Effy Sy

Personal life lesson -- "You must keep calm".

...along with the path of nonviolence. With her short temper, this is a challenge. Knowing there is only a short amount of time left to her, she is looking for opportunities to learn and exercise that skill, and hopefully at the same time help out her sons who seem to be following their uncle down a dangerous path. She is up for fun, surprises and excitement, as she has been her whole life.

none, but Effy is a nickname for her given name of Flannery.

female

near the end of her natural life span

April 2

[have no money to feed family how get food? de best stoors are all to muchly and we are all to porish. we are hungry. Ma says go steal food cuz they have more and we have less.]
But somehow that strikes me as a dangerous and possibly a wrong idea. I've been noticing that not all families live like we do...why are we this way? I wonder if my dad ever helped us with survival. Ma says he wasn't good for much, and not to hold your breath, when I ask if he'll be back. There are 8 of us children: the rest seemed to drop like puppies into Ma's arms, while I grew a bit closer to a time when I wondered why. Maybe I was around 2 years old when I really began to notice things and asked why we weren't as well off as the other people we knew. Was it a coincidence that shortly after that there was a day when Dad didn't come home? Ma just glared at the door when I asked; she jiggled Alfie, the littlest, a bit more vigorously on her knee.
The next season, after Gramps died, I suppose Ma started to run out of ideas and the cupboard turned up bare more and more often. We were not encouraged to whine about empty bellies, and the two oldest boys, Abner and Auden, developed a talent for stealing things from the market vendors. Sometimes they shared with the rest of us. I scratched out a garden in back. We got along, but the littlest ones seemed listless and it worried me. 
One day Abner came home with a light in his eyes. He looked at Ma, who didn't have a lot to say anymore. She just turned away and stared out the window at the scrappy yard full of drying bedding, my garden and the little ones playing a game of keep away. They were using an old chunk of wood one of them had found and carved a picture on. It was a picture of a mom hugging a kid.
Abner looked down for a minute, then beckoned and we slipped out the front door. "What did you find?" I asked him. Most the time he'd at least bring a few wilted vegetables, and I was hoping for a small sack of flour. I suspected any meat he stole was eaten on the way home; he and Auden were more filled out than the rest of us, but they were the ones taking the risks, so maybe it was fair."
No food today," he said, and my heart dropped. "But look, Effy! See what I brought." He pulled me around the corner to the small shed where we stored the few things that hadn't been sold. When he opened the door, I hoped to see a fat hog, or at least a scrawny chicken trying to escape, but there was only a pile of dusty gunny sacks, my hoe, a few scraps of kindling, and a tall stick leaned up in the corner. Abner was watching me.
"What?!" I asked, impatiently. He walked solemnly over to the tall stick and lifted it towards me, his eyes were large and I wondered what he expected. I shrugged and raised my eyebrows.
"Effy, don't you see it? " He laughed suddenly, and slid a heavy string from his pocket. Quickly, he strung the bow, and I hugged him, as it dawned on me. "We can hunt!" He nodded, and laughed again. "I'll make some arrows in no time," he assured me. "I'll bring us back a deer and we can have the biggest feast anyone ever had! We could invite the Jennex's and the Dunstan's!" He was jumping up and down.
"Well," I chuckled. "You may be getting a little ahead of yourself, Abner, but oh, a squirrel, even - wouldn't that make a fine stew?!" 
He shook his head, "No, Effy...a deer, I promise." I nodded. I didn't ask where the bow came from. I didn't want to know.
A week went by. Abner had made some passable arrows, and been out in the woods every day for hours. So far all he'd brought home was a few mushrooms and a pocketful of berries. This was not an improvement and I was getting really worried. "Get to the market and grab us something, girl!" was all Ma had to say, but I hated stealing. I tried begging but it didn't work, people didn't seem to think much of our family and refused to help. My eyes filled with tears as I watched the children. They didn't even try to play anymore. Alexi, the next oldest girl, was learning to help with the garden, and we had added a few more rows, but not enough to feed nine people. Not near enough. 
"Ab. Let me try," I said late one night when he stumbled home, looking grim and extremely dirty. I thought he'd argue with me, but he wordlessly nodded his head and wandered into the boys' part of the room. I sat and thought for awhile, then made my decision.
== She goes out next day to the woods and learns how hard it is to hit an animal with a bow and arrows. After losing several arrows, she becomes panicky, thinking about the starving family at home.
A man appears (Wakan = sacred plants, forest walker, awake one, watchman). He has apparently been spying on her. He is the real owner of the bow and had kind-heartedly arranged for Abner to think he'd stolen it. Now, seeing how upset Effy is getting, he feels called to help. He gives her lessons, and over time, she becomes enamored with him, while he sees her as a little sister. He helps them all quite a lot as seasons pass. The hunting makes it possible for the family to thrive and as they all grow, more bows are fashioned, so the ones who have the talent, (Effy is the most skilled), can be outfitted and added to the little band of hunters.
Alexi is good with plants and Wakan shows her how to gather, grow and use healing plants as well. Her garden thrives and she becomes known and respected as a herbalist. Even the mother regains her optimism, becoming a regular contributor to the family's welfare, in part by raising a small flock of chickens.
In addition to her hunting forays, Effy is accepted as an apprentice to a local artist and shows a talent for sculpting. From the time of her adolescence, she has visions, which she incorporates into the artwork. It turns out Wakan had once had beaten up Effy's father for using marked cards during a gambling session. When the father disappeared, Wakan had gradually become aware of the family's plight, and began to have sympathy. Feeling a deep investment in the local community, Wakan was pained to see a set of thieves being fashioned. He tested, then fostered them. He is young enough that once Effy is fully grown, they might have developed a romantic relationship, but fate doesn't allow it. [Maybe he's killed in a war and that fuels her determination to learn practical ways of settling disputes without violence.] She still consults with him through her visionary life and has made many sculptures inspired by his spirit.
Effy was always inspired by the younger children in her family, their innocence seemed so beautiful and heart-capturing to her. It was like drinking cool, clear water just to be with them at the end of a long day in the somber world. A world that seemed indifferent and often hostile...one she had to face as she struggled to find provisions. In the early years, after her dad left, while her mother seemed to be content to let the family slide into any fate whatsoever, Effy and Abner were the ones everyone leaned on. Alfie and Amaya the two youngest were the brightest spots in Effy's life. She felt proud as she watched them grow stronger, and wildly play any game they could invent. Both of them could sing prettily and they talked to the air, if no one else was available, so their constant singing, chatter and laughter was a backdrop where Effy could find rest and hope for a new and brighter life for them all. 
One day she was feeling too ill to hunt and stayed home, listlessly working on the wash. The constant influx of dirt depressed her a bit. She could hear the small children in the yard and ...