1903 Singer Treadle Sewing Machine
image from Quilting Board
"Why'd she die?" the child asked from her perch on the treadle below her great grandmother's sewing machine.
Her mother laid a silky, white slip into a box marked donations. "She just did, Honey."
The child rocked back and forth on the treadle, singing softly to herself, "Out of my window, looking in the night." She stopped rocking. "Am I gonna die?"
"Of course not. GG was old. You're not quite four." The mother laid a fuzzy, pink robe on the bed. It smelled faintly of gardenias, her grandmother's favorite flowers. An early spring scent from the old woman's childhood home.
The mother remembered rocking on that same treadle when she was small. Her Granny hadn't sewn on it in years. Not since Pap bought her the electric sewing machine. She hadn't used that one for years either. Not since Pap died. She might as well sell the electric one. Nobody in the family sewed any more. But she'd keep the old treadle machine.
The child resumed her rocking and singing. "I could see the barges flickering light. Silently flows the river to the sea. And the barges, too, go silently." She stopped singing. "What's a barge?"
"It's a kind of boat. Your GG lived by a great big river when she was little like you. And she could see the barges from her front porch. She used to sing that song to me when I was little."
"Did GG go to heaven on a barge?"
"Go to heaven?"
"That's what Auntie Lily said. She said GG went to heaven and she's never coming back."
"On a barge?" The mother sat on the edge of the bed. "Come out from under there." She gathered the child into her lap, taking up the song herself, "Barges I would like to go with you. I would like to sail the ocean blue."
She kissed the top of the little girl's head. The child smelled fresh and clean, still damp from her bath. "Maybe your GG did go to heaven on a barge. That would be just like her."
The child leaned away from her mother to see her better. "Momma, you're old."
The mother laughed.
Still serious, the child searched her mother's face. "I don't want you to go on a barge."
#atozchallenge
Had to come to read this post as old sewing machines and barges are two loves of mine. Now I find we both elected to use G for a Great Grandma - so Great minds too connect us :) http://pempispalace.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/g-is-for-great-great-grandma-gertrude.html
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this passage very much. Both of my grandmothers, and the two great-grandmothers I knew, were whizzes with the sewing machine. Nice memories.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by. My grandmothers and mother were excellent seamstresses, too. I don't sew much any more since my son and daughter are grown, but I'm glad to say, they both sew.
DeleteIf only Death were so kind as to require that only those above a certain age could ride that barge.
ReplyDeleteGreat story though. Keep up the good work!
J -- Co-host the #AtoZchallenge, Debut Author Interviewer, Reference and Speculative Fiction Writer
http://jlennidornerblog.what-are-they.com
I sewed my first garments on a machine like that. I love this fiction piece.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Miss you.
DeleteThat was very sweet. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd that old sewing machine and table are lovely.
Vanessa @Vanessence
My "theme" - A Thirty-Word Story, revealing one word of the story each day of the challenge.
#AtoZChallenge The Letter G
That was lovely! With lots of memories of my mum sewing on a machine like that. We went for afternoon tea together last week and our table was an old Singer table with treadle still intact. There is still a stop on one of our local train lines called Singer at the site of a long demolished factory.
ReplyDeleteVery cool!
ReplyDeleteVery nice and helpful information has been given in this post. I like the way you explain the things. Keep posting. Thanks.
ReplyDeletebest quilting machine