ANSWERING HER QUESTIONS

At first it seemed as if a storm cloud had come upon the weary travelers, but after a moment the foliage of the old oak trees was so thick it gave the appearance of a well hung welcome home sign. The shadows quickly gave the feeling of comfort. Some of the branches of he trees were so big and thick along that breezeway that they all but totally blocked out the sun. Although the children had seen trees in the city parks of New York, they had never seen trees as large as the ones on the road to Grandma’s house.

When they turned off the dirt road on to the wagon path everyone knew it would not be long before they were finally at Grandma’s house. Myles had never seen his grandparent’s house, however, on that day he was the first to spot it. “There it is he shouted.” “How do you know?” asked Ross. Myles looked at his mother waiting for her to say something. Mae only cracked a smile and Myles took that to mean he was right.

 “See, I told you” he proudly boasted. Somehow the young boy was right! With that, Ross and Patrice sat up and stretched their necks to get a better first look. None of Mae’s children had been to see where she had grown up. Mae had given it thought and was really interested in finding out how the children would embrace first impression of the old family home.

As they got closer, Mae looked at the old house and tried to see it through the eyes of one of her children. She tried for a second to imagine that she was seeing the house for the first time. In a way it was as if it were her first time since she had not been home in over twenty-two years. For Mae, the newness of the moment wore off quickly as she began to realize the differences between what she was seeing then and what she had remembered from her years of living there as a young girl. Although there were a few changes the original house still stood on the same old land.

Mae looked at the house where she grew up with her brothers and sisters. She also looked around at the fields where she and her siblings worked and played. Then she looked around to find out if there were any farm animals running around. The whole family could see the house even before the car stopped. A big pure white dog that looked like Lassie jumped up and stuck his head in the back window of the car. It was “Fluffy.” Not only was Fluffy the whitest dog ever, he had long straight hair that blew in the wind as he ran. At first sight it was easy to tell why the dog had been named Fluffy. Myles remembered being bitten by a dog while in New York two years earlier, but he knew right away that Fluffy would become a good companion.