Jessie’s Unfinished Story

Sunday, 12/26/2021  6:19 PM

From:           Rod Mebane
To:                Extended Family (28 individuals)
Subject:       JESSIE SPERRING MEBANE – AN UNFINISHED STORY

Extended Family,

Greetings, and happy holidays. This is pretty random. Here’s the context:

By blood or marriage, we are all related to Jessie Sperring. From my node on the tree … Jessie Sperring was my great-grandmother through the line of my dad’s dad – see tree graphic to the right. She lived from 1864 to 1935, pre-deceasing her husband (my great-grandfather), David Cummins “D.C.” Mebane M.D., by two years. Not much has been recorded (yet) on the family tree regarding details of Jessie’s life, but in a pack of photos and documents that have survived the years there is a story that Jessie wrote in 1930 and shared with “my dear, dear Jickie” – her grandson (my uncle).

The story is called, The Secret Which the Wind Told. It starts invitingly enough: “In a comfortable corner of the barn lived a mother-cat with a large family of kittens …” The ending, on the other hand, is nowhere to be found (!), as the last page(s) of her story are lost.

My intent is to bridge the generations to finish Jessie’s story with the help of her long-extended family. So, in short, as a member of said family, if you’d like to do any (or all) of the following, please let me know, and I’ll be back in touch:

• Provide an ending to the story (sloppy copy?) for consideration
• Provide some thoughts that could contribute to an ending to the story (i.e., things that the ending better resolve!)
• Provide editorial comments on the existing part of the story
• Help illustrate the book (or create link to illustrator)
• Provide illuminating insights in general
• Comment later, after the initial round of co-creation
• Be involved in some other integral way (!)

Jessie’s story appears below.

If I don’t hear from you, I’ll still keep you on the list for a copy of the FINAL VERSION.

Much love,

Rod

Handwritten:
Jessie S. Mebane
151 West River St.
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

This is a little story which I wrote long ago and sent to a magazine. Would you like to read it? It is pussy-willow time now – Lots of love, dear, dear Jickie – Grandma

Typed:

THE SECRET WHICH THE WIND TOLD
(A Nature Story)

In a comfortable corner of the barn lived a mother-cat with a large family of kittens. All the little kittens were gray and furry like their mother.

From morning ‘till night, they romped and played in the barnyard, for they had been told never to go far from home.

Very good kittens would have been satisfied to stay where they were safe. But these naughty kittens were not satisfied. They had often scampered along the path and looked out at the world beyond. Every leaf and plant seemed to beckon to them. Surely, there could be no danger there!

“Now pussies,” said the mother one day, “I am going out to get a bunch of catnip. Stay here and play until I come back.”

The kittens watched her until she had disappeared.

“If it safe for our mother to go away from home, why isn’t it safe for us?” asked on naughty kitten.

“What fun it would be to find the catnip and have a good roll in it!” said another.

“Don’t you hear voices calling from the wood?” asked a third. “I wonder if there are other kittens there.”

“Let’s go and see,” said the boldest of them all. “If we follow our mother, we shall be safe.”

Feeling very guilty, they all crept under the gate and across the road.

“Perhaps,” said a very timid little kitten, “it would be well for us to wait here for a while and see if anything happens.”

All agreed to this, so they sat down to watch and wait.

Fortunately, the neighbor’s dog had gone to town that day with his master. Then too, the bad boys who threw stones at kittens, were at school. Nothing came to harm them, so they ran through the field and into the wood.

There, a strange creature with long ears and a short, fluffy tail, hopped across their path. It sat upright and looked at the frightened kittens. Oh, how they trembled!

But this little animal was as much frightened as they, and made haste to get away. The kittens did not know that it was only a harmless rabbit.

Next they saw, perched upon a limb of a tree, a large and fierce-looking bird. It had great, round, blinking eyes. From behind a bush, the kitten watched it with fast-beating hearts.

It paid no attention to them, but closed its eyes and fell asleep. Then the kittens crept quietly away.

Owls do not see well in the day-time. That is the reason why they go in search of food at night. This owl had not seen the kittens at all.

“The birds and animals in the wood never harm little kittens,” they told one another.

Then turning a corner, they came suddenly upon a great monster grazing at the roadside. Every kitten took to his heels and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him.

When they had reached the foot of the hill, they stopped and looked back. The monster was still quietly grazing where they had met it. Cows take very little notice of naughty kittens.

“How foolish we are!” they said and frisked merrily on their way.

So these adventurous kittens travelled on and on until they were far from home.

“I am tired,” said one tearful kitten.

“I am hungry,” said another.

“I am thirsty,” said a third.

“We want to go home to our mother,” they all wailed.

But the way home was hard to find, and night was coming on. These naughty kittens were lost in the great, wide world.

