This story takes place in Rockingham in the early to mid
1950’s.  Elizabeth Benton is an eleven - going on twelve -
year old girl who is in the sixth grade at LJ Bell
Elementary School.  She has a younger brother named
Zachary, age nine - going on ten, who is in the fourth
grade also at LJ Bell.  Elizabeth and Zachary are known as
Betsy and Zack.  Both are good students.  Betsy loves her
younger brother, and they are good friends.   This is not to
say there is not the normal amount of sibling rivalry, but
when things start getting tough, they are good buddies.  
Their father runs a small business in Rockingham.  He
earns just enough to provide for his family without his
wife having to work outside the home.  However, they
often talk about whether or not she needs to start
working.  The children want one of those new televisions
sets that cost about a thousand dollars.  Their father says
he can’t afford it.  They live on Sand Hill Road (now called
South Caroline Street) just up the hill from the old depot.  
Betsy has a boyfriend named Frank who lives nearby and
is in her same grade, but not her same class at LJ Bell.  
This is an awkward age for young boys.  Betsy figures
most boys that age don’t always know whether they are
coming or going.  He certainly likes girls, but Betsy’s not
so sure he knows why he likes girls.  Girls mature a lot
faster than boys both mentally and physically.  This more
or less describes the status quo at this point in time.  

There is a new girl Betsy’s age whose family has just
moved into a house on Nichols Street, which is a dirt road
off Sand Hill Road near where Betsy & Zack live.  They
live about seven houses away.  Her name is Linda Green,
and she has a younger brother named Sammy who is
about the same age as Zack.  Betsy and Zack more or less
have the run of the neighborhood assuming they are
always home by dark; that is, if they are close enough to
hear their mother call (yell) for them.  If going farther
away such as down to Pop Brady’s store at the bottom of
the hill, they need to let their mother know where they
are going.  Although Linda and Sammy are more or less
the same age as Betsy and Zack, Linda is in the fourth
grade and Sammy is in the second.  They met while riding
the same school bus.  Betsy was surprised that they were
two grades behind them.  The two girls became fairly
good friends.  Betsy agreed to help Linda with her
schoolwork since she seemed to be so far behind.  Betsy
and Zack didn’t like going to the Green’s home since both
parents, John and Robin Green, were constantly smoking
cigarettes (chain smoking).  But they did have a television
set, and that was nice.  Zack particularly liked cowboy
movies.  Note that all televisions at that time were black
and white only.  Betsy’s parents (Bill and Karen Benton)
not only didn’t smoke, they preferred that others not
smoke in their home.  John Green worked at one of the
cotton mills out in East Rockingham.  Robin Green
worked as a waitress when she was well enough to work.  
She had a fairly nasty cough, probably from asthma.

One day as they were riding home on the school bus,
Betsy noticed that she still had an uneaten peanut butter
sandwich in her book satchel, and asked Linda if she
wanted it.  She replied that she did and then tore it in half
to give one half to Sammy.  They both ate it as if they hadn’
t eaten in a week or so.  This totally surprised everyone on
the bus.  The Green children did look a little frail and
undernourished, but young kids normally don’t notice
such things.  Betsy asked Linda to stop by that afternoon
so they could work on her lessons.  Zack was quite
studious himself and was capable of helping Linda also,
but he preferred to let Betsy do the tutoring.  He did join
in their scholastic conversations some.  During that
tutoring session, Betsy offered Linda more food.  She ate
like there was no tomorrow, but insisted on taking half of
it for Sammy.  After the lessons, the girls went outside to
play with some of the other kids.  Zack was very active and
fancied himself a future high school quarterback for the
Rockingham “Rockets”; his father had been a running
back on this same football team.  Sammy was not very
active physically and preferred to watch others play.  He
would play a few of the less strenuous games.  The stop by
Betsy’s house on the way home started to be
commonplace.  Linda and Sammy would eat super with
Betsy, Zack, and their parents.  Linda and Sammy really
ate a whole bunch of food.

Betsy’s father noticed the additional amount of food being
consumed and questioned Betsy about it.  She told him
the truth.  He said he couldn’t afford all that, and that
Linda & Sammy should eat at home more.  Betsy was fully
aware of her family’s precarious financial situation.  So
she asked her father if she could give up her allowance to
help feed her friend and her friend’s little brother.  That
made both Bill and Karen very proud of their daughter.  
Zack, not wishing to be left out, also volunteered to give
up his allowance.  But once he realized what he had said,
he said he needed to think about that a little longer.  That
provided a chuckle from everyone.

