If You Abuse it, You Lose it. -Fifteen

Fifteen

She decided to go back to her grandpa’s house. It wasn’t an easy decision to make and she almost turned around three or four times. But there she was looking at the burnt remains. She wasn’t surprised that the house and out buildings were burnt to the ground; she was the one who set the fires. Another hard decision she hadn’t liked making.

She carefully looked around at the edge of the woods. She could see the plant life taking over the farm. That made her smile since most of the so-called weeds, were plants that had spilled over from her grandma’s herb garden. She even saw some of the leaf remains of the ginger she needed. She first walked down the old driveway that was so overgrown that one could just barely make out the old tracks. The drive was still blocked with big tree that had taken her almost five hours to cut down with her grandpa’s axe.

She made her way back to ruins of the one place that she felt was her home and found her way to the outside cellar door. The house had fallen into the cellar when it burned but when she opened the door, she was able to move a few boards that looked like they had fallen, but had really been placed there to hide the sub-cellar door. Nothing looked like it had been touched since the day she left.

“Oh Poppy, I miss you so much! I took the goats and chickens over to the Denton’s and they gladly took them. Good thing I took them when I did, if I had waited just one more day, I would have missed them. They are headed to Kentucky to Mrs. Denton’s brother’s house. They begged me to go with them, but I don’t think Kentucky is for me. They are the only ones I had seen. Little Melissa is so sweet and now walking! Seems like just yesterday Granny helped birth her big sister, Isabella. I’m so glad they all made it through that flu and you were right, they had enough sense in to drink that elderberry tea you were always forcing me and The Bugger to drink.

I’ve got the cave full now and it’s time for me to go. I’m going to burn everything but the sub-cellar should be ok. I’ll do it just like you taught me Poppy. I’ve got all of Granny’s flower bulbs, the tulips and irises and crocus planted here on your resting place and on Granny’s and The Bugger’s too.

I miss ya’all and hope to see ya again one day. I love you.”

I watched the whole place burn and when the embers cooled, I cleared the back cellar stairs and made sure the sub-cellar was still ok. It was. I carefully placed burnt boards across the door and walked into the woods; not looking back.