Carla Ann Kuchard has created a charming little tale of a young Native girl's chance meeting with Laura Secord. While picking strawberries, eleven year old Lucy is surprised to discover a stranger resting under a tree. As Lucy approaches her, the lady invites her to sit and talk. The two become instant friends. Laura has been traveling by foot since daybreak and gratefully accepts the girl's offer of strawberries and a drink of water.
As the new friends part ~ as Laura has an important message that must be delivered before dusk ~ they exchange gifts. Lucy gives Laura her "good-luck" doll, beautifully dressed, wearing bead-worked moccasins. Laura gives her young friend a dainty handkerchief.
After Laura disappears into the forest, Lucy unfolds the handkerchief. To her delight it is edged in embroidery. In all four corners tiny red stitches ~ strawberries!
[Available at The Neat Little Bookshop, all proceeds go to the Thorold and Beaverdams Historical Society.]
Note: Be sure to read "the other Maria's" comment on Lucy's Special Day.
'Lucy's Special Day' is a charming story of personal dimensions of those often over-looked in the history of the 1812 drama in the Niagara Region: women, children, and Native peoples. The imagined meeting between Laura Secord and Lucy, reminds us of the forgotten personal elements of this war and the lives touched. The writer and producer, Carla Kuchard, has a special talent in bringing alive these personal profiles. Additionally, in conjunction with Fourgrounds Media, Carla has produced a beautifully crafted video "A Day in our Life", based on Lucy's story. It is a must-see, and beautifully illustrates our history's quiet, yet determined women. Carla Kuchard is one such present woman.
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