Ruthie’s Ways
Part II
A fictional three-part short story
By Rob Goodwin
Born the fifth child and first girl of seven, Ruthie was named after her grandmother, Clara Ruth Ellerby. Ruthie was the apple of her father’s eye, so her mother carried out most of her discipline. Ruthie’s four older brothers, John Owen, Edward, Clayton, and Harland, were always getting her into trouble. By the time little sisters, Rayanne and Regina were born, Ruthie was already as tough and mean as a boy, but she had a heart of gold and was like a second mother to the sisters. Mr. Ellerby didn’t want Ruthie working in the cotton mill. He knew what kind of men worked there and was afraid she would get married before she was ready. He could never imagine a man being good enough for his Ruthie.
In the mid 1960s, Ellerby (as he was referred to all over town) came down with, “the lung disease”. He had allowed his four boys and Ruthie to smoke as they were growing up. It brought a sense of calmness to their hard daily work, and the constant stress of financial worry. Pall Mall was Ruthie’s father’s favorite brand of smokes. Beaulah Ellerby, Ruthie’s mother objected to the boys and Ruthie smoking, so they hid it from her. Ellerby passed away in the spring of 1966, and by fall Ruthie had a job in the cotton mill, in order to help her mother with the bills. When speaking of her daughter’s selfless generosity, Beaulah always said, “That’s Ruthie’s ways.”
Ruthie’s brothers went on to get married and start having children, but John Owen was diagnosed with lung cancer also. The eldest Ellerby son died an early death and Beaulah grieved herself into bad health. By the eighties, Ruthie was the head of the family. Edward ran off with some hussy from the pipe shop, “a secretary or sumthin.” Clayton was a drunkard and in his third marriage. Harland, Ruthie, Regina and Rayanne stayed close and worked together caring for their ailing mother. They raised their children like a village and Ruthie did all she could do to be the matriarch of the family and keep everyone together. Beaulah died from kidney failure in 1982, likely related to blood pressure and sugar issues. Ruthie was devastated but found strength in her loved ones.
Life prevented Ruthie from finding her own personal happiness as defined by society. By the time she turned forty years old, the hardness of life made Ruthie believe she was an old maid. Serving the church, helping to raise the kids, and working tirelessly in the mill’s spinning and winding departments, prevented the loneliness that most would have felt. There were a few men who courted Ruthie from time to time, but she had no interest and no man ever had the resolve to continually pursue Ruthie.
Facing cancer at seventy years old wasn’t unexpected by the family or Ruthie. She was addicted to smoking from an early age, and often wondered how she had been spared so long after her father and John Owen’s deaths. Harland, Rayanne, and Regina’s eight kids together, would prove to be the support system Ruthie needed. Ruthie had always been their strength and godly example. Reluctantly and with great fear and anxiety, Ruthie agreed to visit the large cancer center in Atlanta. Like her mother, Ruthie was never interested in leaving Trinity, and especially not interested in a city like Atlanta. After talking with God, Ruthie felt some of the burden of anxiety subside and she didn’t feel as fearful anymore. This was definitely her turn in life to “let God fight my battles,” as she lovingly and firmly told the, “youngins,” she helped rear. Trusting God proved to be the best of Ruthie’s ways.
Keep following for Part III of Ruthie’s Story.
