Story Shadows on Crescent Lake
- Thread starter Kathy in FL
- Start date
sssarawolf
We're just plugging along.
Thank you Kathy.
feralferret
Veteran Member
Thank you.
Chapter 30
The Tomato Festival was fun and was even more fun when Thunder surprised me by sneaking up behind me and going, “Whoa! You’re tall! I almost tickled the wrong girl.”
He surprised me again by bringing a video Dad had made for our birthday celebration. I still treasure all those videos he made while I still had him. Gigi stored every one of them on my memory cube and I watched them more than she knew.
I tried not to cry when he had to leave at the end of the day but couldn’t help it and tried to hide behind a tree so no one would see but Daniel found me by sound and said, “Go ahead and cry and get it out. Holding it in sometimes just makes things hurt worse.” So I did but not loud and noisy because I was eight and I wasn’t a little kid anymore. Everyone was telling me so. But sometimes it isn’t what people tell you is true, it is what you feel is true. All I knew is that I missed my dad and Thunder hadn’t been able to tell me when we’d see each other next except he would keep zooming. He would. But Dad might not be able to as often because of his job, he would send videos as often as he was allowed. I didn’t know what that meant then.
Gigi kept me away from talk and gossip and news as much as possible. Most people didn’t know I had a dad. I did and knew it, but I also knew, had had impressed on me again by Thunder, that Dad’s existence and whereabouts was family business and no one else’s. I didn’t even talk to Daniel and Quill about him. Gigi kept us busy to keep us from “over thinking things” and I let that be enough because I didn’t know any better.
In June I went to VBS and church music camp again. I made sure to continue to get good reports on my behavior even though Aunt Anne and Uncle Beau were hardly around. Thunder didn’t know that and I’m positive Dad didn’t know either. We kept up illusions so no one would know how gone they were starting to be. The church people thought they were gone doing “mission work”. For Dad and Thunder, we simply omitted how often they were not around.
Also in June, despite guitar lessons summer break, the youth director asked if I would practice some patriotic music to play during the 4th of July Celebration the church was putting on for the first time in a lot of years. Gigi gave permission without bothering to ask her parents which they tried to make noise about until the pastor told them in appreciation that it was so nice to have a child so interested in serving. I didn’t know what I was supposed to be serving except maybe music but since it stopped Gigi from getting into hot water I didn’t really care, I’d serve up all the guitar they could handle. I told Gigi that and it caused her to laugh until she nearly had a stomach upset. Whatever. I get it now that I’m older, and I’m glad she thought some of the things I said were funny. Not much else was really funny. Besides, taking the extended lessons is what I used to fill what would have been an empty slot in my weekly itinerary.
After the 4th was over Gigi said it was time for us to start doing a lot more food prep and preservation as Uncle Beau had hardly transferred any money for groceries this time. He expected us to just use what was in the kitchen cabinets already. Aunt Anne slipped Gigi some money from her personal allowance, but it wasn’t much because Uncle Beau was watching every penny. She took risks like that on occasion, and it is one of the things that keeps me from being able to hate her completely. They are still wrong in what they did but … maybe they, or at least Aunt Anne, aren’t completely rotten all the way through.
“Well, this is as good a time as any to start working on that part of the plan,” Gigi told me after they left town again. Some of the food came from what we started calling the Food Lot, and some came from our take home pay from running produce to the farmers’ markets. We took what we could from the budget – which was tighter than even Gigi had planned for because of the cost of electric and water - and bought things that helped us to preserve the food we could get.
Even though apples don’t grow very well in Florida, there is a type of apple that does okay and it is called an Anna Apple. There were several trees in the Food Lot, but they were in sad shape. We fertilized them and got the moss off them and wound up with almost of bushel of fruit. It wasn’t great fruit but as Gigi started saying a lot, “Some is better than none.”
There was an avocado tree on the food lot, but it wasn’t in great shape either. Most of the avocados we got that month came from our take home pay and because Gwen told Gigi if I would go with Quill to clear the two avocado trees on her aunt’s property, I’d get a share of that and also get fed. She’d also appreciate some help from Gigi going through her aunt’s sewing room.
“Gigi, you just won’t believe the mess that house is in. Thankfully my cousin finally saw what we’d all been trying to tell her for about five years now and is taking her and her sister to live with her and her husband over in Idaho of all places. But the house needs to be dealt with so it can go on the market. What they think they are going to get for it I don’t know. Especially as I’m sure there is a lot of delayed maintenance under all the mess the house is in.”
Gigi nodded in understanding. “They’re definitely taking Miss Lola?” Lola was another cousin and she would have been called mentally delayed if she’d been my age. But she wasn’t and in fact was older than Gigi and Gwen.
“Yes, thank goodness. Living in an ALF or group home would destroy her right now. She’s gotten so frail. I’m hoping they can do something for her – at least a better schedule and some human interaction. We all feel so guilty. We should have forced Aunt Tea to let us in more often. She just aggravated us so much, throwing our offers of help back in our faces. Refusing to have us out here meddling in her business. We just didn’t think. It’s awful.”
