Fritz and Annie

Fritz was so close. He was inches from the mouse’s whiskers, waiting for the right opportunity to seize its tail. He made a sudden grab, but the mouse squeaked and began scurrying away through the corn plants in the wide fields of the town of Hitchcock. Fritz hastened after the rodent, crawling on his hands and knees. He couldn’t see it anywhere. He looked about in vain.

         “Are you Fritz Williams?” a voice from above startled him. He looked up. A small, blonde girl with freckles, blue eyes, and two short blonde braids loomed over him, hands on her hips. She wore jeans that were just too small for her with a plaid shirt. Her dirty feet bore no shoes.

         “Yes, I am.”

         “Hi, I’m Annie Reynolds. I live down the street from you and your grandmother.” The strange child sat down next to Fritz. “Were you chasing that mouse?”

“Um, yeah, I guess.” Fritz was a bit confused. Why was this girl talking to him?

         “That wasn’t very nice,” the girl remarked matter-of-factly. “My mother says, ‘What God puts here for us, we leave alone’, which is why we never got rid of those rats that infested our house.”

         Fritz blinked. “Um, ok. Did you say your name was Annie?”

         The girl seemed thrilled that he had asked and nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, isn’t it a terrific name? So rustic and country-like?”

         Unsure if rustic was supposed to be a positive trait in a name, Fritz simply nodded.

         “Can you keep a secret?” Annie whispered.

         “Yes,” Fritz whispered back, though he wasn’t sure why.

         Annie sighed. “My real name is Gianna Marie! Isn’t that awful? My mama wanted to name me after her mother, whose name was Tildy, but my daddy said no, so they named me after his mother, who was Gianna Marie. Wouldn’t Tildy be a much better name for a farm girl?”

         Obviously supposed to agree, Fritz nodded emphatically.

         Annie broke into a huge smile. “Do you want to come home to lunch with me? Mama says ‘Honey, unless he’s a vampire or a Barton, he’s welcome at my table.’ So, will you come?”

         Fritz was taken aback by this offer. Though he had been the sole topic of conversation since he had moved to his grandmother’s house last week, no one had attempted to speak at all with him. “Um, okay, sure. My grandmother went to town, so I don’t need to tell anyone.”

         “Great!” Beaming, Annie grabbed him by the hand and began running.

         When they reached Annie’s house, a voice called from inside, “Annie, hon’, you home?”

         “Uh-huh, Mama, and I brought somebody for lunch.” Annie pushed Fritz into the house. “This is Fritz Williams.”

         Annie’s mother was a large, rather off-putting sort of woman with dark hair and large green eyes. Her dress, covered by a white apron, was blue plaid. Mrs. Reynolds turned around and at once burst into speech.

         “Oh you are the very image of your mother, you precious child! Come in, come in! Gianna Marie, get that cat off my sofa! Honey, you sit right there, I’m just about through fixin’ lunch. Annie, darlin’, call your brothers and sisters to come eat. Now, honey, remind me your name. Fritz, wasn’t it? Why, your mother and I go so far back and—Gianna Marie, put that dog down and go get your hands washed!” As Mrs. Reynolds spoke, several children began filing into the house, all dressed in plaid shirts, overalls, jeans, or cotton dresses.

         “There you all are! Everyone sit down now! Bobby, what is that filth on your hands? Ted, run outside, I think Joey musta’ fallen asleep in the hay loft again. Cassie, get those rats off my table! Annie, where is your father? Fritz, honey, you sit right there. Don’t you move from that chair, Sally. Gianna Marie, where is your daddy? Oh, Laney, hon’, move away from that wasp nest before it eats you alive. There you are, Ted, did you find Joey? Oh, I see ‘im. Joey, sit down, now. Gianna Marie, where is your father?!”

         Annie came running in, panting. “Daddy’s comin’, Mama.”

         A tall, sweaty man came into the house. He looked to be about forty, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a sturdy frame. His jeans were muddy and ripped in some places, and his boots thumped loudly on the floor as he walked through the house. “Sorry to be late, Martha.”

         “Well, that’s alright. Now all of you, sit! Sam, we got a guest for lunch- this here is Fritz, Dottie’s boy. Fritz, honey, this is my husband, Sam.”

         Fritz stuck out his hand but neglected to stand in order to spare Mrs. Reynolds’ nerves. “Nice to meet you, sir.”

         “Glad you could drop by, son,” Sam took his hand with a firm grip.

         Finally, Mrs. Reynolds, Mr. Reynolds, Annie, the other six Reynolds children, and Fritz were all seated around the tiny table which groaned with food. As they laughed and talked, Fritz became more and more astounded at the whole scenario. Annie and her “awful” name, her brothers throwing rocks and toads across the table, her sisters squabbling over the food, Sam speaking calmly to the children in his quiet way, Mrs. Reynolds urging everyone to eat more than they could help, everyone laughing, talking, and fighting.

