our bodies were lathered with soap, when a rope that was attached to it was pulled, the bucket would tip upside down causing the water to pour out the holes in the lid –a shower was created. What a luxury it was to stand under that clean, warm water as it cascaded down over a soapy body. It didn’t last long, but it successfully did the task for which it was intended.
Since there was no electricity, kerosene lamps were used for light. We didn’t mind; it was cozy sitting around the cook stove in the kitchen or the coal burner in the living room with the flame from the lamps casting dancing shadows on the walls and ceilings.
Above the stove in the living room was an open register where heat entered the upstairs bedrooms. When the coal in the stove below burned down near morning, it became quite chilly upstairs. My sister and I would snuggle together as closely as we could under the heavy quilt our mother had made the winter before when we had been homebound by snow and cold weather.
A few months after moving to the farm, electricity was brought down our road and into the house. What an exciting moment it was when the lights came on for the first time! I and Barbara ran from room to room checking out every light, flicking the light switches on and off.
When I moved to the country with my family, I no longer could attend the school to which I had gone for my first year. My new school was a one-room school house that was built at the top of a steep hill. At that time there were one-room schools all over the country and the maximum distance a student had to walk was two miles to get to school. It was almost a mile walk from our house, a long walk for a child. Occasionally I was driven to school if the weather was extreme. At first my mother walked with me, but eventually I walked alone until Barbara was old enough to go to school. My mother could see me from a window almost all the way.
Once a month my parents met with other parents at the school house for a potluck supper and a meeting to discuss school needs and affairs, the equivalent of a modern-day School Board Meeting. There was no electricity in the school when we first moved to the country,
just kerosene lamps like we had at home. The flames from the lamps created a golden glow in the school room.
If there was no moon, it was pitch black outside where we children played tag and hide-and-seek as best we could. Being together with friends outside of a school day was a special time because many of us only saw each other at school. It was in that dark outdoors where I felt the first twangs on my heartstrings. A boy in my class, whom I secretly considered as my boyfriend, would sneak a quick kiss on my cheek, if he could catch me standing still long enough. Those kisses opened a tiny crack in the place where love is experienced, and only years later would that door be fully opened, only to be violently slammed shut again.
CHAPTER 2
Life on the farm was a big change, but a good one. We children had only each other with whom to play, which resulted in our being very close. My family would often take a picnic lunch out to a pond that was nestled in a valley near the house, and we would sometimes spend the whole afternoon paddling around in the water, enjoying the warmth of the sunshine and our leisure time together. My father patiently taught me and Barbara to dog paddle, and soon we were swimming all over, while our little brother watched from the edge, often trying to venture deeper, but being carefully watched by our mother. Our father would let us take turns riding around in the water on his back. Sometimes we would stay at the pond and watch the sun go down. However, we were vehemently told to never go in the water without our parents being with us. Unfortunately, my sister and I disobeyed this order and caused a near tragedy.
One hot, lazy summer day Barbara and I decided we wanted to go out to the pond by ourselves, so I went in the house to ask permission to do this, “Mom, may Barbara and I go to the pond to see if there are any ducks swimming around in the water? We know you don’t want us to go swimming, and we won’t. Please, may we go?”
My mother considered my request for a minute then answered, “I guess you may go, but remember to obey the no-swimming rule. Don’t stay too long.”
We went skipping through the pasture towards the pond, anticipating an enjoyable afternoon. When we came upon the pond, the diamond-like sparkles created by the sun on the surface of the water made the pond look very inviting. We thought we would just put our toes in the water, although we knew we shouldn’t do even that. With our hands entwined, we gradually crept ever deeper into the cool liquid that was lapping at our ankles, the mud on the bottom squishing between our toes. All of a sudden Barbara’s feet slid on the slippery mud bottom, and she lost her footing. The slope was steeper than we expected and she quickly disappeared under the water. Her grip of my hand tightened when she fell, pulling me down into the water. Then suddenly I realized Barbara no longer was holding onto my hand. I frantically searched for her, all the while fighting to keep my head above the water.
At first I could not find her, but after feeling all around, my hand felt her shirt. I grabbed it and clung as tightly as I could. She began fighting me, which caused me to lose my hold on her shirt. I held my breath and went under the water with my eyes open. I could see her lying on the bottom, now very still. I wound my fingers in her hair and struggled to stand upright. Then, with all the strength I could muster, I pulled her limp body to shore.
“Breathe, Barbara, breathe,” I screamed at my sister. I frantically shook her and slapped her cheeks, but she remained unresponsive. “What should I do? Should I leave you and go for help; should I keep working with you? Barbara, please wake up.” I grabbed her shoulders and shook her as hard as I could. Suddenly she started to cough and fight for air. After struggling for what seemed a long time, her breathing became normal and her eyes opened. I collapsed on the ground beside her, my entire body trembling.
“What happened?” Barbara asked, her voice barely audible.
“You nearly drowned, is what happened. You fell and went under the water and let loose of my hand. It took me a while to find you. I’ve never been so scared in my life. That’s what we get for disobeying our mother by going into the water alone when we know we have been told over and over to never do that. Mom will know we were in the lake when we come in with wet clothes. We are going to be in big trouble.”
“I was really scared when I fell under the water and my feet kept slipping on the muddy bottom when I tried to stand. I couldn’t get my breath, and then you let go of me. All of a sudden everything went black.”
“I didn’t let go of you,” I shouted. “You let go of me. I couldn’t find you at first, and then I got hold of your shirt, but you were fighting me so much that you got away. Finally I was able to grab your hair and pull you to shore. Luckily we’re both okay now. Let’s sit here in the sun and let our clothes dry.”
Barbara stretched out on her back and let the sunshine cover the full length of her body. “We often spend time out her watching the ducks and listening to the birds. If our clothes are dry when we go in, Mom will think that’s what we’ve been doing. We do have to promise ourselves that we will never go into the water alone again. It might be you, Marcie, who nearly drowns the next time, and maybe I won’t be as successful as you were.”
We were thankful that our afternoon escapade did not end tragically and that we were both able to eventually walk back to the house and look forward to more warm sunny days, having learned our lesson about obeying our mother.
One of our favorite pastimes was sliding on the chicken house roof, where we would spend hours, often wearing out our shoes in the process. We would climb to the peak of the roof, stand straight and zoom down the sloped roof onto a flat one, which broke our decent. Our mother would glance out a window every so often to make sure we were safe.
Hanging from a high limb on a tree was a long rope swing, and because it was
