LISTER’S HOLLOW Chapter 7

 

Old folks on Porch
courtesy photobucket

As time goes by everyone ages and the people in the Hollow was no exception.

 

Risen’s sons were grown and educated thanks to Lucy their mother.

One of the boys was working in the governor’s office.  He came across plans for a new dam in the Hollow.  The Hollow was to be no more.

 

He told his father to look for a buyer for his place and advertise it.  This was something he didn’t want to do but he had learned to follow his son’s advice.

 

The son said he couldn’t tell him why because he had information that couldn’t be known at large at the present time.  Soon after he placed the ad a government man came and offered Risen a good price for his place and he took it.  

 

He bought a small place near town that was big enough for some chickens and a garden.  He was too close to neighbors to have a rooster because of all the crowing so it went into the pot for a Sunday dinner.  He hated to get rid of that bird but enjoyed it with the dumplings.

 

During the next two years the government purchased all of the properties in the Hollow.  

 

Only a couple of families resisted but it was to no avail.  Most of the people were old and the younger ones would move to town as soon as they were old enough, leaving the running of the place to the old folks.

 

With facing more work than they could handle they were glad to leave with cash money in their pocket.  It took five years for the dam to be completed and another three for it to fill up.  

 

The locals fought hard and long trying to get the lake named Lister’s Lake.  The higher ups in the state government had several names they preferred but in the end they lost out and the locals prevailed.  Now when the lake is full only the top of the ridge can be seen.

 

As the memories of the years I spent in the hollow come floating up I can see the faces of those who filled my world and it causes tears to flow from my eyes.

 

Most of them are gone. I recall the many times walking by the house where the Mosers, Ditcher and Hattie lived.  

 

For as long as I knew them they were always sitting on their front porch rocking.  They got out there early and stayed late.  No longer were they able to work their place and the land had lain fallow for many years.

 

Saplings were growing up all over and would have to be dug up in order to farm it again.  People would come by and give them different kinds of foodstuffs and the Mosers would buy a few things off the peddling truck that came by once a week.

 

One year one of the neighbors raised an extra hog and gave it to them, all killed and butchered and everything.  Their house was down near the river. When it got to its highest point ever the water was lapping at the front porch but the house stood.

 

Rocking on the front Porch
courtesy photobucket.com

They rocked year round and in the winter they would put on most of their clothes, wrap up in a blanket, and just sit there for it was to cold to rock.

 

They were found one day and rocked no more. They must have had it planned for they both died at the same day.

 

Their house, which had stood for a hundred years, was now gone.  All of the dogs who were friends of mine are all gone.  The cabins we lived in, all gone. The crops are no longer.  The trees that covered the upper part of the valley are gone.

 

I come down to the water’s edge and sit on the old log that remains where it fell in a storm, and think about those who didn’t get to live their life out and are buried under the water.

 

The love ones who were left wanted them to stay where they were buried instead of being disturbed and moved to a place they didn’t know.

 

Yes the Hollow is still there under millions of gallons of water and in my mind it is still filled with all the families I knew and all of the good times and the fussing is still going on.

 

To be concluded