Chapter 23

Once again, I was surprised at the attendance to the visitation and funeral. What was even more surprising was that even with the snow coming down, at least thirty cars and trucks full of people came out to the mountain gravesite. In the blowing snow and freezing cold, Harold quickly said his prayer and the cemetery people lowered the casket.

Mom made the mistake of telling the women they could come in to use the bathroom, and I think there easily were fifty people visiting in the house at the same time. The longer people stayed to warm up in front of the fire the more coffee Mom made, and she even whipped up a huge batch of cookies in the new stove.

All of the women were all over little John, with Millie full of pride showing off our baby. The men were offered and sampled some of our wine. It was too bad that I didn't have some of the new wine out, since the stuff they drank was some of my private stock.

Byron was able to settle up with the funeral home and cemetery men, and wanted to know how much he owed me for everything else. I shook his hand and thanked him for taking care of Eliza during the past couple of years.

Thank goodness this was farm country, as people began leaving to do evening chores. When the only people remaining were Harold, Martha, Ezra, Byron and his wife, along with Jimmy and Jet, who came with the backhoe to fill the grave, Mom pulled a ham from the spring house. She then warmed up some sweet potatoes and home canned peas to go along with it. Everyone ate while thinking of the lady who was now back on the mountain. Actually, it was more her mountain than mine. At that thought, I felt her presence. There were a lot of souls up here.

After eating, Byron said, "I'm not going to try to make it back to Lexington tonight. We made reservations at the Starlight Motel. Can you believe that lady was telling us to come have a swim in their heated pool? It's got to be twenty degrees in town, and it's snowing there too. Sure, we'll go swimming. Riiiight."

Harold was moving toward the pile of coats on the boot bench, "We need to go, as I have to make sure I'm ready for you in the morning. Just because you have an infant doesn't mean that you don't still need to visit with me on Sunday."

Martha informed us, "Bring the baby and sit in the back. If he gets fussy, take him into the baby room. It has a big window so you can see, and speakers so that you can listen to Harold go on, and on, and on, and on."

"Enough from you, you preacher's wife. I expect better obedience and reverence, my sweet."

"Sure, Harold," Martha said, rolling her eyes, "As soon as you get your sermon down to fifteen minutes max, I'll be applauding and revering all right. Come on, smoking tongue; let's go home to give it a rest."

We all had to laugh at the banter between the preacher and his wife.

The snow was coming down really hard while we did our chores. By the time we finished milking and feeding the outside animals, we decided to get them under the lean-to on the barn. The snow was getting really deep. We let the young buck into the lean-to area to share the warmth of the other animals. That deer was smart and constantly stayed near the steer.

Inside the house, we watched as the weather became more intense. The television channels all said that the higher elevations might receive up to eight inches, but we already had over a foot.

I called Jimmy, "You might want to get out early tonight. We're over a foot of snow now, and who knows what has fallen on the north side of the county. Call me if you need a driver."

Jimmy said, "With nine of us here, if we need a driver, I'm going to get rid of a bunch of men."

"Don't be hard on the guys, Jimmy. They have been Johnny on the spot so far, so let them show you what they can do. The snow is supposed to continue through tonight and all day tomorrow. Do as much as you can, but see if you can keep the hard roads clear. We'll work on the secondary roads tomorrow."

Knowing that I might be needed to help tomorrow, I turned in as early as possible. Little John woke us up once, and I was able to watch as the little man sucked and sucked until he finally fell asleep. His mother smiled the entire time. As we snuggled down after putting John in his bed, Millie said, "Thank you, Mike. These are the most precious moments of my life. When I had Summer, I was too young to know how important it is to have a baby. Little John means so much to me and to us. I love you, Mike, and if I'm able, I want another. Please humor me, Mike. This baby is really special to me."

What do you say to your wife when she tells you these things? You don't say a word. You kiss her neck and hug her to you as you both drift off to sleep.

Chores the next morning were done by wading through over a foot and a half of snow. Mom and I were able to get the cows milked and the others fed before the ladies from below were able to come up the hill. Mom hurried them inside and gave them coffee, then began preparing breakfast as I finished by picking up the eggs and feeding the chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys. Ah yes, turkeys, and it is just about Thanksgiving.

