The Neighborhood Grew

The neighbors who had the little girl that JT started to school with, moved away. The family that moved in had two boys. Mike was a year younger then JT and Donnie was a year or two younger than his brother. These were the boys who were at our house a lot. Their house was on a one acre lot in an open field, so our woods was more appealing. At first they were almost our only neighbors. An older couple lived across the road from the lower tip of our land. JT did strike up a relationship with them, but I tried to keep him from bothering them. Though, I'm sure he was down there more than I knew.

We had bought the property, supposedly about 5 acres, from Virginia, who was the city auditor. She owned about 7 acres and only used it for a weekend getaway. Due to her job, she had to keep her city residence. There was a small one room cabin for her escape to the country. But, mowing and keeping up the property convinced this older lady to sell the bigger chunk of it. It was wide at her end and pie shaped to a point on the lower side of the hill. Wedged between the woods and the road. Her section was flat and our upper end stayed flat till it started the slope that allowed us to put our garage under the house.

Later, Virginia brought in a large house trailer, but still only spent occasional summer weekends out there. Another weekend retreat was directly across the road from Virginia. This was what W and I loved most about the property. We had the area pretty much to ourselves. Then a niece of Virginia's was married and Virginia gave her property to Beth and Carl. So all of a sudden we had full time neighbors in the trailor. Then an older couple built a new house in the woods right across from our house. Soon another new house went in just below them across from our lower yard.

This was ok with my boys. Beth and Carl kept foster kids. A brother and sister at first, though they didn't stay long. And, the new family in the second new house had a younger son close in age to TK, so now he had someone to play with too. Their oldest son was quite a bit older and the girl was close to JT's age, but she didn't play with the neighborhood boys all that much, and I never remember her associating with the foster girl.

But, along with neighbors came some problems. JT's dog, Duke was our first problem. The old couple right across from us had a tiny rat terrier. Mrs. G liked to take her dog out with her to get the mail. Duke had grown up mostly running free, and now had to be tied all the time. Even when the kids played out. Mrs. G was terrified of Duke. She couldn't even carry her tiny dog outside without Duke lunging and growling and barking up a storm. We kept getting heavier chains, but still he would manage to quickly wear them down and break them. So we had to find Duke a new home. We'd had him for around 8 years, and that was hard. But, there was no way we could be the neighbors who terrified Mrs. G. and Duke couldn't be left off his chain at all anymore. He just hated that "rat."

Beth and Carl had two German Shepherds. Eagle was an older dog who had been professionally trained as a guard dog. Carl worked with the younger dog, Thunder, and he was also well trained. Both dogs had been raised inside and were only out when accompanied by Beth or Carl, except for brief times outside before the couple went to work. Carl usually took Thunder with him to work. Leaving Eagle alone in the trailer all day. As Eagle got even older, Beth sometimes left him with me when she made a quick run to town. He was beautiful, and a perfect gentleman and I enjoyed having him around. Then Eagle showed up at my door early one morning on a cold winter day. I assumed Beth had gone off to work forgetting he was out to do his business. I let him in and he stayed with me all day. After work, she came looking for him. She had called and called that morning and he didn't come. She was worried, but had to go to work, hoping he would come to me. It took us a few more times, but we realized Eagle had decided to stay with me so he wouldn't be locked in the trailor alone all day. We left it that way. He was Beth's dog, except when she was at work. Then he was mine.

The second time Beth and Carl fostered a child, he was a nephew of Carl's who'd gotten into trouble. Cliff was a few years older then JT. A bit of a wild boy who was hard to control. Not the best influence for my up for anything son. We were all keeping an eye on the kids and Cliff seemed to be settling in. Then one summer afternoon Beth trusted those two boys a bit too much. They were in the yard between our homes when she had to run to town. She told them to let me know she would be gone awhile, and she left. But, Cliff and JT didn't tell me. They got into a bottle of Beth and Carl's vodka. (Or maybe it was Gin.) When I went out my back door to see where they were, they were sitting in her yard. It looked innocent and I went back inside without checking further. When Beth got back home, they were still in her yard, but both boys had passed out. They'd killed a brand new bottle. And, Beth thought she'd killed them. She was yelling for me, but I didnt' know what to do. She had a friend on the EMS squad, and she called him right away. The boys were ok, but it was a warning we took seriously. Neither boy was trusted again. (At least when they were together.) It was a relief to me when Cliff was finally returned to his parents.

(Consider this a P.S.) I feel I should tell the rest of Cliffs story. He wasn't a bad boy. His time with Beth and Carl helped and he really did turn his life around. But, it ended horribly. As a very young man, Cliff and a girlfriend were driving on the interstate in a light misty rain. No one will ever know just what happened, but he lost control. The pickup rolled up on the drivers side and burst into flames. Other drivers were able to pull the girl out of the truck, but no one could get to Cliff. After all he'd accomplished, Cliff died that day.