Abra by Joan Barfoot

Author:Joan Barfoot
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cormorant Books
Published: 2012-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

9

Oddly, there were not the feelings of letdown, of doubt or panic, that should have been expected. Although they might come later. Would they come later?

It was morning, the sun was on my body, and there was no looking back. I felt no emptiness or lostness in abrupt change. I did not wake up that first morning and think, “I’m free, there is no one wanting breakfast or a kiss good-bye.” I thought simply, “I’m free.”

I lay in bed for a long time, looking up out of the window. It did not feel strange to be there. Birds, starlings I think, were singing ferociously in the willow, sounding as if their energy was too great for their small bodies. In the distance there were crows calling back and forth to each other, and I imagined them on the edge of the pasture, in the border trees of the woods, coming together to make some kind of plan for the day, and the sounds were familiar, as if I had always heard them.

I could hear also, very faintly, the stream pelting over stones, bursting hard against its banks, almost too large to be contained, like the force of the starlings. There was a very little breeze, moving only the smallest of the willow branches.

I felt some curiosity about the place, an eagerness to begin, and so, finally, it was time to get up.

In daylight, the cabin looked barren. The broken window panes and peeling walls were forlorn.

I made coffee and, holding my mug, wandered again through the rooms. After a while I went to my purse and got out a pencil and paper, sat down on the floor of the living room to make plans, listed the furniture I would need, and the supplies that would carry me through some time here alone. Material for curtains, second-hand furniture, the freezer, which should be delivered today, a kitchen table, a proper bed, a desk. There was pleasure in planning the place I wanted.

I washed the coffee cup and walked outside, wondering what might be done with the land. It occurred to me, an indication of how little I had considered the facts of coming here, that I must have a garden, or else too much of my precious, dwindling money would disappear. There was a spot not far from the cabin, down a small slope in the yard, that looked as if someday, probably years back, it had been a garden. It was marked somehow, perhaps the growth of weeds was different, but in any case it held an outline, a rectangle. It would not, I thought, be so difficult to turn the soil over and pull away the weeds and plant something for this year. The idea did not attract me particularly then, but I was beginning to understand there would be many things I would have to do to survive that I might not enjoy.

The plot was about fifty feet by twenty-five, and I had no idea how much food could be grown in such an area.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.