to the doctor!”

  “No, I think I can wait. I don’t feel the pains yet. The baby won’t come until the pains start. You take the list and the money and get the things we need in the store,” I instructed. “I can’t get up and have everybody see me all wet.”

  Dianne jumped down, then turned to me and said, “I’ll hurry, Ethel. I am so excited! We are going to meet this child today!”

  Dianne did hurry, and it was a good thing because before she got back to the wagon I felt a pain. About fifteen minutes later, I felt another one. This one really hurt. When Dianne got to the wagon, she saw a look on my face that must have scared her. She threw the bags into the back of the wagon and jumped up beside me. With her eyes wide and bulging, she said, “Are we going to see Dr. Walker now?”

  I said, “Yeah, maybe we should. It will take more time to get home, and then someone will need to come get the doctor if I have trouble.” Sadie must have known what was going on. As Dianne commanded “Yee Haw,” Sadie began to trot. Sadie never went anywhere fast, but now she was running up the road. We got to Dr. Walker’s house in no time. Dianne pulled on the reins and yelled, “Whoa, Sadie!” We almost passed the house before Sadie could stop.

  Dianne tied Sadie’s reins to the railing and dashed around to my side of the wagon all the while yelling, “Hey, Doc! Hey, Doc, I need help here! Doctor, please come outside! We’re going to have a baby!”

  I told her to shush. “We don’t need the whole town hearing this! I can walk, I’m not an invalid.”

  But she was right. I needed help getting down from the wagon. A pain shot through my back just as I was stepping down, and I fell to the ground. “Doggone it! With the water and the dirt, I look a mess!”

  Dianne helped me get up, and we walked into the doctor’s office. His wife, who runs the business and helps the doc as a nurse, came into the front room. She took one look at me and said, “Lord, child, did you drag yourself here?”

  “No, Mrs. Walker, Sadie brought us. I just thought I’d sit a minute after getting off the wagon,” I said, trying to bring a little humor.

  “Let’s get you cleaned up and in a gown. You can’t have a baby looking like a yard rat!” She meant it to be funny, but it made me mad. I gave a look to Dianne. “Mrs. Walker, we can do this. You don’t have to stay,” I said.

  “Yes, I do,” she said. “I need to get things ready.”

  Once I was washed up and in some clean clothes, Dianne grabbed my arm to get me boosted up on the wooden table covered in sheets. Another pain hit. I screamed bloody murder.

  Mrs. Walker flew open the door and yelled, “We need the doctor in here right now!”

  Dr. Walker finally came. He said, “Okay, okay. Calm down. Someone as young as Ethel will not have that baby quickly. Someone as young as she goes through a lengthy labor period. Dianne, you will have time to go down and get her momma.”

  Mrs. Walker said, “I think this baby wants out. Ethel’s water already broke through, and her pains are ten minutes apart.”

  Dianne said she wasn’t going to leave me, no matter what. Doc stepped in the next room and called to his son, “Philip, I need you. Take the wagon out front down to the Nash house and get Ethel’s mother. Don’t do anything to worry Mrs. Nash. Ethel will be fine. Tell her it looks like she might have a grandbaby soon, and she should come along.”

  Evidently Philip was used to this because I could hear him running out the back door and around to the wagon.

  The doctor did his examination and said, “Whoa, baby! Slow down! We aren’t quite prepared!” He started rummaging through the cabinet and asked his wife how quickly she could get things ready.

  “I am ready,” she said.

  The next pain was a huge one. Dianne said I screamed like a wild animal. The doctor yelled at me, “Don’t push!” My response was, “How the heck do I do that! This dang baby won’t stay in!” With the next gigantic pain, I passed out. I don’t remember anything else.

  Dianne told me later it was a good thing I could not see it. She said, “You must have busted a geyser loose! Blood came out almost as much as the water! And when that baby slid out, the doctor was hardly ready to catch it. I screamed in sympathy and fear for you, Ethel. Then the doctor yelled at me—GET OUT!”

