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ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (31)

Ever since she could remember, her father was cold and cruel.  If she was sitting in the living room listening to the ratio, her father would ask her abruptly, "Don't you have work to do?"  And she always was working. She cleaned all three of the upstairs bedrooms, the bathroom, and down to the living room, dining room, den, kitchen and the basement.  Furthermore she also cleaned the front and back porches every Saturday.  All of this for a quarter. Through the week she helped her mother with the laundry (wring washer style) and hung the clothes on the line.  Helped with the meals, the clean up, etc.etc. and her father had the nerve to ask "Don't you have work to do?"  Edie ground her teeth at the thought. 

She had to sneak behind his back and say she was going to the library and in reality she was going ice-skating.  On one of these nights some boys were playing a joke and threw Edie's shoes up into a tree.  It took a long time to find them and retrieve them so she got home after the library had closed.  As she opened the door her father hit her in nose so hard it bled for four hours.  Every time they took the cotton out of her nose it bled.  They had no insurance and her mother didn't have any money at the time.  Edie was seventeen then, and she met Jim.  He had his own nose broken three times.

He was 25 years old and a boxer in the army and had been living on the street since he was nine years old when his mother had died.  Edie felt sorry for him.  Even though she had the father she had, she lived pretty good.  Even during the depression there were three cars with money for gas. And a big house with all the all the trimmings.  Her father was a big shot contractor and the head contractor over at the college.  They never did without during the whole depression.  Edie had a brass bed that had posts with nobs that came off.  That is where Frank stashed his hundred-dollar bills.

He didn't trust banks like he did before the stock market crash.  He did say that he thought something was going to happen in this country.  Something  big!  Wonder what he would think now if he were still alive?  When Edie spoke of her father she would say how mean he was, but she gave him credit for being a very smart man and taking good care of his family.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (30)

    Hotels in the 40's had one full bed, a small closet, a small sink, dresser, night stand, table and chair, no air conditioning, the toilet was in a small room between two bedrooms with doors that locked on the inside (sinks in bedrooms), bathing room at the end of hall on each floor with tub and shower (A person had to sign for when they wanted to take a shower or bath) (this was the average hotels, not the very expensive ones). One more thing, the heating was a radiator in each room (steam heat?) I think.
    Frank left them at the door after giving Edie a twenty dollar bill. She thanked him. And after weak hugs were passed between the three of them, they said goodbye.
    As soon as the door was closed, Susan said, "Mommy, I don't like him."
   "Well, Susan, he's your grandfather, you're supposed to like him, so try." I hate him, Edie thought to herself. All the years growing up and all the misery he caused my mother and me. I'll never forget how he treated us. Susan was sound asleep while Edie's thoughts went back to her childhood.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (29)

    They pulled up in front of the hotel. Susan had never seen a hotel. It was nighttime so it was all lit up. 
    "How beautiful. I wan to live here forever," Susan said out loud. 
   Frank told her, "It's too expensive to live here more than a few nights."
   Edie and Susan lived there for a month, at the expense of Edie's dad. He went to Florida for the winter as he did every winter.
   They had to walk around to the back entrance because of the steps out front and go through the kitchen to the lobby. Susan's head was moving all around as she was walking looking at everything. So much to see. Look at all the food in the kitchen! I am hungry, she thought. Oh, look at the lobby. (She heard a man call the room they were standing in.) It was the most beautiful thing she ever saw. They went up to a big desk and talked to some people and then a black man took them to an elevator. Susan was afraid and said she was not going to get in that thing. It took some persuading but finally she got in the elevator. The room was on the tenth floor.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (28)

"Dad, how about a cup of coffee?"  Edie asked as she lit up a cigarette.  That must have been a shocker for Frank.  He didn't know she smoked.

Frank paid Betty and Edie said she would call her when she got to the hotel. Hugs and good-byes were in order and doubled from Susan because of the doll.

On the way to the hotel, Frank had to remind Edie how foolish she was for leaving the farm.  At least she'd had a home for Susan and herself.  What was she thinking?  What is she going to do now?

"Its going to be hard living on the child-support from Jim of $44.00 a month for Susan. You should have asked for alimony."  Frank lamented.  "You know, he's living with that 'woman' now.  I hear she's got some dough...got it from a nice divorce settlement and has a good job." Frank continued. "What do you have?  I am telling ya. You should have asked for alimony."

"I don't want anything from Jim."  Edie was getting annoyed with Frank and changed the conversation.

"Where is the hotel?  I have to go to the ladies room."

