The farm...

It became obvious even to us kids, that our father was never going to buy us that farm. I would never have horses to play with, never have farm animals, and we were never going to live with Daddy ever again, even though he promised us. Maureen and I stayed up late night after night talking about how we wondered if maybe he died. We just never ever heard from him again. It had been nearly a year since he and Uncle Lyndon came to visit. We never heard from our mother again, either.

This broke our hearts, as we did not know why they just stopped coming to see us. We asked Gran why they didn't come, and she said they were getting a divorce. We did not understand that, but all she would say was that they "didn't see eye to eye". That was not at all helpful. Why did that mean they couldn't come and see us?

When Gran got angry with us for asking too much, she would snap, "Who would want to see you kids??? Look at how you act!!"

We knew not to ask too often where our parents were. It made Gran very angry. When Gran got angry, she stayed angry all day, sometimes for days.

Soon we just accepted that our parents were never coming back. We talked about them from time to time, amongst ourselves, but tried not to bring them up to Gran, as she was just too nasty about it, and usually made us feel as if it were our fault somehow that they disappeared.

Summer was coming, and we went on a long car trip. We stayed at Gran's daughter Geraldine's house overnight, as it was halfway between home and where we were going. Geraldine had just gotten married to a man named Ron. We loved Ron, he was so funny, and so nice to us. We had gone to their wedding earlier that year. They lived in Pennsylvania now, near the Delaware water gap.

Later that week, we continued to wherever we were going. We arrived at an office, where Gran got out of the VW bus we were riding in, and went inside. A woman came out, and told Gran and Gramps to follow her, and they did. We arrived at a small white house down a long driveway. There was a barn to the left of it, a huge barn. We started getting excited. Was this a farm?

We got out of the car, and Tuffy was so excited that he ran around and around the house about ten times. He ran so fast he was just a fluffy white blur!

We went inside, and as we went up on the porch, my foot went through a rotted peice of wood, and I fell. I screamed, terrified that I would get sucked under the porch, where it was dark, and Gran told me that if I did not stop the theatrics, she would give me something to cry about.

I already did not like that place. It was really old, and smelled funny. The woman, whose name was Imogene, said the former owners died, and the house was for sale really cheap. She said the house came with 41 acres, and there was a nice creek out to the left of the house, that ran alongside the barn. She said the barn was fully functioning, that it only needed a little bit of care to bring it up to code. We didn't know what that meant, but I couldn't wait to go in the barn and see if there were any farm animals in there.

We realized of course, that this was not the farm my father promised us. I didn't like this farm. Gran was already being mean to us, and the woman showing it to us kept glaring at us. I needed a tissue, my nose was running, and I was scared because there was blood on my leg from falling through the porch. Soon Harlan started crying, and everyone was tired, hungry and out of sorts. Grandpa left Gran and took us to the bus. There was a cooler in there, and he got out sandwiches and milk, and we ate lunch, right in front of that old house. Gran was excited by the peony bushes in front of the house, and there was a beautiful rose bush off to the right side of the house. It seemed to go on forever, a tangled little forest of thorny branches. There was an enormous maple tree to the right of the house, on a small hill. It was a giant gnarled thing, and I instantly wanted to climb on it, and have a tea party around it. It had a small lump at the base of the tree, and it was the perfect little seat. I loved the tree instantly.

We asked if we could go walking around, and Gran said yes, just dont go too far. Imogene told her that the creek runs just below the left side of the house, alongside the barn, and Gran told us to keep the barn in sight, if we couldnt see the barn anymore, we went too far. We went down to the creek, and the path was so overgrown that we kept getting scratched by all of the thorny bushes that Gran kept calling blackberry bushes. The creek was wonderful!!! There were flat rocks all around, and water, and several deep areas and it was just beautiful! We could probably go swimming here when it got really hot. Maureen, William and I all explored each nook and cranny of the creek, and played pretend games until we heard Gran call us up to the house.

We went up there, and she said, "how would you like to spend the summer here?" I wasnt sure. I loved the creek and the outside, but the house scared me badly. I worried that it was haunted. It was so OLD. We decided we didnt have to stay in the house at all, and besides, I wanted to explore that old barn in the worst way.

The house had neither electric nor running water. There was an outhouse out in back of the house, and several chamber pots in the house. This would be different. An adventure.

I was 7 years old that summer.