Country Kid

 

 

rubber duck

Try to see things from his perspective. Picture splashing in your bubble bath. Maybe you should hum something childish to help you capture the contented mood. Enjoy the sudsy goodness for a moment in your mind. Dip the yellow rubber duckie into the white foam and giggle at the beard that drips off it’s bill.

But, don’t close your eyes, it will soon be dark enough right there in your own bathroom. And remember, you’re a country kid so the bathroom isn’t curled safely inside some cozy house with Mom in the next room. It’s outside across a patio and in the garage. And Mom couldn’t hear you…

…………………even if you screamed.


The solar panels just squeezed out their last drop and the light dies sharply, suddenly. And, it’s not a simple absence of light like it might be in the city. Oh, no, it’s a cloud covered country night and you’re alone in nothingness, thick tangible nothingness. Well, not exactly nothingness because you are a country kid and just last week your big brother shot a skunk that was 5 feet from the bathroom door. And, last year, while you were still getting into your pajamas, Mom went out to turn off the light you had left on and stumbled on a bear right there in the same room you’d just been naked in.

So, the room doesn’t feel exactly empty. In fact, maybe you hear a little rustling, a little something sneaking over the stone cold tiles. It could be the family dog but imagine being five—a tough, brave five—but five and you’ll know it isn’t the dog but something fiercer and more savage.

glowing eyesWhat would you do?

 

Well, if you’re a country kid, you get up and close the door. When Mom comes out with a flashlight to turn on the generator, she’ll open the door and you’ll explain, “I thought it might be the skunk and I didn’t want it to get away.”

 

 

Thank God, it was the dog!

 

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Charles Thomas
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Charles Thomas
16 years ago

What a brave kid!

Bathtub across the yard, solar pannels, generator, you really are “off the grid”. And I’ll never forget the racoon in the bedroom story. For us country folk turned city folk recently returned to country, I’d love to see photos (when your camera has recovered) of your life on the mountain.

Charles Thomas
Guest
Charles Thomas
16 years ago

What a brave kid!

Bathtub across the yard, solar pannels, generator, you really are “off the grid”. And I’ll never forget the racoon in the bedroom story. For us country folk turned city folk recently returned to country, I’d love to see photos (when your camera has recovered) of your life on the mountain.

Staff
Member
16 years ago

I’m going to buy a new camera in the next week or two but I might have some pictures around that I can post. I’ll look. My cousin, Rhea, wants the story of the bear from last year so I’ll probably do that next.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture. Hmm, no that would be fortunately because I’m glad the bear didn’t hang around.