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (27)

   Frank didn't look like what you'd expect; for he was short and mild looking, not the tyrant that Edie made him out to be.
   Edie introduced him to Betty and Susan. This was the first time Susan saw her grandfather since she was a baby. She didn't know him nor did he know her. He shook her hand politely.
   "Yes, this was good old dad. Cold, old dad. Shake hands with his granddaughter. Oh, he has a gift for her. A box of maple candies. How nice. He was in Vermont. I wish we would get this business over with," Edie thought as she smiled her half of a smile when she was bored.
   "Give your grandfather a hug for the candy, Susan."
   "I found a hotel for you and Susan for the next few days until we can find out what we are going to do with you two," Frank said, patting Susan's head firmly while he was looking at Edie with steel cold eyes. He hadn't changed. But Edie had. She was no longer afraid of him.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (26)

   "Well, how much is the bill?" Betty asked.
   "It's $230.50," Edie answered.
   "Oh my goodness. Well, I have to see how much I have. Do you think your father will give you the money?"
   "I have to ask him first for it. But he will. I'll call him now if I may use your phone."
   Betty entertained Alice and Melvin while Edie was making her call. 
   After about a half hour Edie returned  to the living room where everyone was eating and talking and having a good time. When Edie entered the room, it went so quiet. "Well?" Betty blurted out.
   "Yes, he will be here in about an hour. I'm so sorry to hold you up like this, Melvin and Alice."
   "I can give them the money if they will take a check and then your father can pay me. How about that? Then they can get on their way."
   Melvin and Alice agreed and after thanks and hugs everyone said goodbye and Melvin and Alice were on their way.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (25)

"Oh, thank you, Mrs Johnson very much!" Susan said as she hugged her and ran over to the dolls.

'Which one? They were all beautiful!" Susan thought as she looked at the dresses and their faces.  She picked one that looked like one she had before the fire.

Edie gulped.

"That doll looks like the one she had that got lost in the fire."

"Do you like that doll?"

Susan held the doll so tight like not to be taken away from her again.  She cried, she was so happy.  It's been a long time since she held such a beautiful doll.  Grandma made a rag-doll for Christmas one year and it was nice but not like the store bought dolls which Santa and Mommy and Daddy gave her.

Seeing Susan so happy and crying made Edie and Betty cry, too.

"Well, go play with her." Betty said. "Your mom and I want to talk."

"Thank you again, Mrs. Johnson." Susan said as she hugged her.  She was like hugging a big teddy bear.  Mommy was skinny.

"What do you want to talk to me about?"

"I need to pay the cab bill, and I'm broke.  May I borrow the money until I can get it from my father?"

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (24)

   A large barrow of a guy came out of the shop following Mrs. Johnson.
   Mrs. Johnson introduced him to Edie and everyone as Harry Wilson. He lived in the cottage behind the shop.
    "Harry, is that wheelchair I outgrew," and Mrs. Johnson laughed, "still in the shed?"
   "Betty, darling, you just have more to hug," Harry chimed in laughing.
   "Let's get Edie in first, then check out the chair, okay? It's cold out here. Everyone want coffee?" Bett smiled at Edie. "I know you do. And Edie, stop calling me Mrs. Johnson."
    "Well, I'm trying to be polite. Now Susan you don't call her Betty. You call her Mrs. Johnson."
    "I know because she's older than me."
    "Your shop is darling, Betty. Don't touch anything, Susan. I need to ask you something, Betty. It's very important. Can we talk somewhere private?"
    "Sure, let's go in my bedroom. Susan, go over to the dolls that are on that table. See them? Pick out one you like and you can have it."

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (23)

   The cab pulled up front of a very cute gift shop.
   "This is it. Stop!" Edie was so excited. This was her old friend's gift shop, Mrs. Johnson. Mrs. Johnson was in her fifties and also a double amputee. Her amputation was due to diabetes. 
    "Edie, it's so good to see you. Come one in," Mrs. Johnson said when she reached in the cab to hug her.
   "I can't. I don't have my wheelchair. It's a long story. Melvin and his wife, Alice, carried me into the restaurant but I don't want him to carry me again. Alice told me he had back surgery a month ago. Melvin, I could shoot you for not telling me."
   "My friend is here. I'll get him to get you. And this must be Susan. The last time I saw you I think you were four, am I right?" Mrs. Johnson hugged Susan. 
    Susan was thinking that Mrs. Johnson is like mommy. I wonder if there are more people like them? Or are they the only two in the world. Was Mrs. Johnson in a fire and if every one is in a fire do they lose their legs? So many questions. I'll ask mommy. 

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (22)

   "Well, all is not lost, I have a quarter," Edie said as she and Alice laughed.
   "You have a good sense of humor, Edie. You're Okay.  We probably could become good friends if you lived here."
   "I'm sure we could, but there is one thing."
   "What's that, kiddo?"
   "No, there's two things. Number one, don't call me kiddo and number two I'm not deaf or blind so you don't have to get down in my face to talk to me.  I'm a double amputee. That goes for you, too, Melvin. Everyone does that. They think because I don't have legs, I can't hear or see or even worse they ignore me like I'm retarded. Edie was smiling and saying this in a joking manner (even if it was the truth) so Alice and Melvin wouldn't be offended. But how many times was she offended? Children staring and pointing is understood but adults can sometimes be painful as a pain in the neck. "Oh God bless them. They don't know any better, either. It's something I'll have to get used to and just live with it."