  As Dianne tells the story, she figured she should leave the room. The doc didn’t need two passed out women on his hands. Just then Momma burst through the door and yelled to the doc, “What in the Sam Hill is going on! Help her, Doc, she’s bleeding too much! She is just a baby herself!” Dianne changed her mind and decided to stay in the room so Momma would not hurt the doctor. Later Momma claimed she would never have cursed at a doctor. I knew she did because Dianne said so.

  Mrs. Walker evidently tended to the baby. Momma and Doc tended to me. I didn’t really care who did what, ’cause I was out like a light at midnight. Momma said she heard a smack to the baby and then a loud baby cry. Momma and Dianne looked over at the baby. Dianne shouted, “Thank God! It’s a girl!”

  “Listen to that voice,” Momma said.

  Dianne burst out loud laughing with tears streaming down her face and replied, “She has her mother’s singing voice!” That’s when I woke up Dianne said—when everyone was laughing.

  After everything was cleaned up with me, the doc went to sit in a chair. His head was down so his chin touched his chest. It looked like he was praying hard. “Holy smokes!” he said softly. “That was the fastest one I’ve ever seen!”

  They got clean sheets under me and a pillow for my head. I stayed the night at the doctor’s office. He said I lost so much blood, he needed to keep a watch on me. Dianne went to find Frank. Momma stayed with me.

  “Have you decided on a name, honey?” Momma asked. “The last time we talked you had three or four you were thinking about.”

  That sweet baby was in my arms already nuzzling at my breast. I could hear her breathing. It was the sweetest sound I ever heard. I looked at my baby’s face and said to Momma, “Momma, she is a child I wanted because it is from me and Frank. Even though the Pollards don’t want the baby, Frank and I do. I read somewhere that the name Marie means wished-for-child. So, her name will be Marie Frances Nash.”

  Momma put her arms around the two of us and said softly into my ear, “That is perfect, Ethel. Just perfect.” At that point my breathing, Momma’s breathing, and Marie’s small breath were all the same rhythm.

  Yes, Frank went to Virginia as planned, but it turned out Marie and I didn’t.

  1930

  Nash Sisters

  The Nash Round-Robin Letters Begin

  The Nash girls lead different lives now that we are grown. Marie and I still live in the family home with Momma, Florence Nash.

  Dianne got married and moved with her husband so Joe could take a job with Burlington Mills near Greensboro, North Carolina. They could make a better living at the mill than at farming.

  Annie finished school and decided to move to a “big city” as soon as she could. She took the train to Washington, D.C. to look for a job and a rooming house. She found both and moved that same trip.

  Caroline moved from place to place. She lived with families who needed help with their children or housekeeping. Even though she was good at her job, she did not stay in one home for long. Sometimes she lived at home. She said she could not be a caged bird. She needed to fly.

  We stayed in touch by writing round-robin letters. It all started when Dianne and Annie moved away. I desperately missed my sisters and decided news about each other could
be a gift. Like a present that arrives in the mailbox. The Nash Round-Robin Letters began with me.

  Instructions for the Nash Round-Robin Letters

  We talked about this when you were last home, but in case you don’t remember the details, here is what was decided.

  Add a letter to the round-robin letters each time the envelope comes around. I hope we can have the robin go ’round at least once a month. Don’t hold the letters more than a few days before mailing them. Even if you are busy or can’t think of anything to say, just make comments on what other letters have said. You can write letters front and back and no more than two sheets of paper to save on postal costs. Here is the way the Nash Round-Robin Letters will go.

  I’ll start it since it was my idea. I write my letter and mail it to Dianne. Dianne, you write to us about your life in Burlington and mail my letter and yours to Caroline. Since we are never sure where Caroline will be living next, she has asked the postmaster to hold her mail. She promised to save some money for stamps and go pick up her mail once a week.

  Caroline, please write your letter as soon as you can, add it to letters from Dianne and me then send all of them to Annie.