Every family has bad things happen in it, that’s why there are families, or so Gigi said. It is so you can support each other and learn to be better. I’m sure that is true in some families, but I’ve come to understand it isn’t that way in all families, or let’s say not all families choose to be better because of the bad times.
There is a strange tree that grows on the Food Lot called a Bilimbi[1]. Gigi says that some people call it a Cucumber Tree, but it isn’t really one at all except for the way the fruit looks … if you are looking at it sideways and squinting. It sure doesn’t taste like a cucumber. The Bilimbi bites back. We made a jam out of it and some other stuff[2] as well as Spicy Bilimbi Pickle[3] that Daniel, Quill, and Mr. Thad liked so well we gifted them with most of them since Gigi and I only really like them in a juice smoothie[4] where it kinda tastes like green apple.
Other weird fruit on the Food Lot are the white blackberries, the pink lemonade blueberries, a giant starfruit tree, the Barbados cherry hedge, and the black mulberry trees that line the street side of the property hiding most of what is on the lot if you can see beyond the bramble hedges that grow all in the ironwork fence that our grandfather installed when the food lot was a real garden kinda place you could visit and walk through. There is also a small line of pluot trees that give fruits that are green, purple, and red depending on which tree you pick them from. There are also a couple of Tamarillos (aka Tree Tomato), sapodillas, soursops, Pineapple Tomatillo (Ground Cherry), Spanish hog plums, a hedge of Mysore raspberries, these fruit that Gigi said were called Karanda[5] that come from India that we made chutney from, and the passion fruit vines that grew all over the place almost choking out other things. The things we got from the farmers market were boysenberries, dates (Gigi liked to use them for sweetening in our smoothies), muscadine and scuppernong grapes, nectarines and peaches, red and yellow plums, guavas, lemons, key limes, mangoes, watermelons, a bunch more peanuts that we canned boiled, and dry canned roasted, and Gwen brought back a large bag of Vidalia onions that we got shares in for helping to peel and cut them into rings, dices, chops, and minced so they could be dried or frozen.
“Why are we putting all the food into the new house except for the stuff that we have to give to Aunt Anne when they come next time?”
“Good observation Girly. Um … well … um see … we need to look after ourselves.”
That started being the answer to a lot of things. We needed to look after ourselves.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Aunt Anne and Uncle Beau were gone for a much longer time this time. They left right after the 4th celebration and didn’t come back until the very end of August and the only reason they came back for that was to “downsize” their belongings. So July, and then August, was full of work … the farmers markets, the vintage store that was still busy despite the adults saying that the economy wasn’t what it used to be, school activities starting back up, and preserving the food however we could get it.
Just like in July most of our food came from the Food Lot and from the farmers market take home pay. Mr. Thad sometimes said he felt guilty for not paying us all in “cash” but Gigi practically begged him not to make things more complicated, to just let it be. They were helping each other out. I think Mr. Thad understood more than Gigi wanted him to because on the weekends he would order in salads or wraps from the Three Bananas, a local restaurant that was a favorite, to make sure that Gigi and I had at least one meal we didn’t have to scrounge up for ourselves.
We really weren’t doing badly. I saw a lot of people that looked worse off. The farmers markets and flea markets (where Gigi took me to look for stuff for the new house when we found something missing) had all kinds of people there. Some were dressed nice, and some stunk, though Gigi warned me it was rude to notice that kind of stuff out loud like I almost did one time. The woman smelled so nasty that I finally understood what “gakking” meant. And I told Dad and Thunder on our next Zoom.
“It was awwwwwful.”
Dad snorted. “Some of the spices they use to cook with over here are so strong they come out in the men’s sweat when they eat it in the chow hall. Just try and ignore it. Different cultures have different hygiene habits.”
After Dad let someone else take a turn, and it was just Thunder and I, he asked if Gigi was there. “Always,” I answered looking over at her.
“Hey Gigi.”
“Something up Thunder?”
“I saw the look on Rain’s face even if Dad missed it. I take it wasn’t curry that made the woman smell.”
Gigi asked me to step out of the room which meant it was an adult topic. I didn’t step that far though and my ears were good and are even better now.
“It was embarrassing Thunder,” Gigi said. “The BO coming off that woman was a combo of booze and … er … interpersonal habits if you know what I mean.”
“Oh man. Rain didn’t pick that up did she?”
“She normally doesn’t act like she notices much but she does. She’s just careful. And frankly I’m thankful. Maybe if I’d been more careful at her age … never mind, the past is in the past. For all of us. We just have to deal with things being the way they are. That said, that woman’s BO was really bad. I don’t think a barrel of Summer’s Eve would have even taken it down more than a peg or two. And don’t you dare repeat that Thunder Storm.”
