Title: The Mill: Sue Ellen’s Story
Author: Michael Owens
Genre: Romantic fiction
Book Blurb:
The blast came just after two o’clock in the afternoon from the direction of our little cabin in the mill village. There was already a crowd gathered in front of our cabin. I couldn’t get through the crowd, so I crawled among the feet and legs but still made little progress. Someone said, “That’s his sister. Don’t let her up here.” Strong arms lifted me off the ground. I screamed, I bit, I scratched, but they wouldn’t let me go. All I saw was a pair of boots lying still, my brother’s boots. I just had to get one more look at my beloved brother’s face, see his beautiful smile once again. But Cyrus no longer had a face. His twin brother, Jason, had shot him point blank with dad’s old 12-guage. I’d never even heard the word fratricide before, but now I would never forget it.
Excerpt:
I wasn’t at all sure why Carlton had to drive me over, something I could drive myself unless there was another game afoot. I didn’t like the idea that Pearl was now calling the shots in my life. I was sure she would never do that for a “real” Tourandel daughter. My status as adopted daughter apparently placed me on a lower rung than Claudia and Esther, and I’m certain Pearl would never have dared be so high-handed with Tess, who would have told her to get stuffed or something worse.
The doctor’s office where Carlton dropped me off suggested he wasn’t so much interested in curb appeal to attract patients. The front of the building was in dire need of a paint job, and the front windows were so dirty you couldn’t see through them. “Are you sure this is the right place?” I asked Carlton. “There’s no sign or anything.”
“Yes, Miss Sue Ellen. I’ll pick you up at eleven.”
Now the reason for his delivering me right to the door was apparent. I never would have stopped at such a rundown building in the first place. I wished I’d worn my mill clothes after all. Pearl had to have known about this shabby excuse for an office. Certainly Mr. and Mrs. T would never be seen entering such a place. Maybe this was just the place where they had their servants treated, and I was now lumped into the serving class, or maybe there was a lower rung on the ladder for adopted girls made pregnant by the lord of the manor.
I’ve seen houses in the mill village with far more attractive entry rooms than the one that had Dr. Cunningham’s name on the door. In addition to a worn carpet, furniture with the seat covers worn through, the room reeked of cigar smoke. My stomach began to rebel. A few more minutes of this and I’d need a bathroom unless, out of spite, I threw up on his carpet. From the look of it, I wouldn’t be the first.
The armrests on the chairs were sticky, so I kept my hands in my lap. I didn’t have to wait long before an elderly woman in a nurses’ uniform complete with stained armpits—no name tag—entered the waiting area and looked at me as if she couldn’t figure out why I was there.
I spoke up, “Sue Ellen Tourandel to see Dr. Cunningham.”
“Oh, yes, follow me.”
We passed an office that contained a battered desk covered with papers strewn about in what appeared to be a random fashion. There was a nameplate in the center, Amanda Elliott, RN. I didn’t know whether the name belonged to the woman I was following since she hadn’t bothered to introduce herself.
“Dr. Cunningham, this is Sue Ellen Tourandel.” Then whoever she was, she turned and left.
Dr. Cunningham fit right into the rest of the décor, that is to say, shabby. The lab coat he wore might have been white at one time but not anymore. The good doctor sat alongside a table where the source of the cigar stench lay in an ashtray by his right elbow, surrounded by a number of half-filled coffee cups. He needed a shave, probably a bath, and his fingernails? I’ve seen better looking toenails.
“So, you’re really a Tourandel?” he asked.
“Yes.” I didn’t add “sir” because he didn’t deserve it.
“How old are you?” He stared down at the form as if he hadn’t seen it before.
“Twenty-three.”
“Sign on the bottom line.”
“What is this for?” I’d been given no explanation of anything yet, and I didn’t want to touch the same pen he’d just handled.
“It’s for your procedure.” His eyelids drooped making it hard to actually see his eyes.
“What procedure? I haven’t heard anything about a procedure.”
He looked down at his desk, pushed the form around with his fingertips as if wondering what to do next. “The procedure for your pregnancy. I was told you want to terminate your pregnancy. You have to sign before I can do it.”
What I’d been suspecting since I’d been ushered into the office was becoming very clear. Dr. Cunningham was an abortionist. I’d heard all I needed to hear, seen all I needed to see. I left Dr. Cunningham still holding his pen in the air awaiting a signature for a procedure that was never going to happen.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mill-Sue-Ellens-Story-1938-ebook/dp/B0DNV3KV8D
What makes your featured book a must-read?
The time period in which the book is set was a time of great change in the Piedmont area of NC. Isolated farms were giving way to automated mills driven by waterpower, which in turn, gave way to mills powered by electricity. The demographics of the countryside changed from individual farms to one more industrialized, and small villages grew up around textile mills. Human nature seems to have changed little, however, with jealousy and even hatred still often motivating behavior.
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Author Biography:
A native Tar Heel, the author obtained his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, and later an MFA in creative writing from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA. His topics in fiction vary widely, ranging from science themes to end-of-life issues to erotica…go figure!