The Bentons regularly attended the Methodist Church.  
Betsy and Zack asked Linda and Sammy to go with them.  
Actually Betsy had also asked Mr. & Mrs. Green to go to
church with them too.  They declined but encouraged
their kids to go.  Poor Linda and Sammy didn’t have any
proper clothes to wear.  So Betsy and Sammy let them
have some of their last year’s clothes, as they had
outgrown them.  It turned out these clothes were fairly
good fits.  Mrs. Benton only had to alter them a slight
amount.

Karen Benton soon realized that it was about time that
she and her husband go to visit the Greens.  Bill said he
was too busy at work, and that they were getting ready for
the upcoming Christmas season.  So Karen Benton went
with her children.  It was late October and was starting to
be a little cold outside.  John and Robin Greene both
appeared to be nice.  When Karen Benton and her
children got there, she found the Greens lounging in their
den watching television, smoking cigarettes, and sipping
coffee.  Even Linda and Sammy were sipping coffee.  The
Greens drank coffee as a substitute for water.  They
offered the Bentons some coffee, but Mrs. Benton said it
kept her awake at night and that her children were too
young to drink coffee.  She wondered to herself how they
could afford the television, but couldn’t afford to feed or
clothe their own children.  They stayed long enough to
watch “The Twilight Zone” and “Tales of Wells Fargo.”  
Karen now realized why some church people were against
television; it completely monopolized the visit.  When the
Bentons left, they were doing some coughing going home
as they were not used to even a small amount of smoke,
not to mention that much smoke.  It was difficult to talk
with the television going full blast.  Karen didn’t really get
a chance to talk with John and Robin about this situation
as much as she had wanted to do.    

Betsy told her mother that they needed to give their old
coats to Linda and Sammy, as they had none to wear.  
Betsy also told her mother that Linda told her that her
family rarely has anything to eat.  Her parents seem to
exist on coffee and cigarettes.  Most of the food they did
get was loaf bread, saltine crackers, and canned pork-and-
beans.  Linda told her friend that she and Sammy had
gone to bed hungry many times, and that they almost
never had breakfast in the morning, maybe some toast
and jelly if they were lucky.

That night after the kids had gone to bed, Bill and Karen
Benton started talking about this situation.  First they did
the mathematics.  John Green at most made about thirty
dollars after tax each week.  That’s about $130 per
month.  Robin Green made about $50 per month on tips if
she works full time.  That’s about $180 per month.  Mrs.
Nichols rents that house at $40 per month.  The cigarettes
cost them about $20 per month.  The coffee was another
$10 per month.  Robin Green has to visit the doctor at
least once per month, that’s $5.  Her medicine would be
another $5.  It costs them about $10 per month to ride the
bus to work and back.  Their electric bill was about $20
per month.  Their water bill would be $5 per month.  They
were burning wood in their fireplace, but a winter’s
supply of coal would cost $60 per year, or about $5 per
month on average.  The monthly payment on that TV has
to be at least  $25.  That leaves them with about $35 per
month to buy groceries and clothes.  For comparison, the
Bentons spend about seventy-five dollars per month on
food, and they tried to be thrifty.  So when Robin Green
can work all the time, they have at most $35 per month
for groceries.  If she is not able to work, they have no
budget for food whatsoever.  And she said she hadn’t been
able to work much lately.

The next day, while the children were in school, Karen
Benton went to see her minister, Reverend Vick, in his
study at the church.  He listened to this story, but said
that most of the church’s charity was directed at people in
really desperate situations, usually those with no jobs.  
He also said that most of the donated clothing was sent to
orphanages.  The Reverend suggested that he and Bill go
visit Mr. John Green and talk with him about the
allocation or rather misallocation of the resources he
already had.  Karen mentioned that her husband was very
busy at work.  Then Rev. Vick responded that all
businesses are closed on Wednesday afternoons, and that
would be the time to visit.

