The move was hard on everyone and there was no relief at the end. The house was large but had no running water or electric, just a well and a three-hole outhouse. There was a bedroom downstairs so this would be for Edie and Susan. The bed was set up and Edie's things were moved in first before it got dark. Oil lanterns were lit throughout the house. Edie's mother and Susan carried water in from the well, made up the bed and set up the bedside commode. An oil lantern was lit on the dresser. How cozy, Edie thought sarcastically.
After a sleepless night, Edie sat up and got into her wheelchair and went to one of four windows that were around the room. She looked out each one. Just empty fields ready to be plowed and trees as far as you could see. Oh, and then the barn with animals, behind fences. She called out to her mother or anyone. She was afraid. What had she got in to? Her mother came running thinking she fell out of bed (which she had done before).
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I'm okay. What's going on? Is this where we're going to live? This is it?" What in God's name were you thinking, Mom?
"Calm down, everything is going to be fine. There are 100 acres of fields for farming and another 300 in timber and we'll hire men to help us work the farm"
"What about water, lights, and a bathroom?" Edie didn't care about fields.
"Your brother is going to build a pump house off the kitchen and there will be water in the kitchen at least. Whatever a pump house is*. The people down the road about five miles said they would help him.
*A pump house is a small addition to the outside wall of the kitchen where a pump is placed on a long piece of metal or trough. The pump is on a stand and has a pipe that goes under the floor in the ground and into the well. The pump has a handle and you pump up and down so the water comes out the spout. If the handle is left up, then no water will come out of the spout and then you have to put water in the top of the pump. (That's why you keep a rain barrow.)
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