Stan Morris - Surviving the Fog

“Yum, yum,” Kylie exclaimed while rubbing her stomach.

Mary pointed to the water tower. “My husband’s idea was to try drip irrigation. We have about a thousand feet of black tubing. We never did used it though. Usually, we receive enough rain and snow during the year to dry farm our crops.”

She took them into the hen house and the rabbit hutch. “We have to remember to check their feed, so they don’t run out,” she warned the kids.

“That’s my job,” said Star proudly.

“Me too!” Comet added.

Then Mary showed them the corral and the barn with the attached solar room. The kids were surprised to see spinach and lettuce growing in the warm room.

“I thought you had cucumbers and tomatoes in here,” Kylie said.

“That was what I grew during the summer. I grow leafy vegetables in the winter time,” Mary explained.

“Why is the cow so fat?” Kevin asked.

“She is going to have a baby soon, that’s why,” said Mary. “After that she will give a lot of milk for awhile.”

“Will the other cow give milk, too?” Nathan asked.

“She’s about ready to breed, but I don’t know if we can find a bull now,” answered Mary. “If the calf is a bull then we can breed her in a couple of years.”

“Yuck, that would be her brother,” said Paige, wrinkling her nose.

“Yes, and that is definitely not the best combination,” Mary agreed. “But we may not have a choice.”

“If Hector and I could build another barn, this one could be converted into a house,” suggested Ralph, looking around thoughtfully.

“That is a good idea,” Mary replied, “I’ve been thinking that same thought because there are so many kids at that camp. It doesn’t have a bathroom though, so we would have to build an outhouse for it and maybe a cesspool. Maybe next spring, I’ll talk to Hector about converting this barn into apartments.”

Ralph looked at her. “You’re doing a really nice thing, taking us in. You didn’t have to do this.”

Mary smiled at him. “Yes,” she said simply. “I did. When you become a parent, you will understand why.”

“Mama, I’m hungry,” Comet announced. Mary showed them the storage sheds, and then they went back to the house.

Mary’s house had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large kitchen, a large family room, a cellar where she stored food, and an attic. The campers had brought two bunk beds for the younger kids and one of the counselor beds for Ralph. The twins shared Comet’s room. The girls shared Star’s room, and Ralph slept in the attic. Mary was quite embarrassed about that, but Ralph assured her that he was very comfortable upstairs. The staircase was narrow, and the attic was unfinished, but Mary’s husband had insulated it. The heat from downstairs rose and was trapped in the attic, making it warm and livable. The living room had a large flag stone fireplace and the kitchen had a cast iron pot bellied stove.

“I sure appreciate Hector bringing me those cords of firewood,” Mary said to Ralph. “I cut as much as I could this summer, but I still would have depended on the propane stove for heat by the end of winter, if he hadn’t delivered that wood.”

Everyone settled in as best as they could. At first the little ones were excited at the prospect of having someone to share their rooms with, but after a while they began to feel like their space was being usurped. It didn’t help that Ralph would yell at the other campers sometimes, order them around often, and generally act obnoxious when he talked to them. By the end of November, Mary was feeling very stressed. Finally she gathered them all together for a talk.

“Look, we have a long winter ahead of us,” she began. “We have to try to get along. We have to learn to make allowances for each other.

“Comet, Star, your rooms are these kids’ rooms too. You will just have to make room for some of their things. Nathan, Kevin, Comet is a lot younger than you, and he plays with the kinds of toys that little kids play with. I know it can be boring, but try to play with him the way that you used to play with your toys.

“Paige, Kylie, Star is a little girl. Don’t make fun of her dolls. Ralph, I appreciate the help you are giving me. Believe me, I do. And I appreciate that you think Nathan, Kevin, Paige, and Kylie need to help me with the chores around the house. It’s okay to point that out. It’s not okay to push them, or threaten them. If they don’t help as much as you wish, you are simply going to have to back off and let me deal with them.”

Mary soft manner of speaking and her soothing demeanor was effective somewhat, and the kids heeded her words.

Paige and Kylie felt guilty about laughing at Star’s dolls. One day, they handed Star a lovely handwritten note, inviting her and her dolls to a tea party. With Mary’s help, they took over the living room and held their tea party. Star dressed all of her dolls in their finest clothes, and she sat them around the coffee table on pails. Mary let Paige and Kylie dress up in some of her frilly dresses instead of their jeans. For the next hour they sat around the coffee table, pretending that they were at a tea party. Mary made real tea, and she served it in her most elegant coffee cups. Kylie and Paige made polite conversation with the dolls, and the dolls responded in Star’s squeaky high pitched voice. A good time was had by all. The boys thought the whole thing was silly, but they were banished to Comet’s room for the duration.

Meanwhile, Nathan and Kevin had agreed to play with Comet’s toys, especially his plastic logs, his model cars, and his action figures. Lying on the floor, pretending to be Spears, racecar drivers, and astronauts, they soon reverted to the children that they still were.

Mary’s real problem was Ralph, who appeared to be socially challenged in her mind. He sneered at the girls, he snarled at the boys, and he even grumbled at Mary. Once, they got into a shouting match. Sullenly he offered to move into the barn. Mary briefly considered it, and then she realized that she would be constantly worried about him, so she vetoed the idea. It was unfortunate that he has such a surly attitude, she thought. With his dark hair, grey eyes, and the shallow cleft in his strong chin, she considered him to be a very handsome, if dissatisfied, young man.

And yet, for all the trouble he caused, she could not be unhappy that he was staying with them. He was a tireless worker, and in a hundred different ways, he helped her cope with the struggle that was her life now. Ralph brought in firewood without being asked. The other boys would grouse if they were asked. Ralph helped her feed the horses and the cows. After the calf was born, he learned to attach the milking machine, and he learned how to milk the cow by hand, so that he was prepared for those days when the solar milking machine would not work. He watered the plants in the solar room. Once after dinner, when Mary was feeling so exhausted that she left the dishes and went to her room to take a short nap, she returned to discover that Ralph had washed and dried the dishes and was putting them away. If she asked the girls to do the same, she could count on hearing them whine.

And considering how difficult he was with the older boys, to her surprise he was kind to her children. He never talked down to them. He admired Star’s cartoon posters, and he told Comet stories at bedtime. Comet, especially, became attached to him.

She had to admit that the other kids did do some work. The girls would cheerfully help her clean the house, although they hated to do the dishes, and the boys faithfully fed the rabbits and gathered eggs when the snow was not too high to wade through. And they had all helped to harvest the potatoes, to blanch them, and to stow them in the insulated sheds or in the cellar.