“The day was mildly overcast, but nothing in the air or temperature gave any hint of the sudden force with which the deadly gale would strike
It was while the two were in midair, their hands about to meet, that lightning struck the main pole and sizzled down the guy wiresv
I didn't see her leap through air, only heard the sudden thump and looked out my window. She was hanging by the backs of her heels from the new gutter we had put in that year, and she was smiling. I was not surprised to see her, she was so matter-of-fact.
It was in the hospital that she finally learned to read and write, as a way of overcoming the boredom and depression of those weeks, and it was my father who insisted on teaching her.
Once my father and mother married, they moved onto the old farm he had inherited but didn't care much for.
It can rekindle, and my father, forgetful around the house and perpetually exhausted from night hours on call, often emptied what he thought were ashes from cold stoves into wooden or cardboard containers.