“O.K., y’all settled now?”
“Good.”

“For your story tonight I’ve decided to tell you a love story. I know little girls always love to hear love stories. Oh I know you liked the scary story I told last night, but you do like love stories too, don’t you?”

“I thought so.”

“Ok, well, this is a love story and it’s also a story about how if you pray, you can make your hopes and dreams come true.”

“This story is about your Aunt Emmie and how she met and fell in love with your Uncle Willie, and how by praying, I made it happen for her.”

“You see, when we were little girls, just about the ages y’all are right now, let’s see, Emmie was only 11 when I was 12 and we had a best friend, my sister and I did, and her name was Wilma, and Wilma was 13.  So about that time, the three of us girls were closer than the nose hairs on a cow. I tell you what.  We did everything together and we was together all the time.  We played together; we slept together.  We had more secrets!  Lordie, Lordie, oh what fun we used to have back then.  And the three of us, all were so different!  I had blonde hair, and was always a little on the heavy side, just as I am now.  Your Aunt Emmie had beautiful red hair, just like you do Melissa, and she had a perfect girlie figure.  She could’ve been a model if’n she’d wanted to.  And Wilma had the blackest hair you ever did see; blacker than black and she was skinnier than a barn cat.  My eyes were brown, Emmie’s were hazel and Wilma’s were blue but sometimes, especially if she was really really mad they’d turn green.  It was the darnest thing you ever did see.  And eyelashes!  I swear you never did see anyone with such beautiful, thick, long eyelashes as on that girl.  Yes sir, those were the good ol’ days when the three of us would run arm and arm together, laughing and giggling over nothing and everything.  We thought just about everything in life was funny!

Of course that was before we got boy crazy, or I got boy crazy I should say. In fact, we hated boys before then; and they hated us.  Well I don’t have to tell you girls how difficult boys can be.  You know sometimes they’re downright mean and for no good reason t’all.  They used to tease us all the time.  Especially Wilma they used to tease.”

“Why?  Well because… well because Wilma was ‘odd’.”

“No. Not odd like the McKinley boy. He’s what is called ‘retarded’.  Wilma was just different.  I always felt bad for Wilma ‘cause her mama was real sick see, and could hardly get out of bed. And her daddy was a very mean man who drank too much and he used to beat on her.  And Wilma was the skinnest kid you ever did see.  We was all about the same height, the three of us, but there was nothing to her but bones, I swear.  Me and your Aunt Emmie used to sneak food to her and beg mama and daddy to let her eat over our house.”

“Anyway, so not only was she really skinny, but she didn’t like being a girl. Imagine?  She always wanted to dress like a boy, and she walked like a boy and talked like a boy.  So the boys used to tease her and torment her and do really mean things to her.  I always felt kinda sorry for her.  But she was a good fighter, as skinny as she was, she could fight like a mama mountain cat fights to protect her babies.  And that child had the quickest mind of any of the kids in the hollow; she could out think them dim witted boys any day of the week.  That helped get her out of a lot of trouble.  Course sometimes that mind of hers got her into trouble too.  She was just too dang smart sometimes.  If that child wanted something, then she’d think n’ think n’ think until she figured out a way to get it.  Once she put her mind to something, she’d never give up.  Just like a barn dog won’t let go of a chicken bone, that’s how she was.”

“So anyway, when I got to be 14, I took a liking to a boy,
who, as you know, later was to become your daddy.  He was the cutest boy, I do declare, and I knew, even though I was only 14, that I was going to marry that boy someday.  So sure enough, I didn’t hesitate one minute when he was 18 and I’d just turned 16, he asked me to become Mrs. Billy-Bob Hoyton.  And before I even turned 17, we were blessed with you Melissa, our first lovely baby.  But enough of that, I’ve you that story a hundred times…”

“So anyway, I stopped hanging around with your Aunt Emmie and with Wilma as much back then.  But those two were inseperable.  I’ll tell you that those two were closer than the two eyes on a fly.”

“Until suddenly, one day when Wilma was 16 years old, she  disappeared.  ‘Poof’.  Just like that.  No one has ever heard what happened to hide nor hair of her.  Your poor Aunt Emmie was heartbroken, losing her best friend like that and all. She cried for days and days.  I tried to tell her she was better off without her, because they were spending too much time together anyway, and well, that wasn’t normal and I tried to tell her that she’d never find a husband unless she started to go out and let the boys court her, and go to dances and all that.  But Emmie just cried and cried.  And she never would go out with boys.  That’s when I started praying to God to help my sister.  I wanted her to be as normal and as happy as I was with your daddy.”

