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At the Mailbox in Snow (true story)
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At the Mailbox in Snow (true story) |
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Rosemary J. Gwaltney Senior Member
since 1999-08-26
Posts 997northern mountains, Idaho 
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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. |
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| © Copyright 2002 Rosemary J. Gwaltney - All Rights Reserved | |||
Larry C
since 2001-09-10
Posts 10286United States |
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. |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
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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