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (21)

   Stop that, not around Mommy. She would say, "Everything will be ok now." Will it? Ever? she thought.
    Melvin did most of the driving with Alice switching over when they stopped for gas and once for a bite to eat. Breakfast sounded good to the adults but Susan had a burger and a milkshake. What a treat! Melvin ordered her some fries, too. "Mommy, when we get our new home, can we go out to eat burgers and fries every night?"
   After the shock of Edie being a double amputee, Alice and Melvin found her to be quite interesting. Edie used to ice skate, ride horses, dance, swim and dive. She also made her own clothes. Made her first dress when she was nine years old. Which interested Alice. When she told them she made Susan's dress she had on (not the muddy one) they were in awe. How? Then she told them. Too bad Edie was moving away. Alice could give and get her a lot of business sewing. That sounded good to Edie, to have her own business. That's what she's going to do. I have to get another sewing machine. She told Alice what happened to her sewing machine. 

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAIN (20)

    Melvin and Alice knew they were taking a chance on getting paid for this expensive trip, but why not, this woman needed help and "It wasn't going to make them or break them," as Alice said. And besides, they needed  a break from the business and Ted can handle everything. Good Old Ted. He was as faithful as an old hound dog and about as slow.
    Alice packed and Melvin checked out the car and told Ted what to do while they were gone. Edie cleaned up Susan's coat and Susan took a bath in an indoors tub with running water. First time since she was five years old when they lived in that house that burned down. When Susan thought of this, it frightened her and she got out of the tub. Memories started to come back of her old home and her bedroom and the dollhouse that Daddy built and her car that she used to pedal down the sidewalk to pick Ilea her friend for a ride. I guess we were four years old. And all my dolls, my pretty dolls and then Susan began to cry. 

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (19)

   Alice didn't look at all like she belonged in a small country town. She was dressed like a model, which she was until she married Melvin. She said she married him for his looks, which he was handsome. 
   "Now what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Melvin asked Edie.
   Edie just blurted out, "I need to go to Philly."
   "That's a long way from here. It's about two hundred miles. It would be a lot cheaper to go by train. Why cab?"
   Edie spoke up, "I know but I don't have my chair and I don't have any money."
   That made Melvin stand up. No money. How is she going to pay the $30.50 and she wants to go to Philly? If she was a guy, I would knock her out cold. "How are you going to pay your cab bill?"
   "I have a friend in Philly that will take care of it."
   "You want to go to Philly, Alice?"
   "I would love to and go shopping and see the bright lights."

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (18)

"Well, Ma'am, here we are.  At the office.  That will be twenty-nine dollars and fifty cents, please"

"I need to talk to your boss." Edie said. "Could I go in the office?"

The driver looked at her funny like to say, 'yea, how are you going to do that?'

"If someone could bring out a chair with wheels on it, I could be rolled in."

The driver stood there with his mouth open.  What a good idea, he thought.  This lady is smart.  She won't let her problems get her down.

A man named Ted came back with an office chair and his boss, Melvin, who was his brother.  Melvin needed to see where his chair was going, first off, then what was this story Ted was telling about a woman with no legs, no wheel-chair, out in the mountains, running away from her brother --and she was in the cab.

After the introducing, Ted and Melvin got Edie into the chair and wheeled her into the office.  Melvin's wife was there.  They introduced her as Alice.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (17)

"Oh, my God!  He's coming up the drive-way!" Edie yelled in fright.  "Harry, help me get my sewing machine in!"

"It won't fit in the back seat, and what about your chair?" the driver asked.

Just then, Bill drove right by the cab as Edie told Susan to get down on the floor as she did the same.  Bill was going down the bottom of the hill to turn around.

Edie was really scared and was talking fast.

"Forget everything!  Just get us out of here before my brother gets back up the hill, PLEASE!"

The driver jumped into the cab, Mable pulled the wheelchair and sewing machine away from the cab and the the driver turned the cab around as quickly as he could being in a tight drive-way.

Edie looked at Mable holding her sewing machine. ('My means for making a living and my chair!')  Tears rolled down her face.  But more importantly, they had to get out of there and quick.

"Driver, drive as fast as you can!"

She held Susan.  The child was so afraid she was crying uncontrollably.

"Susan, please stop that crying."

"Mommy, I can't.  I wet my pants."

('Oh, the poor kid!  All I could think about was us getting away and with Bill catching us and how stressed out I felt, forgetting how all this is affecting Susan.'  Edie thought.)

"Stay down in the seat. You'll have to wear a pair of panties in the knitting bag.  I know they're still wet, but, not as wet as what you are wearing."

As Edie was helping Susan change, she looked out the back window and she didn't see her brother.  He couldn't keep up with the newer cab.

