More back roads to the front of my mind
Sitting on the knoll overlooking the scene of his youth, the old man leans heavily into the split rail fence post of a decorative corner in what was once a field of wheat to his left (East) and the fields leading to the Corner House to the west, It hasn't been that long a walk from the parking lot but speed is not the purpose of this visit. Memories are! A little to his left and somewhat behind lies the home of his great grand parents...called by the family the "Big House". He never did get an explanation from his father or grand father for the reason of such a name. Other than it was the original home of the family and Big House just seemed appropriate as a sign of respect for those who lived there. That was the home of the first "Francis" and the one who was the secretary of Agriculture. The family is now up to Francis the fifth. [Poor kid]
Picking peonies for the table and not market. Otherwise, why the neck tie.
He did remember having to deal with those folks on one occasion, probably on the event of the birth of his sister. For some reason he recalled that he was exiled to spending the night with them in the Big House. Those folks were seventy years beyond dealing with someone his age, he thought. They just didn't understand that it took time to get from one end of the farm to the other and would hence make him late for dinner. As punishment he had to eat cold cereal without milk for dinner. That he can remember, but not the folks that perpetrated such a sentence. His answer to this was to run to his grandmother's and explain his lack of nourishment. Upon which she cooked a full course meal for him before he had to return to the old folks to spend a fitful night.
He chuckled at the apparent competition between his grandmother and the older folks. She [Anna] was a round lady with grey hair most of the time pulled into a bun in back. Grandfather [Paul] he recalled, was a tall figure in a Lincolnesque sort of way. These were all no-nonsense people. In fact, grandfather's middle name was Lincoln, leading all of us next generationers to claim some sort of relationship to the famous president.
His mother Jeanne was a very tolerant woman, but there was also some competition there with grandmother as well. It's seems to him that grandmother was the center of more than a few squabbles with her in laws. But to the old man, she was the go to person when he was in trouble or needed something. All of which brought back memories of a near death experience he had with grandfather.
They bought Studebaker vehicles for family use and one day he went with Paul on a trip to West Chester on some mission or other. Now Studebaker's were made with doors in the back seat that opened reverse to how they are made today. In other words when they were opened in a moving vehicle they caught the wind and were pushed open harder, faster and further than expected because of said wind. The boy had seen his father or grandfather open a door when moving slowly and pull it closed to make sure the latch was firmly caught. Never a problem. Shaking his head and trying to reason the reasoning of a nine year old, the old man laughed out loud and said...."How'd I make it this far?"
As they sped along U.S. route one on their trip, one of the back doors shook, obviously not closed tightly. Doing what he saw his mentors do many times, the boy open a back door hoping to close it tightly. Of course he had no idea they were speeding along at 40mph. Well, long story short he recalled telling his parents and grandmother..."the wind caught the door and I played Superman, flying out of the car to save Metropolis!" They picked stones and cinders out of his body for weeks as his entire front took the brunt of the flight from car to roadside. Grandfather had no idea what happened and had to be pulled over a half mile ahead by another driver. Superman?
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