Before the beginning ...

Marvin and Zella

The year was 1920 and Marvin William Pearson, age 21, was falling-down-drunk on the dirt road in front of a country store somewhere in White County, Arkansas, when an old farm wagon, pulled by two half-starved mules and carrying a load of ragamuffin children, came crawling into view and creaked to a stop.

Zella Viola Bush, age 14, stepped down from the back of that rickety wagon, wearing a ragged pair of boy's work shoes held together with baling wire and a faded cotton dress that had covered several previous owners before working its way down to her. She walked into that dingy store with dark eyes straight ahead and head held high. She bought one bottle of cough syrup for her dying father, left the store as silently as she had entered, climbed back on the wagon to reclaim a seat among her siblings, and wagon wheels began a homeward roll.

Marvin stumbled to his feet, tilted a mason jar high for one last swallow, and announced to everyone within hearing distance that he had just seen the most beautiful girl on earth and he fully intended to marry her, whoever she was, just as soon as he sobered up.

Marvin married Zella very soon after that first sighting and he loved her, unconditionally, until his death 67 years later. He never quite believed that a girl with so much grace and dignity had consented to be his wife.

Zella did not love Marvin. She never pretended otherwise. She married him because of too many brothers and sisters and too little food ... because of a nose that burned in the hot summer cotton fields and fingers that froze on winter clothes lines. She married him because he offered the only way out.

Marvin's job on the Rock Island Railroad paid well. He delighted in buying gifts for his bride. Pretty material to be sewed into dresses on her new Singer sewing machine ... silk stockings ... ribbons for her long black hair.

For several years they lived in a boarding house with meals and laundry furnished. Surely that was a happy time for the couple. She had escaped poverty. He had gained a princess.

I like to think those were good years.

Although Zella never wanted children, she gave birth to her first child, a daughter, when she was 21. Seven years later a son was born. My brother was three-and-a-half years old when I arrived.

My father gave me - from my earliest memory - a feeling of being cherished.

My brother gave me fierce protection.

And so I grew.