After quickly exploring the downstairs rooms and then learning that they would be sleeping upstairs, the girls headed for the hallway and the flight of light-brown stairs they had noticed soon after coming into the house.
“Last one up the stairs is a rotten egg,” Arlene yelled.
The girls began running shoulder-to-shoulder up the narrow stairs, with Lillian in the middle. Unfortunately the stairs weren’t wide enough to accommodate all three, so Lillian pushed Leona and Arlene against the walls, causing her sisters to stumble and allowing her to easily win the race.
“That’s not fair, Lillian,” Arlene said.
“Oh, stop your whining, Arlene,” Lillian countered.
Less than two minutes later, Lillian came walking down the stairs.
“Leona just loves the cute little room up there, the one overlooking the back field, so Arlene and I’ll take the big one overlooking the road,” she told her parents.
And that was that, as far as the Haleys were concerned.
“Arlene! Leona! Come on down here and let’s get the wagon unloaded,” Murdock yelled.
It took nearly an hour to unload the wagon, and another three to unpack their stuff. That night, after downing his fair share of Eunice’s supper, Murdock drove the wagon back to Bangor and picked up Bobby at the freight station. Then they drove to Palm Street and loaded the Haleys’ furniture. On the ride to Glenburn, Murdock was surprised to learn that his friend would soon be moving to Boston to take a better job. When they arrived in Glenburn, Margaret was waiting for them.
“Okay, Murdy, I’ve decided where everything is going now. So just follow me and I’ll show you exactly where to put things.”
He and Bobby nodded and began carrying the furniture inside. By the time they were done, it was well past midnight and both were all but worn out.
“I’m half-dead,” Bobby joked.
“Me too, Bobby. It’s way too late to be riding home now, so why don’t you spend the night?”
“I think I’ll take you up on that, Murdy.”
“Good,” Margaret said. “I’ll fix us something to eat before we hit the sack. If you want to call your wife you can run down to my mother’s and use her phone. We don’t have one yet, and I doubt we’ll be able to afford one for quite some time. Lillian can show you the way. I see Mom’s light is still on, so she must be up packing for her trip.”
After calling his wife to say that he’d be spending the night with the Haleys, Eunice invited Bobby to sleep at her place.
“I’ve plenty of room; and maybe I can talk you into giving me a ride to Bangor in the morning, since you’re headed that way.”
He gladly accepted her offer. The next morning everyone gathered around Eunice’s kitchen table for breakfast, and afterward Margaret helped her mother finish packing for her trip. By 7:30, Eunice and Bobby were sitting on his wagon ready to leave.
“Have a nice trip, Mom,” Margaret said. “You and Edna enjoy the coast. And thanks again for the help, Bobby. We’re in your debt.”
“Think nothin’ of it, Maggie. Murdy’s helped me more times than I care to count. I owed him.”
“No more, Bobby,” Murdock said, “we’re more than even now.”
“Well, we best be off before I’m really late for work. I hope you folks enjoy your new home. I’m sure you’ll fill it with many wonderful memories before all is said and done.”
—1—
The Haleys’ new home had five downstairs rooms and three entrances: one on the front, back and south side of the house. The front entrance was on the Ohio Street side and went directly into the kitchen, the room that saw more traffic than any other in the house. Surprisingly, however, that east-side entrance got the least use; whereas, the west-side entrance was used quite often since it entered directly into the living room from the back porch. In addition, that back entrance offered the shortest route to the all-important outhouse; for that reason alone, it would see the most traffic. But it was the lone side entrance—sitting midway on the south side of the house, ten feet from the driveway—that was deemed to be the main entrance to the house, because that’s where most visitors would enter, more often than not. The side entrance gave access to a notably wide hallway that essentially split the first floor of the house in half. Straight ahead—occupying the last six feet of the six-foot wide hallway—was a small, oft-used washroom, and to the right of it was a small guestroom. Also to the right of the hallway was a very large kitchen, and between it and the guestroom was an enclosed set of stairs that allowed access to an upstairs hallway separating two attic-style bedrooms.
