“Change of life baby,” Kristie thinks… “with all that goes with it.” She saw the Old Mum occasionally in the afternoons after the mail delivery. The Old Mum made the short walk across the street where a line of neighborhood mail boxes stood in a row. She was always in a nightgown, a pink robe, and blue slippers – long grey braid hanging half way down her slumped back.
The reality is that she had him too late. The Old Mum now well into her eighties is unable to care for “The Pie Man” as she knew they called him, her Down’s Syndrome baby now in his forties. There was nothing to be done about it now. She was a good Catholic and besides it was her choice. She loved the sweet lad even if he was always getting into trouble with his recycling projects and his quest for pie and Pepsi.
The task of caring for both the Old Mum and the Pie Man now fell mostly to an older sister, never married, who also lived with Old Mum. The sister worked a little job in town that got her out of the house and allowed her to buy better groceries for the trio.
Two older brothers, married and successful, came to visit rarely in their town cars. They controlled the purse strings keeping the poor mice fed at their whim. Since they were doing well, they took fancy vacations and lived suburban lives. As soon as the old woman died, they put their brother in a home where he could be watched over more closely.
This was a gift to their sister who lived in the small dilapidated house until even she had had enough. The house was perched on the side of a hill known for landslides. It was like a cardboard box pieced together with hope and faith. It had been a nice summer cabin on the river not meant for year round living. It was cold and damp in the winter with sixty inches of rain per year under the big trees .
Kristie and Jack went to look at the house when it came up for sale just out of curiosity. There was a living room with a wood stove and a semi-remodeled kitchen with an electric stove and a tin sink. The small bedroom had one small closet with a sheet hanging over the opening for a door. The bathroom was like an afterthought as if it had been tacked on to the original cabin. A storage shed attached on one the side was filled with firewood. The house fit exactly on the lot with no space for improvements. It was little better than tent camping for $70 thousand.
(First published 12/18/12)
