On the Bank of the Swannee River

                                                 "On the Bank of the Swannee River"

                                                                    Chapter 1

         Sitting here on the bank of the great swannee river,  thinking about jumping in and letting the swift current take me away. Away from my life and the horriable image of my mother taking her last few breaths of life. Those images burned in my head, like a bad dream, replaying over and over. Seeing her chest rise and fall ever so slightly, hearing her caugh till the cloth in her hand comes away soaked with blood. She smiled weakly trying to hide her pain from her only daughter, and her husband who remains stone faced to the end.

          She looks at her husband of 25 years, the man who has worked every single day since they married through the heat and the cold never once taking a sick day. On the outside he seems so rough, his skin is a dark tan from the Florida sun. His hands are scared and callused from mending fences and rounding up the herd. Thoes deep blue eyes, that seem so cold have watched as over 200 of cattle, his cattle slowly died of dehydration and deseaise in the drought of 1977. Turning to look at me she smiles and becons me closer, whispering her last request. A request that is absolutly impossible, but I tell her I'll do my best anyway, she softly kisses my fourhead and whips away a stray tear from cheek. Turning back to my father, she takes his hand and pulls himclose telling him something so low I can only make out one word "daughter" and I hear his grunt of a respones. It must have been about me, I think to my self, I seem to bring out the worst in my father Soon though he coensides and agrees to whatever she asked of him, for all the things I hate about my father, his love for Sadie May Dixion Braxton (mother) is allways apperent.

          Suddenly mother breaks into one of her coughing fits, the worst yet, and after she manages to ctach her breath we help her lay back and she closes her eyes. The strain of sitting up and the extra effort of talking must have been to much for weakening, because she becomes very pail and her lungs weise as they try to get enough oxygen to keep her heart beating. I know the time is close when her body will betray her strong soul and she wont be with me any longer. I take her hand and press it to my face, fighting back the tears that threaten  to come down like rain from a summer shower. She squeezes my hand with the last bit of strenght she has left. I watch as her chest rises and falls, again, again, I count he breaths, four, five, and for the last time breath fills her lungs and exits, I feel her hand go loose and her body moves no more. I stair, willing her with all my heart to wake up, to be fine, for some sort of miricle, but none comes. Looking up into the eyes of my father and see the smallest hope of a tear forming in his eye, ut just as quickly it's gone, I must have imagined it.

             Standing up and clearing his throught he says in that grough voice of his. "Best be callin on the Doc, gotta get the araingments for the..er..uh..burial out of the way"

            I just stair at him, looking for any sign of grief, of tears, like the ones slipping from my eyes, but I find nothing.

           "Realiegh!!!" Barks my father "Are you listening to me girl!?!"

           Bo Braxton hates to be ignored and theres hell to pay if he thinks your disobaying him on purpose. so I just say "yes sir" and don't make  move.

          "I know this is hard but we need to get this out of the way, theres still work to be done around here, the ranch wont rn it's self!" He says moving toward the door.

I stay frozen in my seat, knowing he wants me to get started on the phone, making the "final arrangements", but I'm unable to think straight, it's like theres a twister in my brain, spinning and spinning. Did he really referrer to my mothers death as "this"? My mothers dead? He wants to go back to work like nothing happened? MY mothers dead? I'm all alone now!...............my mothers dead.

           Finaly he just walks out the door shaking his head, surly wishing it was me in that bed and not my mother. Me, Realiegh Ann Braxton, The ultimate disappointment, a girl where a boy was wanted.

          I snapout of my thoughts and jump up from the log I was seated on. I wade into the river and feel the cold water at my calfs, then my knees, and finaly my waist. The current is so strong this time of year that, I have to hold onto a low tree branch to keep from being pulled away. I let go of the branch with one hand and feel myself pulled a little deeper, i'm up to my breast now. Just when I'm about to let go with the other hand. I hear splashing and feel a strong pair of arms grab me by the waist and hoist me up and out of the water, then a deep grough voice says " what the hell are you doing, trying to get your self killed?"

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Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this, it's my first story on wattpad, I would love some feed back positive negative whatever you think. I didnt have the energy to edit tonight so I will come back tomorrow and edit and start on chapter 2.