Polk Salad Annie

Chapter 1 : Down in Louisiana

A/N: ahhhhhhh

With a yawn, you forced yourself to get up before the sun that was starting to rise over the river. Your brothers needed breakfast and you needed to prepare for the long day ahead of you. Your knees cracked and protested as you slid from your rickety bed, pulling on a plain muslin dress and a white apron.

The house you shared with your father and brothers was small, but you made it work the best you could. You walked quietly past the double bed your three brothers were sharing in the same room, careful to not wake them up too early. They had an entire day of school coming up and you wanted to let them sleep as much as they could.

Your father was asleep on the couch, a beer bottle still in his hands from last night. You sighed and pried it from his fingers. He made a groaning noise but just turned his head, falling back asleep with loud snores. The walls in the home were dirty and short. You focused on picking up the mess your father made last night to ignore the feeling of claustrophobia that tried to crawl from your soul. It was so tight, there wasn't enough room to simply exist but you had to make it work.

You opened the back door with the broken window to drop off the bottles into the large trash can. It was only Tuesday so you didn't need to lug it into town until tomorrow. The garbage men didn't even come to this part of town.

Your dingy little home sat right next to the river. From the back porch, you saw birds skip along the smooth water. It was only around 40 yards away. Through the trees and swamp on the other side of the river, the sun slowly crawled up into the sky. She was orange, sending cascading shades of yellow onto the water and the grass until the world was completely covered in her shine. You took a deep breath and felt the rays on your face, the cool of the morning met with her warmth was a beautiful combination.

Then you remembered your brothers. School would be starting soon and they needed breakfast.

You went back inside and filled a little pot with water. As it boiled over the small oven, you pulled out the last of the oatmeal packets and groaned to yourself. This would just have to do until your father's disability check came in.

Your father stirred to life behind you but you paid him no mind as you prepared the measly breakfast for the boys. He groaned loudly and you heard the hardwood floors creak beneath him as he moved.

He appeared by your side at the fridge. Your father was always leaning over in a sort of hunchback way. He claimed to have severe scoliosis that made working impossible, but you struggled to believe that excuse when his first instinct was to pop open a beer before saying good morning to his daughter.

You sighed as you stirred the oatmeal, "don't think you could wait until the boys are at school?"

He rolled his eyes and coughed, "don't sass me girl."

You bit your tongue. That wasn't sassing, that wasn't even close to sassing. But you didn't want to make your father angry, especially not while the boys were still at home. So you swallowed the sour comeback and focused on stirring.

James came from the bedroom first, already dressed in overalls and giving you a toothy grin. He was nine years old and twins with Nathaniel, who followed after in a much dirtier set of matching overalls. Their hair was messy and sticking up in all sorts of places, so you paused the stirring to bring James closer so you could smooth down his hair.

"Sissy," he groaned, pushing you away. You kissed his cheek and that spot on his neck that made him giggle and he bolted away with a laugh. Nathaniel immediately followed James, not wanting the same treatment.

You got down four bowls and started to pour the oatmeal in each of them. Once you got them all, you carried them each to the table. You set one in front of your father, who belched a thank you, one for each of the twins and one at an empty space. With your hands on your hips you asked, "James, Nathaniel, where's Danny?"

"Says he was gonna skip school," Nathaniel said with a full mouth, oatmeal dribbling down his chin.

"Close your mouth," you said, spinning back towards the bedroom.

While James and Nathaniel were younger and listened to you more easily, Danny was fifteen and loved to cause all sorts of trouble for you. You found him cuddled up on the center of the bed. Without hesitating, you went and ripped the blanket right off.

"Hey," Danny grumbled, blinking up at you. When he saw who it was, he rolled his eyes and fell back to bed. "Leave me alone."

"Uh-uh."

"Y/N, I said leave me alone."

"Did I say I was going to listen?" You asked, going and taking the pillow from him. His head fell to the mattress with a thump. "Danny, you listen to me, you gotta get to school. Get out of that bed, put some clothes on and eat your oatmeal. If you don't go to school bad things'll happen and as your sister, I ain't gonna let that happen."

"You're only like five years older than me!" He protested.

"And that five years gives me enough life experience to know you better get your ass to school."

"Plenty of people drop out, ain't nothing bad'll happen," Danny continued.

"You know damn well that's not true."

"Oh yeah?"

You felt anger bubble up in your chest at Danny's words and tone, but you had to remind yourself that Danny was your younger brother. You were his older sister and the only person capable of taking care of him. So you took a deep breath, brought your hands in front of you and spoke gently.

"Danny, I want you to go to school cause I don't want you to end up like mama." You saw his Adam's apple bob when you said that, so you continued. "I ain't having my little brother go to jail, alright? I can't lose you. So you's gonna get up, get dressed, and come eat your oatmeal."

Danny nodded silently to your words. You kissed his forehead before leaving the room. James and Nathaniel were pulling at each other's hair when you came back and you had to put them on opposite sides of the table just to get them to calm down. Your father was hiccuping and drinking rapidly, and you tried to ignore his actions.

Danny finally came in and quickly ate his oatmeal and you helped James and Nathaniel get their school bags. Danny threw his over his shoulder as he swallowed the last of it.

"Come on, boys," you said, opening the door so your brothers could leave. You always walked James and Nathaniel to school. The elementary school was on the way to the high school and Danny would never let you get far enough to actually walk him, but the four of you would meet at the elementary school and walk home. It was nice.

James asked to hold your hand as he described the dream he had last night, while Nathaniel engaged himself with kicking a rock down the dusty road. Danny stayed silent but walked beside you with a smile.

The four of you passed the house to the left of yours. Every day you passed it, it reminded you how poor you were and how rich others were. While your home was small and drabby, the one right next to it was large. It was white, with a wrap around porch and a whole field just for watermelons. Today was different though. Because the perpetual 'For Sale' sign on the clean cut green grass was replaced with a large moving truck.

James stopped at the edge of the driveway to gawk and you went back to pull him away. He wouldn't move and when you finally looked up, you saw a handsome man in a blue button up shirt climbing down the back of the open moving truck.

He was tall, lean, with tan skin and stark black hair that was slicked away from his face. He had plump lips that curved up in a little smile and bright blue eyes the startled you when he settled them on your face. He grinned a white smile and lifted a hand in a wave. Your eyes fell to the muscle on his tanned arm flexing as he acknowledged you.

James waved back eagerly and you gave a curt wave before bringing James back to the other two boys anxiously awaiting school. When you got onto the main road and away from the white house with the handsome man, you let out a breath you hadn't realized you'd been holding.

You ignored the man and focused on your brothers, kissing their cheeks when they got to the school and waving Danny off. You always stood on the corner and watched him until he got out of sight. Then you turned back home to the Deep South.