Teaser Tuesday: Ghosts of fruitcakes past

[info]jamarattigan wrote a delicious post the other day, in which she extolled the virtues of the much-maligned fruitcake. Though she couldn’t quite convince me to try another slice, she served up several memories of fruitcakes past.

My family used to bake huge quantities of fruitcake, which my father gave to hapless victims preachers he met on the Sawdust Trail during the holidays. The recipe called for lots of expensive ingredients, but “It’s a worthy sacrifice for God,” my father liked to say.

We all chipped in. We’d crack walnuts and pecans around the kitchen table while my  mother scraped orange rinds and chopped the candied fruit. My oldest sister, Coral, helped my brothers measure the wet ingredients into a galvanized washtub; then two by two, we’d all take turns mixing in the flour and spices. My mother and father baked the loaves in our tiny oven—countless pans, a few at a time—and we helped them wrap the cooled cakes with gauze and tin foil. Every few days or so, my father baptized the loaves with bourbon. By the time those fruitcakes reached their ultimate destination, they’d been doused with liquor more times than the county drunk!

A few years ago, my sister and I visited one of the houses where we made those fruitcakes. The current owners showed us all the remodeling they’d done. When we toured the yard, we spotted the galvanized tub! We couldn’t fit it into the trailer when we moved, so we’d left it hanging on a nail. And there it was, was waiting for our return, Oh tidings of comfort and joy: The tub’s been repurposed for gardening. I’m still smiling about that. I’ll take flowers over fruitcake any day!

Here’s Coral, standing near the garage door of that house. The infamous washtub’s in the foreground.

“Done,” Roger said. He brushed a cobweb out of his hair and wiped his hands on his dungarees.

 

“What about that thing?” Randy pointed at the steel washtub hanging on a nail. 

 

“Not enough room.” Roger yanked on the chain that snapped off the light. 

 

“You ready?” My father looked up at my mother, who was standing on the back porch with Heidi. She shrugged and gave him a small nod. 

 

“Okay, everybody, let’s go!” My father followed us through the house and down the front steps. He struggled with the pile of suits draped over his arms. 
  

Randy ran back to grab them from my father. “I’ll get those.”

 

Roger snickered and rolled his eyes. “Brown-noser.”

 

Randy wedged my parents’ suitcases between the sacks of groceries. Then, he smoothed my father’s suits over the top and carefully closed the trunk lid. 

 

Meanwhile, Coral grabbed our toy bag and shepherded Sheryll and me out to the car. My mother followed us, hoisting Heidi onto one hip and slinging the diaper bag over her opposite shoulder. She climbed into the front with Heidi, leaving five of us to fight over the narrow back seat. As always, my brothers claimed the choice spots by windows, forcing my sisters and me to climb over their legs and wedge ourselves into the middle. 

 

My father double-checked to make sure that everyone was out of the house. Then he closed the front door and locked it. He climbed into the car and turned the key in the ignition. The headlights snapped on, punching holes into the darkness. I scrambled to my knees and turned around to wave goodbye to our house, our orchard, our street. 

 

The trailer swung wide as we whipped around the corner and headed – once again – out onto the highway.. 


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35 Comments

  1. Oh, I can’t wait to read your story!!
    😀
    And what a great tale of fruitcake-ing! I always liked it best when it was still in the batter phase, before the icky citron and etc. went in. Spice cake is good!

  2. OMG, that just came SO alive. And how amazing to find that tub once again.

    The ghosts of fruitcakes past must have preserved it. We all know those are the few things that will survive the Apocalypse: Little Tykes toys, cockroaches, Keith Richards, and fruitcakes.

    • Thank you, Sherwood. I’m praying that I’ll finish the first draft by the new year. Getting the first draft down on paper has taken quite a while; I haven’t got many chapters to go, but finishing them will help my writerly confidence grow by leaps and bounds.

  7. Oh my gosh. I remember those fruit cake from Christmas’s past. Some were really good and some were really bad but the memories will always live on. I was going through Mom and Dad’s stuff this last weekend and found 4 still wrapped in the Christmas paper and dated back in the 1950’s. LOL… Not really but it gives body to this. Will they actually last that long?
    Once again you have brought up your works in progress and have once again wetted my mind to read more. As Larry the Cable Guy would say ” Git’ur done.”

  10. LOVE your snippet and fruitcake memories. I’ve never baked anything that required a washtub before. Wow. With all that bourbon, I would say that was very serious fruitcake!!

    • ((Hugs)) and thanks!

      I’m going to submerge myself in this draft as of this afternoon. One more LJ post, and then I’m going cold turkey until this draft is done. Advice and encouragement are always appreciated–especially from prolific writers such as you.

  13. Coral’s doing very well. Thank you so much for asking!! She was 5 years cancer-free this past Thursday. Isn’t that incredible?!? I don’t know why those specks appeared on her CTs, and we still don’t know why her blood markers rose so high. But the good news is that her doctor’s not concerned now about those spots, and her blood levels returned to “normal” between late spring and late last month. We’re definitely celebrating the good news this holiday season!
    Hey, is that a decorated pillow in your icon? Or two ornaments? Or…whatever, it’s very festive. 🙂

  15. I love the snippets that you post Melodye! Your book is going to be amazing and I’m definitely going to be first in line to buy it!

    We had a washtub like that too, but my mother made dandelion wine in hers. My brother and I were always lifting up the cheesecloth to snag a few of the raisins and orange pieces.

    As for the fruitcake, I have always hated the stuff so I make Bishop’s Bread instead. It has cherries and chocolate in it, which is 1000 times better than citron!!

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