Joyfully Retired

I was enticed into reading this story by Teddy Rose who read and reviewed it for last week’s Short Story Monday. It was posted at The New Yorker website and I was caught up in the story by the end of the first page.

Foster is the story, told in the first person, of a young Irish girl who is taken to stay indefinitely with her mother’s sister and husband. There is no packing of clothes. She is driven to their home in the country and given over into their care.

Both the aunt and uncle are caring, loving people. They do not speak negatively to the girl but from their actions the reader knows that the child arrived dirty, in rags, and with head lice.

There are no other children in the home but she is taken to sleep in a child’s bedroom that is filled with trains on the wallpaper. She’s dressed in pants and shirts her size from a dresser in the room.

The girl helps her aunt with chores around the house and occasionally outside in the barn. For her uncle she fetches the mail in the box at the end of the long drive. But her uncle makes it fun by asking her to run. He times her and encourages her when she runs faster than the day before.

By observing life at her aunt’s and uncle’s she becomes aware of all that is wrong with her own family. She dreads the day when she will have to go back home.

Teddy Rose predicted I’d like this story. She was right; I did. For anyone who loves children, this story will cause your heart to twist for this little girl. If you’d like to also read Foster, you can find the story here.

Short Story Monday is sponsored by John at Book Mind Set.