| Biographical Non-Fiction posted June 19, 2020 | Chapters: |
...42 43 -44- 45... 
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The first winter in our new house.
A chapter in the book Remembering Yesterday
The Winter of `69
by BethShelby
| Background After getting married, having three children and living in Jackson for 12 years, my husband and I move to a new house in Brandon. This chapter is about things that happened after we move in. |
The weather had turned very cold for early November in the South. We were using our fireplace for the first time. It was starting to get dark outside when we heard a knock on our front door. We were surprised since we’d not heard anyone drive up. I went to the door and opened to find a young teenage girl standing there. She asked if I could give her a drink of water.
“Of course,” I said. “Come on in out of the cold. Go sit by the fire and warm up while I get you a glass of water.”
She didn’t hesitate about quickly accepting my invitation. The children were all gathered around the fire, and they stared at the newcomer, full of curiosity. As she drank the water, I asked how she happened to be out on a night like this. She told me she came from up North, and she had been hitch-hiking. She said a trucker had dropped her off by the bridge on the highway. She had a very slow Southern way of talking, so I wondered if what she was telling me was true.
The news had just gone off on the local TV station. Sports had come on. It isn’t something we are usually that interested in watching, but this girl's eyes were glued to the set. She told us she loved sports, so I hesitated about changing the channel. You motioned for me to meet you in the kitchen, so we left the room to talk about the situation. I couldn’t imagine allowing her to go back out into the cold night, but something seemed off. I was reluctant to invite her to spend the night.
We discussed it and decided we needed some advice on what to do. I didn’t really want to call the police station. “Maybe we could call that nice minister who came right after we moved in. He might be able to tell us what we should do,” I suggested.
“It’s worth a try.” You go upstairs and call, and I’ll stay down here and watch what’s going on. Something seems strange about her. She doesn’t act right.”
I went upstairs and found the card the pastor had left with his name and phone number and dialed it. He picked up right away, and I explained what was going on.
“You called the right person,” he said. “I know exactly who she is. Sarah’s a member of my church. Her parents are right here with me. Everyone’s been looking for her all afternoon. Just go back, and don’t say a word to her. We’ll be over at your house in a few minutes.” After he hung up. I went back down and motioned for you to come to the kitchen again, where I explained what was happening.
Soon the doorbell rang, and our house was filled with people. The pastor introduced her parents as our neighbors. He went into our den and called Sarah. She came out crying. In moments, her mother was hugging her and crying, as well.
The whole incident we were witnessing seemed very confusing. I only got bits and pieces of what was going on between Sarah and her parents. I started to comment on what she had told us, but the pastor signaled to me not to say anything. They soon left, and the minister stayed behind to talk. It turned out Sarah lived just over the bridge from us, and she had run away from home. She was a diabetic, and her parents were freaking out, not only because she was gone, but also because she needed to be on medication. This was the end of an odd evening for everyone.
A couple of weeks later, you got a call at work. You called me and asked if I could take off from my work and go home. Sarah had left home again. and all the neighbors were searching for her. They had decided she must be back at our house again. They wanted to get into our house and look. It seems our house was surrounded by people trying doors and looking into the windows. They were convinced she was there, because someone had seen an upstairs curtain move. Since the house was locked, they needed someone to come and let them in. I went home and opened the door, but the search revealed nothing other than our cat who loved to sit in sunny windows. This time Sarah had managed to get a lot further.
We never learned what was so troubling about her home life to make Sarah run away, but we did find out this time, she had hitched a ride and made it as far as Ohio. Sarah became sick without her medicine after four days, and someone called her parents for her. Once again, they got her back home without anything terrible happening. Still, the story has a sad ending without us ever knowing the details. A couple of years later. we heard from someone who knew the family that she had died while in a diabetic coma.
**********
In December, all of the kids were involved in a Christmas program. The teacher had been working for weeks to have the children ready to perform. Carol was part of a singing group. Christi was an angel and Don was a shepherd. He also had a solo part and was scheduled to sing “Away in a Manger.” He knew the song perfectly at home, but knowing how he hated spotlight attention, I was concerned. It was no surprise when after the first verse, he forgot the words and just kept repeating the same lines over and over until the music stopped. His voice was beautiful, but the words just weren’t there.