“I see a stream not far away,” said a thirsty kitten; “let us go and get a drink.”

Very slowly they travelled toward the stream, for their little feet were sore.

“We are so tired,” said a very wise little kitten, “we’ll roll down the bank.”

Now, it was springtime and the willows grew along the stream. On the branches were sticky, gummy lumps, for the sap was beginning to flow.

The kittens rolled against these branches, and what do you think happened? Why, the sticky places caught them and held them fast, and they were glued to the willow branches.

Being too tired to kick themselves loose, the kittens curled up in the warm sap and closed their eyes.

The breezes playing among the willow branches saw them there and kissed them softly. Then whispering lullabies, they rocked them to sleep.

“How pretty they are!” said the willows. “We must keep them here.”

“If you do, you can never be just plain willows again,” whispered the breezes. “You will be pussy-willows.”

“We’ll keep it a secret,” said the willows.

But the wind, a noisy fellow, heard the whisper. Rushing among the willows, he drove the breezes away, and tried to shake the kittens from the branches.

All his efforts were in vain, for the willows held them tight.

At this, the wind grew very angry.

“I’ll tell your secret to the world. Pussy-willows! Pussy-willows!” he screams, as he disappeared over the hill-tops.

And all the world heard, and came to …

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Monday, 12/27/2021  7:32 AM

From:          Adam Ray
To:               Rod Mebane
Subject:       Re: JESSIE SPERRING MEBANE – AN UNFINISHED STORY

Quite an interesting project. Not sure exactly how to end the story, but here are a couple thoughts:

1. The ending should reunite the kittens with their mother.
2. The beginning of the story sounds like it was written as a fable, to communicate some morale or message. I’m not exactly sure what that should be however.
3. I’m rooting for something bad to happen to the wind because of him being nosey and getting involved when he shouldn’t have.

I’m interested to see how things turn out. Hope you have a happy New Year.

Adam

Tuesday, 12/28/2021  11:12 AM

From:           John Knorek
To:                Rod Mebane
Subject:       Re: JESSIE SPERRING MEBANE – AN UNFINISHED STORY

Rod,

This is awesome. So awesome.

Im all in. My comments and questions are below.

Regarding your requests:

Provide an ending to the story (sloppy copy?) for consideration
I can offer a version.

Provide some thoughts that could contribute to an ending to the story (i.e., things that the ending better resolve!)
I can offer some alternative ideas

Provide editorial comments on the existing part of the story
I am not good at editing and wont contribute to this piece.

Help illustrate the book (or create link to illustrator)
Again, not my forte… but Ill think on folks I know who might be of value for this item.

Provide illuminating insights in general
I do my best.

Comment later, after the initial round of co-creation
Happy to stay involved as much as deemed valuable.

Be involved in some other integral way (!)
Standing by.

Questions:

What is the timeline for this project – when would you like submissions for ideas/versions of the ending?

Pertinent details:

• Any info of Jessie’s life that might help inform my review/writing process?  Anything that might help me connect with (and possibly add to) her writing/perspective:
• She died at 71 years old… where did she live/die? 
• Did she come from a large family… education background, presumably comfortable financially…?  
• Any idea how connected/close she was to her extended family/grandkids (Jickie)?  

Illustration:

• Is there an illustration style that you are leaning toward?
• To what extent would you want illustration to add to the written narrative?
• How do you envision illustration on the pages – size of images, level of detail, etc.

Tuesday, 03/29/2022  6:44 PM

From:           Alexis Mebane
To:                Rod Mebane
Subject:       Re: JESSIE SPERRING MEBANE – AN UNFINISHED STORY

Hi Rod 🙂 

I am just seeing this now! I would love to help contribute to this … great idea! 

Thinking I could help in developing the storyline and/or illustrations … just not sure where you are at on this? 

Hope y’all are doing well!

Alexis 

PUSSY WILLOWS AND THE BIRTHDAY SURPRISE
(A Nature Love Story)

And all the world heard, and came to …

(CONTINUED)

… see why the wind was so upset. Many of those gathered stood in awe of the beautiful pussy willows, not understanding that the delicate, furry, silky buds on each branch had once been kittens. So the wind had not been successful in sharing its secret after all.

Approaching the crowd were four little girls, Emma and Sarah Beeman and their cousins Nell and Maddie, who were as adventurous as the kittens, but not nearly as naughty. And on this day, they had set out in search of the perfect present for Emma’s and Sarah’s dad’s birthday, when they were drawn to see what all the commotion was about. Since they were small, they had trouble seeing what had caught everyone’s attention. They tried standing on tiptoe, jumping up and down, and even climbing on each other’s backs. Nothing improved their view.