My brother gave an embarrassed laugh then snickered and said, “Just watch out. Rain’s mouth can let fly with no warning.”
In a more serious tone she said, “Not … not like you said she used to.”
“Oh. Is … is she okay?”
“She’ll talk to me. There’s a couple of kids she’s okay with. Everyone else she keeps at arm’s length by being super polite. No one would notice it if they hadn’t known her before.”
“What kids?” Thunder demanded and I was surprised to hear some jealousy.
“You met them when we were in Tallahassee. Daniel and Quill Evanston.”
“Oh. Treated her like a little sister. Daniel is the one with the really bad eyesight.”
“Yes. And their mom is grateful they have someone to expend that energy on. They have four older sisters and until Rain came along they had it rough.”
Quickly, to disguise what he’d likely been imagining, he instead said, “Hey, they’re throwing away some equipment out of the lab. It is way out of date, or they are parts from other devices that are missing. I saw a bunch of loupes … uh kind of like a magnifier for very tiny objects like jewelry, gemstones, watches, and stuff like that … and some old nautical telescopes. You figure if I send those to you, that you could give it to that Daniel kid? Maybe ask him to keep an eye on Rain for me? My professor said the department just needs it gone before the building inspectors come in for the lab expansion.”
Gigi said to send it when he had the time if he got permission but not to do anything stupid or risky, that Daniel and Quill would keep an eye on me regardless. Well, the professor thought so highly of the idea – it was being donated for educational purposes, not just for someone else to make money on – that Thunder mailed it out the next day.
On our next Park Day, I carted them over to Daniel who was sitting at a picnic table handing out stuff for the 4H and FFA clubs in our area. When I plunked the box in front of him loud enough for him to hear the rattle Daniel asked, “What’s that noise?”
“Pirate spy glasses and loots. My brother sent them to you.”
“Why?”
“’Cause he’s really smart even when he isn’t trying to be and he thinks you might like them.” I grabbed his hand and put it in the box.
He was running his hands over the stuff and then snorted. “Loupes, not loots.” Then he unsnapped one of the cases that held a nautical telescope. “Yep, spy glasses. Do I look like a pirate,” he asked, laughing.
Well Quill being Quill ran over and said, “That’s mean. He can’t see.” He just barely stopped from pushing me he was so upset. Then Daniel said something that shut us all up.
“You’ve got grape jelly on your chin.”
He was looking at Quill with the spy glass.
“Wha … ?”
Daniel starting breathing funny and repeated, “You’ve got grape jelly on your chin.” He turned the spyglass on me. “And … and Rain has freckles from being out in the sun too much without sunscreen.” He spun around and then stopped real still. “And mom is wearing the head scarf I gave her for Christmas.” He fell to his knees just as Gwen looked up and she panicked and ran over.
“Daniel?!”
“You’re wearing the scarf. You’re really wearing the scarf even though it has chickens on it.” He fell into her chest and grabbed her around the waist.
More quietly she asked, “Daniel?” But Daniel was crying even though he was almost fourteen. She looked at Quill who was looking at Daniel and I punched his arm and told him, “Breathe.”
Gwen looked at me and asked a question with her eyes that she couldn’t make come out of her mouth. “My brother is going to be a good doctor. He’s smart even when it is on accident.” I picked up the spy glass and put it in Daniel’s hand. “He told me to give that box of stuff to Daniel to see if he wanted it. It’s got loots and …”
“Loupes,” Daniel said with a sniff pushing himself out of his mother’s arms. “Loupes and pirate spy glasses. Can … can I keep this one?”
I told him, “The whole box is yours. I think how it works is the spyglass is for far away things and the loots … I mean loupes … are for really close things. But they’re all different, like how Mr. Thad always has two pairs of glasses on his head and a pair on a chain around his neck and it depends on what he needs them for for which pair he wears.”
Gwen asked like she was afraid to, “Honey … can … can you see?”
He stood up and felt his way back to the table and sat down. “I can’t see you now that you are so close, but I can see the sign that says ‘Don’t feed the alligators’ right there. It’s kinda fuzzy unless I move my head like this but I can still see what it says.”
Gwen made a squeak.
Daniel turned his head in my direction and asked, “Did your brother really say I could keep this loot?”
“You said they were called loupes.”
“Nu uh. I’ve got a pirate spy glass so this is loot.”
I leaned over to Quill while Daniel started experimenting with the loupes. “Daniel is acting weird.”
“Oh, and you’d know normal.”
Completely unfazed by Quill’s snark I said, “Yes, I would, and Daniel usually is. What gives?”
Quill was quiet for a minute then said, “He’s happy Rain. You did a good thing.”
“Well, okay. Just tell him to go back to being normal. He’s freaking your mom out and she’s calling your dad. And he’s at work. That’s not good.”
“Sometimes things are worth freaking out about. This is one of them.”