On December 17, the twins turned seven. We had a small party at home with just family. I made a cake, and we had ice cream and gifts. I regretted that their birthday was so close to the holidays that it wasn’t convenient to have a big celebration.
For our first Christmas in our new house, we discarded our artificial tree and cut down a real tree from our country place. We had brought back mistletoe and holly berries from there as well. We even placed a big wreath on the outside of our chimney facing the blacktop road. We had a small celebration before we left town. The kids got to open one present each. Afterward, we headed out to spend Christmas with our parents as usual.
********
Your dad wasn’t doing so well. His emphysema seemed to be getting worse. At seventy, he was no longer working. He had been working with your brother-in-law, Joe, at his church pew building business. However, Joe had laid off most of his employees because business was slow, and the debt he’d made with the bank was overdue. It looked as though he might lose the business. Joe was a good carpenter, and when the pew business slowed down, he and some of the younger crew had built a couple of houses in Newton. He had just completed one for a prominent local doctor who was retiring. Actually, it was the doctor who had delivered me.
My dad, at sixty-two wasn’t working either. The owner of the Jitney Jungle grocery store had decided to retire and sell his business. Dad thought about buying it, but decided against it at his age. The new owner planned to have his own sons take Dad’s place. Mom wasn’t thrilled to have Dad home all the time. She was looking for ways to get out of the house. She’d tried selling Avon and doing TV surveys. Now, she had started sitting for invalids and people who were convalescing. This was her calling because she was the care-giver type.
Your sister, Helen, was upset because Joe didn’t have any further work, and she approached you to see if they could borrow some money from us. You were wondering if maybe we could let Joe do some work at our place in the country. You said maybe we could just let him build the frame work for a house that we could finish later. It would help with his financial problem, and it would be better then loaning them money that they might never be able to pay back. You said you could only give him work as long as we could afford to pay cash without having to borrow money ourselves. You said that prehaps my dad could do some work as well. I was leery of building anything so far out in the county, because it wasn’t a place I wanted to live. You said we wouldn’t be living there, but it would be nice to have somewhere to stay when we were there. You suggested that we could use it for a weekend get-away.
I was very concerned about you starting another project, but I didn’t want to lend the money outright either. You hated to say no when your family needed anything. We were already chipping in a little every month to help your parents financially. We would have to tighten our budget, and see if we could find enough cash to start another house. You said you would talk to Joe about it soon to see if he would even be interested. I sort of hoped he wouldn't be.
“Of course,” I said. “Come on in out of the cold. Go sit by the fire and warm up while I get you a glass of water.”
She didn’t hesitate about quickly accepting my invitation. The children were all gathered around the fire, and they stared at the newcomer, full of curiosity. As she drank the water, I asked how she happened to be out on a night like this. She told me she came from up North, and she had been hitch-hiking. She said a trucker had dropped her off by the bridge on the highway. She had a very slow Southern way of talking, so I wondered if what she was telling me was true.
The news had just gone off on the local TV station. Sports had come on. It isn’t something we are usually that interested in watching, but this girl's eyes were glued to the set. She told us she loved sports, so I hesitated about changing the channel. You motioned for me to meet you in the kitchen, so we left the room to talk about the situation. I couldn’t imagine allowing her to go back out into the cold night, but something seemed off. I was reluctant to invite her to spend the night.
We discussed it and decided we needed some advice on what to do. I didn’t really want to call the police station. “Maybe we could call that nice minister who came right after we moved in. He might be able to tell us what we should do,” I suggested.
“It’s worth a try.” You go upstairs and call, and I’ll stay down here and watch what’s going on. Something seems strange about her. She doesn’t act right.”
I went upstairs and found the card the pastor had left with his name and phone number and dialed it. He picked up right away, and I explained what was going on.
“You called the right person,” he said. “I know exactly who she is. Sarah’s a member of my church. Her parents are right here with me. Everyone’s been looking for her all afternoon. Just go back, and don’t say a word to her. We’ll be over at your house in a few minutes.” After he hung up. I went back down and motioned for you to come to the kitchen again, where I explained what was happening.
Soon the doorbell rang, and our house was filled with people. The pastor introduced her parents as our neighbors. He went into our den and called Sarah. She came out crying. In moments, her mother was hugging her and crying, as well.
