The visitor

The visitor

I’m so excited! uncle Rich is coming out for the first time in what seems like forever to me. I stand in the driveway. Quietly, listening for the sound of a car speeding down the highway.  Then I hear the faint rumble of a car. straining my ears I hear it  slow and turn down our road.

I run to the willow tree and climb as high as I can. looking south east i peer over the  grasses and trees between me and the road. when I see my uncles white truck I can barely contain my excitement.

As he backs into our driveway I hurry down to let people know of his arrival.  Then  I rush back outside. I barely miss slamming my dads head in the door and I don’t even care. I sprint over to the truck window and put my hands on the glass. I’m jumping uncontrollably. I squeal as he opens the door.

my dad grabs my hand as we walk inside...   

Flower Castle

Flower Castle

It was mid summer. The field across our driveway was thick with golden rod. One day i waded out into the ocean of tangled grass. A few meters into the tangles of gold and green  I located  a dear bed. Thats when the vision came to me.

I said to mackie “Lets make a house”  and flopped down.

So we began to push down the stocky plants. Twisting them together we created tunnels. We each had our own room. Together we created the family room, kitchen, and playroom.  

We played until we got hungry then went inside to get lunch. However even food could not keep us from our play house. we sat in our golden rod kitchen eating. after bringing our dishes inside we ran back out to make more rooms and tunnels.

that night we went to bed in our comfy rooms inside our real house. but we awoke to something disturbing...  we were covered from head to toe with chiggers…

for the next few days clothing felt like torture. we spent the next couple of days lying striped between cotton sheets on the couch bed watching VHS tapes over and over...

 

Snail Cove

Snail cove

We snuck away from home, running bare foot into the woods. The trail leads us along side the stream.  I peek over the edge of the bank. The gooseberry plants scratch my bare legs.  Standing there for a few seconds I debate if I should try and climb down the bank to our climbing tree. Taking one look at the mud from last nights rain I decide to pass on a climb and run after Mackie. Up ahead Mackie had climbed down a low spot in our path where water fed the stream. I cautiously follow her into the damp stream overhead young trees block out most of the light. The air is cool.  I nearly slip on the wet moss covered rocks. Grabbing the tree I look over. Mackie has a handful of snails. Turning my eyes to the ground I see lots more snails. We gather up handfuls of snails, climb out of the stream, and run up the path. We sneak past daddy, who is conveniently zoned on his guitar, and into Mackie’s room.  Mackie hands me her pile of snails and lays out her bath towel. Sitting down I put the snails between us. Mackie sets one on her foot and watches it climb up her leg. Within only a few minutes we have snails climbing all over us. We giggle as they crawl across our tummies, legs and arms. Then there is a knock on the door. “Girls dinner” mommy calls. We gather up our new pets and carry them to the kitchen. There mommy puts them into an empty bird food container. Then she sends us outside to get sticks and leaves. With the sun setting behind us we run inside and put the snail bedding onto the jar. I hand it to mommy who puts it onto the kitchen counter and we sit down to eat.