         When everyone had eaten their fill and were begging Mrs. Reynolds not to put more food onto their plates, Sam Reynolds leaned back in his chair. “So you’re Dottie and Jack’s boy, eh?”

         “Yes, sir,” Fritz replied.

         “Dottie and me went to school together,” Mr. Reynolds explained. “She was top of the class, your Mama. Right pretty thing, too. Reckon she woulda had a fine-lookin’ son like you.”

         Fritz flushed. “Thank you, sir.”

         “Sam and your Mama went to the high school dance together, Fritz,” Mrs. Reynolds offered from her seat, where she had carried Joey to sit on her lap.

         Fritz stared wide-eyed at Mr. Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds laughed. “It’s true, son. Just as friends,” he assured Fritz. “Dottie knew I had my heart set on a country life.”

         Fritz shook his head. “She never even told me about any of you, or my grandmother. I didn’t even know I had a grandmother until a week ago when…” Fritz felt his cheeks go red with anger. “Why didn’t she ever tell me? Why wouldn’t she let me visit? Why did she send me back here if she hated it so?” Fritz was ashamed to find tears of anger and betrayal in his eyes, and quickly rubbed his face.

Sam Reynolds leaned forward toward Fritz and looked intently at him. “You have to understand something, Fritz. When your mama married your daddy, it caused all sorts of trouble back home, and all kinds of gossip in town. You see, as you probably noticed, Fritz, around these parts, we’re a bit suspectin’ of strangers. Now, Jack was a nice enough fella, anybody could see that, but it didn’t matter. Everybody expected Dottie to marry a nice, steady farm boy and raise strong, hearty children right in this here town. But she didn’t want to. So, she left with Jack.

“Alice, your grandma, couldn’t stand it. Always had her heart set on Dottie bein’ a country wife. Then Dottie moves to the city with some rich stranger? You can imagine how difficult it must have been for her. She never spoke of Dottie afterwards. Now, you can see how hard it would have been for Dottie to ever come back, can’t you, boy?”

Fritz nodded. For a moment, there was no sound but the whispered squabbling of Cassie and Sally, silenced with a swift glance from their mother.

Fritz cleared his throat. “Um, Mr. Reynolds, sir? Could I ask you a question?”

Sam smiled. “Of course, son”.

“Well,” Fritz said, “you said my mother didn’t want a country life. Why didn’t she?”

Sam’s eyes flashed to Mrs. Reynolds, then back to Fritz. He sighed again, a longer sigh this time.

“Son, the short answer is that I don’t know. Some people just don’t prefer the country life, but your mommy had a hatred for it the likes of which I’ve never seen. However…” he trailed off noncommittally, then started again.

“Fritz, did your mother ever tell you about her childhood?”

Fritz shook his head. His mother had rarely told him about anything at all.

Sam nodded as if this was what he had expected. “When your mama was ten years old, her folks split up. Your grandma threw him out, declaring she couldn’t finance his-”

Mrs. Reynolds cleared her throat and looked meaningfully at Bobby and Cassie.

“Well, some of his… habits.” Sam continued. “Your grandaddy left, and it is my understanding that your mama never saw him again.

“Now, your mama was growin’ up on your grandma’s farm, a farm that has been in your family for generations. By the time Dottie was twelve, Alice couldn’t afford to hire workers to care for it anymore. Dottie suggested that they sell the farm and move to a smaller apartment in the city. Alice could earn a higher wage in the city, and they couldn’t afford to continue to work the land, Dottie said.

“But no matter how much Dottie talked, Alice wouldn’t budge. The farm had been in the family for generations. She would not give it up. However, Alice, a single mother now, worked long hours, seven days a week, to provide for herself and her children. The responsibilities of keeping house and caring for the younger children fell to Dottie. All of that would have been much easier without the additional burden of running and maintaining the farm. In the city, Dottie could have gone to school. Her mother would have made more money. Her siblings would have been happier and better fed.

“Instead, all poor Dottie knew was a life of long hours of farm labor, household chores, cooking, cleaning, and raising her brother and sister, a life unsuited to a girl of barely twelve. But she was steadfast to the end. Only when she had seen both of her siblings happily married did she go to the city, leaving her mother alone on the now thriving farm that Dottie had labored over. Labor that, I dare say, she had rarely been thanked for.”

Sam leaned forward. “Do you understand, Fritz, why she needed so badly to leave? The country life, country pride, was what had held her mother back from the life that she wanted for so long. She saw the farm life as the source of all her problems. So, she had to leave.”

Fritz shook his head. “But it didn’t solve her problems! She still left my daddy. She left me. Alone.” And now Fritz was really crying, not just crying but sobbing. His shoulders heaved and he buried his face in his hands.

Mrs. Reynolds started up, but Annie got there first. Without hesitation, she crouched down and threw her arms around Fritz and squeezed tight. Fritz was shocked, having never been embraced like this before.

“You’re not alone, Fritz,” Annie whispered confidently. “I’m here.”