The whole incident we were witnessing seemed very confusing. I only got bits and pieces of what was going on between Sarah and her parents. I started to comment on what she had told us, but the pastor signaled to me not to say anything. They soon left, and the minister stayed behind to talk. It turned out Sarah lived just over the bridge from us, and she had run away from home. She was a diabetic, and her parents were freaking out, not only because she was gone, but also because she needed to be on medication. This was the end of an odd evening for everyone.
A couple of weeks later, you got a call at work. You called me and asked if I could take off from my work and go home. Sarah had left home again. and all the neighbors were searching for her. They had decided she must be back at our house again. They wanted to get into our house and look. It seems our house was surrounded by people trying doors and looking into the windows. They were convinced she was there, because someone had seen an upstairs curtain move. Since the house was locked, they needed someone to come and let them in. I went home and opened the door, but the search revealed nothing other than our cat who loved to sit in sunny windows. This time Sarah had managed to get a lot further.
We never learned what was so troubling about her home life to make Sarah run away, but we did find out this time, she had hitched a ride and made it as far as Ohio. Sarah became sick without her medicine after four days, and someone called her parents for her. Once again, they got her back home without anything terrible happening. Still, the story has a sad ending without us ever knowing the details. A couple of years later. we heard from someone who knew the family that she had died while in a diabetic coma.
**********
In December, all of the kids were involved in a Christmas program. The teacher had been working for weeks to have the children ready to perform. Carol was part of a singing group. Christi was an angel and Don was a shepherd. He also had a solo part and was scheduled to sing “Away in a Manger.” He knew the song perfectly at home, but knowing how he hated spotlight attention, I was concerned. It was no surprise when after the first verse, he forgot the words and just kept repeating the same lines over and over until the music stopped. His voice was beautiful, but the words just weren’t there.
On December 17, the twins turned seven. We had a small party at home with just family. I made a cake, and we had ice cream and gifts. I regretted that their birthday was so close to the holidays that it wasn’t convenient to have a big celebration.
For our first Christmas in our new house, we discarded our artificial tree and cut down a real tree from our country place. We had brought back mistletoe and holly berries from there as well. We even placed a big wreath on the outside of our chimney facing the blacktop road. We had a small celebration before we left town. The kids got to open one present each. Afterward, we headed out to spend Christmas with our parents as usual.
********
Your dad wasn’t doing so well. His emphysema seemed to be getting worse. At seventy, he was no longer working. He had been working with your brother-in-law, Joe, at his church pew building business. However, Joe had laid off most of his employees because business was slow, and the debt he’d made with the bank was overdue. It looked as though he might lose the business. Joe was a good carpenter, and when the pew business slowed down, he and some of the younger crew had built a couple of houses in Newton. He had just completed one for a prominent local doctor who was retiring. Actually, it was the doctor who had delivered me.
My dad, at sixty-two wasn’t working either. The owner of the Jitney Jungle grocery store had decided to retire and sell his business. Dad thought about buying it, but decided against it at his age. The new owner planned to have his own sons take Dad’s place. Mom wasn’t thrilled to have Dad home all the time. She was looking for ways to get out of the house. She’d tried selling Avon and doing TV surveys. Now, she had started sitting for invalids and people who were convalescing. This was her calling because she was the care-giver type.
Your sister, Helen, was upset because Joe didn’t have any further work, and she approached you to see if they could borrow some money from us. You were wondering if maybe we could let Joe do some work at our place in the country. You said maybe we could just let him build the frame work for a house that we could finish later. It would help with his financial problem, and it would be better then loaning them money that they might never be able to pay back. You said you could only give him work as long as we could afford to pay cash without having to borrow money ourselves. You said that prehaps my dad could do some work as well. I was leery of building anything so far out in the county, because it wasn’t a place I wanted to live. You said we wouldn’t be living there, but it would be nice to have somewhere to stay when we were there. You suggested that we could use it for a weekend get-away.
I was very concerned about you starting another project, but I didn’t want to lend the money outright either. You hated to say no when your family needed anything. We were already chipping in a little every month to help your parents financially. We would have to tighten our budget, and see if we could find enough cash to start another house. You said you would talk to Joe about it soon to see if he would even be interested. I sort of hoped he wouldn't be.
 Recognized |
I'm continuing to recall memories of life with my deceased husband as if I am talking aloud to him. I'm doing this because I want my children to know us as we knew each other and not just as their parents
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