Summer Adventure - International Award Novel

Author: Wilson Rawls (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Before the age of fourteen, I lived happier than any other child. In this world, I could almost say I was carefree. In fact, I had already begun to believe that my path to adulthood would be smooth, without any difficulties. But just when everything seemed to be going my way, something went wrong. A group of monkeys got involved with me. They nearly drove me to despair, and joy left me forever. If the trouble caused by the monkeys had been limited to myself, that wouldn’t have been so bad. But I got my grandfather involved, so I felt quite dreadful. Because my grandfather was my companion and always tried his best to help me. I even tricked my adorable hunting dog, Roddy, into helping me deal with the monkeys. But the result was even worse than what my grandfather and I had done. Gradually, Roddy grew to hate me, the monkeys, and everything else so much that it wouldn’t even come out of its den when I called it. That was already the late 19th century, but it was as vivid as if it had happened yesterday. In short, we moved to a newly settled place then. The farm we lived on was called the Land of Cherokees. It was located right in the middle of the Cherokees region, on a narrow strip of land along the western bank of the Illinois River in northeastern Oklahoma, stretching from the hilly areas of the Ozark Mountains. For anyone who wanted to find a group of wild monkeys, this might have been the last place left in the world. When my parents came here to settle down, I was no bigger than a small kangaroo. But when I grew a bit older, my father told me everything. How long he and my mother had been married; how they rented land to farm in Missouri by trading grain; how unhappy they were, because in those days, tenant farmers were treated no better than greedy and selfish thieves—no one respected you. My mother and father were young and full of vigor then, though the discrimination they faced was almost unbearable. They endured it and continued to farm, while saving every dollar they could, hoping one day to buy a farm of their own. But just when everything was going well, something unexpected happened. My mother gave birth to twins, me and my sister Daisy. My father said I was the first to be born, and he had never seen a healthier child. I was like a ripe blueberry, sun-kissed and red; or like a squirrel in a cage, full of life and charm. But Daisy was different. She was born with a bent right leg, and it was obvious from the outside that something was wrong with it. The doctor said Daisy’s leg problem wasn’t too serious and could be fixed with surgery on the muscles and tendons. He said some doctors in Oklahoma could make a withered leg as straight as a rifle barrel. But it would cost a lot of money, and that was exactly what my parents lacked. My mother cried often in those days and often prayed, but it seemed to do no good. It was already bad enough to be living on a rented farm, but now they had a daughter with a crooked leg that couldn’t be fixed—that was just adding insult to injury. Then one day, my mother unexpectedly received a letter from my grandfather. After reading it, her face turned as pale as the bark of a, and she sank down onto the dusty floor of our thatched house. At the same time, she couldn’t help but laugh and shout uncontrollably. My father said he had also tried his best to hold himself back after reading the letter, so he didn’t scream out. At that time, my grandfather and grandmother lived in the Cherokees region of Oklahoma. They had a large general store in the village. The store had been there for many years and was well-stocked. My grandfather was not just the owner but also a skilled salesman. My father often said he had never seen a more honest businessman than my grandfather—he even deducted the weight of the turtle shell when selling turtles to customers. P1-2