Next Wednesday, Bill and Rev. Vick did pay a call on Mr.
Green.  It was mid-November now and the days were
getting shorter and colder.  Betsy told her father that Mr.
Green worked the third shift, so he should be at home
Wednesday evening.  According to Linda, all her father
did was work, sleep, and watch TV.  The Greens didn’t
have a telephone, so Rev. Vick and Bill just went anyhow
hoping the Greens would be at home.  John did invite
them in and offered them some coffee.  However, when
they asked him to turn off the TV so they could talk, he
responded that they could talk OK with the TV on
especially if they talked during the commercials.  But
during commercials, John would leave to get more coffee
from the kitchen, look for more cigarettes, or go to the
bathroom.  This was a difficult situation, but Rev. Vick
and Bill Benton did the best they could.  John Green
listened a little, but made it clear that he didn’t have a
problem, and that it was untrue that they didn’t have
enough to eat.  As they were leaving, Rev. Vick and Bill
invited John to bring his whole family and visit with them
in church Sunday.

Afterwards, on a Sunday after church and after everyone
else had left, John and Karen discussed their options with
Rev. Vick.  They all agreed that it was a hopeless
situation, and that the social welfare people should look
into the problem.  The Green children might be better off
in an orphanage.  Things were different back then.  
Judges were very reluctant to take children away from
their natural parents.  Welfare back then was at the
county level.  There were no state or federal grants.  All
county welfare money came from local taxpayers; and
they were not that ready to part with more tax dollars
unless it was a really, really needed.  Rev. Vick said he
would talk to Mrs. Hamilton at the welfare office to see
what has to be done next.  Later, Rev. Vick did talk with
Mrs. Hamilton who said: “This is December already,
maybe we should wait until after Christmas before we do
anything, but I’ll go talk with the Judge tomorrow
anyhow.”  Bill and Karen didn’t share any of this with
their children.

So Linda and Sammy kept coming over to the Benton’s for
supper most nights.  Betsy and Zack would share their
lunches with them at school.  Betsy told her boyfriend
Frank about he situation, and he also started sharing his
lunch with them.  Actually he gave them all his lunch
since he had such a nice breakfast each morning, and a
plentiful supper plus any afternoon after-school snacks
he wanted.  He figured this was the least he could do.  He
even went down to the Greens with Betsy and Zack since
his family didn’t have a TV set either.  He and Zack liked
the same type of programs (cowboy movies, also called
westerns).

It was still early December, and things were continuing as
they had been with the children.  At work Bill found
someone had embezzled money from him.  The police
caught them, but the money was spent.  There was no way
to recover it.  The culprit would go to jail, but it left Bill’s
business in dire straits.  He was able to get a bank loan to
prevent the bankruptcy of his business.  

Then one day little Sammy passed out at school and the
teachers couldn’t revive him.  The principal decided they
should call the ambulance.  The ambulances back then
were run by the funeral homes.  The drivers were not
trained in anything except getting the patient on the
gurney and then to the hospital as soon as they safely
could.  The principal’s secretary went with them to the
hospital.  The principal called Linda and her teacher to
the office to tell her about her little brother.  They needed
to contact their parents, but the Greens didn’t have a
telephone.  Linda thought Betsy might know what to do;
so the principal also called her to the office.

They finally called Betsy’s mother who said she would
walk over to tell Mr. and Mrs. Green about Sammy.  After
calling her husband, Karen decided to go pick up the
children at school before she did that.  It just happened
that Karen had the car that day; normally her husband
took the car to work.  They drove over to the Greens’
house and told John and Robin about little Sammy.  Later
that afternoon, they all rode over to the hospital.  When
they got to the hospital, they had to wait about another
hour before the doctor came out to see them.  When he
did come, the news was not good.  Little Sammy had an
advanced case of juvenile diabetes.  This was before the
days of insulin shots.  Back then diabetes was a death
sentence especially with children.  The doctor said
Sammy must have had this condition for at least six
months, but he never complained about it.  The doctor,
trying to be as kind as he could, said poor little Sammy
had less than a month to live.

They kept little Sammy in the hospital, but things
continued to get worse.  His mother stayed with him
some.  Then on Christmas Eve, little Sammy asked the
doctor if he could go home for Christmas.  They knew he
didn’t have long to live, but would it hurt anything to
allow him to go home for a couple hours.  It might cost
him a day left to live, but the doctors decided to let him go
home for four hours on Christmas morning.  Fours hours
at home were probably worth four days at the hospital.  
So on Christmas Eve, Sammy knew he would get to go
home briefly the next day.  They told Sammy that he
would probably die, but he seemed not to understand
what it meant.

