Penury Falls

Penury Falls

penury

noun

extreme poverty, destitution

I met Emily in mid May while I sat on a bench looking out over the lake.

It's a glacier fed lake so almost no one swims in it until at least mid June and that made for a peaceful scene. There's a deep section about a quarter mile out - it runs the length of the lake like a ravine but underwater. I've caught some huge trout out there but never kept them. Guys who fish the shallower areas brag when they get a ten or twelve inch trout. I was catching fish you measured in pounds.

The area right in front of me was a sandy beached inlet and because of the way the water flowed through it would warm in June to a very pleasant temperature. just perfect for swimming.

The air was fresh and clean following the previous day's rain, you felt you could see forever and the smell of fresh cut grass made my senses tingle. There were people behind me, mostly mothers with young kids, a few others gathered around a hot dog cart, and of course traffic a little farther away.

But in front of me - nothing. With just a little effort I was in my own world.

I'm an old guy - I won't see seventy again - but I have most of my hair, many of my own teeth, and can still walk a mile without dying.

So, I'm sitting there, looking at nothing really, just waiting, when I feel a presence to my right. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

She was somewhere between eighteen and twenty five, maybe about my height, and had a worried - or maybe wary - look to her.

"Sure, it's a free country." I said with my usual superb banter.

We engaged in the sort of idle chat a couple strangers might have; the weather, scenery, that sort of thing. She asked if I lived in the area and I waved a thumb over my left shoulder in a general direction, That went on for ten minutes or so when out of nowhere she said; "Mister, I need some money and I'll do anything for it."

Now being the quick wit that I am, I pondered her pronouncement.

"Anything?"

"Yes, I will."

"Okay, for one thousand dollars go kill that child next to her mother."

"What? No, I couldn't do that."

"Hmm, so there are some limits. Okay strip naked and run all the way around the park."

"I... I couldn't do that. Please, something reasonable. A house keeper maybe. Could you use one? Give your wife a break?"

"Well see, you've gone from 'do anything' to something specific." I looked her over more closely. No, not sexually. Taking her in, forming more of an impression. She was clean, her clothes well worn but neat. No makeup, no visible tattoos.

"Tell you what, I need a few minutes to think. Here's twenty dollars, how about you go over to the cart and get me a dog with mustard and ketchup. No onions. And a diet pop. And get what ever you want. Then we'll talk while we eat."

I figured if she ran off, well it cost me twenty to find out she wasn't honest.

But she left her back pack and went over to the cart.

I was forming an opinion and waited for her to confirm it.

She handed me change along with my dog. I didn't count it, I was pretty sure I wouldn't have to.

"So," I said between mouthfuls; "Where are you from?"

She pointed vaguely south; "A little village down that way."

"Uh huh. Where are you staying now?"

"With friends. But they want their couch back. I've been trying to find work, but no luck."

"Finish high school? Any college?"

"Yes and no. I went to Centennial High. Good grades but nothing spectacular."

"When did you graduate?"

"Last week."

So that put her at eighteen or nineteen. And trying to find work. Tough.

"By the way, I'm Larry. Larry Cosgrove. And you?"

"Emily Fergus. I was named for my grandmother. My mother said she was very strict but fair, I guess I could say the same about my mom. She often said we might be poor but we didn't have to act like it.'

"I knew an Emily way back when I was a kid. Before I went in the Navy. Her last name was Williams... no Willis. A lovely girl she was dating Joe Harris, if I remember right."

Emily was looking at me as if I had snakes coming out of my collar.

"You knew my grandma?"

"Well sure, back then The Falls was a pretty tight community. I imagine it's grown quite a bit in fifty five years or so."

"Haven't you ever gone back?"

"Couple times. But after I left the Navy I lived for a while in California, then moved around. My grandad had died when I was a kid, my grandmother while I was overseas, and basically my folks didn't give a damn what happened to me so didn't see much to go back for."

"Did you go to Viet Nam?"

"Off the coast, I was on a Destroyer and we were either doing plane guard behind a bird farm or patrolling along the coast, providing gun support to troops or rescuing flyers."

""Bird farm?"

"Oh, sorry. Aircraft carrier, Oriskany, Bonnie Dick, a few others."

My grandfather was in the Marines. I know he was there, mentioned some place - Kang three?"

"Quang Tri?"

"That's it."

"Yeah. I heard that was bad."

"He wouldn't talk about it, but Mom said sometimes he had really bad nightmares."

"What about your folks? What do they do?"

"Mom cooks at the high school, dad works construction. My brother joined the Army as soon as he turned eighteen. He's in Ranger school now."

"And what do you see yourself doing?"

"I don't know. Anything I can get I suppose. Girls from The Falls don't get many good offers. At least no nice ones."

"Uh huh. I'll make you an offer, but it has conditions..."

That's when she stood and picked up her pack. "So. Just another dirty old man."

