Anna West lived with her parents and three brothers in a one-room log cabin in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. Burlap sacks hung across ropes as dividers for sleeping spaces. Her bed was a feather tick, spread on the bare floor.

Every day Anna carried gallon buckets of water to and fro for cooking and also for bathing. She was responsible for storing perishable food in the root cellar, milking the cows, and then taking the pails to a cold spring to keep the milk from spoiling. She brought in wood for the stove and helped her mother with the cooking and cleanup afterward. Though exhaustion claimed her by the end of each day, Anna never grumbled. This was her family, and she loved them. They all worked hard to look after one another.

Once a month, Anna rode down the mountain in a wagon with her pa, where they bought supplies from the general store. She didn't like how people in the valley stared at her and her family when they rode down the street. A woman in a fancy blue dress stepped out of one of the shops. She glanced their way, and her face pulled into a scowl, like someone held a pile of manure to her nose. Her reaction was nothing new.

"Pa, look at them snobs. They've got their noses in the air like they think we stink or something!"

Pa chuckled and replied, "Don't you pay them no mind. We're poor, but we're as good as those high-falutin' knuckleheads."

Anna nodded and held her head high. "That's right, Pa. We're mountaineers, which makes us special. I'll never let them get under my skin." She covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled. "I'll admit though, I'd like to spit on a few."

Pa patted Anna's knee. "Well, spitting on them would only bring you down to their level. But you're right about one thing, daughter. We're a special breed and contrary to what valley people think, we're not inbreeding half-wits. We may not be school-educated, but we've got natural smarts."

"I've proved that, Pa. I got better marks than the other kids in school, and most of them were valley kids."

"Yes, you did, daughter," Pa said. "You're the first one in our family to graduate from high school, and I'm proud of you for making all those trips up and down the mountain on foot when I was cutting timber and couldn't take you in the wagon."

"It was good for me. Those trips made my leg muscles strong enough to kick a slat out of a barn door," Anna said with a smile. "And to kick the boys when they picked on me."

Pa's mind seemed to be miles away as they rode in silence for a few minutes until Anna added, "I'm proud of that diploma, too. If we have enough money, could I buy a frame for it so I can put it in my hope chest?"

"I think we can manage that," replied Pa. "What all do you have in your hope chest?"

"I've got two quilts that me and Ma hand stitched and some crocheted doilies, and I've got lots of notes about all the other things I hope to have someday."

Pa's eyes filled with tears. "I hope you get everything your heart desires, daughter. You deserve the best because you're a special person. You're a seer, and that's a gift from God, which means he chose you for greatness."

Anna wiped her own tears. Her brothers were embarrassed by her gift. Sometimes she wondered if they thought she was crazy, or worse, cursed. But Anna knew it was special and it warmed her heart to know her pa did, too