  Annie, you contribute your letter and send all four back to me. I know you have a Roaring Twenties life to tell us all about, but please try to keep to two sheets of paper.

  When I get the letter from Annie, we have completed one round-robin. I take out my letter and start it all over again with a new letter.

  My dear sisters – March 5, 1930

  Since we were together a few months ago at Christmas, I am not sure I will have much new news to share. Today is Ash Wednesday, and I just got home from church with Momma. Now is a good time to start this letter.

  You know that I still have not gotten married. Now that Frank is out of our life I need to move on. I am courting pretty heavy with Lawrence Martin. I call him Larry. I am not sure I told you how we met. Larry travels around towns selling insurance. He found out from Dr. Walker that I had baby Marie a couple of years ago. He came to the house looking to sell me some life insurance. I don’t like salesmen. They always have a scheme to wrestle money from you.

  He came up to the front door looking dapper in a suit, tie, hat pitched a little to the right, and leather shoes. I noticed he had a handkerchief sticking out of his suit pocket. He did not look like men I usually saw. I assumed that was because he had money, so I decided to talk to him. He told me about life insurance and why a young mother needed some. He said, “It is kind of like a savings account, Mrs. Nash. Let’s say you die before your daughter is old enough to work, she is going to need some money to bury you and make ends meet.”

  He handed me a paper that told the details and said I could read it later. He said he wanted to come by another day and explain a little more.

  Well, he has been coming by “to explain” almost every week for two months now. I enjoy his company. He tells lots of stories about places in the South where he has traveled. Next week he is driving to Atlanta to set up a new office for the company. He will be gone for a few weeks but says he wants to come back soon. I haven’t bought any insurance from him yet. That might be why he keeps coming back. I want to think that it is because I am a dashing young woman who is funny as all get out. That might be true, because I clean up good and I tell stories about our crazy mixed up family all the time.

  Last week, Mr. Frank Pollard sent me a letter begging my forgiveness, again, for leaving me “helpless.” His exact words were, “I know it must be hard to raise a baby on your own. I pray that you will come to your senses and move up to Virginia so I can be a part of Marie’s life.” Ha Ha. He better pray. If I ever see him again, I will slap that pretty boy face! He left me. I did not leave him. And besides I am the best mother in the world for Marie. We don’t need a man!

  I know what you are thinking—”Shucks, Ethel, you are only so great at mothering because you have Momma and Caroline around.” Well, you are right about that. But I will never let him know I have help.

  Speaking of the Pollards, they have moved out of the county and up to Raleigh. Mr. Pollard opened a bank up there, and I hear Mrs. Pollard is entertaining flocks of rich wives. I know she thinks she is the cat’s pajamas. There was an announcement of the bank opening in the paper with a picture of them. Mr. Pollard was shaking hands with the mayor of Raleigh and there were other business folks standing around them. I’d send you the article torn from the paper, but then our letter would get too heavy.

  That is all for now. I miss you all terribly.

  Your loving sister,

  Ethel

  * * *

  Hey y’all! It’s Dianne here! – March 19, 1930

  I am so excited about these letters. I will try to stick to the rules, but I have so much to tell you. I’ll try to write small. If this fat letter makes you go over the postal costs, I will pay you all back. I see these letters as a way to keep a diary for years to come, so I am going to tell you some things you may have heard, but I want it in the official Nash Round-Robin Letters record.

  Joe got a good job at the Burlington Mills textile plant. His title is bobbin carrier, but that doesn’t mean he carries bobbins. He works in the area where the cotton is pulled from the bale, twisted, and spun into thread. Although I haven’t seen inside the plant, Joe said the process is the same as our grandma’s spinning wheel, only motorized.

  His job is to watch all the action really close and fix problems when they happen. He says machines get too much dust if the thread is damp. Then all kinds of problems can happen. He learned how to do this job by being an apprentice with the overseer. To me, it seems nerve-racking to be there ten hours a day making sure nothing goes wrong. And he is walking around all day with barely a break to eat his lunch. He says it is hard work but better than farming! And they give him money to do the job every week.