"Whoa. Hold up. First, I'm old enough to be your grandpa. Second, while sex is a pleasant thought at my age that's all it is. And third I showered today. Please, sit and I'll explain my offer."

She sat, but as far from me as she could get, with the back pack on her lap. If I'd said 'BOO' she'd have bolted.

"My wife died three years ago and I haven't really kept up with house since. In fact it started going down hill in the year she was dying. So. You house keep for me. I have several spare bedrooms so you can have your pick. We'll work out a fair compensation."

"That's it? But you said conditions. Those don't sound like anything onerous."

"There may be one or two, but I want some time to see if you'll work out first."

~~~

Emily moved in that day. By sunset she'd swept and mopped the kitchen floor and hauled a lot of way out of date food stuff to the trash.

While I ordered pizza (it was that or Chinese) she made up a shopping list. The next day we filled a shopping cart. She said I'd be eating better that night.

~~~

About a month after she had moved in, while I was watching a ball game, Emily curled next to me on the couch."You know I love you, right?"

"What?"

"No silly, not like that."

I wiped my brow.

"But you don't treat me as trash and I love you for that."

"Do you know how Penury Falls got it's name?"

"Something about a bunch of poor people started it."

"Yeah well it's a little more than that. back in the early thirties the country was starting to come out of the Depression. The State was building a new two lane road into town that would bring lots of new business. But, it would go through a stretch of shacks and hovels that the poorest of the town people had built. These were the ones who cleaned the streets or swamped out taverns. The women who did laundry to make a few dollars. The city council decided they weren't a good look so they drove everyone out and burned the shacks.''

I took sip of the coffee beside me (cold by now).

"The men and women gathered what little they had and moved down to the falls. They'd heard what was in the works and had done some scouting. Now, these folks may have been poor but they were resilient. They knew how to make almost anything from damn near nothing. So they built a group of cabins. They may have had dirt floors, but would keep them warm come winter."

"But why there?"

"Well first they still had to be close to town to earn money. Then they needed safe water, a supply of logs to build the cabins, and finally they set up in a valley that sheltered them from the worst of winter weather and stayed cool in the summer. That they could also plant gardens was just so much bonus."

"My mom still gardens."

"There ya go. Some things never change."

She sat quiet for a couple minutes, then; "But we don't live in a shack or cabin."

"During the war most of the men went off to the military. Those who didn't were working jobs deemed essential. Just about every woman was also working in one of the war related factories. There was an airplane sub assembly factory over in Gardenia, the women would catch a bus back and forth. My mother was a welder and an aunt ran a press stamping out parts.

When the men came home everyone had money so they built houses. And it's a good thing they did because we had one of the harshest winters ever. I just remember how bad it was. Snow up to my chest - I was six, no seven than."

Emily sat close. I hadn't had my arm around anyone but my wife in a lot of years and in the last few of her life it wasn't for affection but to move her around. So having her under my arm and against my side was an almost - new sensation. yes, there was a tinge of the old 'wake me up', but that passed.

"Remember when we met I offered you a job but with conditions?"

She sat up and looked at me. "Yesss..."

"Well I'm about to impose one on you."

"Please tell me you aren't rethinking the no sex part."

"No no. Nothing like that. I want you to go to school. More specifically the Community College."

"I don't know what I would take. Or what I could, my grades were okay, not great."

"Get on the computer, look through all the courses they offer and take two or three. They don't have to be related, in fact it might be best if they aren't. You are looking for what interests you."

"Like what?"

"How about an art class? You know - drawing, sketching, painting. Or maybe a basic coding class. maybe you have touch for computers you don't know about."

"I don't know. College is expensive. And the way everyone dresses I'll stand out, and I went through a lot of that in Centennial."

"I'll pay for your classes and stuff. You live here so this is your address, and as for clothes - we'll fix you up. Nothing fancy, just enough so you'll blend in."

"Why Larry? Why are you willing to do this?"

"A couple reasons: you're from the Falls. I know what that's like. Second; my kids are grown and gone. Wrapped up in their own lives. in a way you are my grand daughter, so I want to do this."

~~~

It's been almost a year since we met. Emily is a fine young lady. Some new clothes and being accepted as an equal at school has done wonders for her confidence.

She's taking a beginners art class, another on coding, one for medical office work, and introduction to Marine Biology. Yeah I know - what?

The joke around the house is that she's going to be a Marine Biologist who can draw and fill out medical claims all at the same time.

~~~

"Larry."

"Hmm, yeah?"

"Can I ask you a serious question?"

"You're not going to propose marriage are you?"

"When we met you gave me money and sent me to get hot dogs. Remember?"

"Sure. What of it?"

"You took the money from your wallet. But you took the wallet from a plastic bag. Nobody keeps a wallet in a plastic bag."

"Why were you sitting there?"

~~~~

You see, this wasn't about me saving her. Emily saved me that day.

It had been three long and lonely years since my wife's death and I could only see more in front of me. I was building my nerve to go swimming.

Emily gave me a reason to live.

Because she was from Penury falls.