"Sir, you can slow down now. You've lost him." This was a good thing as the cab driver was in a sweat.

"Ma'am, where do you want to go?" asked the driver.

"Oh, I thought I told you.  To your office."

Edie hugged Susan and combed her hair.

"We're on our way now." Edie said, smiling.

"Where Mommy?"

"It'll be a surprise."

Edie didn't exactly know herself.  She had a friend in Philadelphia that they would stop in to see.  Maybe then she'd know what to do.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (16)

"Ok, Ladies, let's get up the hill. It looks like a good travelin' day!" Mable said as though she was about to break out in song.

Mable and Edie started up the hill.  It was easier with Mable. 'Wish we had her at the beginning of the trip' Edie thought to herself.

As they approached the cab, Mable yelled to the cab driver for some help. It was a good thing he drove closer, because just as Susan and Edie were about ready to get into the cab, Edie spotted her brother's truck out on the road.

Edie tried to talk as quietly as she could, telling Mable and the cab driver that she saw her brother, but Mable was yelling at the cabdriver for not staying and helping with getting Edie up the hill. So, Edie yelled at Mable to STOP!. "I saw my brother.  And I think he saw me when he heard me yell."

He DID!  He turned around and started up the drive-way.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (15)

"Susan, how 'bout you carrin' that bag that's on your mama's lap? And Edie, do ya' have to take that table with ya?"

"Oh, this is not a table, this is a sewing machine!  I need to make a living where ever I live."

"Ya' sew? How ya' do that?"

"I put the foot pedal up on the lid (when it's open to sew) and use my left hand to push the pedal down like I was using my foot."

"Ya' sure are smart and ya' sew?"

"I made Susan's dress she's wearing."

"And ya' gonna' make a livin' sewin'?"

"I hope so." Edie replied. "No, I have to or starve."

"We won't starve, Mommy. We'll have a garden." Susan said.

"Out of the mouths of babes." Edie said as she hugged Susan. "Yes, we will have a garden and we will grow flowers to sell and vegetables to eat.  How do you like that?"

"Can I have a kitten? All my own? I'll take good care of it."

(How subjects change quickly with children.)

Escape from The Mountains (14)

"Where did the cab driver go?"
"He jes took off and went back to his car."
"Well, that was real nice of him.  Why did he do that?"

Mable explained the reason.  Then Edie calmed down.

"What are we going to do?", Edie asked anxiously.  She wanted to get going.

Mable went outside.  Said she would be back in a few minutes.  She was with a 4' x 8' piece of ply-wood.

"I think we can use this on the steps and ya's can slide down it.  What do ya' think?"

"If you hold the chair back so it doesn't go too fast, I think we have it made."

It worked!  It was a good idea that Mable was strong.  She was built like a bull.

Now the hill.

"I'm sorry you have to do this, Mable." Edie said as the touched Mable's arm.

"I've done worse. Don't ya' fret, now."

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (13)

   He told her that he had been married before and didn't like it and swore he would never do it again. Well, she would live with him but as sister and brother in case someone came along that wanted to marry her. Well, no one ever did in forty-five years. I guess no one was as good as her "brother." You could see that Mable was a pretty woman in her younger years. Edie thought to herself, I don't think people believe your story, Mable, about you and Harry being sister and brother. After forty-five years, you still look at him like a school girl.
   "Oh, someone is knocking at the door. Mus' be the cab."
   "Hi, I don't think I better drive the cab down that hill with it being steep and the mud. I'll never get up the hill. You're gonna have to meet me up at the hill." And then he walked away so fast Mable couldn't catch him to tell him about Edie. 
    "Well, I guess we'll have to do it ourselves. Edie, come on. The cab man left. We have to walk you up the hill. He said the cab wouldn't make it up the hill. We'll talk while we walk."

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (12)

    "I'm gonna cook up some fried eggs, bacon and tators. How's that? And more coffee."
    Edie shook her head yes but replied, "Please don't go to any trouble. Just coffee would be fine. Susan might want something, though."
    "Ya, can't live on coffee. Dear, if ya don't mind me askin' , was it the diabetes that took your legs?"
   "No, it wasn't diabetes. It was a fire. But I would rather not talk about it. Why does Harry go to the train station?" Edie had to change the subject, while Miss Mable still had her mouth wide open with surprise to Edie's comment. Miss Mable was a nice lady and very good-hearted but she sure was nosy. She asked a dozen questions. She never answered why Harry goes to the station. But Edie found out that Miss Mable and Harry were not sister and brother. Mable told Edie in secret because she was leaving and she wouldn't be able to tell anyone. Edie thought, oh well, let her live in her dream land. She was simple-minded. Harry met her working in a general store when she was fourteen living in a small town called Berryville, Arkansas. 

