Carol Perkins: Sally Was a Good Girl

This short story is evocative of some W. Somerset Maugham short stories - but better. There's a moral here, and a delightful twist at the end, in this all too timely story. -EW

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To read her next previous story click on All Gave Some, and Some Gave All

By Carol Perkins

Sally was a good old girl. I don't know what her family would have done without her because she took care of them all her life. She never married or had children, so what else did she have to do?

If Grandma's house needed cleaning, Sally rolled up her sleeves and scrubbed it from top to bottom. After all, she could clean better than any of her sisters. "You're so lucky to have Sally," their friends declared. "We sure are," they replied proudly.


At the end of the day, she would take Grandma to the grocery store because Grandma couldn't drive. "If it weren't for Sally, I'd never have any food in this house," she relayed to Grandpa with a chuckle.

When Grandpa's doctor appointments came due, Sally drove him. Afterwards, she waited while he had his hair cut and then took him by the bank. If he weren't ready to go home, which often he wasn't, she dropped him off in the courthouse yard to sit with other men while she went to the Village Shop. After all, Sally didn't have anything else to do.

Sally took her parents to the drugstore or to the grocery store and checked in each day before going to her home, conveniently a mile down the road. She took care of their bills and deposited their checks on the first of the month. Her sisters and brothers bragged on her business sense. She was the smart one.

On most Saturday nights, Sally drove her parents to Wal-Mart where they visited with other people. Meanwhile, Sally browsed through the fabric section, looking for the prettiest material for a quilt. Sally had made one for all the children in the family. She was so thoughtful.

She always showered them Christmas gifts

Her nieces and nephews loved Christmas because Aunt Sally showered them with splendid gifts. They didn't receive a $20 toy or a brand name shirt; she gave them the latest technical gadgets or the newest video games or bicycles. She was their favorite aunt.

Sally worked thirty-five years in a factory. She made a few friends and occasionally they went to movies or shopping, but they all had their own families and after she retired, she seldom saw them anymore.

Sometimes Sally and her friends drove down to Opry Mills, but her mom and dad never wanted her to be gone long. "Go ahead, but call and check on us while you're gone," they insisted. Most of the time, she felt so guilty when she left that she just didn't. Soon her friends stopped asking her.

When her aging grandmother was hospitalized, Sally's mother said, "Sally, I don't think I can sit over there very long since my arthritis has been bothering me. If you'll take me, I'll stay awhile and then maybe you can spend the night?" Sally's siblings had to work, so Sally was the logical one to stay. It was settled. She spent almost day and night, sleeping in a chair, so Grandma wouldn't be alone.

Good Old Sally.

When Grandma and Grandpa passed on, Sally made most of the arrangements and took care of settling their estate, which went to her father.

After all, she was the smart one.

Then the worst thing possible happened

Then the worst thing possible happened. Sally had a minor stroke one afternoon as she was carry groceries into her mother's house. She slumped to the ground and couldn't get up. The doctor told the family that she would need care and therapy until she could walk again. So now it was time for someone else to be the caretaker, but who?

"I'd take her, but we don't have an extra bedroom and I have to work," one sister lamented.

"We'd take her, but we're never at home with the kids going here and there and with work and all."

"What good would that do?" said another as they sat around the table in Subway at T.J. Samson discussing Sally's future.

The brothers knew their wives weren't going to take Sally. "We could get someone to stay with her, but who would we get? Good help don't come cheap."

'She'll have to go to the nursing home'

"She'll just have to go to the nursing home," someone suggested. "But do you know how much that costs?" said a sister-in-law, thinking about Sally's money going to the nursing home.

"Do you want to keep her?" another sister retorted. It was settled. At age sixty-five Sally moved into the local nursing home without protest, and that is where she spent the rest of her life.

Days would come and go and very few family members visited Sally; not even her parents. "You know we'd come if we had a way. We ain't been feeling so good lately," they said when they called. Other than the nursing home employees, no one was taking care of Sally.

Gradually, she was able to walk from one room to another. She made friends with other ladies and even formed a quilting circle. For a few years, Sally's life was happy. Then another stroke and another until Sally simply went to sleep, alone.

Sally was given a nice funeral

When Sally died, her family gave her a nice funeral. Sally had insurance. Everyone who came to pay respects all had the same thing to say, "Sally was a good girl."

Naturally, Sally's belongings had to be removed from her house and her property sold, so her siblings moved in, picking out what they wanted like low-flying buzzards. She had some nice antiques and a few lovely quilts. "No telling how much money she has saved. The old girl never went anywhere or bought much," one of the brothers said, salivating.

"The nursing home got most of what she had, I bet," said the other regretfully. However, Sally was never so sick she couldn't manage her own affairs. When they gathered for the reading of the will, they forced out a tear or two in front of the cherry desk in the lawyer's office.

When the will was read, the room changed from mournful to icy. The brothers were outraged and the sisters aghast! How could she have done this to us? She had to be out of her mind. We'll break this will.

Sally, however, had known just what she was doing. After all, she was the smart one in the family; they all told her so many times. They would never have believed she could have been so cold; so callus. She had left her fortune, over a half million dollars, to the nursing home.

Sally was a good girl.

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About the author: Carol (Sullivan) Perkins is a lifelong resident of Edmonton, KY, in Metcalfe County where she taught high school English at Metcalfe County High School until her recent retirement. She is a now a freelance writer. is married to Guy Perkins and they have two children: Carla Green (Mark) of Brentwood, TN and Jon Perkins (Beth) of Austin, TX and six grandchildren. Her latest book, Let's Talk About, is a collection of over 70 of her works, and she is presently working on the second book in this series. Carol's ties to Adair County go back to Breeding where her grandfather, Rufus Reece, and her grandmother Bettie Strange, began their married life and later moved to Metcalfe County. You may contact Carol at cperkins@scrtc.com or write at P.O. Box 134 Edmonton. If you would like a copy of her book, you can order through email. Watch for her next story on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

This story was posted on 2009-05-31 14:41:38

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