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The Summer, part I
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The Summer, part I |
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Tim Senior Member
since 1999-06-08
Posts 1794 |
Fourteen is a difficult age. That is not to say that any age is not difficult, just that fourteen is more so. Exiled for the summer to my grandfather’s farm. No cherry phosphates at Rexall’s. No sleepovers. No whispered secrets about the new boy down the block. Grandma had died the winter before and I was sent to be live-in cook and housekeeper. Unspoken was the fact that in a house of six children, one child would not be missed except for the fact less groceries would have to be bought. So to the farm I went with one battered suitcase and a somewhat serious attitude problem. I suspected I loved my grandfather, although I would have been hard pressed to explain why. After grandma died, he decided he did not need running water or the electric range. The old wood-burning stove was fired up to heat and cook, and after nearly fifteen years of disuse, the old wooden outhouse was brought out of retirement. Water was carried in from the cistern out back. Thirty years had passed since the Great Depression, or the dirty thirties, as grandpa called them. For all intents and purposes, he still was living those years. “Never buy anything you cannot pay cash for, never owe anyone anything.” That was grandpa’s credo. The only problem was it meant he never had anything. To this day, I cringe at the smell of fried bologna. Each morning, an upside coke bottle in a mason jar full of water was checked. If water had risen up into the neck of the bottle, then we would get our cane poles and head to Turkey Creek to catch some bullheads. I also still cringe at the smell of fried fish. I suspect there was not a fourteen year old girl in the whole United States of America who was more anxious for the summer to end and school to start. [This message has been edited by Tim (01-27-2002 11:03 AM).] |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
Hi Tim..What a great beginning..you've set the scene and made a character, both believable and sympathetic. More please! |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Dittoing Martie here...more please! |
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