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (11)

   "What are you doing, Edie?"
   "Harry, I told you what was going on at the farm with my brother. Well, Susan and I are leaving."
   "And you two walked all this way from your place?"
   "Yes, we did. Mud and all," Edie said proudly.
   "You get a lot of rain up your way last night?"
   "We didn't get much."
   "It came down in buckets. And lightning. I wanted to leave last night but Susan said she was afraid."
   "What? You crazy woman. In a storm! At night."
   "I'm desperate."
   "Well, your cab will be here in about an hour. So make yourselves at home. Mabel, get them something to eat."
   "I will," Mable said as she stood quickly.
   "Well, good luck and God bless you but I got work to do. Susan, take care of your mama. And you be a good girl, ya hear?"

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (10)

    Susan knocked on the door several times before  Miss Mable came to the door. She had the radio on in the kitchen so loud you could hear it outside. Gospel music. "Give Me That Old Time Religion." Edie recognized that song. Her mother played it on the piano all the time. 
   Miss Mable looked shocked when she opened the door. Where on earth did these people come from? No car or truck? She looked at Edie with her mouth opened for about a minute before she said anything. "Can I help you all?"
   "May I please use your phone?" Edie replied.
   "Darling, yes you sure can. Now how are you gonna get up them steps?"
   As luck would have it, here comes Miss Mable's brother Harry. He was the man that Edie met at the train station down town when she came home from Philadelphia. He pushed her chair to the cab and they talked while they were waiting for the cab. They were very glad to see one another. Now Harry can help Edie up the steps. Do I smell coffee? Edie thought as she entered the kitchen.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (9)

   That man that told me about using his phone didn't tell me this. Leave it to a man. "The fence is in front of the house."
   "Yeah, in front of a steep hill."
    Oh well, and a thought came into her mind about when she was in the hospital which she didn't want to remember but she just happened to remember this one nurse. Whenever Edie needed something, like a bed pan, really needed, the nurse would say, "Oh, stop bitching, Edie. There's worst off people in here than you." So with that thought, Edie said, "Susan, looks like we have another hill to slide down. Joy, joy." Her favorite last words. Susan just made a face. They both made faces at one another and laughed. What were they going to do? If they only knew then that they would be climbing and sliding down hills and laughing and crying sometimes for many years to come.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (8)

   :Just this hill and then everything will be easy after that," Edie told Susan. She didn't know what was in front of her. It was best she didn't.
    They pushed the chair up two feet and it slid back and sideways a foot. If it wasn't for the mud it wouldn't be so bad but it was hard on the two of them, one woman in a wheelchair and a child. They were wet from perspiration by the time they reached the top of the hill. Edie yelled out, "There's the fence. Now I was told there is a house a few feet behind it." They looked around but they didn't see a house. 
   Susan yelled, "Mommy, there's a house down that hill." She pointed in the direction where the house was. 
   Edie yelled to Susan, "Come get me, I can't move in the mud." When Edie got to the edge of the driveway to the house, she gulped. Oh my God, look at what we have to go down, she thought. I thought the school hill was bad. I can't show Susan that I'm afraid.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (7)

    Susan pulled a sandwich out of the cloth bag that was wrapped in wax paper that was wax paper at one time. Now it was a ball of wax. Susan removed the hard homemade bread somewhat shaped sandwich. She started to eat it and Edie asked her what was in it. Susan replied what it was every day. Pork and lard. Edie said let me see it. Susan showed her. There it was. Pork, not cooked all the way and a big spoon full of lard on each side of the bread. "Do you like this?"
   "Well, no, I scrape off the lard," Susan replied. 
   "Who makes your lunch?"
   "Kathrine does." Well, Kathrine was simpleminded. 
   "I don't want you to eat pork unless it is well done. It's not safe. You hear me?"
   "Oh, mommy," Susan half crying. 
   "God, will I be glad when we get away from this place," Edie said as she turned her chair around like she was going to climb that hill by herself. All she accomplished was spinning her wheels and making a mess out of the sides of her wheelchair with mud. 

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (6)

    Edie also didn't like the idea that Susan had to use the girl's privy behind the school house. The boys had one, too. How unsanitary. The teacher made them all go out for recess and lunch because they needed the fresh air, but it was too cold to be out-of-doors so they would hang out at the privy.
    Edie pushed the wheels on her chair so hard she skidded in the mud and lost control and almost flipped the chair over. She was so mad to hear what her daughter had to go through at that miserable school. She felt sorry for the children who had to live that way. Susan wasn't going to. No more!
    Edie stopped for a minute. "I was told that passed the school and up a hill would be a fence on the right. Turn there." 
    "Oh we have to go up this hill," Susan moaned. "Oh Mommy."
    "I'm sorry sweetheart."
    "Not much longer now."
    "May I have a sandwich first?"
    "Yes, you may!"

