I was out playing on top of the old cellar. I pertended to be Heidi living high in the Alps. Me and my dolls were having a picnic on top, in the grass. It started out sunny, but these dark clouds started blowing in. Mom ran outside with a laundry basket grabbing the clothes off the line. The wind started blowing harder and the sky looked scary. Leaves and dust caught up in the wind rushed past me.  

Mom yelled at me, “Bella you best get inside. The weatherman said a big storm is on the way and there is tornado watches out for this area.”

That sounded really scary to me. “Have you seen a tornado before Momma?”

“No, but I don’t want to either. It’s starting to lightning and you can’t be up on top of that cellar. You better get inside now, Sweetie.”

I picked up my dolls and put my dishes and towel in my bucket. I saw a big flash of lightning and then there was a big boom! I ran for the back porch door. I looked out and Mom was grabbing the last of the clothes just as the raindrops were starting to fall. She ran towards the door as I held it open for her.

“Whew! I just barely made it,” Mom said, just as the rain came down really hard. Mom sat the basket down on the kitchen table and we headed towards the TV room. I heard footsteps on the front porch. I looked out the screen door and saw Travis and Sam had just ran back from the barn and had gotten wet. They’d been lifting weights.

Sam walked in saying, “Damn! that rain came up quick. We got wet.”

Another big flash and then Boom! Buddy ducked and ran towards Travis.

“Wow that was close,” said Mom.

She turned on the TV and the weatherman was talking about some big cold front and that central Kentucky was under a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch until 8 o clock.

“Mom if there’s a tornado, where should we go?”

Mom looked at Travis and said, “Travis is it safe to go to the basement?”

“Yeah I think so. It’s just dirty and dusty down there with spiders and cobwebs, but it should be safe.”

“Ewww, I don’t want to go around spiders!” I said. “Spiders scares me.”

“Well if a tornado’s coming, we might have to,” said Mom. “When this storm is over I plan to go down there and clean it up if that is okay with you, Travis.”

“Sure, maybe if we get it nice and clean we can actually make another room down there,” he said.

The storm got worse and it got very dark outside. The wind got up and big limbs were falling in the front yard. Travis went out on the porch with Hank. They seemed to be excited by the storm. Mom told me to look out the window and I saw hail falling. Little balls of ice were falling in the grass making the lawn white like snow. It was banging on the roof getting really loud. It was pretty exciting.

A little while later the dark clouds moved on and it wasn’t so dark but still raining. “I’m going to my room to play,” I said, as I ran up the stairs with my doll and my bucket. I opened the closet door and found my stuffed animals. “We can have a tea party,” I said to Annie, my favorite doll with a polka dot dress and red hair. I set them up around my bucket that I turned upside down as a table. I found my tiny dishes and placed them on top the table. I took my little Andy doll who had red yarn hair and found a little paper cup and placed it on top of his head. “You can be the Mad Hatter, Andy.  My stuffed bunny can be the white rabbit.  Annie can be Alice. Now who will be the evil Queen of Hearts? Ohhh, I know, Sassy Suzan can be the Queen of Hearts. She’s a bad girl.”

I dug through the closet looking for Suzan and grabbed her, but she seemed stuck. Somehow her hair got caught in some crack in the back of the closet on the floor. I tried to pull, but it wouldn’t budge. I took a spoon and tried to pry the piece of floor so that her hair might get loose. I worked at it and then the piece of wood just popped out and revealed a hole in the floor. My doll was released, but now I was curious. I crawled closer and was able to stick my hand down the hole. It was kinda deep and then, I felt something. It felt like a little book. I could barely get my hand around it but I was able to pull it out. It was really old. Part of the book had been gnawed on by a mouse or something with little bits and pieces falling off the corner. The cover was dark brown and covered with dust. I brushed it away and it looked like it said, “My Diary.” I opened the book and the pages were old and brown. It was hard to read. It was written in cursive. “Wow, maybe it was written by a girl my age.” I thought.  I opened the book to a page I was able to read. The first few pages were blurred and torn. The first part I was able to read started out with…

June 14 1868

Dear Diary,

Daniel got caught smoking today and Daddy took him to the woodshed and beat him with a razor strop. Daddy said we had gotten spoiled while he was gone to the war and was going to straighten us out. He seemed meaner after he came back three years ago. He never beat me. He whispered in my ear that I was his favorite. Ma seems a bit scared of daddy as well. I heard them yelling last night.

