Nobody realized Ruby was reaching a fantastic milestone birthday for any human being. She was turning 100, but no one was there to celebrate with her.
Ruby was alone, as she had been most of her life. Ruby had been carrying the weight of an adult since she was eight years old when her father left to serve in the war.
Her mother was a frail and distant lady, and Ruby had been estranged from the rest of the family. «I’ll need you to be a big girl, Ruby,» he said seriously. «You’ll have to be really responsible and watch out for mother, OK?»
«OK, Daddy,» Ruby said, and her childhood was over. Ruby assumed parental responsibility for her mother and four younger siblings.
She couldn’t wait for her father to come back and let her be a kid again, but he never did. The family learnt of their father’s death in war when Ruby was twelve years old.
Daddy would never come back. Mom sobbed and wailed so loudly that the other children were afraid. Mom needed to be injected by a doctor, after which she became quiet and fuzzy again.
Life surprises you with a blessing when you least expect it.
Mom’s government pension was insufficient, and she couldn’t work. Ruby dropped out of school and went to work at a nearby store that sold fabric, threads, buttons, and ribbons — anything you’d need to sew clothes in those hard times.
Ruby was bright and energetic, and she quickly proved useful to the haberdashery’s owner, Mrs. Dorris. Mrs. Dorris, like Mom, was a military widow who was kind to Ruby in her own way.
She’d give Ruby offcuts from the prettiest designs and bits of colorful ribbon every now and then to make herself tiny shift clothes. Ruby used the cloth frequently on her brothers and mother...CONTINNUE READING