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAIN (5)

    They had to go down a steep hill. Edie held back on the wheels and Susan held back on the back of the chair. Susan leaned to the side behind her mother hoping no one would see her. Edie was not happy about Susan going to this country school. The school house was still the one room building that it's been for a hundred years. The population hadn't grown in years. As soon as the children were of age, they moved to the cities where there was work. Well, at least most of them. Edie didn't like the idea that Susan was the only third grader that year, so the teacher kept forgetting her. For each class, the teacher would take to front of the room. First, would be the first graders with reading (there were four students in that class) then the second graders (five in that class) and so on until ninth grade (which had  two girls and they had to carry the drinking water for the class and get the fire wood for the big wood stove that stood in the middle of the classroom). 

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAIN (4)

   They rested for a few minutes. Edie took a drink of water from the canning jar. One thing she could say good about the mountains was the water. Yes, it was good and cold. Susan sat on the ground up against a tree. It felt good to sit. Pushing that chair in the mud was hard for an eight-year-old and they had about three miles more to go on a hilly road. Well, rest time was over. Edie wanted to get off the road before her brother came in for lunch. When Susan got up she was covered with mud. Edie was upset with her but she was only eight but what was she going to do? Maybe the mud will brush off when it dried. There was some water in the jar that Susan could wash her face and hands with. That was the end of the water. They started again and saw the school and Susan became nervous.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAIN (3)

   After heating the water on the wood stove, Susan took it to her mother so she could wash up. Katherine carried in a cup of coffee to Edie. Which Edie was most grateful.
   Katherine made some sandwiches and a jar of water and packed them in a cloth bag. No time for breakfast. It was just lumpy, cold oatmeal anyway. Katherine was a terrible cook. Susan grabbed one of the sandwiches going out the door.
    Katherine helped Edie down the steps with her in the wheel chair. She hated to see Edie leave, she was the only company she had. But she knew how afraid she was of Bill and if she could leave she would, too. Well, she couldn't because of the children. The two women hugged and cried and said their goodbyes, knowing that they probably would never see one another again. Even though they weren't best friends, they were still sisters-in-law.
    Susan started down the muddy road. Susan pushing the back of the wheel chair and Edie pushing the wheels on the other side. They came to the spot where Susan hid the bag with the clothes. Of course, it was soak and wet being through the storm. Edie put it on the steps of the chair, after ringing the water out of the clothes. 

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAIN (2)

   The morning was bright and clear from the night before. Edie woke up startled. She didn't want to fall asleep. She tried to stay awake so she and Susan could leave by dawn. She shook Susan to wake her. "Come on, Susan. Wake up. We need to go."Susan hated to get out of a warm bed. The bedroom didn't have any heat.
    Susan walked through the living room and pulled back the blanket that was hanging in the doorway to the kitchen. "This feels good," she said to Katherine who was sitting at the table peeling potatoes. Susan went to the pump house with a kettle to get some water to boil on the wood stove. Someone left the handle up. Oh no, Susan thought. I have to go out and get some water from the rain barrow and prime the pump. Good thing it rained last night. When Susan opened the door to the pump house, a rat ran in front of her. That wasn't new to her. It was the spiders and their webs that she hated.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS

    It was a rainy day and the kids stayed home from school. They had colds and too far to walk to school down that muddy road. The kids were playing in the attic when Edie called out to Susan to come down. Edie had a plan. She had a knitting bag with Susan's and her clothes in it. She told Susan to take the bag outside, go up the road and find a place under some tree limbs or something and hide the bag and do it fast before anyone knows you're gone. "Lock the kids in the attic and when you get back tell them you were playing a game." Susan asked, "Why were we doing this?" We are leaving tonight. Your uncle is acting wild again and I don't want to be here. Susan took the bag and walked up the road until she found a spot to hide the bag. It really started to rain now and she ran as fast as she could. The kids were screaming when she got back. She told them about playing a game. They didn't even notice that she was soaking and wet, they were so mad at her. She returned to her mother to tell her what she did. She was so proud of herself for finding a safe place.
    Edie woke Susan up. It was black as pitch other than the lightning. "We're going to go now so be quiet not to wake any one." Susan started to cry. "Mommy, I don't want to go out in this, I'm afraid." Susan crying must have brought Edie to her senses because she was so afraid and made up her mind to leave that night, a storm would not stop her even if they had to walk five miles on a muddy road. Edie held Susan and rocked her back and forth. What was I thinking? Walking in a stormy night. "We leave in the morning." I hope we can do this without anyone seeing us. Hope the men stay in the fields. 

THE MOVE TO THE MOUNTAINS (6)

    Being around some people, Edie was getting some ideas about what she was going to do about getting away from the farm. Her brother, Bill would never let her go on her own because how would she take care of herself and there was Susan. No, it was best she stay on the farm so she could be watched after, he thought. Bill didn't know his sister. She wasn't the mouse like she was as a child.