Lillian and Arlene had the large bedroom on the east side, overlooking Ohio Street and the Winter Fun Road, while across the hallway on the west side was Leona’s cozy little bedroom, overlooking the scenic back field. The first time Leona walked into her room she noticed a ten-inch square opening in the floor. When she looked down through five thin evenly spaced wooden slats, she could see the living room stove and realized that her tiny room would be plenty warm during the winter. She then remembered seeing an identical opening in her sister’s bedroom floor, conveniently above the kitchen stove. Since the girl’s bedroom had sloped walls, their closets were of necessity triangular shaped, but that didn’t make them any less useful for storing clothes and whatever else needed to be put away until the appropriate season returned.
In the Haleys’ large kitchen was Margaret’s pride and joy: her new Wood, Burns & Co. stove that was not only used to prepare her delicious meals, but was also used to help heat the house. Meals were served on a large 4-foot by 6-foot kitchen table, one that Murdock had built with his own hands shortly after he and Margaret were married. A trapdoor built into the floor, just to the left of the stove, was used to enter the cellar below. The much-used kitchen had a large window occupying the middle of its east wall, and to it’s left was a seldom-used east-side entrance. The 3-foot-high by 5-foot-wide window sat above the kitchen sink, giving Margaret a broad panoramic view of Ohio Street and the Winter Fun Road when she stood there, whether it be to fix meals, to wash dishes, or for whatever reason it was. In addition to the large window, the kitchen also had two normal-size windows facing south toward the driveway, the other side of which was a large field. It was in the far corner of that south field where Murdock planned to plant his vegetable garden, and to build a small stable near the woods. Murdock also planned to build a chicken coop beside the stable to house a dozen or so hens, and a rooster to keep them content. However, the first thing he planned to build was a workshop where he could pursue his love of carpentry. When Murdock mentioned that to Bobby, his friend said that he could have a small woodstove he no longer needed, to keep the workshop warm during the winter.
At the far end of that south field, 700 feet from their house, was a road that Leona called the Cemetery Road. She came up with that name when she was looking out Eunice’s kitchen window and heard her grandma speak.
“There’s a graveyard on that road, Leona. Your grandpa Carver is buried there, and so are the Staples—they used to own your property you know. Someday I’ll be buried there; and maybe you will too. Hopefully not for a while though.”
Across the hallway from the Haley kitchen was a dining room and a large living room. Overlooking the Haleys’ large country fields were two living room windows facing south, and an enormous picture window facing west. Sitting near the middle of the living room’s north wall was a woodstove used strictly to heat the old house, and to its left was a stone fireplace; a storage closet and bookcase were to its right. Although the fireplace could be used for additional heat, its main feature was the comfort it provided to the family as they sat around it, serenely talking while watching the soothing fire. To the left of the fireplace was the door to the parents’ bedroom, which occupied the northwest corner of the house. Separating the living room from the bedroom was a wide wall that not only hid the chimney, but also provided space fo
r the aforementioned closet and bookcase. The parents’ bedroom contained Margaret’s beautiful furniture and Wally’s crib, all handcrafted by Murdock. A second bedroom door opened into the large central hallway, and directly across the hallway was the door to the guest bedroom.
—2—
The Haleys had to make many repairs to their new home during the first month of its occupancy. The old house, having sat empty, had not been heated for over a year, and, among other things, an unusually hot, humid summer of 1917 followed by a typically cold Maine winter caused the wallpaper to peel away, frequently exposing loose plaster. Margaret realized that she and the girls were going to have to make those repairs. They needed to touch up the walls with plaster before new wallpaper could be applied. But first, they had plenty of dusting and scrubbing to do, to rid the place of unhealthy dirt and mildew that had accumulated over the last year or so.
“Well, let’s get to it, girls,” Margaret said the day after moving in. “This old house ain’t gonna fix itself.”
