Whet the Appetite
An Oasis in the Storm
An Oasis in the Storm
An Oasis in the Storm
"I stopped at the top of the hill and stared straight ahead, across the grove of trees on the deep slope where I’d spent so many days on the old bag swing. Is it still there? Then I saw it, secure if tattered, hanging from those long thick ropes. I cherished the memories of the days of innocence.
I turned left and heard the gray gravel
"I stopped at the top of the hill and stared straight ahead, across the grove of trees on the deep slope where I’d spent so many days on the old bag swing. Is it still there? Then I saw it, secure if tattered, hanging from those long thick ropes. I cherished the memories of the days of innocence.
I turned left and heard the gray gravel crunch under the tires as I inched slowly to my grandparents’ place on the steep decline of the dead-end street. My ’66 VW Bug leaned sharply to the right as I parked in front of the house next door.
There it sat, not a grand mansion like those just over the hill, the modest 1400-square-foot split-level pier and beam: 3412 I Street, the comforting oasis from the storm of my confusion."
The Saga Begins
An Oasis in the Storm
An Oasis in the Storm
"It had been an amazing day!
I held my little brother Bill in my lap as we bumped along home in our wagon, his eyes half shut. Lost in my thoughts and dreams, I quietly reveled in everything about my first hoggin’ day.
Until in the distance, rising above the foggy moonlit silhouette of our house, Papa saw smoke. He yanked on the reins and t
"It had been an amazing day!
I held my little brother Bill in my lap as we bumped along home in our wagon, his eyes half shut. Lost in my thoughts and dreams, I quietly reveled in everything about my first hoggin’ day.
Until in the distance, rising above the foggy moonlit silhouette of our house, Papa saw smoke. He yanked on the reins and the mare took off. We got closer and suddenly my otherwise quiet and soft-spoken Papa yelled, “FIRE! Claude, run NOW over to Mr. Johnson’s and tell him our place is on fire. Hurry! . . . I ran past Mama clutching Rachel in her arms, well back from the house as I arrived, with Li’l Bill and my two other sisters hugging her dress. The heat was intense. And the smoke."
After Many Trials
An Oasis in the Storm
After Many Trials
“Wow, I’m so sorry to hear that, Claude. It sounds like things were going well for you only to have a major setback, once again, I sadly remember,” Lewis said.
“Yes, but that’s the way it is. I must live with it and find a way to pick up the pieces. In fact, that’s what made me stop by. I drove by the old store, the one up the road where C
“Wow, I’m so sorry to hear that, Claude. It sounds like things were going well for you only to have a major setback, once again, I sadly remember,” Lewis said.
“Yes, but that’s the way it is. I must live with it and find a way to pick up the pieces. In fact, that’s what made me stop by. I drove by the old store, the one up the road where Charles worked so long ago, and noticed it was closed and boarded up. Any chance you’d like to open it up again? I mean, not that you’d like to, but would you be willing to let me get it back in shape and open it again? I think running the old store would allow me time to . . . make a living, and have a place for Helen, me and our two youngest in the living quarters. It’d bridge me over for the next few years before I qualify for Mr. Roosevelt’s Social Security. What do you think Lewis? Think such a wild idea might work for you?”