THE MOVE TO THE MOUNTAIN (5)

    Months went by and Edie was ready for artificial limbs. She had to go to Philadelphia. Because of the distance she would have to stay there until the limbs were made. This would take some time with fitting and making so she stayed at the rehab. She didn't like being away from Susan for a month but she was learning a little bit about walking. With her stump being so short, she being little and the limbs being heavy, it would take a long time for her to walk upright and not stiff but she has the will to walk. The lamb wool stump socks that she had to wear were very hot. She doused herself with powder to absorb the perspiration and the heavy belt around her waist with the steel hinges on the hips made Edie very uncomfortable. Limbs were made more or less for men. Even the shape of the legs were more manly. As years went by, Edie had three different kinds of limbs. The first were made of steel and painted flesh color. The second ones were made with a steel bar down the middle with foam rubber shaped around the bar or pole to look like and feel like a limb. These were much lighter and did not need such a large belt around the waist. The third artificial limbs came out after the Korean War. So many soldiers came home missing limbs. The limbs were made of pine. Pine is a light wood. The top half of the leg was hollow  with a hole on the side. The amputee would put the stump sock on, slide the stump into the top of the leg, pull the sock out through the hole and put a cap on the hole. This would form a suction around the stump and inside hollow of the artificial leg or arm. With more women being in the services, the legs were made more shapely, too. Edie liked these limbs, but she still had to wear a belt.

THE MOVE TO THE MOUNTAINS (4)

   There was a lot of noise. The mules were running toward the house. Two of them. They were big, wild animals. Edie was sitting on the ground. Where was her brother? Her mother went to get water for the plants. Just Susan was there. These mules were running toward her mom. She screamed. She tried to move out of their way. Her brother came up laughing and whipping the mules to get them back to the barn. Oh, how he laughed. He thought it was so funny to scare his sister. He told her he wouldn't let the mules hurt her, he was just kidding her. He always was a tease. But this was too much. He had gotten crazy. He said that he was going to chain his wife up in the woods one day  and chased her around with a large chain in the yard with her and the kids crying. 
    This was it. Edie thought, my brother has lost it. I can't take the chance of him hurting Susan or doing something like that again. We have to get away from here, but how? I can't even get out of this house because of the steps. Then the dirt road and Bill will never let us leave. I've got to find a way.

THE MOVE TO THE MOUNTAINS (3)

    After Edie got dressed with the help of her mother, she wanted to take a tour around the house. The living room was huge with a stone fireplace, kitchen was a country kitchen with wood stove and long table in the middle of the room with an oil cloth spread on it and an oil lamp in the center. Boxes of stuff all over the place to be unpacked. Edie was no longer interested and wanted to go back to her room where she stayed. She even ate her meals in her room. There was nothing she wanted to see outside her room. Susan finally talked her after a couple of weeks to come outside and grow some flowers under the bedroom window planters. 
   Grandma put soil in the planters and Susan got the small seedlings that she and grandma planted weeks ago. Edie and Susan planted the seedlings and waited for Edie's brother to hang the planters.

THE MOVE TO THE MOUNTAINS (2)

    "And we will have electricity in about three weeks."
    "Three weeks," Edie yelled out. "What are we going to do until then?"
    "Oh, stop your complaining. What do you want for breakfast? I have a nice wood stove and coffee is hot. Want a cup?"
    "Have you heard anything from Jim?"
    "No, just about him. He is running around with some older woman. She has money, I guess. He drives her car. The bastard." Edie was surprised to hear her mother say bastard but she hated Edie's ex-husband. She didn't want her to marry him. Said he was too wild and five years older than her and being in the Army. She was just a kid. They got married when Edie was seventeen. She got pregnant two months later. She went crying to grandmother. "I'm too young to have a baby." The grandmother had a cure for everything. You see, she was the mid-wife and if you had any sickness, you went to Grandma Wood and she would boil you up some herbs and make a tea and you would be just fine. Edie's grandma told her to douche with mustard and water and the "mistake" would flush away. Well, the "mistake" was born in July and was named Susan. One remedy that didn't work.

THE MOVE TO THE MOUNTAINS

    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.)

Edie (6)

    Edie wanted to stay outside for awhile before going in for the night.  She sat in the truck in the drive way. Susan stayed behind, but off to a distance.  She still had not warmed up to Edie. She still felt that her grandmother was her mother and called her "mommy" but, not around Edie.  Slowly, she moved closer to the truck.  Edie called to her and asked if she wanted to come in.
    Susan moved slowly until she reached the truck door and then stopped.  Her mother talked softly until she got in the truck.  Susan was a little bit afraid and held on to the door and looked down at her shoes .Her mother asked her if she liked her new shoes and Susan replied "yes". Edie kept asking her questions about school and about herself to get her to open up.  She finally started talking about the chickens and the baby chicks in Grandma's hen house.  That was a start..Edie asked Susan is she ever sang.  She said no.  Well, I know a great song. "You Are my Sunshine"., As Edie sang, Susan looked up at her mother for the first time since the accident.  As their eyes met, they both started to cry and they held on to one another so tight and cried so hard it was like they were forcing their pain and loss out of themselves. So much was gone.  Their house and everything in it.  Even daddy.  Edie had a lot to make up for the loss for her little girl and she had the will to live for her and she will take care of her.