[1] Bilimbi Fruit: Description, Flavor, Benefits, And Uses - Gardeners' Magazine
[2] Very Good Recipes of Bilimbi
[3] Bilimbi Pickle | Bimlache Tikhat Lonche | How to make Bilimbi Pickle? | nayakskitchen - Your Own Pakshala
[4] Bilimbi Juice recipe | Irumban Puli juice | Pulinchikka juice| The Tropical Delight with Health Benefits - Pallavi Bhat
[5] Karonda Recipes: One Of The Largest Recipe Sites
sssarawolf
We're just plugging along.
Thank you for the Sunday addition.
feralferret
Veteran Member
Thank you.
Chapter 31
The “loot” or rather the loupes and spyglasses went over really well in the Evanston family and it didn’t hurt how Gigi and I felt either. Not everyone was so lucky. Some of the home school families were having to put their kids in public school because both parents needed to work to make ends meet. I saw some stuff at church that wasn’t nice either. Old folks barely able to afford their regular groceries much less their medicines. The money in the offertory plate going down so much that the pastors had to take regular work and then the church started asking for money for the awards and stuff the church normally handed out during AWANAs for free.
The home school co-op asked for a membership fee which they’d never done apparently. And Gigi signed me up for 4H and Jr. FFA (for ages 8-11). Add guitar lessons went up with next to no warning. About the only thing that didn’t cost was my school because most of the plans came from online sources[1], and that Gigi signed us up for Kids’ Quilting with the sewing guild that met at the Quilt Shoppe that opened next to Mr. Thad’s vintage store. The way I was getting to join that one for free is because Gigi was going to “volunteer” since she had so much kid experience. But she was also going to learn. Gigi could be slow learning something that required fine motor skills and I usually finished her projects or at the very least did the projects with her which we both enjoyed.
Aunt Anne, or should I say Uncle Beau, wasn’t overjoyed that the cost of my education was going up. They made the mistake of saying something to that respect and first Thunder, then Dad, asked them why it was a problem given all the money that was coming out of the Trust, that funding was for my benefit and for them not to worry about it. That shut them up, but it also pinched Uncle Beau’s feelings. And then the Trust lawyer asked for an accounting of the funds issued up to that point, with receipts. I don’t know what happened but no more comments like that were made. I will say that while Uncle Beau’s attitude got colder, Aunt Anne’s did not. She’s not in the clear as far as supporting what took place but she at least still acted the same, money or no money and I suppose I have to give her credit for that. Looking back and being honest is forcing me to not completely demonize them, but it is also solidifying some of my feelings as well. How’s that for sounding like I’ve grown up some?
September the housing budget money was even tighter. In hindsight it is obvious that running two households was getting more than a little difficult for Uncle Beau to juggle, especially when one of the households was still just a foundation waiting on permits to be built and them living in an RV which apparently wasn’t as comfortable or inexpensive as they had thought it would be … and for a longer period of time than they had expected. Their community was coming under scrutiny as a possible cult and people were asking questions. While it was quickly cleared of cult status, they were still a closed religious community and needed additional permits that cost more money from each group member that ate up the community’s holdings. Gigi found out they even sold a piece of the original land to raise money for all the additional infrastructure costs. The original property straddled a two-lane road that was also part of the county line. It made things way too complicated trying to get permits and utilities set up. It was also the line that changed from one electric co-op to the other just adding another layer of complication.
Gigi explained it to me on one or our constitutionals, “No wonder they got the land at a discounted price. Someone didn’t do their homework, that’s for sure.”
“Huh?”
“There are a lot of things that are good about the land they got, but a lot that makes things more challenging and expensive. Now they are in too deep and have to do whatever it takes to move forward. Speaking of, we need to move the last of our stuff to the new house. Dad wants it empty so he can push the realtor for some showings. That means bringing people by to see it and look inside. It’s been on the market for a month and no interest yet. The realtor tried to tell them they were asking too much for the property, but Dad is going by what some random website says the house is valued at.”
“And that’s important?”
“Of course it is Girly,” she said, but she was being factual, not snarky. “The house’s main mortgage is paid off but then Dad took out a second to cover some of the legal costs from me. Which I’m grateful for, don’t think otherwise, but instead of using the money from the civil case they spent that money on other things and now they are stuck with the second to pay off before they can take any profit from the sale of the house.”
Trying to understand I asked, “But if this house sells before their new house is built where are they going to live? The new house is a mess with broken stuff everywhere which will freak Aunt Anne out, especially when she hears about the dead snake in the fireplace. The kitchen doesn’t work and doesn’t have any cabinets hung, they’re all sitting in the garage. And only the little bathroom’s toilet works, none of the bathtubs do. And that will freak out Uncle Beau who takes like three showers a day because he says cleanliness is next to godliness.
Gigi gave a small grin. “Yeah, that’s another thing I don’t think they thought through.”
