There was a song that used to be sung around Halloween. Oh how I hated that song. There was an old woman of skin and bones. ooooo OOOOO oooo Who lived down by the old grave yard ooooo OOOOO oooo. That song gave me the heebie jeebies when it was sung at a sleep over, because I was reminded of Ms. Rose. Living in the country surrounded by family had its perks; I could ride my bike anywhere and everywhere. From our house to Petry Bridge was probably a half mile or so. The only person that would ride bikes with me was sick, leaving me to venture out by myself.
I pedaled my bike all the way to Petry Bridge stood on the side to throw rocks at the turtles. It wasn’t long before I was bored; turtle popping was definitely more fun w/ my friend. I made my way down the bridge slope and decided to read the book I had brought with me, “The Tale of Benjamin Bunny” by Beatrix Potter (amazing the things you can remember). The water slowly running and the every so often plop of a turtle into the water or a fish jumping was perfect accompaniment for the book. A twig snapping in the distance caught my attention; I looked up and saw a brown rabbit chewing on some clover. By now the book was no longer interesting to me; I wanted to see what other animals I could find.
I got back on my bike and was heading to the brush pocket by the curve. Surely there should be more than a few rabbits there. I laid my bike down in the ditch and forced my way through the brush and about 10 feet in, there was a house. It startled me; I didn’t even know there was a house there. The old lady sitting on the porch in a rocker beckoned me to come closer, “Hello there little friend!” she called cheerily, “It’s alright, I don’t bite.” she opened her mouth as she pointed, “See? I ain’t got no teeth anyhow!” I laughed and walked up to the porch.
“I’m sorry to intrude. I was just looking for some more animals. There was a rabbit by the bridge.” I replied.
“You are not intruding! AND you came to the right place, there’s always little animals scurrying around. Who do you belong to?” She asked.
“My mom’s Laura Marie and my…” she cut me off. “You’re Theresa’s (Pronounced Tee rè see) granddaughter?!”
“Yes ma’am.”
“How is old Baldy and Laura Marie?”
“They’re good.” I said as I sat down on the porch. She began telling me stories of people I didn’t know and the next thing I knew it was starting to get dark. I might have been able to ride my bike anywhere, but my behind better be home before that sun set. I bid my good-bye and she said, “You tell them that Rose said hello!”
“Yes ma’am. I will!” I pedaled as fast I could all the way home, but as soon as I hit the door I was bombarded with questions. “Where were you?!” Nothing doing, she didn’t believe I had rode down to Petry Bridge, because they went there and couldn’t find me. Before I could say anything else, I was ushered to the table, to the tub, and then to bed. I don’t know how, but I simply forgot about where I had spent most of the day.
The next day Paw-Paw yelled out the door as I was getting on my bike, “Don’t you leave this yard!” When you have 5.5 acres as a yard, you’re not exactly confined. Momma left to go to the store and I asked to stay behind, because I knew if I asked Paw-Paw just nice enough, he’d let me go ride my bike. Sure enough… he did. I was riding past the curve when I heard, “Well hello there Little Tee! Come to visit me again?” I wasn’t sure how she had seen me, but I was definitely there to visit her again. She had asked if I told them she said hello and I had to confess that I had not and how the night before turned out. “Well, I promise not to keep you so late this time. Only one story and you should be home before your Momma gets back.” Leaving the house she called out again, “Tell them that Rose said hello.” I made it home before Momma, Paw-Paw was sitting in his rocking chair when I walked in. “Ms. Rose said hello.”
“Rose who?” he asked.
“I don’t know, the old lady that lives in the curve going to Petry Bridge.”
“Where?” his voice was a little strained and I repeated myself. “Rose said hello?!” his voice even more strained for the second question.
“Yes sir.”
“Is that why you were so late yesterday?”
“Yes sir.”
“Fix me a cup of coffee and bring the cookies from my room to the table.”
I did as I was told and when we sat at the table he wanted to know everything. I told him what she looked like, what she told me, and every other question he asked. When Momma walked through the door, he told me to go feed the cats (with 20 something cats, this took a while). When I came in, we were all getting in the car. They wanted me to show them where I went, so I did. We got out of the car and I pushed my way through the brush and came to a semi-clearing where this old run down house barely stood. The porch that I had sat on for two days was hanging off the front of the house. The rocking chair was gone and the old lady was nowhere to be seen.
I was confused. I figured certain I would get in a lot of trouble, because how can she believe that I was somewhere when it’s obvious it was impossible. I couldn’t understand it. Paw-Paw comforted me as best he could, and when we got home Momma pulled out some old photo albums. I loved looking at photo albums, for some reason it soothed me. Until I turned a few pages into and there sitting in a rocking chair, on a porch, in front of a house that I had just seen the past two days, was the old lady. It was a photograph taken with three other people in it. I pointed and told them that this was the woman I had seen. Momma carefully removed it from the sticky page and read the back. In my grandmother’s handwriting was “Tee, Cootie, Rose, and Mims 1969” and on the next page was a cut out newspaper obituary with the death year 1969. I never saw Ms. Rose again, no matter how many times I stopped after that.
~
