I Was Such A Silly Goose!

Grammie Ruth really made me mad. Now 50-some years later, perhaps even 60, I have no idea why I was so angy. Suffice it to say that this girl had "had it". Running away was necessary, but it was a little frightening, too. One thing was certain. When she discovered that her daughter was gone, my mother was going to learn her lesson. I was sure that Grammie was going to be VERY sorry and I was going to be equally happy about it.

Silly Goose

The problem is, when you don't have any money the thought of feeding and clothing yourself and getting a bath is pretty overwhelming. So you have to calm down and look at all the options. You have to make a plan that will work! The other thing is that I wanted to see people scurrying around looking for me. But they would never find me. I was a very clever kid. It was obvious to me that long time would go by before I returned home and the day of repentance for my Mom would be a delicious one for me. Oh, the thought of revenge was so sweet.

With such a great outcome in mind, I began to look around and to scheme. We had a barn with a nice supply of baled hay. Because feeding and watering our cows was in my area of expertise, I was proficient at climbing to the top of that hay, It was a straight climb upward with only the bale twine and some cross beams to help boost me up. It was something I could do very quickly without thinking about it. But MOM was never required to do barn chores when she was growing up. She would never be able to do climb up there. Aha! With my own ingenuity, I had discovered a great hiding place. It was a great place to hide and a place from which I could see the whole yard covertly.

Yes. I would hide in the hay. Maybe forever. I climbed up to prepare my retreat. All it took was carefully rearranging some hay bales. This formed a cavity in the center where anyone could hide, keep warm, and live undetected. The plan was to take some food from the cupboard, a jug of water, a blanket, and a book. I planned to stay up there while it was day. Late at night I would climb down, go to the bathroom, wash up, and replenish my supplies. It was going to be so much fun to see everyone scurrying around and trying to figure it all out. The police would probably be called and all of the relatives. Maybe they would put my picture in the weekly paper. Oh, what a grand idea to run away and still be a spectator of all the excitement!

After verifying that I had done everything on my mental check list, I went out for a walk in the back field and came back to the barn behind the line of bushes that marked the border between our property and Ben Murphy's. This was GREAT. I made it to the barn undetected and scaled the heights to my retreat.

I settled in with my blanket, but the hay was rather "scratchy" on my skin. After awhile I began to itch. I wondered how long since I ran away. Why didn't I have my little alarm clock with me? I peeked over the bales and the yard was empty. Nobody was running around calling my name. I was thirsty, so drank some of my water and ate my peanut butter sandwich. Time was creeping along. It was still daylight and I was tired of my book.

A neighbor walked into our yard and went in the house. She came to see Mom almost every day. Still, nobody was looking for me. It must have been at least fifteen or twenty minutes. Why didn't anyone know I was missing? Mom probably didn't even know I was mad at her!

OK. I began to think that running away is no fun. It became obvious that nobody cared anyway. So what was the point? I grabbed my pillow and blanket, threw my sandwich bag in the trash, and went home. What a disappointing welcome. Nobody even asked me where I had been.

PS: I asked Gramp if he ever ran away and he thinks he didn't. Or maybe his adventure was as uneventful as mine and it has just gone into his hard drive somewhere.

Here is my advice: don't ever run away. It can be too dangerous if you don't have a retreat in your own back yard. Just call us and we will come and help you work out your differences. Home is way better than the hay mow after all. Your bed isn't an itchy place and you get hot food and ice cream.

What a silly goose I was!