Then Nell said, “Let’s crawl to the front of the crowd,” and she quickly dropped to the ground and started weaving between the forest of grown-up legs. Sarah, Maddie and Emma quickly followed suit and the four looked like kittens in the big woods. In no time they were back on their feet standing right in front of a large pussy willow shrub. Each took a turn stroking the buds and remarking how soft they were, just like kittens’ paws. Then Maddie had an idea.

“Hey cousins, wouldn’t these beautiful branches make a perfect birthday bouquet for your dad?” Knowing how much their dad appreciated nature[1], Sarah and Emma agreed, and the girls set about quietly gathering a generous handful making sure no one would catch them in the act.

Emma and Sarah carefully hid the pussy willows in a corner of their shed back at home. Since their dad’s birthday wasn’t until the end of the summer, they opened a small window to let the sunlight in and gently secured the stems in a bucket of water. As they left, the wind snuck in through the window.

Finally, the day Mr. Beeman’s birthday arrived! A grand affair was planned in honor of his 70th birthday, with 70 friends and family all coming together to celebrate with balloons and cake. Sarah and Emma were so excited for the party and couldn’t wait to retrieve the pussy willows and present them to their dad. They invited Nell and Maddie to help arrange the pussy willows before the festivities commenced. As the four girls eagerly approached the shed, they could barely contain their enthusiasm, anticipating how surprised and delighted Mr. Beeman would be with the gift. But when they opened the shed, they were the ones in for a surprise, and not much delight.

The branches of the pussy willows no longer held soft furry buds. In their place were hard brittle seed pods that weren’t at all fluffy. Instead, they were sharp to the touch and the girls were afraid to touch them lest they be scratched. The girls were terribly disappointed. Emma cried, “We can’t give these to my dad!” They didn’t want to give the branches to Mr. Beeman without the buds they had discovered. Despondent, they sat down on the dirt floor of the shed and began to cry.

While Emma was wracking her brain trying to come up with another idea, Sarah made a startled noise. “Something just jumped onto my lap!” shrieked Sarah. “And it’s warm and furry!” Then Maddie laughed and exclaimed, “Me too! Something just crawled onto my lap!” Before the girls knew what was happening, their laps were filled with snuggly little kittens.

Little did the girls know, at the end of the summer, the springtime buds of the pussy willows were blown off by the wind that was trapped in the shed, leaving behind seed pods. When that happened, the kittens were freed from the branches and dropped to the shed floor, and the wind was proud of its work and blew away. The kittens were so happy to see the girls, and Sarah, Emma, Nell and Maddie grinned from ear to ear, their sadness quickly turning to joy. They ran around the shed, scooping up the kittens and giving each a cuddle. There were so many kittens that the girls couldn’t even hold all of them at once.

Emma said, “Turns out, I DO have a perfect gift – these kittens!” The girls heartily agreed, and they gathered the kittens into a large wheelbarrow from the shed and wheeled them to the party. Sarah ran ahead to find her dad and asked him to take a seat and close his eyes for a big birthday surprise.

When Mr. Beeman was comfortably seated with eyes sealed shut, the girls brought the wheelbarrow forward and nudged the kittens onto his lap. Mr. Beeman tried to guess what the gift was. “It is a wiggly blanket?” He asked. “NO!” shouted the girls in unison, giggling. “Is it a dancing fur coat?” he wondered. “NO! silly. Open your eyes!” shouted the girls.

Mr. Beeman opened one eye and then the other and said, “Awwww! Look at all these adorable kittens! What a lapful these little guys are!” Mrs. Beeman was just as excited as her husband since she loved animals and was fond of taking in strays. But even she knew that so many kittens would be too many for their home. She quickly counted the kittens, discovered there were as many kittens as there were partygoers, and then whispered something into Mr. Beeman’s ear. He nodded to her. Then she gathered the girls and shared an idea. They liked it too. She glanced at Mr. Beeman, gave him a signal, and called for a speech. “Let’s hear from the birthday boy!”

Mr. Beeman got to his feet, still holding a few of the squirmy kittens. He thanked all his guests for coming to the party to celebrate with him. Then he said, “This is the best birthday party ever! I am overjoyed by the outpouring of love, and I would like to return the love and joy to each of you. I would like you each to take a kitten home with you.” The guests were overwhelmed by his generosity.

As the party drew to a close, the guests began to gather up the kittens. Mrs. Beeman thanked everyone for coming and made an announcement: “I propose that we declare August 20th Kitten Surprise Day, and each year on this date we will all come back together with our kittens for a reunion celebration!” A loud roar erupted as everyone cheered and applauded her idea, especially Mr. Beeman who thought there was no better way to celebrate his birthday every year. After all, it was the best birthday ever!

THE END (really? is that really the end?)

_______________

[1] especially squirrels and the dead fruit of the chestnut tree