The ladies ate with us and Mom told them to wait a minute and she would run them home in her SUV.

I asked Millie and Mom if they thought we should try for church with almost two feet of snow. "You know there is going to be some big drifts out there. What do you think?"

Millie said, "I want to take our baby to church his first Sunday, regardless of the weather. This is too important to worry about how deep the snow is. We'll take my truck, it has the big blade in front and you can push the snow out of the way if there is a bad drift."

We quickly dressed and decided to get an early start. The extra snow wasn't that much of a problem, and Mom suggested that I plow the snow off the drive to Ben's place so the Latinos could get to church if they wanted.

Going down the mountain was tricky, and when we reached the widow Fletcher's, Mom called her. I couldn't hear the whole conversation, but it sounded like she said, "Teddy and I won't be going to church this morning."

Mom chuckled as she hung up on the call.

At the church, I let the ladies out, and then used the plow on Millie's truck to clear the parking lot. It was getting close to time for the bible class when I finished, so I parked and went in, stomping the snow off my shoes.

There weren't very many people in the adult bible class. Harold sat with us and said, "We don't know what kind of weather they had in the days Jesus was learning from the elders, but some of them had to be like this. That you are here to learn is important, as I have the calling to teach. I'm not supposed to be a preacher; I'm supposed to be a teacher. I'm supposed to help you interpret the Bible as it is understood by the scholars that care. Help me; pray with me."

There was perfect quiet. "Heavenly Father, help us to learn what is right and what is wrong from your book and teachings. You have given us many conflicting thoughts and ideas of what you want, but you keep letting us interpret them for ourselves. Help us to understand what you want to tell us."

Harold didn't say anything else, but waited until almost everyone raised their head and looked at him. He smiled and said a simple, "Amen".

The man stood in front of us and said, "I always want to teach you what I am supposed to. Sometimes, I don't understand everything that I'm supposed to teach. I don't have a phone I can pick up and say, 'God, what do you mean when you had those men write this?' I mean I wonder what he really meant. Of course, God doesn't answer in words that are spoken directly to me, but often when I'm preparing a sermon, my fingers are taken over by someone else. I'm sure I'm being directed to tell you something. This morning, I'm telling you that I'm told to tell you, 'Thank you for coming to our house of worship to hear his word through me.' You see, that is what I hear and what I bring to you today. I'm going to say the exact same thing in my quick sermon today. Please help those who need your and our help. Please take care of our elderly and needy. Let's have some coffee and attend the service in fifteen minutes."

True to his word, Harold's sermon was about the same as his class. He kept appealing to us to keep reading the Bible and to keep giving our interpretations as all of them were important to mix together to get the real answer. He emphasized to everyone present that being a good person, thinking good thoughts for others, and helping those in need were what make mankind good.

The whole service wasn't more than thirty minutes, but it did ring home.

Little John was quiet the entire service and remained that way most of the way home. Harold and Martha joined us for dinner, and brought a lot of laughter with them. They needed us to lighten them up, and we needed them for our balance. Ezra was the strange one. He had attended church with us, but was always just sitting, listening, and watching to see what we did and said.

He joined in the conversation and spoke to Harold. "You know that I lost my faith in God when my Rachel passed. There was no good reason for her to be taken by that horrible disease. I wondered at the compassion of God if he could let a good woman like that suffer as much as she did. I still don't understand why, Harold, but between these people and you, I'm understanding how important what you told us today is to all who listen and follow those ideals. I do think good thoughts for those that are needy. When I can, I help out as much as possible. I've always tried to live my life as a friend, a good neighbor, and man who cares for his fellow man or woman. Life has given me Mike and his family to give my life a new meaning. Before Mike, I was waiting to die. Now, I can't wait for the next day. Harold, I may not be the Bible thumper you'd like, but I'm there with you in the way you taught today."