As you can guess, September there was so little money that we were basically on our own. And contrary to what Uncle Beau thought, if he thought anything at all, we did a lot better than most people knew. You could tell the seasons were turning because what was available at the farmers markets was changing. The apple was the Golden Delicious. We got bushels of those. But we also learned about native “apples” from a fieldtrip we took to St. Johns Botanical Garden where Gigi talked to some of the guides there. Turns out our grandparents had been developing the Food Lot as a “Native Plant” kinda thing so they could get a special certificate from the State’s Forestry Department. They got it and then the next year our grandfather had a heart attack, and our grandmother couldn’t keep it up on her own. Gigi would help when she could, but her parents were strict with her time even back then.
Anyway, there were Kei Apples and Malay Apples growing in the Food Lot. They weren’t really apples, but they kinda looked like they were if you turned your head and held your mouth a certain way. I know that sounds silly but it was something Dad would say about other silly things and it kinda just fits how I’m feeling as I write this stuff down. A lot of serious things but threaded through it all like fishing line are funny and silly and all sorts of emotions. And that’s the way I feel about those apples that aren’t apples.
The lemons and limes were something else we uncovered on the Food Lot. There were Bearss Lemons, Finger Limes, Key Limes that looked like small, green golf balls and hurt just as bad when a stinky boy pegged them at you (one of the pastor’s grandkids when we took some to church to share them and who didn’t like me on principle because his sister kept complaining about my guitar lessons being longer than hers), and Persian limes that we learned were also called Bearss Seedless limes.
I wasn’t too sure about the dragonfruit at first, but I grew to like it, especially when it showed up in the endless smoothies that Gigi and I made to make sure we used up all the fruit before it spoiled.
We finally cut back all the tall grass from the citrus trees. The trees weren’t dead, but they’d been damaged by lack of care and Gigi and I added at least an hour of gardening a day to everything else we were already doing. Unfortunately, all our cleaning attracted the attention of the peacocks. Thankfully they didn’t hang out too much except for one of the albino pea hens. She got picked on a lot by the other peahens and Gigi said so long as she didn’t destroy our food, she could stay. She pretty much kept to herself, and she still lives there though she is getting a little old for a wild peacock. She wasn’t much more than a chick when she moved in for safety and she’s about 8 years old now. Wild peacocks live for about 10 to 20 years. Maybe I’ll get lucky and she is a longer lived one.
There were avocados, Bilimbi, Carambola, Carissa fruit, Barbados cherries, Feijoa (aka pineapple guava), goji berries, grapefruit, guava, some weird tree and fruit called jujube that was also known as a Chinese raisin for good reason, karanda, pineapple tomatillos, a soursop tree, a tree tomato (Tamarillo), and tangerines. There was a stand of pear trees, sand and Asian rather than fancy dessert pears, as well as both green and purple plums.
In the decorative plant area, there were beauty berries and that may have been what the albino peahen hopped the fence for, that and to hide in those bushes. Those berries are kinda nasty tasting right off the plant, what a plant description book called “dry and insipid”, but they make a really pretty and pretty tasty jelly. A nice lavender color, it just takes a lot of sugar in the ratio of fruit to sweetener.
We gleaned a couple of avocado trees in the neighborhood and I still don’t understand how people hard up for stuff to eat could just ignore what’s in their own yard. That includes the autumn olive berries on the bushes in the nearby public park. Most people ignored them because they didn’t recognize them as something that could be eaten. We learned they could be in this foraging class we took after signing up for it at the library.
Gigi was so proud of us after that class that we went to a few nurseries and plant sales, and we made an addition to the Food Lot … a couple of pomegranate bushes. They were the miniature kind, but it was a start. We cleaned up a bunch of dead brambleberry hedges and low and behold they turned out to be red raspberries once we got passed all the dead ones. A cup of those berries didn’t really feed us, but they added to a berry smoothie we had and that was something new and different.
We identified that some of the palms in one corner of the property were actually date palms and we added it to our long list of things to research. Some palms in the opposite corner of the property turned out to be coconut palms, and those went on our research to do list as well. Gigi wanted us as food-independent as possible but that was going to take time and a lot more effort than we realized. In addition to the pomegranate, we added a Strawberry Bush Tree (aka Hearts a Bursting) and our first arbor of kiwis in three color varieties; green, gold, and ruby red.
At the farmers’ markets what we mostly got that month was nuts because Mr. Thad had teamed up with a nut Grover further north that was looking to expand markets. There were almonds, hickory nuts, black walnuts, and butternuts. We also got our first taste of Chinese chestnuts and I’m still not sure what to make of them, but they were and are a food, and one that can be turned into a type of flour which helped us out a lot. And of course we got another fifty-pound bag of peanuts that we used to distract Uncle Beau from wondering what all we were eating. He thought we mostly ate fresh peanut butter on homemade bread and we did, just that wasn’t the only thing we were eating … or learning to eat and make do with.
