He and MawMaw (another story) lived on farm land that they leased from a lady in the community. The family didn't inherit it after they passed on of course, it wasn't theirs. But the old home place and the outbuildings still remained decades after. They had running indoor water but still used an outhouse. They had electricity but no switches on the wall, all the lights were the bare bulb, pull string lights. They farmed and had a few animals. We killed a hog every year, picked vegetables from a garden plowed with a mule and had Sunday dinner there most every week when I was little.
PawPaw used to try to scare me and my cousin Pat by making a sound that I can only describe as a wounded cow, only spookier. A maaaaaaawwwwww. Very guttural, very loud. It always spooked us.
I went back there after I separated from the army, nostalgia I guess. I wasn't into photography then, I wish I was. The house sat at the end of a long dirt and gravel drive with four huge oak trees on the property. Maybe more, it has been a long time since I've been there or thought about it. I went into the house to have a look around. It was falling apart of course. I don't know that anyone lived there after MawMaw moved out (she lived with Mom and Dad for fifteen years after PawPaw passed.)
In the kitchen was some of the old free standing cabinetry, stuff that antique collectors would kill for. Old cabinetry with porcelain counter tops and the old sink and spigots that would be stripped from a deserted home nowadays for the metal.
And there in the middle of the kitchen sat MawMaws old table. Kudzu had made its way in through the floors and entwined its way up the legs of the table and chairs. It wasn't spooky, I wasn't scared, I was sad. If you only know how many biscuits I ate at that table. A lot of family meals and Christmas dinners, Thanksgiving and Easter, etc. You could still smell the smells and hear the sounds. Well, I could anyway.
In one of the cabinets there was still a stick of peppermint candy in an old box. I still like that stuff. They always had peppermint candy. The powdery, stick kind.
I walked out onto the back porch where the old freezer used to be. There was one of the old string lights. I pulled the string more to hear the click than expecting it to light up. One of the ice boxes was still sitting there. Along side it was a Pepsi crate with a couple of old, glass long neck Mt. Dew bottles. I think PawPaw started a lifelong addiction to the stuff for me. I still love it.
I walked out into the backyard and down to the old barns, past the dog pen and old salt box house. I was just wandering and remembering. He had a small blacksmith shop and chicken pens. They really had most everything they needed to live there. Some of the grape vines are planted at my parents now. My daughter has eaten some of the same grapes I used to.
I was standing there just lost in thought when I heard it.
MAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!
My skin went cold and my knees went weak. The hair stood on the back of my neck.
I knew that if I turned right then I would see him standing there on the back porch grinning with his hands cupped around his mouth, the sun glinting off his glasses. In those old overalls that always make me think of him when I see an old man at the grocery store wearing them. Looking back on it I wish I had, but I was frozen in place.
When I finally turned around the string light was swinging just a little and I could swear I saw a shadow just flit away.
But maybe that was the sun and shadows playing tricks on my eyes. And maybe it was just a memory playing over in my mind.
I guess I'll never know.
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