9-09-09 Part One

"It was back in two thousand and nine. I was a-sleepin' in my crazy silver camper when the thunder started at about half past two in the mornin'. I had just returned from a trip up to Virginia that night so I had pulled my little truck down into the yard to unload my belongins. Well I woke up and a-heard that thunder and after I downright squatted on the ground to do my business, I said to myself, 'I believe I'll move that little ole truck up.' So that's a-what I did. I moved that little ole truck up to the driveway, in case hit rained.
Well, the wrath of God was unleashed on that little ole holler just a few minutes later. I call it the wrath of God because, honey, that's a-what it felt like at the time. Neighbor Greg described it as 'Mother Nature got DRUNK last night!', and that is a downright funny way of lookin at it. But whatever you want to call it, that storm was fierce, son. First the thunder came. Then the hail. Then the rain started in, and just when I thought it was comin down just about as hard as it could, that sky ripped open and really let it loose. It was just about hailin' heads of decapitated horsemen, although neighbor Todd said that hail was just pieces of unicorns and mermaids, so I don't know how you want to look at it. Those balls of ice were a-poundin down like fast and furious hammers on that ole silver camper. I stepped outside to look and before I could say Dear God, that water came a-rushin down from the gorge. It rolled a poplar stump the size of 10 baby Jesuses all smushed together and it came a-crashin' into my front step. There was a river just a-raging through that holler. I thought to myself, if I don't want to float away I best take to higher ground.
So that is what I done. I put on my cowgirl boots and wrapped myself right up in my fluffy pink robe and held me a towel over my head so the ice wouldn't bust my skull. I slipped and slided up that hill through a good 2 inches of ice balls on the ground until I found my way into that old house that Shorty spent the best 40 years of her life in. Well normally of a normal night, I will find ever reason not to go up to that ole house or even look at it. Fallin in the way it is and what with all those rats and snakes and heaven knows what else, it is a downright spooky place. But that night it was about the most safe and comforting place a body could imagine. I looked around at all of Shorty's rat torn belongings that was a-scattered about, and I remembered a story I had heard about her when she was a young girl. She was a-walkin through the woods one day and a terrible storm came down. She didn't have the time to get home, so she sat underneath of a rocky over hand on the bank of a creek and just sang hymns to her Lord until the storm a-passed on by. She said those songs were the only comfort to her fear that day. I thought about that and thought to myself while I was a-sittin- up there shivering in that old house that I should get out her old song books that I had seen up there before and sing to the Lord. But I will admit to you now, I was so scared, I just didn't have it in me. It was gettin colder and all I could hear was the rage of the ice above and the rage of the water below. After a while I saw headlights across the way and darned if it wasn't that Neighbor Susie comin to check on me. We hollered at each other the best we could across the raging river, but we could not get to each other. After a while the rain stopped and she left in the dark.
I looked around and could tell that the water was startin to wane back. I was so cold all I could do was to go back inside the camper and a-huddle in the bed and wait for dawn."



To be continued...