As I walked around in front of the Gallia County Farmhouse, I noticed a tree had been cut down and was partially lying in the creek in front of the Farmhouse. I continued walking and went up into the hills. Mike (the part-Dachshund of my step-grandfather Clarence and
my grandmother Mabel) followed me, but while I was walking toward the top of one of the hills, he became separated from me and I couldn't find him. I saw some kind of small animal with a very large eye on the hill, but I couldn't locate Mike. Finally I returned to the Farmhouse without him.I went upstairs for a while and finally I heard Clarence talking downstairs and it suddenly occurred to me that Clarence would be upset if he knew Mike was lost. I knew Clarence would want to search for Mike. I decided I myself had better go back out to try to find Mike and I walked back downstairs.
Clarence was more concerned with other matters. The old barn at the bottom of the hill behind the Farmhouse had burned down the night before. I had been there and I clearly remembered the event. The children of my step-aunt Hilda had been visiting the Farm and had been sleeping outside. There were two groups – one of boys and one of girls.
My sister had also been sleeping with the group of girls.About three boys had been in the boys' group. The day before I had heard the boys talking about what it would be like if the hay in the barn were to catch fire. Later that night I had suddenly been awaked by someone screaming that the barn was on fire. Naturally I had suspected the boys had set the fire but I hadn't mentioned my suspicions to Clarence. But now I decided to tell him I thought maybe the boys had set the fire, although I still didn't tell him about their talking about doing it the day before.
The only other origin for the fire we could think of was lightening. But since there hadn't been any lightening that night, that possibility seemed to be eliminated. Clarence began to agree that it certainly looked as if one of the boys probably had set the fire.
Clarence began talking about some bills he had to pay. He named three or four bills and the amounts. Finally I spoke up and said I didn't see why he was worried about such things. Even if he didn't have any property at all and were flat on his back he would still be taken care of. I was thinking about his pension. I thought that he had a steady income for the rest of his life whatever his situation and that he didn't need to be worried about financial matters. Mabel was listening in the kitchen. She seemed to be in a good mood and agreed.
Gradually Clarence also seemed to become happier and suddenly he laughed loudly. Something on the television had apparently caught his attention and I looked at it. On the screen were two birds flying in mid-air. One looked like a large black crow and the other looked the same only it was a brown color. Their flight was very graceful and beautiful. The two birds seemed to be lovers. Finally they reached a limb where another bird was perched. They hovered near the limb and began whispering to the other bird. A hushed conversation followed.
The scene on the screen then showed another limb where two dolls were talking. One was a rather large female doll and the other was a much smaller male doll. Both dolls looked like little children. The little male doll called the female doll "Matilda" and began telling her he was fond of her. He then began singing a very beautiful little song in an enchanting voice.
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