Papa Rogan

PAPA ROGAN

Once upon a time, there lived a little girl named Tiana. She lived with her
father and her Nanna Lucrecia. Her father was not a friendly fellow. His
name was Rogan. He never went to church on Sundays, or any other day for
that matter. He always tried to keep Tiana and her Nanna Lucrecia from going
to church as well, but Nanna Lucrecia always told Rogan that if he didn't
let them go, she would leave the house and would take Tiana with her.

Tiana knew that Papa Rogan (that is what she called him) would never admit
it, but he truly needed Tiana and Nanna Lucrecia. He needed them because he
didn't know how to cook, to grow crops, and to budget his money. Nanna
Lucrecia did all of those things, so Papa Rogan needed her.
Tiana also knew that Papa Rogan would sell Nanna Lucrecia to some other man if he
didn't need her. She would help clean the house and make it look spotless. Nanna
Lucrecia was also teaching her how to cook and do all of those other things
she knew how to do. So, that is why Papa Rogan had use for Tiana also.

One of the reasons why Tiana and Nanna Lucrecia didn't just leave the abusive
house is because if they left, they would have no where to live. So, day in
and day out Nanna Lucrecia and Tiana obeyed all of Papa Rogan's wishes while
he went to the bar and drank all day. When he would come home, he was never sober
and it was always late and Tiana was sleeping.

Tiana went to church she and was always happy to be away from home.
She believed in Jesus Christ and loved him very much. That is why she
enjoyed listening to the Sunday School teacher's. She would do all of the
arts and craft's with a smile on her face.
But all of that would change when they got home.

Sunday was the only day that Papa Rogan never went to the bar.
He always wanted to make sure they got home at exactly 2:00. Of course,
they were always hungry when we got home from church, but if Papa Rogan
said they couldn't eat, then he wouldn't change is mind. Then he would
make them start their chores with no food until 7:00. Of course,
Nanna Lucrecia would sometimes try to argue with him, but she only
ended up with a few bruises and no lunch at all in the end.

One sunny day Tiana woke up ready to start her chores. She
got out of her pyjamas and put on her work clothes. Her work clothes were not
very pretty. They were brownish-yellow and they had some rips here and
there. It was a beautiful dress when her Mama owned it, but when her Mama
died her Papa Rogan tried to destroy all of her belongings. Anything that
reminded him of Tiana's Mama made him angry for what had happened to her.
Tiana started cleaning the house and looked into Papa Rogan's bedroom. She
already knew where Papa was at, so when she looked into his bedroom and saw
no coat, no shoes and no Papa, she wasn't surprised.
Then Tiana looked out at the back door window. She saw Nanna Lucrecia
bending over the garden with the watering can. She liked doing things the
old fashioned way. She never liked using machine's.
"Machines ain't for me", she would always say. "I don't know how ta use 'em
anyway!", she would always chuckle afterwards.

As Tiana picked up the broom, she heard a rapping at the front door. It was
a man dressed in black. He looked odd because he had a weird looking beard.
Tiana opened the door and heard news that Papa Rogan had a heart
attack at the bar and was sent to the hospital. "The man
ain't got no good heart", he said to Tiana. Seeing tears in Tiana's eyes he said,
"Here now, I'm sure he'll be fine an' dandy' soon. Go get yer' Nanna and
we gonna head over to the hospital, O.K. youngen?"
With that Tiana ran out to the back yard and told Nanna Lucrecia about what
the man had said. Then all three of them (the strange man, Tiana and Nanna
Lucrecia) hopped onto the carriage and rode off to the hospital.

When they got to the hospital they found Papa Rogan lying on a hospital bed
with his eye's closed. Tiana went to the bed, and she put her hand on her
Papa Rogan's chest. She noticed he wasn't breathing, and then she realized
he had died not too long ago. Her eye's burned as tears formed in her eye's.
She put her head down and started to cry. She was afraid that he wasn't
going to heaven. Even though her Papa Rogan treated her and Nanna Lucrecia
with disrespect, and he was not nice at all, she still loved him and forgave
him for all his wrong's.

Nanna Lucrecia walked over to Tiana and hugged her. She whispered to her
"Everythin's gonna be all right. I'm sure he knew the Lord and he'd many
chances to get ta know him. I'm 'fraid he ran outta time and chose not ta
believe in Christ."
"But, maybe it's our fault. Did we try hard enough to help him become a
Christian?" Tiana asked her Nanna in a quiet shaky voice.
"Now, now. We tried hard enough. Yep we did. An' he ain't never
believed us one bit, sweety that we knowed of."

So, from that day on, Nanna Lucrecia lived their days in the little old
shack they always lived in with Papa Rogan. Only now, they lived happily,
without Papa Rogan. Of course, they did miss Papa Rogan. Not because of the
way they were treated, but because they loved him. They didn't miss his
grumpy side. They missed the way he was before Tiana's Mama died. He was
different before then, and that is why they loved him. They had hope he
would change and hope is greater than hate.
So is love.

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