A Fable21:09 Nov 17 2019
Times Read: 415
The wind whips and shakes the old farm house, causing the old stairs to creak and the windows to shake. If you never had been in the farm house during a Nor’easter, you might think it was haunted. Well, it is haunted, but that is neither here nor there. The fact is the winds are so strong that is causing the entire house to stir and the foundation to rock.
I’ve lived her for the past 60 years, grew up here with my grandpa and grandma. My mother was a drug user, heroin was her drug of choice. She never could say no. The state tried to take custody of me after my mom over dosed, but my battle axe of a grandma wasn’t having any of that. The state argued my grandparents were unfit to raise me. Something about they failed at raising my mom, and didn’t possess the skill sets to keep me on the path of righteousness. All that crazy talk of the evangelistic ministry.
My grandma, Ethel, was a devote Christian, but not a whack job. She never made me go to church growing up, but she did make me read the bible, and taught me to treat others with kindness and respect. She always said, do on to others, as you’d have done onto you. And for my entire life, I lived my life like that. It didn’t always work out as I had hope, but I always felt that I wasn’t the one to blame when something went horrible wrong.
Walter and Ethel died in a car accident in 1980, when the floods from the hurricane breached the levy. They were trying to reach Olga and Igor, and bring them to safety since they lived right on the waterway, and unfortunately, without notice, the hurricane took a turn for the worse and they all succumbed to the rise in water. They didn’t stand a chance, is what the local sheriff told me, once everything subsided and the search for survivors took place.
After that, I became a reclose, so much so, that the property, which rested on 10 acres of undeveloped land, started to look like wild animal reservations. The road leading to the house had turned into an overgrown mess of trees, vines, and debris. But I had made a path, for my pickup truck to make passage. That’s all that matter, or at least I thought.
Surprisingly I still had a landline at the house, Ethel and Walter were stubborn about that. They drilled it my head, the necessity of a land line. In case of an emergency, you must have a landline. So, when they passed, I kept it, and made sure it was paid on time to make sure there was no issues with it. Everything else, water, sewer, garbage, well they weren’t as important in my minds eye, and I let them go, now and again, until I got the final notice and then I’d send in the payment and any late fees.
Why should I really care? I am 60 years old, never married, live by myself, I know how to hunt, I can live off the land, and take care of myself. Nothing really does matter. My only family is dead, as far as I know. So, in the grand scheme of things, none of it really matters, except the land line.
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The wind is whipping, the house is making all the creepy sounds, the trees are creaking outside, looking like they may break off limbs at any second. I take inventory of the trees, trying to determine if any of them pose a threat to the house. I am careless in so ways, as I was taking inventory to see if I should go outside and try to cut off limbs that may come crashing down on the house.
Not noting any near dangers, I sit in my rocking chair with my whiskey neat and take a sip. It’s going to be a long night of crazy noises and high winds. But I’ve lived through worse storms and I’ll make it through this one, I have plenty of whiskey to get me through.
As I am relaxing, and getting settled into my chair, the phone rings. It startles me, who the hell is calling me at this hour during the middle of a treacherous storm? I slowly get up and move towards the phone in the kitchen.
“Hello,” I say, as I pick up the receiver. “This is Clare Smithfield, I’ve been doing some work on Ancestory.com, is this Joseph Health?” I stand with the receiver up to my face, and roll my eyes. This has to be a joke, how the hell did this person get my phone number? It is private. What could they possibly want with me?
“Yes, this Joseph,” I reply back. “Great, I was connecting my ancestors and you came up as an uncle of mine. Do you know who Jason Settle is?” I think to myself, not a fucking clue. Grandma and Grandpa only had my mom, as far as I know, and they were only children, as far as I knew, so how could I be an uncle to anyone? “I am really sorry, I think there is a mix up, my family is full of only children, and I don’t have any aunts or uncles or cousins.”
There was a pause on the phone, awkward, to say the least. Then Clare started talking like a rabid dog. I was turned off and quite frankly I was bored already. I am not interested in learning more about possible family relations nor am I am interested in learning more about Clare. Then Clare says “Ethel and Walter died in a car accident, their blood was sent into a registry, it matched an adopted child, who is your Uncle. He lived in California, he had five children, I am one of those kids. You are my cousin.”
Now I was getting pissed. Was she looking to try to claim ownership of the house and the land? What did she want for me? Had I just cancelled this land line; she would never had found me. Note to self, cancel land line after you hang up the phone. You’ll never need it again, even if you have an emergency, who cares.
“Okay, what do you want from me?” Bluntly I said. “I’d like to visit you and get to know you more a about my grandparents.” Oh no, hell no, she is not coming to my home or anywhere near me and I am not telling her anything about Ethel or Walter, she must be out of her mind! “Oh, well, perhaps in three years, I am going on a pilgrimage to the holy land. Why don’t you give me your number and when I am back, I will call you and set something up?”
Bang, crash, boom. A tree came through the roof and front windows. “I have to go now, we are in the middle of a horrific storm, and a tree has come into the house. I will call you back when I return to the United States.”
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The damage wasn’t too bad, just required some tarps. But now you could feel the chill effect of the wind throughout the entire house. It was brutal. The storm was gaining power, and as irritated as I was with that call, I was more concerned if the ancient farm house would survive this storm.
With that, another tree toppled onto the roof taking off three quarters of the roof. Even as I jumped into action to put a tarp up, to keep the rain out, my actions were defeated by more trees crashing into the first floor of the house, and damaging windows and walls.
I started to wonder if I should call for help myself. Looking at the evil landline, the landline that I was terminating tomorrow morning, may have a purpose after all. As I started to walk over to it, and consoling myself that I was not a wimp, but a fighter who has put up the best fight possible, it happened. I heard it, the sound of silence followed by a continuous rumble and whooshing of air.
D-day was upon me, there was no escape. The sounds got louder, closer, the house began to shake, I heard the roof being taken off, I felt the power over come the rest of the house, and me. Before I knew it or processed it, I was flying in the air with reamendments of my home.
It was all over. Nothing remained. Not even the ghosts. If only had I not lied to Clare, and if I had treated her in a manner that was the same way I would want to be treated, would this have happened? I’ll never know.
COMMENTS
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Earthgrinder
21:57 Nov 17 2019
Nice