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| Sled from www.pixabay.com |
Are there story tellers in your family tree?
I’ve found that spending time with relatives can uncover moving
stories of triumph over tragedy. What
follows is one of my favorites.
It is the winter of 1910 and the Landry family is living
in River Bourgeois, Cape Breton. There’s
a foot of fresh snow covering the steep hill a short walk from their home. School is out and children are making their
way up to the top with sleds in hand. One
at a time and in groups, they mount their sleds and head down the slope. The air fills with shouts of joy.
Standing on the sideline are two Landry brothers, eleven
year old Abe and fourteen year old Leo.
Their hearts race with excitement as they watch their friends speed down
the snowy incline. Caught up in the
excitement, Mom’s words forbidding them to go sledding have slipped deep into
the dead zones of their brains.
After sliding down the hill several times, Clifford walks
over and places his sled at Leo’s feet.
“Want to take a
few turns?” he asks.
Leo says,” Thanks” as he grabs it by its side and then
heads to the summit.
The delight Leo feels, as he rides down the hill,
surpasses anything he’s experienced before. It only gets better with each trip down.
Then something strange happens. The last thing Leo remembers is walking over
to Abe and Clifford with the sled. But
now he’s running and his mind seems to have blanked out why. Clifford is running with him.
Reality comes into focus as Leo sees what he’s heading
toward. Abe’s contorted body and a
broken sled are lying next to a huge maple tree at the base of the hill.
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| Winter Tree from www.pixabay.com |
Leo gets there first and crouches down next to Abe’s body. Clifford joins him within seconds. The rest
of the children aren’t far behind.
Abe’s eyes are closed and he’s not moving. His right leg
is at a peculiar angle and there’s blood trickling out of gouges seen through
the large tear in his pant leg.
The three of them are soon surrounded by the rest of the children.
“Abe,” Leo shouts.
There’s no response.
“We’ve got to get him off the cold ground. We need a large toboggan.” Clifford pleads.
The circle of children separate as a large toboggan is
handed over.
The two teens quickly grab Abe’s motionless body. As they
lift, it stiffens. Abe’s eyes open and
he lets out an ear-piercing scream as they place him on the toboggan. Leo holds back tears as his brother looks up
at him wincing in pain.
Abe starts
trembling and says, “Mom’s going to kill me when she finds out.”
“Abe, we’ll figure something out. We’ve got to get you home,” Leo says.
Grabbing the rope attached to the front of the sled, Leo
pulls and heads down the path to their home.
Clifford joins him. Abe moans as
his body is jostled in route.
Leo’s mind is racing. How can they can get Abe in the
house and keep Mom from finding out? She’s going to kill us.
Before entering the house the boys work out a plan. They are successful in keeping it from their
parents for a short while. How they
pulled this off is still a mystery.
Once it was discovered that Abe was seriously hurt, a
doctor was summoned from St. Peter’s. By
the time the doctor arrives a couple of days have passed. Upon examination, it is discovered that Abe’s
right side has taken the brunt of his run-in with the maple tree. The trauma to that side includes: a broken hip, several holes running down his
leg with pus coming out of them, and the inability to move his foot.
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| Abe Landry at Landry's Shoe Repair, Halifax, NS |
Abe suffers greatly in the months to come, but recovers. As a result of the trauma the growth in his
right leg is stunted; leaving him with one leg shorter than the other. This in
combination with the damage to his foot makes getting around difficult. A cobbler helps by taking measurements and a special
boot with a lift inside is ordered from New York. The boot gives Abe freedom of movement and a
passion to apprentice as a cobbler.
Following through on his desire to become a cobbler, Abe
apprenticed and then set up his own business.
He became the owner and operator of Landry's Shoe Repair in the
Hydrostone district in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Abe ran his business for 47 years.
This story is dedicated to Leo Landry who served in WWI
and fought at the battle of Y-press in Belgium where he died on 4 June 1916 at the age of 18.
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Special thanks go out to Mark and Courtney Moore and to
the late Abe Landry and Anna Bella Landry Bradley for sharing their stories
with us. “The River That Isn’t”, by
Garvie Samson was beneficial in creating this short story and gives a wonderful
perspective about the people and their lives in River Bourgeois, Cape Breton
from 1714 to 1994.
I’d enjoy hearing what you think of this story in the
comments section is below.