[1] Home
feralferret
Veteran Member
Thank you.
No, not in that area of Florida. Most of the problems I hear about are further south. There is a state park where the iguanas are massive and cranky. It is an old fort site. I'll have to ask hubby for the name as it escapes me at the moment. Nothing like trying to hike and constantly having to joggle left or joggle right to avoid those things.
The curly tailed lizard is all over Marco Island, but again that is further south than the area of FL the story is set in.
Supposedly we have a breeding population in Hillsborough County but I've never seen any thank goodness.
There are Nile Monitors over in Palm Beach and Broward counties. That's another thing I would shoot on sight
Possibly. Trotlines aren't legal in some waterways of Florida. They are on Crescent Lake but only after sunset and before 9 am. Also bag limits apply as do size limits. The only thing bag and size limits don't apply to is Channel Catfish.
No crawdads in Crescent Lake.
I've personally never seen a turtle on Crescent Lake. I know they are there but probably only on the other side of the lake where the cypress swamp are. Maybe on Bear Island which has a really cool history (prize on the early years of Price is Right). It is undeveloped though it has a runway on it and an old cottage which is dilapidated from my understanding. The island just sold in 2024 for nearly two million. Hidden under multiple LLCs and registered agents, but locals know it is now owned by the family (Arison) that owns Carnival Cruise Lines. No development on it thus far (thank goodness) and they own it privately under Bear Island Outdoors LLC so they may be thinking to eventually build a retreat on it. Thus far they just own the land, there are no improvement permits pulled in the two years they've owned it.
Of course they might be waiting for the guy that owns Bass Pro Shop to develop the 5000 plus acres he bought around Welaka, FL (also around the lake area). Locals are suspicious as heck of those people. They don't want their slice of Florida to get developed into a big resort area.
Griz3752
Retired, practising Curmudgeon
Saw a thread somewhere (can't remember where) and the gist was people should be glad these weren't in the 50-60 lb range.
No experience with them but I've heard some 1st person accounts about losing pets etc that were reason enough for me to decide they were a kill on sight nuisance.
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sssarawolf
We're just plugging along.
Another big thank you.
Chapter 32
One of the foods we ate a lot of were mushrooms. A lady that Gigi met at one of the flea markets grew her own. She even went through the long process of getting a government grower’s stamp so she could sell them without getting into trouble. And on top of that she foraged for mushrooms in the wild. Since we could go during the week, if we helped her bring in her harvested mushrooms, she always gave us some in exchange rather than any kind of pay. That’s how things were getting done … barter.
Florida’s warm and humid weather makes it perfect for growing mushrooms. And there is also a year-round growing season for them. I learned about oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, Lion’s Mane, milky mushrooms, and some expensive mushroom called a morel. The morels have been the hardest to grow. I actually wound up having an easier time of it with them after I stopped trying to grow them in the Food Lot and grew them under the heavy branches of some giant Live Oak trees that had been allowed to grow naturally rather than pruning them to grow upright. Gigi wasn’t happy about me climbing around in there because of snakes, but you do what you have to, and I always wore jeans and long sleeves but that was more to do with mosquitoes than snakes. The trees were down in the empty lot where the peacocks hang out during the day. I bribed them to leave my mushrooms alone so it wasn’t too awful a battle to fight. Peacocks are omnivores so the bribe depended on what was available, including slugs and snails that I would find sliming up the walkways in the Food Lot.
Gigi didn’t eat a lot of meat, but we needed some and that’s where the Evanston boys came in. Even Daniel, with his work around vision helpers (that’s what he called the cobbled together loupes and spyglasses) was able to give me some pointers.
Archery. That’s what they taught me just like they taught me to fish. From the middle of September to the middle of October Gigi volunteered to take us to various locations in her three-wheel truck to go archery hunting for deer and turkey. Daniel and Quill taught me how to field dress and then process the deer into parts that could be cooked or preserved for later (we never froze anything if we could help it because the power use would have been noted by Uncle Beau). Daniel and Quill plus Gigi taught me how to field dress and process the turkeys. Getting those feathers off sure did stink but these days I just look at it as food.
We hung and processed things at the Evanston family farm because they had animals that could be fed the gross parts we didn’t use. Gigi called it getting rid of the evidence. Daniel explained that it meant less feed they’d have to buy. Daniel had become a thoughtful boy, leaving the stinky-ness of his species behind. Quill not so much. Part of that was being the youngest. Part of that was coping with the changes in a brother that he’d always led despite being younger. And part of that was just Quill. Like me he could sometimes talk without thinking first and his protective nature – that he tried to hide – could make him seem rough whether he meant to or not.
In October Aunt Anne and Uncle Beau came for a full week and brought a UHaul and three other men with them. One was their age and the other two were closer to Gigi’s age. Gigi knew them but was all but ignored by them. It wasn’t exactly an impolite ignoring, but they weren’t friendly either. They were Uncle Beau’s brother and nephews and they were there to help move the rest of their belongings out. Gigi and I were still called on to handle the breakables – which we had mostly already packed anyway – and the clothes that hadn’t already been separated into keep and donate.
