Family Reminders (9 page)

One day at the end of summer, when the wildflowers had wilted and the mountain meadows were baked brown under the midday sun, Daddy came home from the doctor’s with good news. “My leg is healed enough to be fitted with an artificial leg,” he announced.

“A what?” I asked.

“A fake leg,” Daddy answered, pulling at my hair. “That means I can finally get rid of these blasted crutches. I have to go to a special doctor in Denver, but at least now we can afford the train ticket.”

Aunt Hattie came to stay with me while Mama and Daddy went to get Daddy’s new leg. While they were in Denver, Mama took some of his carvings around to the fancy downtown stores. “I never would have had the courage if you hadn’t done it first,” she whispered to me after she got home. Although no one was as nice as Mr. Brown, the store owners recognized the quality of Daddy’s work and bought everything Mama had. There were even requests for more.

The night that Mama and Daddy came home, I set the table and tried to keep busy so as not to think about the last time I waited for Daddy’s return. When I heard the wagon come to a halt in front of our house, for a moment I hesitated, too nervous to hurry into a greeting that might leave me feeling empty once again. But when I passed by the new Raspberry Reminder sitting on the shelf in the parlor, I remembered all that we had already been through. I found my courage, and I pulled open the door just as Daddy let out his five-note whistled hello. I saw him standing right there in front of me, a tall man on two legs.

“Aren’t you going to welcome me home?” Daddy asked.

I threw myself into his arms, hugging him tighter than tight, and whispered in his ear, “Welcome home, Daddy. Welcome home.”

Family Reminders
takes place in the late 1890s in Cripple Creek, Colorado, one of the most famous mining towns in the West. In 1900, more than eighteen million dollars worth of gold was mined from the nearly five hundred mines in the area.

The story of Mary McHugh is loosely based on the life of my grandmother, who spent part of her childhood in Cripple Creek. Her father—my great-grandfather—was a hard-rock miner who, like Daniel in the story, lost his leg in a mining accident. Although the mine where Daniel worked is fictional, my grandmother recalled the many mines that constantly belched smoke and emitted noisy blasts. Residents grew accustomed to the noise and ever-present view of mines dotting the mountainside.

Much of my description of the town is based on old photographs and research as well as on my own memories of visiting Cripple Creek as a little girl with my grandmother. Bennett Avenue was and still is the town’s main street, and my grandmother’s school was located up a very steep hill a few blocks off of it. At the time of this story, a trolley had been built to carry workers up and down the valley to their jobs in the mines. Mr. Brown and his store are fictional; however, in a bustling boomtown, stores like his did exist, providing access to higher-end home items that wouldn’t be found in a regular department store.

You can visit Cripple Creek’s official website at
www.cripple-creek.co.us
to read more about the town’s mining history and see pictures of the town as it looks today.