EDIE (5)

     Edie was able to sit up for about fifteen minutes at a time a few times a day in her wicker back wheelchair. Her mother had to change her bandages twice a day. Her stumps were healed other than on the ends. They still bled at times so Edie had to return to the hospital for another amputation on the ends of the stumps. She remained in the hospital for another two more months. She could come home but had to remain in bed for another month on her stomach. (In three months she was able to sit up and push herself around in her chair.) One day the family all piled in to the truck, even Edie. She sat in the front seat between her mother and brother. Her first outing in almost a year. She did not go into the store which was just a general store and she didn't want people to stare at her, anyway. It was just nice sitting outside looking around at people, houses with yards with flowers and trees, kids' toys instead of hospital walls and beds. Shopping was over, the boys had haircuts and all five kids, Susan too, had new shoes for school. One hundred pound bags of sugar and flour were loaded on the truck. The girls were picking out the sugar or flour bags that they wanted for their dresses (the bags that the sugar and flour came in back then was material with flowers printed on it. So the women would make dresses from the bags. Very pretty, too.) (This girl had many herself).

EDIE (4)

    After nine months, Edie got to go home to her mother's farm, not her cute little house with the new living room curtains and the kitchen table where the neighbors sit and had coffee and gab in the morning. An ambulance took Edie to her mother's and while she was lying on the cot looking out the window, she wondered what she would do. Her husband couldn't handle everything that had happened and wanted a divorce. She din't want to live with her mother because her brother and wife and four kids also lived at the farm. And what a noisy bunch. Well, the main thing now was that Susan and I will have a roof over our heads, she thought. I can't wait to see my little girl, Susan, she told the nurse that was with her. She told her about Susan's experience seeing her in the hospital and how afraid she was of her the way she looked with no hair and scratches all over her face and even worse no legs. What a shock to a little child. Susan was living with her grandmother at the farm and called her mommy. Tears welled up in Edie's eyes. Did Susan forget her completely? The nurse comforted her and told her she would remember again that children spring back. And all along she hoped what she was saying to Edie would come true.

EDIE (3)

    As time went by, Edie started to feel a little better. She craved pineapple juice. So, the doctor ordered all she wanted. She swore that was what healed her. Today we have found out pineapple is a healer.
    While lying on her stomach at that time, Edie took up crocheting again. She also took up a sport of throwing string beans at a patient's big toe from across the room (In the 1940s, hospitals had wards where several people shared the same room.) one bean at a time and if she hit the lady's toe both Edie and the old lady would yell. The lady was a loud foreigner and she would yell in her native tongue for Edie to stop, but she had a slight smile. Edie yelled because this would be a novelty for her to hit this woman's toe even though she was very good at playing darts. 
    The nurses were not happy with having to clean up the string beans and they let Edie know it. All the while, they were laughing under their breath. 

EDIE (2)

    Edie was in so much pain that she was packed in ice bags while on her stomach. She laid on her stomach for nine months. Then she had bed sores on her stomach. The pain was so great she would pull her hair out and scratched her face and arms. The nurses cut her nails and shaved her head and the doctors gave her morphine. When her mother saw her, she didn't know her. She acted like a crazy woman. Talking out of her head about things her mother didn't know about and what about her hair? What happened to her beautiful blonde hair? What did these people do to my daughter? What is she doing under this tent? Oh my God! Her legs! Oh, that's right, they were amputated. Oh my baby! Two nurses came in to see what was going on. They held Edie's mother and explained why Edie was the way she was, but her mother couldn't stop crying. This was her daughter, her child, and now look at her. Oh my God, what are we going to do? Oh my God.

EDIE

    As I sat down at the table next to a couple women having lunch, I noticed an attractive woman in a wheelchair. What happened to her? I wondered. When she turned around, my question was answered. Her skirt was long, almost to the floor, but no feet were under the skirt. Looking farther up, I saw no leg impressions, either. What could have happened to this lovely lady?
    A man came to take her to the front of the room where she was introduced and then taken up onto the stage. She received an achievement award for all her accomplishments.
   Her story was told. A gas furnace in the basement in the house blew up, causing the house to catch fire. Edie was asleep. The child was rescued by the firemen in time. Edie was not. She made it out alive, but she had third degree burns over seventy-five percent of her body. Her face, head, chest, and from her elbows down to her fingers were spared. Gangrene set in her legs and they had to be amputated. 
   Her husband was in the army. This was during World War II. He was in a hospital in the Philippines with a broken leg when he got the news about his wife. The Red Cross flew him home.