Early Days with Aaron and Florence, part one

When Leta left her husband Leech Hoose and abandoned her children to their father Ralph Chetister in September of 1929, she first moved in with her brother Aaron, his wife Florence, and their daughters Lucille (age 14) and June (age 11). She spent her days with Florence, assisting with household duties, making jam and apple butter, cooking, and enjoying each other’s company. While Florence was an excellent housekeeper, her home never looked or smelled so clean as it did that autumn. This was partly due to Leta’s unlimited nervous energy. While she did not rise very early, once she was awake, she was a force. They washed walls and windows, scoured the cupboards and stove, and even cleaned all the closets. When the girls arrived home from school, the quartet would can vegetables, make jam, and sew. Leta spent an hour or so each afternoon with the girls, needle and thread. Two or three times a week, Leta would bake for them—cookies, pies, cakes, and biscuits. She dug out the front yard and built a small flower garden in which she planted tulips and daffodils to bloom in the spring.

Sometimes she would jump up in the middle of the night, her body in a sweat, gasping in terror. While she never remembered her dreams, Leta understood that whatever was going on in them drove her to a level of panic that would not dissipate easily. She rose, donned her robe, and made her way into the kitchen, carrying a bottle of whiskey she kept hidden in her vanity and deck of cards. For the next two hours or so, she played solitaire and sipped her libation until she was sure her heart had calmed and she could return to sleep. She washed her glass and returned to bed. At other times when she awoke in this state, she scrubbed all the floors—kitchen, dining room and living room, on her hands and knees, using a brush—to dissipate the anxiety.

One night Florence heard her in the living room and came down the stairs.

“Leta, what are you doing?” she whispered. “It’s four o’clock in the morning.”

Leta had pushed all the furniture to one side of the room and rolled up the carpets to better accomplish her task.

“I can’t sleep, and the floor needs to be scrubbed,” Leta answered without looking up or stopping. She feared that if she did, she would break down into ceaseless tears.

Florence stood for a few minutes, silently showing her compassion for her sister-in-law, who kept working. Her own husband and children were sleeping upstairs; if she had any of them removed from her life, then she would be up nights as well.

“Well,” she finally said, “thank you. I will see you in the morning.”

Very quietly, as if she was a baby’s breath, Florence left Leta to her work.

Just knowing Florence was there made Leta feel better, and she hastily finished her chore and returned to her own bed, where her exhausted body finally overpowered her anxious heart, and she slept.

To be continued.