A BB Gun and My Big Toe
Not too long after my encounter with Mr Hawley and his tomatoes, my mother left my father and took all four kids with her. Amazingly, although I have memories of my neighbors, I have absolutely no memories of my father. Maybe I psychologically suppressed them. I just don't know.
My mother's parents , my grandparents, lived and worked on a farm near the tiny village of LaBolt, South Dakota, which is about 30 miles north of Clear Lake. About 1/2 mile from them, stood an old, abandoned farm house, which became our new home.
The house had no paint, no electricity, no bathrooms, no water and no furnace. But in the kitchen stood an appliance which made living there possible...an old iron cook stove. This stove was used, to not only cook our food, but also, as a source of heat for the entire house. With winter temperatures sometimes getting as low as 30 degrees below zero, that stove was revered as if it were a family member.
When we moved to this house, I felt like I was in the perfect place. I didn't know that we were poverty-stricken. I didn't know that we had no income. All I knew was that I was free from any burden of interacting with people, other than my family, of course.
From as early as I can remember, I was always most comfortable when I was alone. I loved nature. I loved animals. But I soon learned that I had to tolerate people. It's not that I don't like people, it's just that I'm not good at interacting with them. Talking with anyone makes me uncomfortable. It's a flaw in my character, I suppose.
This old house we moved into, a broken down shack to most people, seemed like a palace to me. Mother had food on the table every day, and I had a comfortable bed to sleep in, even though I had to share it with my brother. We shared one bedroom upstairs, while my two sisters shared the second upstairs bedroom. Mother's bedroom was downstairs, along with the kitchen and a small living room. As a young 4 or 5 year old boy, everything I could ever want or need was right here. I was happy. I was content.
The house was a comforting place for me. It was a place to eat and sleep, but where I enjoyed life the most, was being outside and alone. For hours at a time I would study the grass, the trees, the insects, the birds, the little creek that wandered around the small hills adjacent to our house, frogs and all in nature which I could discover.
One warm and quiet day, as I was drawing figures in the dirt with a stick, I saw an old can that my brother had used for target practice with his Daisy, Red Ryder, Model 1936 BB gun.
Even though my brother had never let me use his BB gun before, he wasn't home at the time, and I was sure he wouldn't care if I shot a few BB's to see if I could hit the can. Not wanting to explain to Mother what I was going to do, I stealthily went upstairs, found the BB gun, and went back outside.
To be continued
My first post
My second post
My Life Begins - I Almost Killed My Mother!! #1
My Life - Neighbor & Tomato Plants #2