That Christmas Eve night, the Bentons were sitting
around their Christmas tree.  They were all very sad
thinking about poor Sammy.  Then Betsy said: “Linda and
Sammy are not going to get anything for Christmas.”  
Then looking at her father she added: “Is there anyway we
can get them something?”  Bill explained the situation at
work to her and that they owed money to the bank just to
stay in business.  Then Betsy said: “Can I give all my
Christmas presents to Linda?”  That brought a smile to
her parents’ faces.  Then Zack said: “Christmas doesn’t
come but once each year, and I’ve really been looking
forward to my new football and my board games.  Can’t
Betsy give hers, and let me keep mine?”  Zack knew this
wasn’t the answer his family wanted to hear, but they said
nothing.  Then Zack said: “I bet Sammy would like to get
all those presents.  I’ll give him mine too.  I still have toys
left over from last year and from my birthday.”  Bill and
Karen hugged both their children, and nothing more was
said that night.

The next morning, the Bentons went over to the Greens to
deliver the Christmas presents.  Karen had rewrapped a
new scarf for Robin that Bill had just given her, and Bill
rewrapped a new pair of pajamas that Karen had bought
for him.  Both Linda and Sammy were so happy with their
gifts.  That was the first time either of them had ever
received a Christmas present.  Sammy played “Monopoly”
with the other three children.  Sammy was having so
much fun, he almost forgot about his sickness.  Then as
everything seemed to be going so well, the ambulance
came to take Sammy (with his mother) back to the
hospital.  After the ambulance left, the Bentons invited
the remaining members of the Green family to their
house for Christmas dinner.  Each night from then on
they all went over to the hospital to see Sammy who was
so glad to see everyone.  Linda stayed at the hospital all
night with her mother and Sammy on several occasions.  
Then, on New Years Eve, they were told that little Sammy
had just passed away a few minutes before they arrived.

The undertaker put Sammy in a wooden coffin that was
lined on the outside with black velvet.  They had his
funeral at the Methodist church where Rev. Vick
performed the services.  Many of the children from
school, most of the neighbors, and many of the church
people were there.  Linda and Sammy had gone to that
church for several months with Betsy and Zack.  He was
later buried at a small cemetery in Rockingham.

School started the following day.  Linda missed the first
day, but showed up the following day.  She and Betsy
continued their friendship, and Betsy started the tutoring
again.  Betsy still had to share her lunch with Linda, and
she still came to eat super with the Bentons.  They
normally didn’t talk much about Sammy, but they all
knew he was on everyone’s mind.

Then on the following Monday, Linda didn’t show up at
the bus stop.  Betsy didn’t think too much about that, but
when she didn’t come to eat super with them that night,
she started to worry.  The next day, Linda still didn’t come
to the bus stop.  So that night, Betsy asked her father to
walk with them down to the Green’s house.  When they
did, they found it was completely vacant.  They stopped
back by Mrs. Nichol’s house who was surprised with the
news.  She said Mr. Green owed her over two months
rent.  Betsy was hurt that Linda had left without saying
goodbye.  Then her father explained that Linda probably
didn’t have much to say about that.  It also turned out, Mr.
Green left town with outstanding water and power bills.  
Also the doctor bills and the hospital bills were left
unpaid.  The undertaker said that the social services paid
for Sammy’s coffin, and that he was buried in a potters’
field.  The only grave marker he would have would be the
little metal stake with a place to put a small piece of
cardboard.  This cardboard would deteriorate after a few
months’ time.

Betsy later told her family that Linda had said her father
moved around a lot, rarely staying in one location more
than several months, that her father always moved them
in a big hurry, and that she never was allowed to say
goodbye to her friends.  She said they had lived in
Pennsylvania, Arizona, Alabama, and Texas among many
other places.  Then Betsy added: “I’m going to save my
allowance and buy little Sammy a proper tombstone.  I do
hope Linda comes back to visit me someday before I die.  I
will never forget them or the ‘Last Christmas’ we spent
together.”