Railroad

June, 1991

Eliza was reading again.

“Reading is boring.” That's what her brother Jacob said.

"Well whatever, keep your underdeveloped brain, moron," she winked at her sister Emma.

The three fell back into their respective solitudes.

Eliza loved books so much, she memorized them before she learned to read. Then she sat on her Grandfathers lap and pretended to read. Word for word, page for page. Needless to say, he was very impressed.

By the time, that Eliza had learned to read, she had a bookcase of her own, and could hardly ever be torn away from her worlds away. She loved Dr.Suess and Fraggle Rock.

As she grew older, she devoured everything there was to read. She read National Geographics cover to cover. National Geographics were and to this day are still her very favorite magazine. Science books, Christian books, classical literature, reader's digest, home improvement, and history books, were all subject to her perusal and insatiable appetite for the creative worlds afforded in books. Her favorites were classical literature and history.

As a young child, she fell in love with Robert Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and the always famous, ever classic Swiss Family Robinson. Which her very cruel father made her experience a few chapters a night for bedtime stories.What a pleasure!!!!

And then of course there was The Jungle Book, the short story, Rikki Tikki Tavi, becoming a family favorite.

Classical Literature such as Stephen Crane and Charlotte Bronte were her favorite companions.

And of course, the Bible.

Little Women by Louise May Alcott with its warm rich settings and familial comforts was a read, she experienced several times.

Laura Ingalls Wilder was a prominent figure as well. The pictures that came alive under the spell of her skill were never forgettable, Her books were and still are indebted with a feel, that is all together unforgettable. Candid, and innocent, and rich.

In the second grade, Eliza fell in love again. Her teacher believed in the power of literature and read "The Island of the Blue Dolphin", and "The Wishgiver", that year. What candy it was to little Liza's starving imaginative mind.

And then of course, there was Beverly Clearly, anything. The BabySitters Club. The Boxcar Children. All which were masterfully crafted tales.

Her favorite all time book for childhood was Buttermilk Bear.

Her favorite in pre adolescence was Helen Keller, The Diary of Anne Frank, Little Women, and Janette Oak books. Not to mention the magazines that were mere snacks for her every spare minute,

And then came adolescence, and with it a lessening of parental monitoring, and oh the loves she found. Stephen King, and Anne Rice were the taboo romantic land of her teenage dreams. Dean Koontz, had anyone ever actually read the literary prose in some of these fictions she wondered.

Literature books were the best. She read them like they were novels in short story format. The Lotto, Edgar Allen Poe, William Blake, Robert Frost and many, many more. She read hundreds of them. These were interspersed by self help books and of course, Vogue, Cosmopolitan and National Geographics.

As she became a young adult, she found other authors and loved modern fiction. Barbara Kinggsolver, John Grisham, and Paul Cohelo were breathtaking and all absorbing.

Her life took a few ragged turns but she eventually came out on top, she was a published writer, she was able to find contentment, able to use her mind to provide for herself. She reflected on her life, as she removed the chocolate cake from the oven. It was the most delicious, practically sinful. She had found the recipe in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine that she had read, years before.

Her brother Jacob was in and out of prison. Her sister was married with children and a full life. And she had her own life, the lonely reader who had finally found love.