They were taking everything because what they ultimately wouldn’t use would be placed in a thrift store for them to sell. They even took all the dishes and pots and pans which irritated Gigi no little bit. Some of them had once belonged to Grandmary.
“They could have left a couple of the mismatched items.” She didn’t take it any further than that but that’s only because she was more polite than I would have been in her shoes.
On their last couple of hours there I heard Gigi speak to Aunt Anne in a way I never had before. She wasn’t sassy, but she wasn’t wishy-washy either.
“Gigi, just … just pick up something at a flea market or yard sale. Or talk to Thunder.”
“And tell him what? That Dad spent money without thinking through everything like the two of you normally do because he wants to recreate what he had as a kid?”
“Gigi Renee.”
“Mom, I get it. You’re the wife, he’s the husband and my father … but he says things that …”. She stopped and drew breath. “He says he is coming back next month. Where will you all stay? Here? There isn’t a mattress or even appliances because he said to take those too. At Grandmary’s old house? From the end of this month through March is when it is normally rented out so the taxes can get paid and it’s possible not for a short-term rental this time but as a real full-time rental. The lawyers would love that as it means they don’t have to pay someone to clean up after the revolving short termers. Groceries? I’m doing good to keep Rain and I fed because as you can see the cabinets are bare.”
“Daughter …”
“I pray for you, you know? Don’t think I haven’t noticed. I just haven’t said anything because I don’t want to make things harder or embarrass you. But you’re getting treated like a housekeeper rather than a wife. They couldn’t even bother picking their towels up off the bathroom floor after their eleventy-dozen daily showers. And how are those towels supposed to be washed? They expect them to be run to the laundromat because the washer and dryer were one of the first things packed up.”
Aunt Anne sighed.
“I’m not going to be there to help. Dad doesn’t want me there and don’t try and tell me it is only temporary. He’s made his opinion plain and I’m honoring his wishes. I’m making a life here taking care of Rain. I never have wanted to be a burden even when I didn’t have much choice but to lean on you so hard.”
“I’ll speak to your father.”
“Mom, don’t. We both know it won’t do any good and could make things worse. Especially now that Dad played musical chairs with the money.”
“Don’t speak of your father in that tone.”
“I’m not talking to him about this. That would be a disaster. I am talking to you, respectfully, like the adult you count on me being. If Uncle Mack gets wind of the shape the new house is in and that it hasn’t been you taking care of Rain, but me; that you and Dad haven’t even been here most of the time? That could require an accounting Dad isn’t prepared for. So, I’ll do what I need to do, but Dad is going to have to do what he needs to do and not do it using money from Rain’s Trust. If Thunder gets a bug and decides to just show up to check on his little sister, even if it is just supposed to be a fun surprise, things will get … messy. I’m doing what I can to help you and Dad not get caught in that situation, but Dad needs to … hmmm …”
That’s when Aunt Anne seemed to come to a decision. “I’m aware. Your father … let’s just let it go that I’m aware of how what your father has done might look if it isn’t handled delicately. The Tennessee property is costing more than we budgeted for and moving slower than we expected. But most of the wrinkles have been ironed out. We just need to get this house sold. I’m going to have to rely on you to get this place cleaned up for showing. And … I hate to add this to everything else … but your father insists we let go of the landscapers. That expense will have to come from some place. Maybe you can tell Mack Jr. it is needed for the house that is in Rain’s name.”
She really did look sorry. Sounded it too. And stressed out. Looking back, I’m still angry about what happened and how it happened but maybe I didn’t give Aunt Anne some of the credit she deserved. Yes, she did let stuff happen but maybe … oh I don’t know. Maybe I just want … hope … maybe even need to think that someone else feels guilty besides me for what happened to Gigi.
Siskiyoumom
Veteran Member
I do as well. Dear husband is beginning his cancer drug. It is hugely expensive and once a month it is sent. It is too expensive to just pay out of pocket. My mind is churning as to what he will do if it becomes unavailable.
Siskiyoumom
Veteran Member
And thank you Kathy for another fascinating story.
sssarawolf
We're just plugging along.
Big thank you Kathy.
feralferret
Veteran Member
Thanks.
Chapter 33
October didn’t stop being busy just because Aunt Anne and the rest of them went back to Tennessee and their new life. In fact, it got even busier and Gigi got a bug in her ear that I wasn’t spending enough time doing school. She worried what my father and brother would eventually say. She made it a point to keep a running tabbed 3-ring binder of everything we did that could be counted towards educational stuff down to preserving food as math, science, home ec, nutrition, and skills of daily living. All of our fieldtrips were in there too. I looked at one of those notebooks yesterday because I was lonesome and wanted my memories and I guess I did get a lot more done than I remember it being.