Murdock’s priority was the outside; however, to insure that his children had at least one activity to make their move more palatable, the first thing he did on the second day was to tie one end of a ten-foot rope to the branch of a maple tree and the other end to an old tire, thus creating a makeshift swing for his children until he could construct what he thought would be more suitable swings for them. After that was done, he got to work on the house. His first task was to repair a leaky roof; and that was immediately followed by the replacement of a few clapboards to ready it for a fresh coat of house paint. Fortunately, Margaret’s brother Bill volunteered to help, and Murdock was extremely glad that he did. Margaret wanted the house painted light yellow with a blue trim, just like the old house on Palm Street, so the kids would feel more “at home” in their new surroundings, and Murdock gladly honored his wife’s wish. After two weeks of hard work, the outside was done and the inside was ready for the final touches. When done, the place was all spruced up and looked as good if not better than their old home on Palm Street.
Although not quite as spacious as they wanted their dream home to be, the Haleys deemed their new home in Glenburn to be more than adequate for their needs. The new house may have been a tad on the small side, but that didn’t matter to them because it was much cozier than any of their previous homes in Bangor; and, of much greater importance to the parents, there was more than enough land for their children to play on. And, despite their initial misgivings, it didn’t take long for Leona and the other children to fall in love with their new home and its scenic surroundings, Chapin Park or no Chapin Park, and that obviously pleased the children’s parents.
The children’s quick acceptance of their new home was thanks in large part to Murdock. Right off the bat he made sure that they had plenty of things to keep their minds occupied. During that first summer, the Haleys would play baseball in their south field, throw horseshoes in the backyard, and play croquet on the front lawn. The best thing about their land was the two open fields, one on the south side of the house and the other on the west side, conveniently separated by a row of eight randomly situated oak and maple trees going all the way from Ohio Street to within a few feet of the back woods. The first five trees were closely spaced, just to the left of the Haley driveway. Scattered in the two fields were a half dozen apple trees, three more oak trees, and a lone maple. Smack in the middle of the front lawn was a large, very sleepy, weeping-willow tree. Sometimes, when they just wanted to relax, the Haleys placed a blanket under one of the nearby trees to sit in the shade and talk about the days events, or alternatively to tell tall tales and amusing stories; and more often than not you would see them enjoying a spirited game of Cribbage there. When a strong, uninvited breeze joined the fun, small rocks were used to keep the cards from blowing away.
After the repairs were made to the house, Murdock constructed two conventional swings made of rope and wooden seats for his children to play on; and even though they enjoyed those swings, they realized that they preferred the simple tire swing, using it to swing high into the air, but, more often than not, using it to twirl around and around ‘til they became too dizzy to stand upright, let alone walk. In fact, the best part of using that swing was staggering about, trying to stay on one’s feet, after twirling for as long as possible before climbing off, or, more likely, falling off. The children also enjoyed playing on a seesaw that their father built for them right after the swings were completed. When not playing on the swings, they spent an inordinate amount of time going up and down on the seesaw.
The parents often kept an eye on their children while relaxing on a comfy triple-seat swing Murdock built especially for Margaret on the back porch. The “porch swing,” as it was called, was strong enough that three large adults could safely sway back and forth on it. Sitting there on the west side of the house made it ideal for riders to enjoy the fresh air of a warm summer’s day, while also soaking up the warm, soothing, late-morning and early-afternoon rays of the Sun. Although there were many enjoyable uses for that swing, probably the most practical was when the Haley parents and their children sat peacefully on it enjoying a cool night breeze, watching the stars, and discussing the days events, while waiting for the inside of their house to cool down after an unusually hot or humid summer day. Typically Lillian sat in the middle holding Wally, with Arlene and Leona sitting on their parents’ laps.