June 17 1868

Dear Diary,

Today I noticed that Ma had a black eye. Daddy had been drinking again. Daddy is mad at the Yankees. He said the darkies are getting uppity and something should be done. Daniel hides from him when he gets like this. I hope things get better. I shall pray extra hard tonight.

June 18 1868

Dear Diary,

Daddy came into my room last night. He told me I had to be quiet. He was drunk again. He made me take my clothes off. Daddy hurt me with his thing. I wanted to tell Evangeline, but he said it had to be our secret.

June 21 1868

Dear Diary,

Daddy had some men over to the house. He claimed they were on a mission from God to rid the land of evil and to redeem the honor of the south. I think they mostly liked to get drunk and terrorize the darkies. Scared of Daddy when he gets drunk like this. I pray to Jesus that he does not come to my room tonight.

June 22, 1868

Dear Diary, Sometimes I wish my daddy had never come back from the war. Last night he hurt me some more. He told me to be quiet and not tell anyone. I think about taking a knife to bed with me. I feel dirty and ashamed. Daniel got beat again last night for sassing him. Ma is afraid to say much and acts as if nothing is wrong. I pray that things will get better.

June 30, 1868

Dear Diary, A nice day today. Daddy left to go on a trip. Evangeline and I were canning tomatoes with Ma. Things always feel better when Daddy is away. Daniel hates Daddy and talks about leaving.

July 4 1868

Daddy came back from Louisville with some friends. He is drunk and I am afraid. Ma said our dog, Otto, ran away, but I think Daddy did something to him.

July 9 1868

Today Evangeline told me she met a boy. She begged me not to tell because she was afraid of what Daddy would say. I wanted to tell her about Daddy, but I was too scared.

July 11 1868

Evangeline told me that she met the boy in Carlisle today. She said she really liked him. Ma was acting strange today. She seems sick and slept a lot.

July 13 1868.

The doctor came out to the house today. The doctor said Ma had bruises on her stomach. Ma said she had gotten kicked by the mule. I don’t think it was the mule. I picked some green beans.

There were pages after this that had been eaten by mice. They just crumbled like bits of broken brown leaves. I carefully took the little book and found a plastic bag to put it in, and returned the diary to the hole. I pushed the wood back over the top. It felt like I had discovered a buried treasure. A secret note left by some little girl who used to live in this house a long, long time ago. I wondered what ever happened to her.

I came downstairs for supper after playing with my dolls.

As I walked in the kitchen, Momma looked at me and said, “You’ve been quiet all afternoon. You up in your room playing all this time?”

“Yeah, I was playing with my dolls. Momma, do you know who lived in this house before us?”

“You’ll have to ask Travis about that. I don’t have a clue.”

We sat down to eat and Travis walked in and I said, “Hey Travis, who lived in this house before you?”

He turned his head holding his plate and said, “Well, my uncle lived here before me.”

“I mean way before that,” I said.

“Hmmm, well Mrs Watts told me that when she was a girl there was a family with a bunch of kids who lived here. One of them was her best friend.”

“Was that back in the 1800s?”

“He he, not quite, I think this was sometime around the 1920s.”

“Was there people living here before that?”

“God, I don’t know. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. This house looks really old.”

Momma passed Travis some rolls and said, “I guess I knew this house looked old but I suppose it could have been made in the 1800s. They certainly don’t make houses like this anymore.”

“Well I bet Mrs Watts could tell you all about this house. She said she’s lived next door her whole life,” said Travis.

I stared out the window at the wind and rain as I was eating my mashed potatoes and started thinking about the little crumbling book and wondered if the writer was a girl like me. I liked the idea of living in the room that she used to live in.