Party After Church
Allow me to apologize for the belatedly related information... but I'm not really sorry on your account because you don't have to read it if you don't want to. :)
Wednesday the 21st my brother and I invited some church youths (which, for my church, = unmarried people age 15-30) over after prayer meeting. My parents were in town.
Three of the G "children" and two cousins (JB and BB) of J&J from the "Fishing" episode decided to take their chances and visit the Varney household. We were a lively crew almost from the start. Words and jellybeans flew as the "party" (= occasion sans-alcohol where friends get together to enjoy fellowship) escalated. I brought out the violin my grandma gave me a couple years back. I didn't play, no way, but JB was easily enticed and fiddled away at some gospel songs. My brother and I searched about the house for the banjo my mother's father made for the family — figured JB could entertain us further on that instrument. We searched to no avail (my mother found it later in the depths of her room), but the negative result actually produced the crowning point to the evening.....
"Maybe it's in the barn," said one.
"Do you all want to go for a tour of the barn?" questioned my brother.
Nothing more exciting presented itself and we trundled out the door. The white four-story edifice loomed in the foreground as we approached and entered.
"You must all come see the skull," said I.
"The skull?!" said LG.
Ah, yes.
Out to the lean-to with its heap of junk, table of junk, Allis Chalmers tractor and tractor corpse. We peered into a small depression in the dirt floor, and observed the skull which I partially excavated some years past. I am very proud of our skull.
We navigated through the junk within the barn, and reached the western room. JB, in reference to an old incinerator (which used to heat the Hopewell Church building): "It looks like you'd find some [metal] coils inside." (I.e. coils for an alcohol distiller. There aren't any in there.) The banjo was not to be found in that vicinity, so we returned to the central barn portion.
"We must show them the hole."
"The hole?"
My brother pried up a board in the floor of the barn, and revealed the small, cement-lined cellar beneath the floor. We peer inside and screamed (some of us) into the void, listening to the "eerie" echoes beneath the floor. "If we were less mature, we'd probably run out of here," it seems like someone said.
Most of us climbed the stairs to the third floor, where the lighting does not work. My brother carried the only flashlight.
Perhaps it was then that he told the story about the bodies in the barn.
One day after we purchased the place, my dad was visiting with Al Schlabach (who built the barn and house and lived there for many years).
My dad, being the way he is, said to Al, "You didn't tell me about the bodies in the barn." Knowing my dad, he probably sported the straightest face in the world.
"There aren't any bodies in the barn," said Al, in an Al-type voice (which some of you are familiar with). He was overly serious, as if trying to cover up the truth. As far as I know, the only bodies in the barn are dead animals... but you never know.
"Don't fall down the elevator shaft," I warned in the semi-darkness. And then my brother told the story of the time he and my dad were removing junk from the fourth floor of the barn. They had the elevator loaded with items, and my dad was manning the controls as he allowed the elevator box to descend. My brother, it seems, was higher up, and observed as the elevator box got stuck on a two-by-four and began to tip... my brother dissolved into laughter as the junk proceeded to pour from the two sided box. He laughed for 30 minutes, so I am told.
We traipsed across the third floor and looked over and behind a small partition. 20-30 slender green bottles reflected back at us. Some were empty, some corked and containing a liquid. My dad opened one of them once, and declared that it smelled like wine. We are not given to wine tasting and have no information about the gustatory sensations it may produce. Who knows when it was made.
Shortly thereafter the party ended.
Wednesday the 21st my brother and I invited some church youths (which, for my church, = unmarried people age 15-30) over after prayer meeting. My parents were in town.
Three of the G "children" and two cousins (JB and BB) of J&J from the "Fishing" episode decided to take their chances and visit the Varney household. We were a lively crew almost from the start. Words and jellybeans flew as the "party" (= occasion sans-alcohol where friends get together to enjoy fellowship) escalated. I brought out the violin my grandma gave me a couple years back. I didn't play, no way, but JB was easily enticed and fiddled away at some gospel songs. My brother and I searched about the house for the banjo my mother's father made for the family — figured JB could entertain us further on that instrument. We searched to no avail (my mother found it later in the depths of her room), but the negative result actually produced the crowning point to the evening.....
"Maybe it's in the barn," said one.
"Do you all want to go for a tour of the barn?" questioned my brother.
Nothing more exciting presented itself and we trundled out the door. The white four-story edifice loomed in the foreground as we approached and entered.
"You must all come see the skull," said I.
"The skull?!" said LG.
Ah, yes.
Out to the lean-to with its heap of junk, table of junk, Allis Chalmers tractor and tractor corpse. We peered into a small depression in the dirt floor, and observed the skull which I partially excavated some years past. I am very proud of our skull.
We navigated through the junk within the barn, and reached the western room. JB, in reference to an old incinerator (which used to heat the Hopewell Church building): "It looks like you'd find some [metal] coils inside." (I.e. coils for an alcohol distiller. There aren't any in there.) The banjo was not to be found in that vicinity, so we returned to the central barn portion.
"We must show them the hole."
"The hole?"
My brother pried up a board in the floor of the barn, and revealed the small, cement-lined cellar beneath the floor. We peer inside and screamed (some of us) into the void, listening to the "eerie" echoes beneath the floor. "If we were less mature, we'd probably run out of here," it seems like someone said.
Most of us climbed the stairs to the third floor, where the lighting does not work. My brother carried the only flashlight.
Perhaps it was then that he told the story about the bodies in the barn.
One day after we purchased the place, my dad was visiting with Al Schlabach (who built the barn and house and lived there for many years).
My dad, being the way he is, said to Al, "You didn't tell me about the bodies in the barn." Knowing my dad, he probably sported the straightest face in the world.
"There aren't any bodies in the barn," said Al, in an Al-type voice (which some of you are familiar with). He was overly serious, as if trying to cover up the truth. As far as I know, the only bodies in the barn are dead animals... but you never know.
"Don't fall down the elevator shaft," I warned in the semi-darkness. And then my brother told the story of the time he and my dad were removing junk from the fourth floor of the barn. They had the elevator loaded with items, and my dad was manning the controls as he allowed the elevator box to descend. My brother, it seems, was higher up, and observed as the elevator box got stuck on a two-by-four and began to tip... my brother dissolved into laughter as the junk proceeded to pour from the two sided box. He laughed for 30 minutes, so I am told.
We traipsed across the third floor and looked over and behind a small partition. 20-30 slender green bottles reflected back at us. Some were empty, some corked and containing a liquid. My dad opened one of them once, and declared that it smelled like wine. We are not given to wine tasting and have no information about the gustatory sensations it may produce. Who knows when it was made.
Shortly thereafter the party ended.
posted by Claire at 20:05
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home