Category: Four Centuries

“Numbers” by Melody Burris was a finalist in the 2012 Four Centuries of Mormon Stories contest. It was originally published online at Everyday Mormon Writer on October 17, 2012.

216 paces to the end of each row.
Six rows today so far.
The numbers swirl around in my head. I cannot help myself. I showed great promise, they said, in the small school room I attended until father left on his mission. Now numbers were just the way my brain entertained me while I walked behind the slow plow mule.
27 tail twitches since the fly landed on the mules rump.
35 cents a bushel for corn last year.
Five acres of corn.
No those numbers were too uncertain. I must not add my profits in my head lest the Lord find other ways for me to spend my imaginary wealth.
5673 steps from the front gate to Anna’s porch.
Two days and two more fields to plow before I can see her. Continue reading Numbers

“Ruby’s Gift” by Emily Debenham was a finalist in the 2012 Four Centuries of Mormon Stories contest. It was originally published online at Everyday Mormon Writer on October 16, 2012.

Ruby filled the empty hours of Sunday afternoon playing hymns on the piano. Her family was scattered around the house employed in various Sunday activities and she carved out the empty space of the parlor and filled it with music.

There was a knock at the door: the sound of bare feet dashing across the wood floor followed. A man’s voice asked for papa, and Ruby heard Sarah leading the man to the parlor. Ruby was surprised that the little twins hadn’t come toddling out. Ben probably kept them occupied in the other room, encouraging them to crawl over piles of quilts.

Ruby knew she should stop playing, but she wanted to finish her song. She heard Sarah direct the visitor to sit on the sofa.

Nervous now that she had an attentive listener, Ruby’s fingers slipped over the last phrases of the song, causing the melody to disappear in a rush of wrong notes. She sighed and turned to greet their visitor, only to find that Stake President Levine sat on their sofa.

Continue reading Ruby’s Gift

“Little Karl” by Melissa Leilani Larson was a finalist in the 2012 Four Centuries of Mormon Stories contest. It was originally published online at Everyday Mormon Writer on October 15, 2012.

It’s quite a jog from Malmö to Missouri to say the least. But Andrew and Annie came, all heart and faith; and that was the sum of what they had: heart, in the form of their son, two-year-old Karl, and their faith, newly discovered. Faith brought them across the Atlantic to New Orleans, then up the Mississippi, and finally helped them build a house on the prairie near Independence. Here they lived and worked for the means to go even further—to Utah.

Continue reading Little Karl