  Joe started his job in September. I stayed behind to pack up our stuff and get the house picked up so y’all would have more room. When I arrived in October, there was a house ready for me and Joe to move into. It was a perfect house with two bedrooms, electric lights, indoor bathroom with water pumped from the well right into the sink! Isn’t that the bee’s knees!

  Until you come visit and can see for yourself, I’ll tell you what the house looks like so you can see it when you read my letters. It is a wooden house painted gray. The trim is white, but there are no shutters. If you are standing in the front yard looking at the front door, you will see a small porch on the right side with an overhang from the roof. It is big enough for one or two chairs, that’s it. When you look to the left, you see a room that juts out from the rest of the house—that’s our bedroom. Once you come in the front door, you are in the hall. On the right is the “living room” as they call it these days. That is where we sit, talk, and listen to the radio now that we can afford one. It has a fireplace that burns wood. There are four windows in there. I can’t wait to sew some curtains.

  Behind the living room is a kitchen big enough for a table and four chairs. I love that kitchen. The stove is electric, not wood burning. There are plenty of kitchen cabinets. And guess what? The ice box is electric too! It really isn’t an icebox! It is a refrigerator! The indoor bathroom is between the two bedrooms on the left side of the house. I just hope the toilet washes out easy, so the room doesn’t smell like an outhouse. And like I already said, the water can pump right into a permanent sink. Can you imagine! I can’t wait for each of you to visit. We will have a bedroom waiting for you!

  It took me awhile to get the house all set up. And I am not yet finished because we don’t have a lot of furniture. But I have done what I can for now. I was thinking I would be bored after that, but it didn’t happen. Once I settled us in, the neighbors came calling. The houses on our road are mostly for women and families whose husbands or fathers work in the mill. I really like a few of the women. Some of the others not so much. They want to find out what kind of furniture you have and where your people came from . . . you
know, the nosey type. There was one woman that told me to stay away from her husband. She actually said, “The new girls that move in want to be with my Billy. Even though he tries to discourage them, they find their way to his bed.” Can you believe that? It is a woman’s fault that Billy sleeps around! I wonder how good looking Mr. Irresistible is?!

  There evidently is a garden club in this town. I will have to join. I miss using the earth to bring food and beauty. There is nothing planted around this house or on the street. Ethel, next time I come home I will dig up some of the things there to replant here. One thing I want for sure is some of those yellow roses.

  Ethel, I am glad you have someone courting you. You and Marie need a man around. If he is as nice as you say, it would be good for her to know a man that won’t leave her.

  Okay, that is it. My hand is tired and I made it under two pages. Send it back quickly. Joe says he will put up a mailbox for my letters this weekend!

  Love to all my sisters,

  Dianne

  * * *

  Dear Ethel, Dianne, Annie – March 28, 1930

  I have had these letters a week. I will take them back to the postman this afternoon. I don’t have much to say because my life is terrible. There is nothing new that Ethel does not already know, but she said I have to write something anyway without any cusswords. She told me there is something good in any day. Well, I will write about me and you can find if there is any good in it.

  The Murphy kids, Michael and Ellen, ages 8 and 6, are easy to take care of. Mr. Murphy is never home. He travels all the time. And Mrs. Murphy is having sex with the doctor’s son. You all remember Philip Walker, right? Dianne, you told me he was the one who went to get Momma when Ethel had Marie. Well, it seems getting a person’s family to come to the doctor’s office is not the only thing he is quick with. Last week, I walked the kids home from school. We came in the back door so we could go right to a snack. There was Mrs. Murphy without her top and Philip stripped down to his underdrawers, hugging and kissing each other right on top of the kitchen table! In broad daylight! I turned around to Michael and Ellen and shouted, “Stop! Your momma’s busy right now.” But I was not quick enough, because Michael yelled, “EEYOU! Gross!” I grabbed their shoulders and pushed them back out the door.