Page 72 - Ninety Miles From Nowhere

Imogene was freed from her fetters to enjoy a hearty meal before her execution. We sat around the campfire talking and singing until it started to get late. The man explained to Imogene that before she was executed she had to dig her own grave. He handed her a shovel, turned on his pickup lights, and pointed out the exact spot in the mountain of sawdust where she was to dig. Good naturedly she began, but almost at once she began to find packages with her name on them. Altogether there were about a dozen packages. The pleased smile had never left her face all afternoon, but after this climax it broadened to a grin.
I know she had a wonderful time, and so did the rest of us. We had done our best to cover her birthdays from childhood into adulthood.
One weekend toward the last of school, Imogene and I drove to Deming to apply for a job with the Luna County School Superintendent for the coming year. We both obtained positions in the county school system but not in the same school.
Imogene and I rode the bus to Flint, Michigan, after school was out, to pick up the new Chevrolet, her gift to her parents. When we returned, I went down to Peggy’s to spend the rest of the summer. I think the furniture had been removed from my Dad’s and my cabins, so I couldn’t stay at either place. No one was at Peggy’s but I thoroughly enjoyed living alone in her house and being back in the Beaverhead area - my favorite place in all the world.
I didn’t realize it then, but this proved to be my last visit for over fifty years to the area of Ninety Miles from Nowhere.