Lula Wood's Story

I had the fortune to visit with my mother last night who brought me three extraordinary books about my family, the history of the church and the history of the town.  One of the books struck me as particularly interesting, it is the biography of my Great-Grandmother, Lula Wood, written in her words.

I sat in my bed last night and read the short book cover to cover, captivated by the stories that she shared.  I wish I had the opportunity to ask her questions about these stories.   I convinced my mother to let me keep this book in particular so that I could scan its pages and keep this information electronically. Below I've captured some of the most amazing stories from the book, stories that I think could be incorporated into our novel:

"Before Andy Floyd Wood ever saw me, Lula Stanley, he went to a neighbor's house to stay all night. 

The lady of the house told him, 'Its the first time you've ever stayed all night here.  I've heard it said if you eat a thimble full of salt before you go to bed, you will dream of the girl you are going to marry'

So, he did, and counted the joists in the house to fall asleep.  He dreamed a girl brought him a drink of water.  He told me when he saw first sight of me that I was the girl.  He never forgot that dream.  It was love at first sight, I believe I was meant for him."

The two married at age 14 and 17 in 1912.

Around the age of 18 Andy Floyd began working on the mountain railroad line running from Clinchco to Haysi.  He worked in a crew of three men drilling holes after the holes had been excavated with dynamite. In one hole, the dynamite never ignited.  Andy Floyd's crew was not aware of this and when they placed the large drill into the hole the dynamite exploded, badly damaging both of his hands.  All of this happened on the side of a cliff overlooking the river.  Amazingly, he did not fall.

He made his way off the mountain to the local town bank, the only building with running water in 1912. Andy made his way to the  local commissary and found a cot.  It took the doctor three days for the railroad company doctor to arrive and tend to Andy's wounds.  Lula describes it:

"The Railroad Company Doctor took tools and went into his hands.  He got out rocks, wires and dirt without numbing it.  He made me sit by and hold his pan of tools.  You could hear the gravels hit the wall when he flipped them out." 

Following this accident, it took months before Andy Floyd was able to feed himself.  For many years following this accident, he was only able to work with one hand.  Lula writes that for many years she chopped the wood for him. 

Andy Floyd stayed with his parents while his hands healed.  Lula went back to stay with her family as she missed them.  She wirtes:

"So he decided to take me back and stay awhile with my people.  So he walked me home....Andy Floyd said he would be back after me in three weeks.  But he never came and I got mad I thought he wanted to shed of me....In nine months, he came after me to go back. 

He says 'Are you ready?'

I says 'No, I ain't going back after you didn't come back in three weeks as you promised me.'

So he went next door to his sister's house and stayed there all night.  And he got his brother-in-law to come with him and try to convince me to go back.  He begged and begged.  I knew his hands were so bad there was no way he could chop wood...I told him if he got a house and things to use around here I'd go back with him....so he got a log cabin."

One of the most heart wrenching moments in this story is Lula and Andy's difficulty having children.  Her first three children died, and it wasn't until 8 years into their marriage that they bore a surviving child. 

She describes the tragedy and Andy's anguish over the losses:

I was down at the creek washing diapers and I heard a noise.  I jumped up and looked, I thought the house was falling down.  I ran back to the house to see about my baby, he was asleep.  My baby was fat and pretty. 

I was up fixing breakfast for my husband, he heard the baby make a noise and went in to check on the baby and said "this baby is sick"  Andy went for my mother and dad.  The baby had the croup.  My baby died that evening.  The noise I heard the day before was a warning but I didn't know what it meant.  We buried our first child in November.

Our second child, David Earl (Little Earl), was born in 1915, he had blond hair and blue eyes.  He was so pretty...

It was so sad.  Little Earl got choked on a shell bean.  I was looking at them to cook and he was laughing and sucked one down his throat.  I was shocked so I didn't know what to do so I grabbed him p in my arms and carried the baby under my arm down the path to Paw's house.  Pay and maw were gone by Hadie was there.  I started hollering for help and crying.  I thought someone would hear me and meet me to help.  But no one heard me.  David Earl died in January 1919, he was four years old. 

Draxie May (born 1917) was a good little child.  She would say 'Mommie, what do you want me to do?'  She always wanted to help me.....She took diptheria....When the doctor got there he said it was too late....She knew I had been crying over her being sick.  So she came in to where I was and said 'look here mommie, I can run and run and run across the floor...'  She died that evening. 

Seems like we had so much bad luck and trouble loosing our children.  Andy Floyd went to the mountain where he thought I couldn't hear him to pray.  He said he thought he was going to die from heartache.  He went to a sink hole and said he could take one step further.  He said he prayed so hard and said 'lord, I give up, it's all in your power if I live or die.'   He said something happened, he said his face was on the ground and when he got so he could get up, the trees was rejoicing and there was a streak of gold from his feet to the sky.  When he came back, he didn't want to tell me what had happened because I had been so weakened by the children passing on. 

In her lifetime, my Great-Grandmother Wood would give birth to 15 children, 11 of them surviving into adulthood.  My Grandmother, Magdaline, was child number 7. 

Lula died at the age of 93, in 1991. 

Plot Character Hash Out #1

Notes from Dustin/Angela brainstorm #1:

Characters

• Strong female character- a matriarch is important.  An old wise woman, a grandmother or some other motherly figure.
• The drifter.  We want the reader to feel ambivalent about this character.  "Like feeling mad at the nail in the road that causes a flat tire."  A blip in the story.  Not a main character.  He is the main catalyst for conflict within the story.  The reader will not know much of the drifter's history.  Backstory will be developed, history not.  Pick up history secondarily through details of the story.
• Boyfriend.  He represents "the escape" from this town.  He needs to remain almost mythical.  Perhaps the reader never meets him directly.  An idea is Habitat for Humanity, that is his link to the town and the daughter.

Setting

• Mythical appalachian town.  Draw a map of the town.

New Plot Idea

• Man is born and raised in town
• Man leaves town
• Gets married, has a baby
• wife dies
• broken, returns to town with daughter
• Man becomes a minister in the town, a pillar of the community
• Drifter comes into town
• Drifter knows minister from life in previous town
• Drifter knows something that the minister did
• Drifter attempts to blackmail the minister
• There is a heated confrontation, the daughter interrupts
• The daughter shoots the drifter
• The minister takes the blame for the daughter and attempts to buck the charges as self defense
• Through the investigation, we discover what the minister was guilty of

We currently have no resolution.......