My Family: Chapter 48

My cousin Sue’s house had a straight line floor plan; you could come in the front door go through the living room, continue to walk into the kitchen and out the back door. There were two bedrooms; one off of the kitchen and the other off of the living room. The first night alone in the house, I locked both the front and back doors before we went to bed. I decided we would sleep in

Alma Poodie Dillo age 15

Sue and Bascom’s bedroom because the twins and I could sleep together in their bed while Sharon slept in her cradle. That first night, I got up in the middle of the night because I was cold. The twins were still asleep, so I got up out of bed and went into the living room to find out why I could hear the wind whistling in the house. Both doors were standing wide open, perplexed I closed the doors and locked them. I thought maybe I had forgotten to lock them the first time and the wind blew them open. The next day no one came up the mountain to see us. That night, I made sure the doors were locked before we went to bed, but the same thing happened again. I woke to both doors standing wide open but this time I knew I had locked the doors. I woke the twins and asked which one had open the doors, they both said they hadn’t done it. Someone must have opened the doors and I knew it hadn’t been either me or the baby. I was angry with the twins for lying to me. I once again locked the doors and put everyone back to bed.

The third night, I locked the doors and put Sharon in the big bed with us so we could all be together. This way I wouldn't have to get out of bed to give her a bottle. The bed was pushed up against one of the bedroom walls. To make sure no one rolled on top of her I laid Sharon between the wall and myself.

In the middle of the night, I woke to Sharon screaming but I couldn't find her. I searched all over the bed, I even woke the twins to help me. We still heard Sharon crying at the top of her lungs but we couldn’t find her anywhere. An idea popped into my head, I grabbed the covers and pulled them away from the wall. There she was stuck half way down between the wall and the bed!

Because she was so upset I gave her a bottle to quiet her, that’s when I realized both doors were wide open again. Exasperated, I got out of bed and locked them. I then yelled at the twins for opening them and explained the dangers,  some wild animal could have walked into the house and killed us all.  Because I didn’t want to lose her again, I put Sharon back in her cradle for the rest of the night. The twins were crying and still denying that they opened the doors. I went back to bed wishing someone would come and stay with us.

The fourth day we had no food in the house, all we had were the beans which had spilled out of the bags and never cleaned up. I was scooping up the last of them into my hand when I heard something out on the back porch.  I saw through the kitchen window, a strange man standing at the rail. I picked up the rifle from the kitchen corner, took the safety off, opened up the door, and aimed it at him. Then I asked what he was doing up on our mountain. He held up both hands, in one of them was a clip board. He explained he was only there to read the electric meter. I never heard of such a thing and asked him what it was. He pointed to the meter and explained why he was doing it. I told him to be quick about it and get himself down off of our mountain. I watched him through the window until he finished and made his way off the mountain.  That night I didn't wake up at all, I wearily just closed the doors the next morning. It had become normal for them to be unlocked and standing open.

The next day, we were rescued when Bascom sent two of his sisters to take us to his parent’s house. One of them said Bascom knew we probably ran out of food. We walked all the way to Collins Creek about three miles with his sisters. As we walked, they wanted to gossip about Sue (which she had previously warned me about) and kept asking me questions about her. It was the longest three miles ever. I stayed with Bascom's parents for two days where I helped his mother peel peaches for canning and had a pillow fight with his brothers; one was my age and the other was two years younger. Bascom had an older brother as well and he drove me to my Aunt Belvia’s house in Logan.