Grace Holloway was born and raised in Saint Louis Missouri. Her parents Jeb and Agatha Holloway were good people. Jeb tirelessly worked at the factory to keep that house over their heads while Grace's mother kept it clean and warm. Agatha's mother had been a slave before the American Civil War and had been taught how to keep a house cleaner than the hallways of heaven. As such, Agatha had all but beaten the spirit of cleanliness into her daughter, Grace.

Before Grace was born, Agatha Parks was just a simple cleaning lady and a damn good one at that. She had met Jeb through unusual circumstances and after several month of courting they were married. When Jeb started working at the factory, he bought a small house just outside of town. The house did not look like much at first because its previous owners had abandoned it but Jeb knew a good deal and Agatha knew value when she saw it. She swept, mopped, dust, and repaired the place until it was the envy of their neighbors.

They both were happy for several years until a small fear crept up to them. Jeb set aside several pay checks and worked all the hours allowed so that he could send his wife to see the best doctors in the state. And even with the money it took several weeks before they could find a doctor that would accept their kind. But find a doctor they did and he confirmed their fears: Agatha could not have children. She was fertile but the doctor explained some mumbo-jumbo stating that having children was not possible.

His condolences fell on deaf ears as the Holloways returned home and back to their lives. Jeb continued to work hard to buy things that would take Agatha's mind off the matter but she was heart-broken. It was not until that spring that her heart mended when she found she was pregnant. She had all the neighbors over once her stomach ballooned up.

The first time Jeb ever took a leave of absence from work was to take his wife to the doctors only to find out that she could not have any children. Now he would do the same to be there when the baby was to be delivered. According to the hospital records, Agatha had endured the longest labor time to date. But when she held the tiny baby in her arms she pulled Jeb close and told him that she had prayed and prayed hard. Agatha declared that God had shown her his everlasting grace by giving her this baby. It was only fitting then that they named her such: Grace.

Raising a child turned out to be a new challenge for Mr. and Mrs. Holloway but it was nothing they could not handle. The girl grew up strong and hardy but what surprised her parents was how well she could sing. Despite her modest behavior, her singing was so good several establishments approached her. But when she learned that most if not all offers would force her to leave her parents she refused. Grace opted to sing in the choir at their church and at social gatherings instead. After a month, all recruiting agents ceased knocking down her parent's door. The one good thing about all the publicity was that finding a job in the city was easy. Grace went home every day with her earnings and added them to their savings.

Grace considered her teenage years to be some of the happiest years of her life. The Holloway's were not poor. To be honest, between her father's new position in the factory and her mother's part time job as a cleaning lady, they were nowhere near poor. But everything changed that tragic day when Jeb did not come home. Grace and her mother found out later that a part of the old factory had collapsed trapping several men. Jeb ended up dying after having freed those men when debris collapsed on top of him. Friend and neighbors came to the closed-casket funeral. Some even came to hear her sing which brought on another bought of recruiting agents looking for her stardom. But unlike before, these carpetbaggers with their mock sympathy were met with distain and slammed doors.

A week after the funeral a representative from the factory approached them stating that Jeb Holloway, given his years of service and station, had acquired several benefits that, by law, were to be passed on to the spouse in the event of the employee's death. At first, Agatha Holloway was appalled and refused the money stating that she was a good, hard working woman and did not need any handouts. But Grace changed her mind when she reminded her mother that this was daddy's way of taking care of them after his passing. Begrudgingly her mother accepted the money. In the end it saved them from spending their savings before they really needed them which would come soon.

When Grace was in her late teens the Great Depression hit worldwide. Prices went up everywhere and everything was scarce. Produce shortages, dairy shortages, grain shortages, and even coal became in short supply. Grace and her mother took on several more jobs just to pay for food. When the factory could no longer afford to pay the benefits, the Holloway's had to dip into their savings and even sell some of their valuables. During this time tempers ran high and feuds even higher. Suspicious and greedy eyes turned toward the Holloway's residence. Old prejudice fueled by ignorance and desperation caused some of their newer neighbors to suspect the Holloway's of stealing. When the police came and searched the house they found a jar stuffed with money and expensive jewelry. Agatha Holloway was taken in custody and questioned while Grace went to the police station daily to plead for her mother's release on the basis that she was innocent. The police would not budge stating that the case was still under investigation.

The trial was to take place in a month. In that time Grace visited her mother in jail and went around town finding people who would be character witnesses. Almost everybody knew Grace because of her singing and the Holloway's were, for the most part, like by the community. Most were afraid to step forward but a couple of people who had worked at the factory including Jeb's old boss said that they would intercede the Holloway's behalf. Things were looking like they might come out all right until Grace's mother became sick with pneumonia in jail. As it turned out, she had been treated poorly during her incarceration because most of the police precinct believed her to be guilty. She had been given little food and bad water and so became sick.

When all this came to light Agatha Holloway was immediately transported to a local hospital to be treated. The pending investigation and charges against her were halted for the time being and new charges against the police were pressed. To the disgust of many these charges never went anywhere and the entire ordeal swept under the rug. Meanwhile Grace visited the hospital to see her mother's will slowly break under the pneumonia. When Grace realized that the doctors could not do anything for her mother she resolved to sell all their possessions, including the house, in hopes of using the money to find a better doctor. But by the time everything was sold and money collected, Agatha Holloway had passed on in her daughter's arms. Agatha Holloway was buried next to her husband in a cold, fall rain and no singing was heard that day.

With no home to go back to and a wallet full of money, Grace stayed at a faithful neighbor's house while she planned her next move. One day she read the paper in search of jobs when she read an article about a wildly rumored place called Rapture. Grace did not think much about it and thought the promises and dreams preached by the rumor to be folly. It was at her evening prayer that she remembered her mother's last words. "With all the strife go-in on in the world. The Lord should be comin soon. Keep lookin at the sky baby girl. I'll see you at the… Rapture." Seeing this as a sign, Grace left without a world. She looked out the back window of a taxi-cab and bid the world that had brought her such happiness and pain goodbye. St. Louis Missouri would never see nor hear of Grace Holloway again.

Author's Notes: It's been too long avid readers. Remember when i said that I knew how i wanted my story to end. Well it turned out that knowing how i wanted it to end only gave me writers block b/c I didn't know how to get to that point. Lame, lame, lame. Well anyway most of that is over b/c i have pieced together most of the plot to the end. Now i just have to write it out. This chapter was suppose to start the next bit of plot but became its own entity. Not so much violent as just a happy/sad backstory during one of our countries most trying times and the mistakes that went along with it. Hope you enjoyed it.