Mary Belle's Gift

Mary Belle woke up on a beautiful Tuesday morning, surrounded by every stuffed animal that she had ever been given since birth. That wouldn't be so unusual, but what is unusual is Mary Belle is 87 years old and her entire house is full of stuffed animals. They range from the smallest of frogs to the largest of rhinoceroses. She loves every one of them and she brushes each of them before she goes to bed each night. One might ask why an 87 year old woman would do this and what does her husband think of her obsession. Well, why do you think this story is being told! Just follow along with me and you will understand the world behind Mary Belle.

Mary Elizabeth Belle was born June 6^th, 1924 in Landing, North Carolina. Landing was a small mining town set up high in the majestic Swallow Mountains. When Mary Belle was 11 years old, her mother died from a very bad case of pneumonia and Mary Belle was the oldest of her 7 brothers and sisters. So, while her dad went off to mine the coal that lay under the ground, Mary Belle stayed at home and tending the house. Now, you may ask yourself where the humor is in this story, well hold you horses and I will get to it.

So, Mary Belle's father gave each child one gift on their birthday and that was it. Christmas was spent honoring the birth of Jesus and time was spent with any relatives that were around and had enough food to share with the budding Belle brood. So Mary Belle started getting stuffed animals each year for her birthday because her father asked her what she wanted one year when she was 2 and the only word she knew at the time was aminal, I mean animal. Sorry. So every year without fail, Mary Belle's father would give her a different stuffed animal. Some were lifelike and others were handmade by a local artist. This went of for another 5 years, until Mary Belle caught the eye of a local boy named Stephan. His father was Mr. James Morgan, the bank manager for South Federal Bank, the only bank in the Swallows. So, you can imagine that Stephan had money or at least his family did. In this town, that meant that he got a good education and didn't have to mine coal at the age of 12 like most boys did in Landing. But anyway, Mary Belle was sitting at the corner store eating an ice cream cone on the hottest July day ever, or at least it felt that way to Mary Belle. Stephan walked by the bench that Mary Belle was sitting on with his hands in his pockets. In their day, it was customary for a gentleman to tilt his hat and acknowledge a lady. But today was a little different. Stephan was feeling a little down in the dumps because his father had realized that Stephan was not going to follow in his footsteps and become the manager of South Federal Bank. Mr. Morgan made Stephan feel like the size of a pea, so Stephan left the house and walked downtown to think. Well, he was so deep in thought that he did not see Mary Belle sitting on the bench with her cute little yellow sundress and white ice cream until he bumped into her with his leg and made her drop her ice cream onto her lap. What a klutz!

Mary Belle glared up at the ice cream maniac, only to be set right by the ruggedness of this man before her. He in fact had already bent down and was trying to get the blob of ice cream out of her lap, which was most ungentlemanly. So, as you can guess, they started courting and fell in love. Even after Mary Belle and Stephan got married, her father would still give her a stuffed animal each year for her birthday. And even though they had enough money to buy presents at Christmas, they continued the tradition of spending time with any family that was at home and had enough food to spare another guest. Now, one sad note, Mary Belle and Stephan were not blessed or cursed with a child. This suited them both because they never really wanted to have children.

Mary Belle's father passed away in the late spring of 1948 and that June Mary Belle woke up to find a small red bag and inside it lay the smallest stuffed toy that Mary Belle had ever seen. Had her father sent her this from beyond the grave? No, of course not! Her ice cream ruining husband had. He knew that she secretly loved the animals and he had to continue the tradition that was started so many years ago. See tradition plays a large part in the Southern culture, and the backwoods of Landing are no different. So for the next 63 years, Stephan gave Mary Belle a precious stuffed animal on her birthday.