“One day your Aunt Emmie told me, now remember, she was only about 15 years old at the time so she was still a youngin’ and had some silly thoughts in her mind.  One day she told me a secret and made me swear not to tell anyone, but I don’t reckon she’d mind that I’m telling you now because I’m telling you her love story and it was so long ago that she made me swear and besides she probably forgot that she made me swear anyway.  So one day she told me that she was never going to go out with a boy and never going to get married to a boy because she was waiting for Wilma to come back.  She said that Wilma had promised her that she’d come back and marry her and she’d made Emmie promise, a “cross your heart and until-you-die” promise, to wait.  Well when I heard that, I knew my sister needed more help than I could give her, so I started praying more. And I’d pray every morning and every evening and sometime, mostly on Sunday, I’d pray 3 times that God, in his infinite kindess and wisdom to help my sister.”

“The years went by, I was happily married and was raising you three girls with daddy, and we were all so happy and I really wanted my sister to be happy.  But I couldn’t get her to give any man a chance.  And believe me, they tried.  Bobby Duffy, you know the man who owns Duffy’s Gas station? Yea him, well he tried more than any man I ever did see try to get a woman to fall in love with him.  She wanted nothing to do with him; wouldn’t even give him a chance.  Even Jack Gimpett, the undertaker’s son, tried to court her.  But she was stubborn; course I don’t blame her for not wanting him, he always did smell funny and don’t you dare ever tell him I said so when you see him in church.”

“Well one day, and here comes the love story part.  Now remember, because I loved my sister, instead of being selfish and praying for things for my own self, I was praying and praying and praying for God to have mercy on my sister and send a man into her life.  Well one day, it paid off.  When your Aunt Emmie was 20 years old, and we was all afraid she was going to grow old alone as an old maid.  A spinster they call a woman who grows old alone, we was afraid she’d become a spinster. Suddenly, one day, your Uncle Willy comes into town.  ‘Poof’ out of no where, just as if God had plucked him down right here in Creeksville especially to make your Aunt Emmie a happy woman.  He says he asked God for guidance, closed his eyes, pointed to a map and his finger landed on Creeksville, so he came to our town.  He says he always trusted that God would guide him to the right woman, and sure enough He did.  Right to Emmie.  And if he wasn’t the most handsomest man on the planet; he was almost what you’d call beautiful, he was that handsome.  And although he wasn’t that big of a man, he seemed big because of how kind he was, you know how that is?  The sweeter and kinder someone is, it’s almost as if because they have a big heart, that makes them seem bigger.  Don't you think?  Well I do, anyway, although he wasn't that big, he sure was strong.  My oh my.  Of course I never did see him with his shirt off, but I’ll tell you what, you should’ve seen the muscles in his arms when he first met your Aunt Emmie.  Beautiful, long thin muscles.  But he had the smallest, most delicate hands for a man.  They seemed so tender; almost as if he should’ve been a painter or something.  And Emmie did tell me he had the “tender touch”, that’s what she likes to call it, you know how us ladies like to talk about that sort of thing, but y’all are too young to hear all of that.  So anyway, he’d made his money, and his muscles, working in the coal mines up in Illinois.  And smart!  What a clever business mind he had.  Anyway, he drives into town and before you know it, he and your Aunt Emmie have eyes for each other.  They just swept each other off their feet.  It was just like in a fairy tale.  He says the first moment he saw Emmie, he knew right then and that that that was the woman he was going to marry.  And Emmie says the same thing.  She said that the moment she first laid her eyes upon him her heart started fluttering and she got all weak and shaky and nervous and she knew it was love.  Course you girls don’t know nothin’ bout all that yet, but just wait, someday you will.”

“Now you don’t remember the wedding, you were all just babies at the time, but it was the biggest wedding this town ever did or ever will see again probably.  Your Aunt Emmie was breathtaking as a bride.  When you looked at her, the breath jumped right out of your throat, that’s how beautiful she was.  Everyone said she was breathtaking.  And Willie was just like a man out of a movie star magazine.  Every single piece of his short, thick, shiny black hair was combed, slicked neatly back and was perfectly in place and his eyes, you know how they are usually that beautiful blue color?  Well on his wedding day, they were green!  They were green as a fresh piece of spring-time grass.  I guess that happens to some people when they’re as happy as he was.  He sure was happy, in fact when they said their “I-do’s” I seen a tiny tear drop drip off his long beautiful eyelashes. I never told nobody I seen him cry because you know how men aren’t suppose to cry, but they was tears of pure joy he was crying on that day for sure.  He said that ever since he was a youngin’ he’d dreamed about marrying a beautiful woman just like your Aunt Emmie and when she said “I do”, his dream had finally come true.”

“So there you have it.  See?  Since your mama prayed for her sister, God granted my prayers and sent a wonderful man for her to live the rest of her life and be happy with.  They have magic those two.  It’s clear to everyone that the good Lord meant for them to be together.  You can see the magic between them when they look at each other.  Can’t you?  It’s too bad they were never blessed as I was with wonderful children like you, but they make the best aunt and uncle, don’t they?”

“O.K., off to bed with you.  Now you can go to sleep and dream about who’s going to marry you and make your dreams come true, just like me n’ your Aunt Emmie.  Come here and give me a hug and a kiss first.  Don’t forget to say your prayers!”