As things appeared ready as far as equipment was concerned, we headed back to the butcher house to see how the rest were doing finishing up that project. We looked down the road and noticed a mini-van approaching with its rear bumper darn near dragging on the road. It looked like the van my Mom’s brother, my Uncle Bruce had. Sure enough, as it pulled into the driveway we spotted Bruce as the driver, with Aunt Kristen by his side and my cousin Jennifer and an elderly lady in the back seat. There was barely any room for her. The van was packed solid with boxes and clothing and with mattresses and bicycles tied on the roof. “More things,” I muttered to myself.
“Quick Alyssa!” Dad exclaimed, “get your mother, Grandma and Grandpop. These arrivals are going to make them happy.” Mom came running out; my grandparents a bit more slowly, followed by most of the others. There was hugging and kissing and sobbing and crying and praising God. Then the questions started.
“Where’s Dean?” Mom asked.
“About two miles down the road,” Bruce answered. “He’s with his girlfriend, Vanetta. They ran out of gas. We toyed with siphoning some from our van, but we had very little also. Thought it was better to make sure that at least one of us would get here for help. Do you have a pickup with enough gas to go and retrieve them and everything we have loaded in his car? It’s also packed to the gills.”
“No need to use a truck,” Dad said. “Let’s bring the whole car back; we can use the car parts as well, so we’ll just take Brutus down with a few of the boys. He can pull the car here while the others can help push up some of the grades.”
“Could they go as soon as possible?” Bruce asked. “I hate leaving them there alone and Kristen’s surely worried about them.” That struck me as odd. My Aunt Kristen always impressed me as a strong, take charge, doesn’t let anything bother her individual. And my cousin Dean, why he was as strong as they come. He had just finished his senior year in high school where he had lettered in three sports. I couldn’t imagine him not being able to deal with any circumstances that might occur. On the other hand, Vanetta, who I had only met a few times, appeared quite timid. I could see her being a bit frightened stranded in an unfamiliar place and not knowing for how long. Grandpop read his son’s request differently though.
“Is trouble following you?” he asked.
“Not imminently,” Bruce replied, “and really none that we could see; just been hearing a lot of stories in our travels.” Bruce didn’t need to say more. Jake grabbed the nearest bicycle and headed down the road, followed by Dennis.
“Be careful!” Mom yelled after them, as Josh ran to the pasture to get Brutus. At the same time Dad headed to the equipment shed and brought back some of the rope we braided for a tow rope. Shortly thereafter, Larry came out of Poppop’s house with two shotguns that he handed to Dad. When he and Josh were astride Brutus, Dad gave them the weapons and bid them haste.
“You be careful, too,” Dad advised them, “and use your best judgment.” He turned to Bruce and Kristen and offered, “Don’t worry. Those boys can handle anything. They’ll all be fine and back in no time.”
Still sensing fear in Kristen’s and Jennifer’s eyes and uncertainty in Bruce’s he added, “If you really feel the need, you could take the moped and join them, but I advise you not to. You look tired and stressed out. Just take a breather and relax. Let’s sit in the shade. How about a cool drink?”
“Sure could use a cold beer,” Bruce answered.
“Sorry, none cold,” Dad replied. “And we’re really saving anything canned for future needs. We’ve fresh spring water.”
“Actually,” Mom interjected, “Jean made some mint tea this morning, if you need more than water.”
“Iced tea?” Aunt Kristen inquired.
“Course not, we’ve no ice,” Mom responded. “Spring temperature cool, though, and not too sweet. She made it with a mixture of that Blue Balsam tea that grows around the flower beds and some of the wild tea from the meadow. She only added a little sugar.”
“Still sounds like a good idea,” Kristen agreed. “First, let’s get mother out of the van. She’s been crammed in there for hours. I’m sure she’s hot and thirsty. Which house will she be in? We should drive closer to the door.”
“”Don’t know yet,” Grandma responded. “I’m sure she’ll want to be close to where you and Bruce bed down. We’re guests here; it’s really up to the Stumps. These are Harvey and Jean’s and Harold and Myra’s homes.”
“No hurry to decide,” Jean said. “For now just pull your van over to the back porch where we can unload the goods. She and the rest can sit on the porch until things get settled. Meanwhile, I’ll fetch the tea from the springhouse.”
