Minnie Goes to Heaven (5)

a novel 

One year, Minnie told the children to bring a stick with them as they walked the mile of winding gravel road through the wooded area between their home and the main highway which led to school. Rabies was rampant. Rabid foxes had been sighted. That was the year Hetta, their German Shepherd, came home foaming at the mouth. 
As John didn't have a gun, a neighbour came to shoot the dog. 
John told Minnie he really didn’t want a gun. He said the combination of having a gun and children on the same property would make Minnie worry more than the small pleasure shooting a rabbit for supper might bring. Little Billy with his adventurous spirit caused enough worry without a gun in the house.

Minnie Goes to Heaven (4)

a novel 

There was proof that worrying helped. All three children grew up without dying.
And, Billy did fall into the brook that meandered through the brush and across their property. He got a soaker. He came into the house to put on dry clothes, only to fall in the brook again, and fall in the brook again and again, until he ran out of dry clothes, so she dressed him in his pyjamas and tied him to the clothesline. Unfortunately that was the day the pastor picked to pay a visit. She hadn’t thought to worry about that. What were the chances?

She did worry about what the pastor thought of her. Did he think she was an insufficient mother. Who hangs pyjamas on the clothesline with the boy still in them?  She worried about this every time she sat in church, until three years later when that pastor moved on to another congregation. By then she was preoccupied with different worries.

It turns out a crazy driver never hit her children, but a man in a blue car stopped to offer them a ride to school. They refused the ride as Mary proudly related at supper time. 

After that Minnie worried about 18 different ways her kids could be kidnapped. 

Sometime later a classmate of the children was picked up on her way to school. After three hours she was pushed out of a blue car and onto the school yard. 

Minnie and John found out from the teacher that this child had indeed been molested. They didn’t tell the children, as they didn't want to worry them. Worrying was for grown-ups. 

Minnie Goes to Heaven (3)

a novel written during NaNoWriMo 

She wasn’t worried—not one single bit. Maybe she should worry about that.  No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t worry about John. She felt total peace. This was unexplainable.

Minnie had always worried. She mostly worried about her children. When they were small she worried that they wouldn’t grow up. In the summer she worried that they might fall into the pond and drown. In the winter they might skate and break through the ice and drown. If they were on the bus, it might crash. If they walked along the road a crazy driver might hit them. If they walked in the woods a rabid fox might bite them. If they didn't die from the fox bite, they'd surely succumb to the painful stomach needles. In her mind they often ended up maimed or prematurely dead.

Minnie Goes to Heaven

a novel written during NaNoWriMo (snippet 2) 

Minnie jumped up. Yes, jumped. Then she knew she was in heaven. She hadn’t jumped like that since she was a kid. And, come to think of it, not even then. 

She had been the best rope-jumper on the playground back in Holland. But, now her legs were phenomenal. She looked at them. Yes, these were her legs, although younger, stronger, and less hairy than she remembered them. These were beautiful legs. 

She couldn’t wait to show John. He would be tickled. He might even tickle her. Maybe she should just show him one at a time. Two would be too much.

What was she thinking? If she was in heaven, John wouldn’t be here. He would be back at home wondering why it took so long for her to drive back from Nan’s house in the country. 

She stopped looking at her amazing legs and began walking on them. They moved so smoothly. Wow, she was gliding. Breathing in a big breath of coffee, lily of the valley and freshly laundered clothes, she set off across the bouncy green grass of heaven. She hadn’t felt this carefree ever. 

Minnie Goes To Heaven

During the month of November I took part in National Novel Writing Month. I wrote about 2000 words every day excepts Sunday. I took Sundays off. My parents would have liked that.

Today, January 26th would have been my mother's 92nd birthday. In this novel the main character is loosely based on my mother. So in honour of my mother I am posting this novel, beginning today. I'm hoping you'll enjoy the read and leave comments along the way. You might even want to argue with the theology—my parents certainly would because they are in Heaven and know what it is really like.

This book is dedicated to my Mother and to Snoopy who gave me the first line.

Minnie Goes to Heaven

A Novel

It was a dark and stormy night. Not that Minnie worried about that now. She never worried about anything unless it hadn’t happened. 
The last thing Minnie remembered before she found herself lying here in this green field was that she had been driving the freshly paved concession, the wind blowing, the rain pelting and the wipers not quite keeping up. She had been having trouble seeing past the wiper blades. She must have missed the stop sign at the end of the road. Come to think of it, the stop sign could have been that red blur that scrapped past her ear just before her pick-up left the pavement.

Now she was lying in this green field. The storm had disappeared. The grass wasn’t even wet. The grass was a cushiony soft green grass, by far the greenest most splendid grass ever.

She wanted to be here forever, if just to smell the smells, the aroma of brewed coffee, lily of the valley and fresh laundry just off the line, but a thousand times better than all that. She could just lay here forever. This must be heaven.

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