Martha Jane Tennessee Tucker Gillum, the star of
Forever Cry, Died in Wing, Arkansas in 1941, shortly after her eighty-second
birthday Party. I was born in that same house in 1944, three years later. As I
look at the group photo from that birthday party, I see twenty four mostly
familiar faces, from infants to adults. These were the people who surrounded
me, and loved me, as I grew to adulthood. As I approach my seventy first
birthday, only four of these people survive today. Enjoy those around you who
love you. Life is short.
Forever Cry is a historical fiction book,
inspired by my grandmother’s colorful life. She was born as the Civil War was
about to start, and most of the book took place during the Reconstruction.
Sarah, Tenny’s mother, was a strong
mountain woman who held her family together as the war wound down. Her children
give her much joy, and much shame, during a time of violent upheaval in
Arkansas.
My best first-hand information about
Grandma Tenny came from my older siblings. My brother Harold, as a small, rowdy
boy, remembers her as a very old lady, his worst nightmare. Once, she told him
to do something. He replied, “Just a minute.” She laced her fingers in his
hair, and swung him around a couple of times.
My sister Jonnie, as a frail and sickly
little girl, remembers her as the one who held her in her arms and rocked her
all day long. Every day. When she grew too large for Grandma to hold, she sat
beside her in her rocking chair. And rocked. All day long.
I remember my dad’s comments about Grandma
Tenny as a very old lady, when a man came up missing. “The law wanted to come
question her, but was afraid to.” I never understood that. Why would they fear
a very fragile old lady, nearing death? In the end, I learned why.
In researching for Forever Cry, I noticed
a little side note on a family researcher’s paper. “Her family hung a man early
one morning.” That’s all it said. What??
Other bare comments. “Grandma and her
sister were hidden in a cave once. For two years.”
“A
big wild hog ran in and got the Baby.”
“Men
were killed in her behalf.” Needless to say, all this stimulated more
research. What a life this woman lived!
This comment, penciled in by my editor,
stated, “This could never happen.” Actually, I could not change it, because it did happen. Truth, at times can be
stranger than fiction.
My two great grandfathers also make their
appearance in Forever Cry. LaFayette WAS
held as a POW in the Civil War. He DID survive by eating white oak acorns. He
WAS the first constable of Atkins, Arkansas.
James, my other great grandpa, DID haul in
his year’s cotton crop, got drunk, and threw all the money away in the road
ditch. He DID marry his daughter’s husband’s baby sister, LaFayette’s youngest
daughter, at age 78 and produce two children.
All the actual events in Forever Cry,
woven into the fabric of the story with lots of undocumented happenings I strongly
suspect but can’t prove, along with pure fiction, at times, make for a story I
think you will like.
My real-life uncle by marriage, Harry
Poynter, DID face the sheriff, Deputy sheriff, and county clerk in the streets
of Dover, killing one man, and sent the other two racing for Russellville. He
DID face down a thirty man posse in downtown Dover, sent to arrest him, with
the words “I will give up my guns with my life, and I will make the man who
takes it pay a heavy price.” They, also, chose to go home instead.
Several early readers have already
finished. Comments: “That girl just completely destroyed the whole family’s
reputation.” I dread telling her: “That girl never existed.”
“I just kept being drawn back to it until
I finished.”
“That first major event was just horrible.
So bad, it could not have actually happened.” But it did.
I did a lot of research about the wars and
politics of that time, doing my best to keep that factual. I hope you enjoy it.
Either way, my contact info is at the end of Forever Cry. I hope you contact me
when you finish. We need to talk. I will laugh with you, or apologize to you,
depending upon which seems appropriate.
The Arkadelphia book signing will be
Wednesday, July 8th, 10 – 2, at Hardman Interiors. Hope you can
come!
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