Gone To The Country chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"Ephraim," said Big Al, "how is it that there's furniture still in this house?"

"Who would come all the way out here to buy anything? Besides, your Granddad wanted it left here. He hoped somebody would come back to live here again."

"There's beds," said Jenny Lou, as she came down the stairs. "With mattresses on them. They're old and stained, but we can sure use them."

"Let's bring everything out of the van and pickup," Big Al said. "It's getting late and we have a lot to do."

It took a few trips. Finally everything was in the house.

By now Edna and Jenny Lou had managed to cook a meal. With paper plates and plastic forks, it was all ready. Edna banged on a tin pan and shouted, "Come and get it, or we'll throw it away!"

It sure tasted good and everybody was hungry.

After they had finished, Edna turned and said: "Ephraim, where do you put the garbage?"

"Why, Edna, there's a barrel down by the creek. You put everything that'll burn in it, and that solves the problem. Any food you just throw out back in the yard, and some critter will eat it."

Ephraim led the way into the front room. There were wooden chairs, a table, a counter along one wall with cupboards above it, and a bench in front of the big window so you could sit and look out.

"What do you do when it gets dark?" Big Al asked. He was holding a little 5-inch battery powered TV, trying to find a station.

Ephraim went to a cupboard and took down a kerosene lamp. "This is what your Granddad used." He put it on the counter, took off the chimney, struck a match and lit it. Then he put the chimney back on, and turned the wick adjustment until it was burning just right. "Here's all the light you need. This lamp did Granddad proud."

By now Big Al had a picture on the TV. "It isn’t very clear," he said. "Must be these mountains. I sure miss cable."

"That's the price you pay for being out here," said Ephraim. "You'll learn to get along, if you stay here. It's a different world in these mountains."

By now it was late afternoon of their first day at Grandad’s farm.

"Wow," said Wanda, stretching her arms above her head. "I feel like the day after the night before. These late nights get me."

"Right," said Tiny, "let's hit the hay early. All that traveling last night was a real bummer."

"Well, folks," Ephraim said, "I got to get back to my hidey-hole. Be back early in the morning."

They walked to the door with him. The horse was contentedly munching grass on the hillside. Ephraim rode off, and they all headed for their beds.


The sun was just coming up as Edna came into the kitchen. She tried to build a fire in the stove as she had seen Ephraim do. She put the wood into the stove, and tried to light it. When the fire would not catch, she went to the van to get a can of gasoline. She sloshed some over the wood in the stove, then threw in a match.

"Whomp!"

Big Al was awakened by the sound of the explosion. He heard Edna scream. He ran downstairs, still in his underwear.

Smoke billowed from the kitchen. Edna stood in the middle of the floor, screaming and screaming. Her dress was on fire. The skin on her face was burned severely. Her eyebrows were burned off, and so was some of her hair.

Big Al grabbed the tablecloth. Spoons and forks and dishes went flying. He wrapped it around her, putting out the fire.

The others came running into the kitchen.

"Let me see her." Jenny Lou was a paramedic. "Al, we have to get her to the hospital," she said. "Where is the nearest hospital?"

Big Al studied a moment. "Elkins is the nearest. It's about two and a half hours away the way we would have to drive on these roads."

"Two and a half hours! That's too long. We've got to hurry! What can we do?"

Ephraim came through the door. They quickly explained what had happened.

There's a clinic on yonder side of that railroad tunnel. You could get there in twenty minutes or so. Get your van over here quick."

Big Al rushed across the footbridge with Ephraim following. He jumped in the van. Ephraim got in the passenger side.

"You can cross the creek just up there." Ephraim pointed the way.

"Here. Turn down here, close to that stump." Big Al drove down the bank and into the water. There were big rocks in the creekbed.

"Go to the right of that big rock. Don't get too far to the right! The bottom is soft over there."

The wheels spun for a moment, then caught, spun again. But finally they were across. The bank was soft and the wheels were spinning all the way up.

They loaded Edna into the van. Ephraim got in the front, and the others jumped in the back.

They drove across the fields, following the faint trail the horse had made caning and going.

"This tunnel is plenty wide. Here. Turn just here. Watch out for that ditch!"'

Big Al hit the brakes, then backed up and moved the van over a little. Finally they were in the tunnel. He switched on the headlights. Water dripped from the roof. The roadway was bumpy and uneven. The van scraped against stones sticking out of the wall. They had to stop twice to move stones to get the van through. It seemed to be taking a long time.

"Al, what's that up ahead?" asked Wanda. They could see a wooden barrier.

"That's a door," said Ephraim. Granddad built a shed over this end of the tunnel to hide it. Not many ever came back to this hollow. Nobody would look in the shed to find a tunnel."
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Big Al hopped out and started to open the door.

It was stuck.

Ephraim went through a smaller door at the side. He went around to unfasten the latch, then helped to pull the big door open.

After the van moved through, he closed the door and hopped back in.

"Follow that trail."

They drove through a thickly wooded area.

"Go left here. We will come out on the new road a mile or two from Branson's Grocery. We'll need to go to Parsons. The clinic is there.

They skidded to a stop at the clinic. Quickly they got Edna inside. The staff took over. Everything was under control again.

"Change those bandages every day," the Doctor said. "Put this on the burns. These are for pain. She really ought to be in the hospital a few days. But she should be all right if you take care of her. Keep a close watch."

When they reached the house, they put Edna to bed. Cherokee held her hand and tried to calm her down. Finally she went to sleep.

Jenny Lou and Wanda began cleaning up the kitchen. Tiny picked up the gasoline can and took it back to the van.

Ephraim built a fire for them.

"Watch close," he said to Jenny Lou and Wanda. "Don't ever try to start a fire with gasoline. Besides, you don't need it."

"You can count on us," said Jenny Lou.

They fixed lunch. But no one had much appetite.

"Al," said Cherokee, "this isn't turning out like I expected. Here we are out in the middle of nowhere. If Ephraim hadn't been here, Edna could have died."

"This was just a fluke. Things like that don't happen," said Big Al. "We're free here. Nobody to hassle us."

"Well, I don't know. Free is fine. Nobody to hassle us, yes, but nobody to help us either. Maybe this is too high a price to pay? Maybe we were better off where we were? I surely didn't know just how much we need other people."