"Thank you, Ezra. I don't believe you absolutely have to read the Bible or be a Bible thumper, as you say, to be a good person. Those good thoughts are what make you a good person. Thanks for coming to be with us on Sunday. I know Bea has a lot to do with you coming, but you are there and listening. That's the important part."

Martha elbowed Harold in a way to lighten the conversation, "See, motor mouth, a short sermon has meant more than one of your long winded tirades that has most of the older men snoring. Keep it up, Preach, you'll get a lot of praise for that."

All of us had a laugh at that.

I asked the ladies, "Can you make up a couple dozen sandwiches and a couple thermoses of coffee? I want to go find the guys and give them something to eat. I'm sure they are smart enough to get something, but they are going to keep going and going while trying to get the roads clear, and won't stop like they should."

The ladies made sandwiches from the huge roast we had enjoyed. With a basket full of sandwiches and three thermoses full of coffee, I took Millie's truck to hunt Jimmy down first, then to be directed where the other eight were.

I called Jimmy and he was on the main road to Pine Ridge. He told me to meet him at the county line turnaround, as he was almost there. Although the snow was still coming down hard, the pass Jimmy just made while spreading salt on the road, had the one lane clear.

The big truck with the flashing strobe was sitting in the cleared area the men used for a turnaround. What was bad was that where our responsibility ended going toward Pine Ridge, there had to be two feet of snow on the road. There was no way a car could get through that. A high pickup with four wheel drive might, but even that would be risky.

Jimmy was happy to see me and offered, "I'd bet you could run for road commissioner over there and get it, Mike. This is our second trip through the state roads to make sure we keep them clear. We have Stanton pretty clean, except where people have left their cars on the street. We've tried to keep from burying them, but the people are going to have to dig them out to move them."

Jimmy wolfed down two sandwiches and enjoyed a hot cup of coffee. He told me that he and the men had knocked off around midnight last night and began again at five. He said he thought most everyone in the county was staying in, except the few who wanted to go to church and a few who needed something at the store. I told him that I wanted to find the other men to give them a break, too. Jimmy wrote down a list of the other eight cell numbers, as he said that the radio doesn't always work well enough to depend on. He also marked where each of the guys was working on my county map. I told him I would head for the farthest and work backward.

It took over two hours to hook up with the other eight guys. Thank goodness the county isn't that big, and that all of the men had cell phones. I decided to ask Maude if I should pick up some of the cost for them. When I had given the last man something to eat and drink, the snow appeared to be slowing down.

On the way up the mountain, half the road was very clear and I met a big truck plowing snow off the road about halfway up. I cleared Ben's drive but found mine clear all the way to the house with the parking area cleared as well. The only vehicle out was Ezra's and it was shoveled out around it. The walk to the house and to the barn had been shoveled.

I brought the basket and thermoses to the house and stood on the door rug to tell the ladies I would do chores. Mom smiled at me and said, "Rosita and Carmen already came up and helped us do them. They really appreciated that you cleared their drive for them. It could use another pass now, though."

"I just made a pass up and down, Mom. I pushed the snow off to the side in their parking area. Now who was the good Samaritan that shoveled the snow off the walks?"

Millie was holding John and told me, "Doroteo came up to check on the wine and shoveled snow for an hour or so. I think he used that as an excuse to have a couple of more glasses of wine. He brought in some of the new wine for you to taste. He said that he had promoted fermentation of some so you could sell it early. He also brought some of what he called grappa brandy. He said that it is really good, but a little strong."

I hung my coat and sat to take my boots off. Mom said, "Ezra helped me clean the floors after all of the people were here yesterday. I think that's the first time the floors have really been so dirty. I'm glad you learned from the time you could walk to take your shoes off when you come in the house. It sure helps the floors and keeps the house clean."

"You know, Mike," Ezra said, from a rocking chair, "The weather this winter is going to keep us from finishing the two local paths. The wire crew isn't working at all, as they say it's too cold. I'd like to take a week off before Thanksgiving and take Bea to Chicago. She says that it's dumb to go up there in this cold, and wants to go to either New Orleans or Key West, Florida. I'm not sure about flying on no airplane. She says it's no big deal, but..." Ezra left what he was saying hanging a minute.

