Thankful (19.)

Thankful got up and went into her bedroom. She came right back with an old Army jacket. She showed us the patch on the sleeve. It had a one on it. She grinned and said,"Mathew knew Freddy...oh...Freddy was my husband years before..... Tammy...I told Tommy about Freddy...he can catch you up later."

Thankful put the jacket on and snuggled back in her chair, saying,"I met Mathew at a VFW dance....I couldn't believe that he knew Freddy....he was with Freddy when Freddy was wounded...he told me stories of the war that gave me such chills...Mathew's first wife had been dead for three years.....he still loved her and I still loved Freddy but we both decided to live on together."

"I had just turned 60 and Mathew was 57....It was December 7, 1941 when we heard the news about Pearl Harbor...in the first week of 1942....Mathew left for Hawaii with his construction crew...he had been there earlier on building projects for the Military....he didn't want me to go because Pearl Harbor might be attacked again."

Thankful had a hard look on her face as she said,"Why did he run off to fix the world...only to break my heart?

Tears rolled from her eyes and fell on the old green jacket. Tammy reached and took her hand while I handed her a tissue.

Thankful said,"You are both so sweet...It's a wonder that I have tears left...Mathew was killed in a car accident...I got the news on April 5th. of 1942.....I sat in my flower garden and cried....I cried myself to sleep and dreamed of Mathew and Freddy...we were taking turns dancing to beautiful heavenly music...the dream helped me but I still felt so alone."

She went on saying,"Another damned war had taken my love away...I volunteered at the hospital and helped raise funds for the soldiers...it kept me busy...kept my mind off the hard things.

I lived out my life from then until 1950 just reading books, working in my garden and volunteering...I met Jake Johnson at the book store...I really tried to ignore him but he turned out to be the pushiest man on earth!"

"Old Jake had split thumbs....two thumbs on each hand...he is who I named the cat after....I introduced him to my friends. Rosey, Doris, Martha and me were all good friends....we went shopping together...played cards together...did a whole lot of things together."

Thankful leaned to one side and let a loud fart...grinned and said,"Take a little change from that and it will add up to what those women were worth."

We all laughed and Thankful said,"Anyways...having four thumbs wasn't the only unique thing about Jake...I hate to tell you both about this but it is a big part of the story."