“Thanks,” said Kristen. The van was driven to the door of Jean’s upstairs kitchen entrance. Then I first realized who the fourth person in the van was: Aunt Kristen’s mother, Leticia. Only my immediate family would know her. As my Uncle Bruce’s mother-in-law, I had often seen her at my cousins’ birthday parties and such. In fact, the last time would have been just a couple months ago at Dean’s graduation party. She was a frail woman, who needed a walker to get around. She was still, to her credit, pretty spry for her age. But today, as they helped her out of the van, she looked much different. She had a haggard look on her face, the lines on her face deep and more pronounced. Actually, she looked like she had been through a war. We found out, however, that she still had her spirit.
“Bout time you got me out of there,” she snapped. “After all I’ve been through – and I need to go to the bathroom!”
“Yes mother,” Aunt Kristen answered. I saw Harvey roll his eyes at Jean. She responded with that little quirky smile she had. Oh… this could be a good one brewing. They took Leticia into the house to use the bathroom, jabbering all the way. It had become quite muggy that afternoon and the inside of the house was very hot, so they brought out a chair for her to sit on the porch where a nice breeze was flowing through. She took some of the tea, and then started up.
“This tea sure isn’t very cold,” she complained, “and my, was that bathroom dirty.”
Harvey grabbed Jean by the wrist and I think some of the men wanted to run for cover. There was an instant determination made where Leticia was going to sleep. Obviously not in Jean’s house. Actually, I think at that moment, Jean would have made her sleep in the barn. No, in with my grandparents and me she would go. In retrospect it was a good decision for everything was on one floor in Poppop’s house. Also, as it was very difficult for Leticia to come to the butcher house for meals, Kristen would have to take her meals to her, enabling our meals to remain peaceful.
Humans react quite differently to stress. As Bruce relayed to us later that evening, Leticia had been through a lot the last few weeks. Her way of coping, providing a means of survival, was to bitterly lash out. It wasn’t her normal behavior, but now served as her crutch. It successfully got her to this point, and as she settled in she settled down. As some peace was injected into her life, the more peaceful she became – thank goodness. Her irritability that afternoon did serve a useful purpose, however. You see as Kristen, Mom, and Jean catered to and fretted and fumed over Leticia, their fears and concerns about their sons down the road were assuaged.
Uncle Bruce was a different matter. As we started unloading his van, he would pause at least twice a minute to look down the road, searching for signs of his son’s safe return. Within five minutes, which must have seemed like five hours to Bruce, he caught a glimpse of Brutus cresting one of the little knobs in the road about one half mile away. Relief – brought a suspension to the unloading, for Bruce sprinted down the road, followed a bit more slowly by Joe, Aaron, Jennifer, and me on my bike, each with our own concerns. There were two thinking about their sons, three for their brothers, plus me for Brutus, with Joe having enough foresight to carry a bucket of spring water and ladle. Long before we reached them, as they were in full view of the farm, they had shown good sense and pulled Brutus under a big hickory tree so everyone could rest in the shade. Josh was wiping down Brutus and scratching his neck.
“Is something wrong? Is Brutus OK?” I frantically asked when I reached the crew.
“He’s fine,” Josh replied, “and doing a fine job. It’s almost effortless with us pushing. I would say pulling a car on four rubber tires is easier than pulling a plow through hard soil. We’re probably working harder than he is. We needed the break more than he did.”
“Just the same,” Joe said to me, “beings it’s so darn hot, as soon as everyone’s had a drink, take the bucket over to the creek and get him a bucket of water, too.” While they were drinking, I greeted Dean and Vanetta who were riding Jake’s and Dennis’s bicycles.
“You don’t have to stay with us,” Bruce instructed them. “If you’re well rested, just pedal up to the house. The car’s not as important as you are. We’ll get it there. Besides, you mother’s sure anxious about you.”
“Yeah right, Uncle Bruce,” I chided. “You were more bent out of shape than she was.”
“Naw, it was no sweat,” he said. “I knew they’d be all right all along.”
I thought it was a good cover. Why men have to be so macho is beyond me.
“Jennifer,” I offered, “you may have my bike if you want. Ride home with your brother. I’d like to stay and lead Brutus up.”
“Why thank you,” she answered. “Is that OK, Dad?”
“Sure,” Bruce replied, “it’s safe now.”
“Safe?” I quizzed, “safe from what?”
“Oh nothing,” he said, “just an expression.” He couldn’t fool me. Something was amiss. I guess I’d find out in due time. After I’d brought Brutus his water, we finished the trip home. Dean and Vanetta had been warmly received by the clan. The afternoon was waning. So after a short refreshment break, the boys headed to the barn for the evening chores and the cooks to the butcher house to start supper. That still left us with a nice size crew to finish unloading the vehicles, so we continued pulling the stuff out of Bruce’s van and Dean’s car.
To be continued…… Mort
No comments:
Post a Comment