1. Main Idea (Tell the
problem or situation that needs a solution)
Aging American Indian woman educated with early Twentieth century
Anglo-American values in a miserable situation in a world of New Age
2. Setting (Tell when and where the story takes place, either clearly
stated or implied.)
(When) The story takes place today, 2004.
(Where) Oklahoma on a quiet city street in a small town.
3. Characters (Tell whom and what the story is about.)
Miss Nellie, aging American Indian woman living with elderly Mother
educated in the Anglo public schools and colleges of the state.
Angela, Older, full American Indian Mother whose values go farther
back to a military boarding school and the Victorian principles propounded
there along with her basic American Indian teachings.
4. Plot (Tell what the characters do and what happens to them).
The two older women, mother and daughter, are living and having to
function where there is a new age of different mores, manners,
and conduct from their earlier Christian teachings.
They feel American
Indian culture and early Anglo-American Boarding school teachings
as well as Anglo teaching are under attack.
5. Ending (Use a strong ending that will bring the story to a close.
The story ends with a uniting of the neighborhood against the errant
law breaking youth who have gone too far in their rebellion.
Misery on Morning Glory Lane
1. Situation needing a solution
Miss Nellie was as usual up early. Her morning cup of coffee was in
her hand as she wound her way through the house to her very pleasant front
porch where she kept her hanging plants and other various blooming pots of
flowers. A gentle Oklahoma southern breeze always made its way down and
through the wide street and across her front patio. This was a way to
begin her day. It was a peaceful time she felt was a gift for her hard
work in restoring the aging, once tattered, old home. If her delicate
hands and frail body had scraped peeling paint, mopped paint on the floor
and even reached to the tall ceilings to paint it was like a labor of love
for her. Now the work was finished and it was time to enjoy the reward of
it. The older homes up and down the street were maintained with immaculate
care also and that was pleasant. All the residents were happy to have the
American Indian mother and daughter in their midst. The hard work the
younger of the two women had done to bring back from loss the only
decaying house on the street was recognized. If
2. When and where that old home had been built
in the 1920's, it didn't matter. Today at 2004 found it to be structurally
strong and only burdened with surface decay.
This morning, Instead of easing into one of the cushioned chairs,
Miss Nellie stood flabbergasted at what she was now seeing across the
street. The weakness of her hands this early in the morning caused the cup
she was holding to simply slip and fall to the cement floor of the porch
where it shattered into a thousand pieces.
Angela, Miss Nellie's mother, was eight-six but she was spry and
alert with her mind. When she heard the crash of the cup on the floor she
was immediately out of her room and at the front door.
“What is wrong?” The older woman was always intensely curious
“Would you look across the street?” Miss Nellie was at a loss for
When Angela saw the young man, totally without clothing, standing
in his front yard it was her turn to be surprised. Her American Indian way
of making a joke out of a miserable situation made her ask, “Is it worth
going in for my glasses?”
“Oh mother! How can you joke about something so horrible? Miss
Nellie was not amused. Her sedate public school teachings fostered in the
Anglo American world of the 60's made her immediately angry. She was even
more than angry. The woman was irate.
“Oh there is something wrong with him!” The mother was ever true to
her own teachings at the military boarding school of Chilocco. “Call
911.” If her ancestor's acceptance of nudity was present, this had
been over ridden by her training in a Victorian boarding school of the
“He's American Indian, and tanked up with liquor.” Angela, the
mother, did have some feelings of empathy for him.
“I don't care if he's an Alien from Mars. This was up until now a
lovely, quiet, residential neighborhood and I'm not having my morning cup
of coffee with a nude man.
Before the local police department arrived, some young woman
pulled up into the drive of the man in question. She took him by the hand
and easily led him back into the privacy of his own house.
The event was the discussion of the neighbors for the next several
days since a number of them had seen the young man and also had called the
“Well, I suppose we will have to get used to the patrol car slowing
driving by here.” Angela mentioned to her daughter. “Did everyone in the
Miss Nellie was not going to feel any remorse for the reporting of
the conduct of the young man to the police department.
“I've noticed he is definitely keeping a low profile and that is
fine with me. My neighbor next door saw him too. He didn't think it was
funny either.” Miss Nellie was still a little tender over her mother not
being as upset as she was over the incident.
“Oh well! He's young.” Angela, the mother, on the other hand,
wasn't backing down from her deep feelings of ambivalence for decorum
either. Even though it was she who suggested the call for 911.