NORA

Hank’s mother, Nora lived in the Painter’s sunny living room, the largest and nicest part of the tiny four room house. She was a spare soft spoken recluse who never went off the farm, but could sometimes be seen walking down the half mile lane to the mail box by the road. She was always ready to care for a grandchild, when needed, but never interfered with Hank and Beulah’s life and Beulah never spoke of her. One assumed that the living arrangements had been worked out amicably. Whenever Mother and Margaret and Jenny went to visit and the family wasn’t home, Nora would come to the door, always hospitable, and cordially invite the guests into her neatly kept room. Mother said she read a lot and was a smart woman. Most people scarcely knew she was there. She lived a life of humility and servitude, as if in penance for her perceived sin.

Several years later, Mother explained to Jenny that Nora had borne Hank out of wedlock when she was only twelve or thirteen years old. She had grown up on a farm several miles southwest of where they were now living. She would never tell the name of the man who had taken advantage of her innocence. Perhaps an itinerant worker had waylaid her in the cornfield, Could it have been a respected member of the community, or maybe even a close relative? Could there have been a young boy as innocent as Nora following the dictates of nature in total ignorance of what the outcome might be? There were child abusers in those days too, but these matters were usually hushed up and the child or young girl had no one she could turn to. She bore her “shame” and “secret’ as bravely as she knew how. Hank was her pride and joy and she loved him with a fiercely protective mother’s love, despite her youth. From the beginning of his life, Hank was severely stigmatized by a society that kicked around its bastard children. The bond between Hank and Nora was especially strong. The two of them stood together against the outside world.