Page 13 - Homestead By Ann Newhouse
P. 13

never ventured more than about 20 miles either side of our town before. I didn’t have a map of our local county, let alone the State, but my Mother had told me about some of the landmarks in the area. I would be walking more-or-less blindly. I searched and searched for the money, trying to work out where he would hide it. I realised he would most likely put it in the place he felt was the safest . . . His bed?
As he had been dead for a nearly a week, I did not fancy the idea of going into that room again. It took me a few minutes to retrieve the key from where I had buried it. Unlocking the door, I stepped into the room. The stench was horrific. It stung my eyes as I ran my hand under the edge of the mattress, avoiding looking at the smelly bundle of my father’s decaying body. At the foot of the bed I found a hole in the thin mattress and in a cloth bundle I discovered fifty, dollar bills. This could have been a couple months housekeeping, or more medication for my mother. It made me sad and angry, remembering how my mother scrimped and saved to put food on the table, while my father kept money for his whiskey. I added it to the money I had got selling the animals and equipment. He would not allow me to look for work in the town, because only a few knew I even existed. Or maybe he didn’t want to lose control of me. If I’d disobeyed him, he would have made my mother suffer. I couldn’t trust him not to abuse her, when I wasn’t around.
With the bag packed and a sleeping roll tied to my back, I started walking. I had no idea which way to go, I only knew we lived in the West. ’The Wild West’. It was early May and it was getting quite hot. Carrying only a few provisions, some necessary equipment and a large canteen of water, my belly was already doing a merry dance. I set out on foot to begin the rest of my life. I had no idea where I was going, so I started out following the sun. I was in my early twenties and with little education. I knew very little about the world, but what I did know was; I would be a better man than my father.


































































































   11   12   13   14   15