Life on the Farm
Life on the Farm
"Did you hear the fire alarm this morning?" I asked excitedly to my second grade
teacher, Miss. Minder.
"Yes, I did," she replied.
"It was our house!" Timmy exclaimed, and with that many of our second-grade
friends packed around to hear the story about the fire.
While we were now the center of attention, I was personally hoping that Miss
Minder was also listening as all the little boys in her class, including me, had
a crush on her. At their urging I began to tell the story of the
fire...how it started in our room...don't know how it started...we think it was
the overheated ceiling light falling onto blankets...yes, the room was on
fire...the floor, the bedding and the bed...oh yes, my brother was very
brave...he saved Stevie who was still asleep in the bed...the firemen were very
proud of V.J....no, I don't know if it burned down...the firemen were still
there when we left for school.
After finishing the story, Miss Minder asked us to sit down in our desks.
I couldn't concentrate on my schoolwork - all I could think of was the fire.
"Are my army men alright?' Will Fort Alamo be OK when we get home?
What about Fort Apache?
"We had other toys in the room...are they also OK?" There were
just too many questions.
It was a long day and I can't recall the details of the day, nor the order as to
what happened first. The questions we had about our toys had been
answered - they had all been destroyed by the fire. The only few plastic army
men I saw were Timmy's - and they were hidden behind the door, as little
remained except melted unrecognizable forms. If it wasn't damage
caused by the heat, it was damage caused by the water. The walls of our
room were charred, and while all the windows in our room were open, the smell of
smoke was all over the house. The hardwood floors that mom watched over
with care, were now ruined. The floors had suffered from extensive water
damage, and in addition some of our personal possessions were also destroyed. There were
only a few things remaining in the house, as the firemen had moved most everything out, including
most of the downstairs furniture.
"We will be living on a farm for awhile." Said dad, and with that we
stuffed ourselves into the car and drove off. We didn't know where this
farm was at, but along the way we passed the hospital and eventually traveled
along a gravel road to the baseball park. We passed the park and finally
stopped at an intersection of another gravel road. If we went left it led
back to highway 10 and if we went right it would take us to the town airport.
"Here it is," said dad.
"This is our farm?" one of the children asked?
"Yes," said Mom.
"Will Snowball be able to find us," someone asked.
"Cats are smart," said mom, " she will find us.
Well, mom was right...it took several months, but Snowball did find
us. However, by this time, she had grown considerably.
We were excited to see her, but over time we would see her less and less.
Mom told us that Snowball most likely went back into town to see her "friends."
At some point we never saw her again.
After all these years, there are not many things of this farmhouse that I
recall. I remember our bedroom, as it was smaller than the large dormer we
shared. The living room was not very memorable, but I recall
watching the Gemini launches on our black and white TV. In those
days, school was delayed until the rocket had reached out of sight of the TV.
cameras. It was a family event, and dad was just as excited to see two
people being thrust into space as the rest of us were. After the cameras
were out of range, we would hop into dad's car and head off to school.
Another thing I remember was that this was the first time I had seen a bath
shower. We were used to bathtubs, and it used to be a once a week
fun-time activity where we'd stir up the soap and create mountains of bubbles.
In the farmhouse, the shower was in the basement. It still was a communal
event on Saturday night, but you always felt like you were taking a bath in the
barn.
The farm was filled with many creatures. Among them were geese, which you
learned very early on to keep your distance. There were cows, but these
animals are among the most uninteresting animal life on the planet. Of all
the farm animals, the most attention-grabbing were...the chickens. We could
play for hours around those chickens...we could chase them...we could throw
rocks at them if no one was looking...and we go venture into the chicken coop to
see how they lived. When friends would come to visit, one of the
first places we'd take them to was the chicken house. It delighted
our friends as much as it delighted us.
In those days we walked everywhere. We would walk at times to school in the morning, but almost always walk back to the farm after school. The farmhouse was close to the baseball practice fields, so we would walk to practice at 9 a.m. every morning. The Catholic church was further up the gravel road, and we would walk to catechism on Saturday afternoon. I remember walking back home with Timmy after our first confession, and contemplating the importance of our newly gained sainthood status.
"I've a clean soul." said Timmy.
"I also have a clean soul" I responded.
Then it hit me, "I forgot to tell father about the bad word I said the other day." I was no longer a saint, and since I forgot to confess this sin, there just could be no way for me to take my first communion tomorrow. I went home and told mom about this transgression. Surely this must have been the bad confession that father warned us about, and I now have the worst sin in the world on my soul...the dreaded mortal sin. She listened and just said, "you do not have a mortal sin. No one can remember every sin they ever made." It made sense, so I received my first communion as planned.
One of the most memorable days was
going back to the house just a few days before moving back in. There were
a number of men mowing the overgrown lawn. They were struggling, as were
their mowers, in cutting what appeared to be a hay field. We
followed dad into the house, and were in for quite a transformation. There
was carpet...carpet all over the house instead of hard wood floors. Then
we realized that our walls which were once a pale yellow now had a rich wood
paneling strategically placed on the dining and living room walls. As we
walked up the carpeted stairs, we could see that the ceilings were now
patterned, the bathroom no longer had an old-fashioned tub and sink, and the
bedrooms also had wall-to-wall carpeting. It wasn't until we went
downstairs again did we realize that not every room had been updated. For
some reason the kitchen did not make the list to get a facelift.
Moving in was glorious day. Our house was now as modern as any in the "new
addition", and it just felt good to sleep in our room again. We couldn't
wait to wake up and feel the carpet on our feet where hard wood flooring once
stood.
Story by Terry Smith