David C. McLavic - 23. Chapter 23

Uncle Joe moved into his cabin, but not until the medicine man came and sang while sprinkling water and dust on it. Dad said he was blessing it so that no evil spirits would remain there. Uncle Joe was happy, his people were happy, and so were we.

Summer came and I wanted to stay home. Dad wanted to go on a trip to Peru, so I decided I would go and see Uncle Harry. Dad made the arrangements and the day after school left out, I was on the train for Philadelphia.

Peter met me and soon we were headed for the cabin. “Your Uncle isn’t at the cabin. He’s still in town but Miss Elly is there. “Will he be joining us?”

“Yes, but not for the first two weeks. He has s some court cases to finish before he can take off.”

Being at the cabin and seeing my porch, I had to smile. Peter looked at me, “You like what you see?”

“Yes, it is exactly as I imagine it would be.”

“Your Uncle is quite proud of it. He’s always telling people his nephew designed it, he is going to be an architect.”

I felt good about that. Arriving at the cabin, the porch had resulted in a different view of the train car I saw the last time. I was admiring it when Peter, grabbed me, “You going to sit here and stare, or are we going to go into the cabin.”

I laughed, I was so into staring at the porch, that I hadn’t moved out of the car. It was one thing to draw a design but another when you saw your drawing in reality.

As I approached the cabin, Miss Elly came off the porch heading for me. She grabbed me in a hug, her hugs were like a blanket thrown around you. She told Peter where to take my suitcase, and we headed for the kitchen.

The three of us had a light lunch, so said Miss Elly but for me it wasn’t a light lunch. Soup, sandwich, salad, and pie for dessert is anything but light.

After lunch, Peter said he had to go back to Philadelphia. “Your Aunt wants to come up in a few days. So I’ll see you later.” I thought he meant later today, but when I went to look for him, he was gone.

I helped Miss Elly clean up the lunch dishes, and then we went and sat on my porch. Miss Elly knew about Carl and so we talked about him. I told her how close I was to him and that losing him was like losing a brother. I told her about some of the things we did when I was there for the summer. In telling her about our time together, in a way I relived those times and I could feel Carl next to me. I guess he will always be with me and there will be times when something happens or I tell someone about him, I’ll feel him close to me.

Two days later Aunt Dorothy came up to the cabin. By then Miss Elly taught me how to make her bean soup. I took advantage of being there with her. I kept asking how she made this or that. I was tired of cafeteria food, or hot dogs. If I could make soup like Miss Elly, then I could make it at home.

Now with Aunt Dorothy here, we had lunch on the porch. I spent a lot of time on the porch that summer. When it was time to go home, I convinced Uncle Harry to book my return out of Pittsburgh. I wanted to go and see Carl where he slept. And to say goodbye to Marie and Jim as well as Mrs. Miller and Mrs Baker. My plans will not include the farm anymore.

I spent the time at Uncle Harry’s cabin exploring the woods. I could go and sit there, listening to the birds and squirrels, once in a while catching a glimpse of a deer. Many times as I sat there I would talk to Carl, “Look, did you see that squirrel?” Of course, there was no answer. But I could pretend and in so doing he was close to me.

I did make the trip to Pittsburgh and I got the train there to home. Even though I promised Marie and Jim I would write, I wasn’t sure if I would.

The summer break at Uncle Harry’s was good for me. On the way home, after seeing Carl’s final resting place, I felt a certain peace. I will always miss him, he was the brother I never had. But he is with the Great Father in the sky and someday I’ll see him again.