Fall 1886
The railroad had come in like a thief in the night, snatching away resources needed for the growth of the Happy Land. Louella now had to concern herself with new ways to bring money into the kingdom since the waggoners had lost most of their contracts. The land was no longer yielding enough corn, and they were now rationing out the food to the Happy Landers.
They could survive this season of lack with a little tightening of the belt. The waggoners still had some business, but not enough for the purchases they made while on the road. The last purchase list she saw contained loads of sugar and yeast, but Louella couldn’t figure out what they needed those supplies for.
“What’s going on with these supplies the waggoners are bringing back here? I don’t see them on the list of items being rationed to our people,” Louella had said to Robert a few months back.
“I’ll check into it,” he’d told her, “but I’m sure it’s nothing. Maybe Mirabel and some of the other cooks are making cakes and pies to sell.”
But as the days lingered on, Louella busied herself with other matters in the kingdom and forgot about the extra supplies. She was at the church placing the hymnals on chairs for Sunday service. Reverend Ezel was coming to town and would preach the Word at tomorrow’s service.
Clara and Gary came into the church. Gary took the hymnals out of her hand and finished placing them on the chairs.
Clara asked, “Anything I can help you with?”
“Finishing up,” Louella told her. “What brings you and Gary out today?”
“Clara needs to tell you something.” Gary came back to stand by his wife.
Clara looked away as she said, “Ben and Julia Posey are leaving Basin Springs. They have a new house in Hendersonville.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Louella said. Several residents of the Happy Land worked for the Poseys at Basin Springs. They would have to find new employment for their people, and right now, jobs were hard to come by.
“The thing is,” Clara began, wringing her hands and biting her bottom lip.
Gary nudged her. “Tell her. Queen Louella will understand.”
Clara looked as if she was struggling with something within her. Louella didn’t like to see her friend so distressed, so she said, “Don’t worry about losing your job with the Poseys. Something else will come up. It always does.”
“The thing is,” Clara began again, “the Poseys have asked us to come with them. They have a job for Gary, and we’ll be closer to my grandchildren if we live in Hendersonville.”
Clara wasn’t the first to decide to leave. There were more jobs in Hendersonville and Greenville, and in the last few years, they had lost about fifty of their residents to those areas. But no one was trapped or enslaved in the Happy Land. They were free to choose whether they wanted to stay or go.
“I’m sad to see you go, but happy for you. I know you’ve been missing those grandbabies.” Louella smiled as she hugged Clara.
When they let each other go, Clara had tears in her eyes. “It’s just . . . I don’t want you to think we’re ungrateful for all you done for us.”
Louella shook her head. “I don’t think that way. We all built the Happy Land. I’m grateful for everything you, Gary, and Jimmy did to help, but you aren’t tied to this land forever if your heart is leading you elsewhere.”
“See.” Gary nudged Clara again. “Told you she’d wish us well.”
“I do, Gary, and please don’t be strangers. Come back and see us sometime.”
“You can count on it.” Clara wiped the tears from her face.
Things were changing in the Happy Land. The railroad had made sure of it. But Louella hadn’t changed. Even after nineteen years, she still wanted the best for herself and the people she loved.
Louella went home and opened her front door. Waties rushed over to her. He was now nineteen years old and a whole foot taller than her. “Mama, make Joshua help me clean up. Granny isn’t feeling well, and he won’t help.”
“Aren’t you and your brother supposed to be tending to the cows?”
“Yes, ma’am, but we got to clean the house if we want supper.”
She should have known that Waties’s stomach was leading again. “Let me check on Mama Sue, and then I’ll see about supper.”
“What about Joshua?” Waties asked.
Louella hollered to the back of the house, “Joshua, get out here and help your brother with the cleaning!”
Louella knocked on Mama Sue’s door and then entered. Her grandmother was lying in bed. “Hey. Waties said you weren’t feeling well.”
Mama Sue giggled. “That’s what I told him. If that boy wants supper so bad, let him help me clean this house.”
“But you’re not sick?”
Mama Sue waved that notion off. “Child, please. I’m fine. I’ll be up as soon as them boys clean behind themselves.”
Louella exhaled. Mama Sue was getting older, but she was still active and got around better than others half her age. The only issue she had was rheumatism, which Louella’s Happy Land Liniment took care of when she had aches and pains.
“All right. Tell you what. This is your day off. I’m cooking for them hungry men, and I’ll bring your supper to you.”
As Louella turned to leave, Mama Sue grabbed hold of her arm. The look in her eyes revealed her tiredness. “You always been a joy to me. The good Lord sure blessed me when I birthed your mama.”
Walking away, Louella found herself once again wondering about the goodness of the Lord. If her mother was a blessing to her grandmother, then why had God allowed her to be sold away from them? Why had they not seen her again, even all these years after freedom came?
Sighing deeply, Louella threw up her hands and got to the business of cooking supper for her family. The only way she had been able to get back up after William’s death and to take over William’s preaching on Sunday mornings was by understanding one simple thing: she loved God, and that was that.
She didn’t understand the God she sang about, nor did she think she ever would. But as her grandmother was grateful for her mother, Louella was grateful for William being in her life. Her husband had showed her his love for God, even when he couldn’t trace Him, so she had learned to say hallelujah anyhow.
* * *
Reverend Ezel arrived later that night. He brought four others with him. Each time he arrived, Louella found herself glancing at his wagon in hopes that she would see her mother, but Brenda Bobo was never there. She’d stopped asking Reverend Ezel about her mother a few years back, but that longing in her heart hadn’t gone away.
“This is Queen Louella,” Reverend Ezel told his passengers. “I’m going to leave you all in her capable hands while I get ready for Sunday service.”
There were two women and two men. They got out of the wagon and bowed to her. Louella laughed. “There will be no bowing around here. I’m not royalty that cannot be touched. I’m the queen of the Happy Land. And you’ll soon discover that we all pitch in and work together around here.”