Writing to glorify God

(All samples are copyrighted, and are not edited in any way)

"England expects that every man will do his duty"

Horatio Nelson

Jonathon Barker’s father, Uncle Robert Barker for the purposes of our stories, looked up from the letter he was reading. “Well, your sister in law is married,” he said to Jonathon’s mother, as she bustled about the stove.

Jonathon, his oldest and (so far) only son, looked up. Aunt Grace? Getting married? Who would marry her?

“What? Without inviting us?” His mother asked, sounding scandalized.

“Apparently they were married by the judge that handled the adoption, without any ceremony. Still, she is married, and you have to admit that is a good thing.”

“Of course it is. She was very� brave to take on Susan’s children, they certainly need a father.”

Charlotte, Jonathon’s sister and, I suppose ‘Cousine Charlotte’ for our purposes, looked sad. She loved going to weddings and getting to wear her best dress. Jonathon hated it.

“That is not all of her news,” his father continued. “I had already told you that they were putting an addition on her house, well, now that they have, and now that she has a new husband, she has invited us to come and stay with them.”

“Stay with them? At her farm? In the country?”

“Yes, and, I must say, I think it is our duty to go.”

Aunt Rosemary, who had had her mouth open to speak, shut it and turned back to the stove. Jonathon grinned. Everyone knew that when Father used the word ‘duty’ it was vain, indeed worse than vain, to argue. It didn’t matter if it was Father’s duty, like now, or Mother’s or theirs. Once the word ‘duty’ entered the conversation all that was left to discuss were the details.

“Read us the letter, please, Father,” Charlotte said.

“What? Oh, very well, I suppose that is proper.”

Dear Robert,

I hope this letter finds you and your family well. I have some news that I need to tell you, although the judge might have communicated it to you already.

First of all the judge came down to our area, interviewed several people, and finalized the adoption of Susan’s children last Tuesday. We have a formal letter to that effect.

My second news is that I am married. I have written you several times about the attention that my neighbor was paying to me, and that he had offered for my hand. He and the boys finished the addition that I told you about, along with a neighbor lad. The neighbor lad and they had been fighting routinely, not pleasant boy fights but with some real mutual animosity, but working together under my new husband put an end to that. I never did hear exactly what was the cause, but spending all afternoon lifting heavy stones together is apparently a recognized way for young males to bond. That and eating meals, bathing together, ‘sleeping over’, as they call it, and all of the other activities that they engaged in. And of course my husband wouldn’t have permitted any animosity while they were working. I don’t believe they have had a fight for at least two weeks.

I’m sorry that I couldn’t invite you to the wedding, but there wasn’t one. We were married privately by the judge. My new husband’s name, which I may not have told you, is Jonathon Thacker, he owns the hay fields and horse breeding barn next to our property and we have known each other for years. You will need to tell your son that my boys are now calling him ‘Young Jonathon’. They find it most amusing.

We are all doing well, and would like to invite everyone to come and stay with us: you, John, and Roger with your families. The children are all looking forward to the visits.

We are thinking two weeks would be adequate for each of your families.

Trusting in you to coordinate with your brothers,

Sincerely,

Grace Thacker

“When will we go, Father?” Jonathon asked. His sister was grinning at him and he wanted to put off the time when she would start calling him ‘young Jonathon’.

“Well, she leaves that to me. This summer, obviously. But since it is our duty it would be best to get it done as soon as possible. I believe your break starts on Friday, so I will write her we can come on Saturday. We can worship with them at their church and then you will have two full weeks of vacation in the country, which I am told is pleasant.”

Jonathon couldn’t see his mother’s face but, by his sister’s face he could guess what it looked like. His sister was not looking forward to a ‘vacation in the country’ if, by ‘country’ was meant their aunt’s dairy farm… which involved animals, smells, and, no doubt ‘chores’. Country chores, of course. His sister practically revelled in her chores around the house. Everything clean and tidy, that was her motto. And she was annoying enough about it that he kept his own room neat as well. At least, since Robert and Roger moved out.

There was a knock on the door. “Oh, that must be Billy,” Jonathon said, getting up. “We’re going to walk to school together.”

“That’s nice, Dear,” his mother said. “Make sure you rinse your dishes.”

Jonathon ran to the back door, opened it, “I’ll be out in a second,” he said to Billy who stood on the steps, flapping his arms with the cold.

Then he closed the door, ran back, quickly rinsed his dishes, and grabbed his books. “Bye!” he called out and, before anyone could answer, was out the door.

“What you so excited about?” Billy asked, as they walked around the house toward the road.

“Oh, we just got a letter from my Aunt Grace,” Jonathon said. “We’re going to get to go and spend a couple of weeks in the country with my cousins. You remember Robert and Roger?”

“Of course.”

“Well, Aunt Grace adopted them, which I guess makes her their mother, and she invited us to go spend a couple of weeks with them. It sounds really fun, with a creek to swim in and lots of trees to climb and all.”

“What’s the catch?”

Jonathon thought. “Well… Aunt Grace is really strict. She’ll lick you no question.”

“Your folks are strict.”

“Well, yeah. Not quite the same. And, ummm, we’re going to have to smush in. Robert, Roger, and me all in the same room. I dunno, maybe I’ll have to sleep on the floor. No way Aunt Grace will rent cots.”

“That sounds fun.”

“Well, yeah. For two weeks, an�yways. Oh, I know, she just got married to some new guy, so that’s a bit scary. I mean, who knows what he’s like? Any guy that would marry my Aunt Grace has got to be someone else.”

“That does sound scary,” Billy said, grinning.