In the winter, when sitting on the porch swing was mostly out of the question, the Haleys would play board games as they often did at their home on Palm Street. In addition to Murdock’s favorite game Cribbage, they played Chess, Checkers, Parcheesi, and other games that the Haleys considered not only entertaining, but also stimulating for their children’s young, inquisitive minds. Many enjoyable hours would be spent playing those games. In addition, the Haleys would spend hour upon hour either ice-skating on a manmade pond on the north side of their house, tobogganing on the many nearby hills, or snow sledding on the steep roads that abutted their property. The children also enjoyed playing in newly fallen snow: building giant snowmen and forts if the snow was wet and sticky enough; or just simply lying in the soft white powder, using their arms and legs to make snow angels.
—3—
When they first moved in, Leona was particularly helpful to her parents in cleaning and renovating the upstairs bedroom that she and Wally would eventually have to share. The first thing she did was wash the lone window in her room, to do away with layers of dirt that had accumulated for over a year. Leona started by playfully clearing a tiny peephole at the top right portion of the window, and one of the first things she spotted through it was the top of a distant house seemingly nestled in the treetops. Of course, the house wasn’t magically resting in those trees at all, but was sitting on a hill that was “a ways beyond” the northwest corner of the Haley property. Upon closer inspection Leona saw what appeared to be a small attic window near the tip of a white, green-trimmed house. But that was all she could make out because the trees in the expansive woods between the Haleys’ and the unknown house hid most of it from view.
When Leona saw it, she said: “Look, Mama. There’s a house over there.”
Margaret looked out the peephole and asked: “Where, dear?”
“Off to the right. See? Over there,” Leona said to her mother, while pointing in the northwest direction. “I wonder who lives there?”
“I don’t know, dear. Could be anyone. Well, enough dilly-dallying; it’s time you finished cleaning this window.”
When the window was finally cleaned, Leona was able to see both the back yard and the large field behind it. And a little to the left she could see part of the side field, the one that was bounded by Ohio Street on the east, the Cemetery Road on the south, and the back woods on the west. While looking out the window she saw a chicken hawk flying high above the tops of tall leafed and evergreen trees that grew in those woods. To her it looked much like a small eagle, except it
lacked the customary white head and tail feathers.
Being quite thorough in anything he did, Murdock put the final loving touches on her room by building a beautiful oak bunk bed for Leona, just as he had for Lillian and Arlene, to replace an old metal-frame bed that had clearly seen better days. He built the bunk bed in anticipation of the time when Wally would move in with his older sister. Leona’s new bed was trimmed with white pine, and, after being stained rather than painted, it was the most wonderful bed that she had ever seen. Leona slept peacefully on the larger bottom bunk, and she knew that when Wally was old enough to do so he would sleep on the top. In the meantime the 3-year-old slept contently in a crib that sat in a warm, fairly quiet corner of his parents’ bedroom.
Chapter 21
Leona’s Paradise
When her bedroom was finally ready, Leona beamed with pride. As difficult as it would have been for her to fathom before the move to Glenburn, she liked her new bedroom so much better than her old one on Palm Street. In the evening, just before dusk, it was not unusual for the curious little girl to see whitetail deer foraging near the edge of the woods. Typically the yellowish-brown deer—adorned with white fur under their necks, bellies and tails—appeared most often at the far northwest corner of the back field where four large apple trees were clustered, “in the shape of a diamond,” Leona thought.
The deer lived in what Leona called the Haleys’ Enchanted Forest. She called it that because it seemed so mysterious to her. When she played in the woods with her siblings, or playfully explored it on her own, she imagined that the bright spots of light shining through the treetops on a sunny day were angels or fairies. And sometimes a dead tree in the distance with its many branched tentacles would look to her like an eerie ghostly figure from a scary novel. Even with all these things kindling her imagination, Leona never feared the distant forest; instead she always felt exhilaration. And that’s what she felt when the beautiful deer came wandering out of the woods. In a way, the little window in her room was her window onto the world which, as limited as it was in reality, was in her mind boundless, thanks to her vivid imagination.
Journey With the Comet Page 18