"Hell, I'll tell it like it is. I'm damned afraid to fly. That is scary to even think about, but Bea says it's no big deal. She told me she'll get me half plowed before we go and I'll be fine. I'm not sure though. You've flown all over the world, aren't you afraid?"

"I was terrified for the first fifteen minutes the first time I flew, but I kept seeing all of those people reading and drinking coffee or a drink and realized that the men flying the airplane didn't want anything bad to happen either. The hostesses were very kind and I kind of enjoyed looking out the window after changing seats with another man. I got a little funny feeling when I flew over the Atlantic or the Pacific, as we're flying about seven or eight miles high over all of that water. It made me practice swimming a lot more whenever I could."

"Put like that, Mike, it might not be that bad, but I think I'll have a little something before I get on the airplane just to settle the nerves."

Mom told me, "While I'm gone, little Marita is going to stay up here to help Millie with the baby. She's not married and isn't interested in the men at the place down there. I really like her and she does speak English very well. She's the little Mayan girl that I told you was coming. Her sister took off for Cincinnati for a nanny position, but Marita would rather live in the country. She loves it up here on the mountain."

Millie was rocking the baby and said, "I really don't need help. I can take care of the house and my men without help. I'll have to watch Marita with my handsome husband though. She is a little cutie, so she might be a temptation for Mike."

I laughed, "My goodness, this little girl that I haven't met yet has gone from a sweet little Mayan princess to a cute little temptress in thirty seconds flat. I suppose I'd better lock our bedroom door at night."

Mom giggled and said, "Don't do that, or it'll get too cold in that end of the house. She'll be coming into your room to share the bed to keep warm."

Ezra was looking back and forth between Mom and Millie, trying to get a feel for whether they were just teasing or saying something else. I winked at the man to let him know the ladies were just teasing. At least I hoped so.

Mom told us, "She has a really strange Mayan or Aztec name that means 'little woman' but I can't pronounce it. I'm sure she'll tell us a lot about the Mayan culture."

"So, Mom, when are you guys going to go to wherever it is you and Ezra want to go?" I wondered if she had already made reservations.

She looked at Ezra, "Will you agree to go south for a week? I think Key West would be beautiful this time of year. Wouldn't you like to sit under the palm trees out on a sandy beach, and look at the sexy young ladies in T-back swimsuits?"

Ezra grunted, meaning he didn't know how to answer, so he grunted to stay safe. The women could take his answer as anything they wanted, without him risking the wrong answer. He was going to have to lighten up around Mom. She was always the prankster, the one who would tease you into doing things against your nature.

Mom said, "Well, I guess that means we're going to Key West. Let me use the Internet and check on flights and hotels. They probably have a package from around here or Cincinnati, maybe even Lexington, since there will probably have to be a connection anyway. It sure was easier and cheaper before Delta pulled out of Cincinnati and left that big airport mostly empty."

Mom wiggled her finger for Ezra to follow her into the office and the two disappeared.

I sat with Millie, and when she said it was time to feed John, I said, "Okay, you need to show me how to change his diaper so I can help you out. I may not do it all the time, but I should know how."

Millie showed me how to do it, wiping him off to get him clean, then picking his feet up and sliding the diaper under him. She said, "These paper diapers are really good because you don't have to use safety pins. They have these tabs that have glue on them. It makes them easy to put on."

I asked, "What are you doing with the diapers you are taking off, the dirty ones?"

"Your mom has a big garbage can on the porch outside that we will have to burn when you burn trash. I know you take the cans and bottles to town, but burn the trash that you can. Your mom says these will burn with the other trash."

"I need a deeper hole to burn trash in. I think I'll dig a deeper hole and put some of those concrete blocks around it. If I make it deep enough, I can put a piece of wide rat wire over it keep the sparks from flying off. This will give me a reason to do that." Thinking about it, I realized that if I was careful putting in the concrete blocks and knocked some holes in their sides near the bottom they would act as flues to get air to the bottom of the pit for complete combustion, so I wouldn't have to scoop out unburned trash along with the ashes.