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Rosemary J. Gwaltney
Senior Member
since 1999-08-26
Posts 997
northern mountains, Idaho

0 posted 2002-03-22 12:17 PM


The boy at the mailbox out by the road was
open and friendly, and spoke with a soft accent.
Oh, you guys saw us move up the mountain last fall?
Yeah, my dad bought ten acres up above you a ways.

He brought us hunting up here last year, and decided
he wanted to live here. We’re living in an old cabin that
was there, until my folks build our new house next summer.

It’s a mile walk down here for us. How far is it for you?
Oh, are you the ones that own the green house up there?

Oh, I like it. It’s like an adventure. The cabin’s warmer
now, since dad taped up the windows, and hooked up
the wood stove. But you know, when it’s 9 degrees...

Oh, sure, we have electricity. Yeah, mom cooks in the
electric frying pan, in the microwave, on the grill. The
generator is awful noisy when the power goes out, but oh well.

Water is the only problem, besides the outhouse. The old pump on
the well quit, and my brother and me get real tired of bringing in
snow to melt. But dad says we’ll get a new pump come spring.

Oh, you heard shooting? Well, my brother and me,
we’ve been working on sighting our rifles in. My dad
takes my brother and me out hunting. We get a lot
of deer. Our half-wolf got a deer last fall, all by himself,
but we didn’t know until the next day, and he ate most of it.

A guy down near Cocolalla Creek shot himself a bear on his own
property. He gave us some, made into sausage. My dad and
brother and me, we like it, but mom don’t. She says it’s too greasy.

I’m in ninth grade. Yeah, it’s a long way to walk down here, and
then a mile more out to the school bus out on Cougar Road.
But there’s five kids from this area on our bus. So it’s not like
we have to be bored or anything. It can get real slippery coming
down the mountain sometimes, though, especially in the dark.
Even a flashlight doesn’t help much, coming down in the morning.

Once in the afternoon, we walked around the bend halfway back
from the bus, and there was two huge black moose crossing in front of us.
It was real scary.

Well, I better be going. My mom is waiting for the mail.
See ya later.

© Copyright 2002 Rosemary J. Gwaltney - All Rights Reserved
Larry C
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Patricius
since 2001-09-10
Posts 10286
United States
1 posted 2002-10-01 01:00 AM


Rosemary,
Helps us to appreciate what we have. And it helps us to appreciate the children who still have a positive attitude in the face of adversity. I enjoyed your story.

If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again.

Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
2 posted 2002-10-06 12:10 PM


I almost missed the chance to read this one! I could really relate to some of this, having lived outside of town in the Interior of Alaska for 6 years, 5 without running water. I remember walking down the hillside in the dark, at -40F temps, and the moose nearby in the trees watching our every move.
thanks for sharing this one, Rosemary.

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