blow wind blow
-tw
This old barn sat behind the house l lived in for all of the nineties. It was in Coombs on
five acres. An oasis of beauty. I learned to plant flowers there, planted things every year,
it became a full time job just to water everyday. And l built things out of rocks l collected,
flower beds that looked like grave tombs, and a set of steps that took me two years to build.
The steps were so natural that you expected salmon to be swimming up them.
I had chickens and roosters, never collected the eggs just let them wander around pecking
things and then they'd sleep in the big cedar tree. I remember when the chicks were learning
to fly up into the tree at night. On of them was a slow learner so l put up a step ladder
to help him. I remember having to shoot a deer that had been hit on the highway,
"right behind the ear" the lady told me. I remember the cop having to shoot another
deer another time and she didn't shoot it right behind the ear, it bled to death.
My cat loved it there, she killed and ate something everyday, mostly mice but
bunnies when they were in season. Occasionally l had rats, in my basement
and in my studio. I set up a trap in the basement and learnt that you had to
use peanut butter and you had to tape it down with electrical tape and then l
also tied the trap to a post. I heard the snap of the trap one night and went
running down. The rat was trapped- his front legs and his head and he was
squirming around like a rat. I picked up the nearest spear like object and hurled
it at him. It was a poor shot and he wiggled out and got away.
The barn, the barn was beautiful. The first couple of years it was filled with
wild cats. After the cats died off it was filled with rats and then they died off.
Then it was mine, l pulled so many old boards out of that barn l'm surprised
it stood.
It was so hard to move away from that home. l tried for years. I thought l
was too comfortable, l thought that l was spoiled. I tried wandering away
from it at times but like smoking it didn't work. So l moved away
for a year to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan to work in a homeless shelter.
I don't miss it anymore, rarely think of it, but
l have a spot inside me that glows from being there.
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