Angela [Paperback]

Jerald L. Hanson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2006

A beautiful Natchez, Mississippi sanitarium is the setting for this tender story of Angela, a 9 year-old child prodigy who was much older before the radiation from a gift changed her life. it is a story of dealing with the loss of a loved one, finding another and learning to enjoy life again.

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About the Author

    Born August 31, 1942 in Aurora, Illinois, Jerry Hanson grew up on a dairy farm in rural Yorkville, Illinois. As a teenager he worked as a printers devil for the Kendall County Record and as a teller at the Farmers State Bank. After leaving for college and four years in the U. S. Air Force, he returned to Yorkville and a job at the bank. At age fifty two he retired from the banking business with a list of things he wanted to experience. He has since studied Anthropology at Northern Illinois University, attended the J. B. Hunt truck driving school, been trained as a Harley Davidson Mechanic and written two novels.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Natchez

It is springtime in Natchez, and the gardens of Lee Sanitarium are alive with color. The pleasant aroma of magnolia blossoms is somehow calming to the soul as these magnificent trees compete for the attention of honey bees. Visitors to Lee this afternoon will be drawn away from the beauty of the gardens to the band shell by the haunting music of a young girl's voice.

Lee Sanitarium is, by modern standards, a nursing home. It was established at the end of the Civil War for soldiers whose wounds made a normal existence impossible. Lee was a place where they would be made comfortable and looked after for the rest of their lives.

The building, a Southern Planter mansion built around 1812, and the grounds, which covered over 25 acres of lawn, gardens, live oak, and fruit trees, were made available for this noble purpose by the owner, whose husband and sons did not return from the war. The band shell, on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, had been constructed of the same cypress wood as the mansion and was in wonderful condition nearly one hundred ninety years later.

The pure soprano of a child's voice, "I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair, born like a vapor on the summer's air," was coming from a little girl in a gray cotton dress. She was playing the piano and singing Stephen Foster songs. She looked so very small, all alone at the center of the band shell stage, but her voice was strong and pure. With the amplification of the band shell, she could be heard clearly by riverboat passengers on the Mississippi.

Angela was her name and her age varied, depending upon whom you asked. But the one certainty was her musical talent. Nearly every afternoon she would play and sing in the band shell to an audience of up to fifteen elderly patients, the staff members who assisted them, and an increasing number of Natchez residents who came to hear her music. She played music that she felt was appropriate for her audience, music that she loved, music that carried pleasant memories for her. However, the residents who were able often requested more spirited renderings.

She would play a few moments of ragtime piano for Linda, a blind patient who would soon be ninety-one years old. Linda requested "ragtime" during every performance, and the other patients perked up when they heard Angela play it.     Angela would occasionally play these spirited numbers on the keyboard in the band shell. But when the weather kept them inside, she would not violate her respect for the concert grand piano in the mansion ballroom. She would not play such rowdy music on this wonderful instrument.

Nearly a year had passed since Angela came to Natchez. She had appeared to be dying of something the medical profession could not identify and was admitted to Lee Sanitarium where around the clock medical attention was available. She adjusted to the routine, but would become restless each day after the noon meal.

After dinner, most of the residents would nap or fall asleep in front of the television, but Angela would wander about the mansion and the beautiful grounds of the sanitarium. She would often sit on one of the park benches on the bluff overlooking the river. There she would rest quietly with her thoughts.

On a rainy afternoon while Angela was admiring the furnishings in the ballroom, she was drawn to the concert grand piano. It faced the windows overlooking the gardens at the far end of this very large room. Angela sat down on the piano bench and ran her fingers lightly over the keys, barely touching them. She thought about the piano lessons she and her twin sister Betty had taken so long ago.

Angela pressed the soft pedal and began to play. Very softly, she played songs that she remembered from a happier time, a time when she and her family would gather around the piano and sing from the Stephen Foster song book.     She began to sing, softly, "Way down upon the Swanee River," forgetting about her illness, and thinking only pleasant thoughts of an earlier more carefree time.

Angela lost herself in the music and the memories. She played her favorite song, "Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair," singing in a pure soprano voice.     The pleasant music traveled like a whisper through the mansion, attracting almost everyone's attention.

Nearly the entire Lee staff had gathered to listen to Angela. Her gentle music and pure sweet voice held them spellbound.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141200179X
• ISBN-13: 978-1412001793
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,306,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)