She would have written in there that Quill had taught me to drive while on their family farm simply because I had grown tall enough to touch the floor pedals as long as I sat close enough to the steering wheel. I could drive both the side-by-side and smaller tractor. Quill and Daniel both thought it a good joke, but I found it a necessary life skill one night when we were coming back from Gainesville only for Gigi to get sick from getting too hot and taking her meds too late. I guess most people would have freaked out but I drove all the way home after we got a few miles outside the city limit sign when Gigi couldn’t stop puking.
“Oh Rain. I can’t believe I put you in that position. I’m useless.”
The next day wasn’t a good day because her medication schedule got blown out of the water and she was still not feeling good and in a downward spiral. The weather was also funky, and barometric pressure affected her moods. But as the preacher used to say, there is never a loss without some small gain. The weather meant that Tuesday’s Jacksonville market was closed so we didn’t have to drive produce around and Mr. Thad hadn’t opened the vintage store either because of the squall lines that were going to move through most of the day. With the day to ourselves – as soon as Gigi started trying to move forward instead of in mental circles - we got a lot accomplished.
We got a lot of the old house cleaned, got the remainder of our belongings brought over to the new house, went down to the Food Lot between thunderstorms and gathered up the fruits before the wind knocked it off and picked up the fruit that had already made landfall, and Gigi started moving her brain doodle ideas down to paper to create a file and get organized with the plans she said were ours.
Over the next week we had no choice but to turn the utilities on in the new house as Uncle Beau turned off the utilities to the old house without warning.
“That was mean,” I grumped as I had to use cold water from the artesian well on the new property to rinse the shampoo out of my hair because I’d been in the shower when everything went off.
Gigi sighed, doing her own rinsing off as she’d been wanting a shower after I was finished. “I wonder if Mom knows,” she said.
“Does it matter?” I said being pretty doggone sassy for an eight-year-old. “He still did what he did. Now we can’t even use the hot pot to get hot water for oatmeal or grits.”
“Well yeah, there is that, but there’s an outdoor grill we can use here at the new house. I’m glad we weren’t using the refrigerator for anything but cold water and ice. I already called the water department and Duke Energy to start things here but because of the storm damage they said it could be another week. I’d move us down to Grandmary’s place but there are already renters in it. I’d rather not get a motel room, we’d have to drive too far, so let’s just try and pretend we’re camping or something.
“Okay,” I said readily agreeing since she’d listened to my complaints and didn’t just ignore me as a little kid. Gigi was good about stuff like that, and I never felt like I had to fight or be cranky like I used to before. It’s not that Dad and Thunder ignored me, they just didn’t listen to me the same way Gigi did.
Another good thing that happened was that Gigi had some memories come back. She remembered that Bruce was big into solar powered devices and that a lot of them were stored in the storage bay. We also went through the new house and made lists and plans for making the place livable and not condemned by the city. I mean the house wasn’t falling down, we cleaned up all the remodeling debris, and it had what Gigi called really good bones for some reason, but it wasn’t exactly in the condition to be living in it either because it really didn’t have a kitchen and only one working toilet without any sinks or anything else in the bathrooms.
“Since we’re basically starting from scratch, I don’t see why we can’t build it the way we want it.”
I looked at the house and then back at Gigi. “What do you mean?”
“Well, we know that this is a two-bedroom house with an attached in-law suite. That technically makes it a three-bedroom house if you think about it like that.”
“That’s kinda what we had when Dad and Thunder and I all lived together. Only the in-law thing was in the backyard and that’s where Aunt Diane lived.”
“Exactamundo Girly. Since …”. She stopped and looked at me seriously. “One of these days you’ll grow up and not need me.”
I panicked a bit. “You said you’d never leave!”
“Whoa, don’t get upset. I won’t leave but maybe you will.”
“No,” I said stubbornly. “We’ll be together always. You promised.”
Gigi sighed but it wasn’t a bad sound. “I want us to be together forever, but things happen. You’ll grow up and want a life and … and that might include me being there all the time and it might not.” Then she grinned. “But since it is a long time off before you’re an adult and fully grown, we’ll just stick to the plan. I have to do something, make decisions, because I already am an adult. If things change, we’ll deal with them. For now, I tell you what, we’ll plan on me living in the in-law suite end of the house. It has a full bathroom, a bedroom, and the other empty space is suppose to be its own kitchen. Like an apartment. The hallway looking space that connects the inside of the main house to the in-law suite is a butler’s pantry from what I remember when I was little. Then there is the main kitchen and all the rest of the house. We’ll put things back together that same way. We’ll use the garage as our storage and staging area for our projects. This will be fun.”
Fun? Well, it was something but not normal people’s definition of fun; however, I still don’t regret any of it. I learned a lot that has served me well.
sssarawolf
We're just plugging along.
Oh sweet, thank you.
feralferret
Veteran Member
Thanks.