CHAPTER SEVEN – EDNA
“All your clothes and things are being packed right now by the removalists, sweetheart. Mrs Sharkey from next door promised that she would keep an eye out to see that nothing gets lost. Your uncle Dan has come down from Richmond and will take care of everything with the house. Dan said your father wrote down everything that he wanted with his stuff if something like this ever happened. To be truthful Aggie, nobody expected your father to pass on so suddenly and we’ll have to find a time and place to really talk about it. At least he died peacefully and quietly in his sleep.”
“He’s made sure that you will be provided for – he was always a straight thinking man – I know you will miss him dearly – so will Dan and I. We need to get you far away from Miami quickly and before the Press comes along with all their questions and lies.” Aggie looked straight ahead through the windshield at nothing in particular and she nodded knowingly.
Edna was a powerful person and although she had been somewhat estranged and separated from the rest of the family for a few years, this tragedy was certain to pull them together. Last week, she had had a premonition that something was not right and that the something involved Robert and Aggie. Did those thoughts come in a dream or a trance?
She vividly recalled a sensation, a nagging, irritating and upsetting feeling – something was amiss. She packed her overnight bag, asked Lisa her neighbour if she would mind the puppies for a few days, hopped into the pickup and with the exception of a few short naps and refuelling, drove the entire way from Putney Vermont to Miami Florida. She had premonitions before, all turned out to be accurate. Even given the fact that she did not really get on too well with Robert, she would not hesitate to follow her intuition. In any event, Robert did keep her up to date with Aggies’s condition and Edna was planning to make the trip South in due course, hoping to see Aggie before that dreaded cancer took her precious young life.
Nevertheless Edna had felt this pressing and urgent need to go immediately – something strange was about to happen and her presence was needed, somehow.
Edna was a child of the Earth and proud of her heritage. Her grandparents, of the Abenaki Tribe of Canada, both died of cholera and her own parents moved to the New England area just after their wedding. Of their children, Robert was the eldest, followed by her, then Daniel. Neither brother seemed to be interested in his heritage and eventually moved South and went their separate ways. Robert became an astronaut and Daniel became a guitar player and music teacher. Edna remained in the family house after her folks passed away. She was quite happy being by herself and had no interest in marriage or raising a family of her own, although she had recently acquired the two malamute puppies.
Her upbringing, apart from the terrible episode of the parish priest’s sexual assault, was relatively normal. She was baptized Catholic and attended the local church each Sunday for mass, learnt the catechism and read the bible – the same one which that “son-of-a-bitch priest” gave her a few months before she was violated by him.
She in turn condemned “make-believe” religions and their leaders and turned her belief to the natural world, a living planet in which nature was nurture. Nature had ensured that she received some inward consolation when she heard that Father S.O.B had been killed in a freak accident. It appeared that lightning had struck a large fir tree which fell on him – it had taken several days for him to die and Edna could not help but wonder if this holy person would end up in his heaven or in his hell.
She enjoyed the outdoors and loved the mountains, the clear streams and the multi colours of fall in Vermont. In the winter, she loved nothing better than reading some novel while sitting on a warm woollen rug in front of the large stone fireplace, listening to the crackle of the spruce logs burning. She was very independent – she had even cut up the firewood several weeks before winter and was never afraid of using the chainsaw. Her basement was well stocked with cans of food and containers of anything needed to survive the sometimes long and isolated snow seasons. She had the know-how to install her own electrical circuits, the oil burner which she had amazingly converted to an LP heater and had even managed to replace the pipes and pumps for the water supply. It took Lisa, her neighbour, quite some time to convince Edna that she should get a professional drill operator to dig a new well as Edna was prepared to go-to and do it herself with pick and shovel – after all, that’s what her parents had done.
Early morning and evening, chipmunks, squirrels and brightly coloured cardinals and woodpeckers would visit her and she always had some scraps and seed for them. She loved to watch these little creatures scurry up the pole to the feeding dish and see the little squabbles and chatter between them. Occasionally, a wild moose would trample around the back of the house where she had her vegetable and herb garden – she would run outside with her shotgun hollering loudly at it – but she would never ever shoot one – that was against her belief and culture – and besides, her freezer was only so big.
Although she was self sufficient, she was by no means a recluse. She would visit the neighbours, go into town for the shopping and even enjoy a movie at the local theatre in Putney. On her “big shopping days” she would travel further afield to Brattleboro. Sundays were her favourites. Early in the morning, Edna would take the pickup and drive around the countryside, looking for yard sales.
She loved going and fossicking through these trash and treasure outlets and had picked up the most fantastic bargains. The majority of the canned food in the basement came from places like these and she had saved a lot of money and trouble by finding tools and bits and pieces of machinery to help her run the property. Her best, yet useless purchase was from a woman who had been heavily involved with Avon beauty products. She wanted to rid herself of the Avon business and Edna bought her entire stock of products for $75. There were so many cartons of perfumery, lotions, potions, creams and powders, that the springs of her pickup were nearly fully compressed after she loaded her bargain. She had met most of her neighbours, near and far by going to their yard sales. She seldom refused an invitation to a BBQ or social event and enjoyed spending a few hours a week at the library.
Her passion and interest was her heritage and she would spend a lot of time in researching her past and studying the customs and ways of the Canadian/American Indian – indeed she proudly considered herself one. Under different circumstances she would have been with her nation – not a warrior, but perhaps a Shaman or healer. She had a vast knowledge of plants, seeds, herbs and roots and knew of the mixtures needed to treat ailments.
It did not take long for the word to get around about the healing power of Edna’s medicines An occasional visitor would call in for a chat and inevitability the talk would turn to a particular medical problem which Doctor Rixon or the chemist at the drug store, had no success in treating. Edna never charged people for the “here, try this stuff” therapy, but she ended up with chickens, piglets, baskets of corn and farm produce, so much so that she would give most away to Deslie at the Goodwill Store. Deslie was always amazed at the “stuff” that Edna would bring in but never questioned her sources – that would have been impolite, besides, Edna’s potion had miraculously stopped Deslie’s husband from his loud and incessant snoring. Edna kept the two malamute puppies – a gift from a grateful Derek, the deputy warden of the fish and game department, who, after a few daubs of Edna’s “rub this on” stuff, did not now have gout.
Before he died, Edna’s father was a basket weaver and worked in a small factory in Putney. The baskets were of all shapes and sizes from small strawberry punnets to fishermen’s creels and large storage boxes. Perhaps of its uniqueness, the business thrived, especially so during the fall when the tourists would visit the factory and buy these wonderful local products. It was not a glamorous occupation, but he provided the basics of life for his family. Unfortunately in later life, he drank heavily and was arrested several times for drunk driving. Often, the drinking led to fits of temper and he would come h
ome and be abusive to the wife and kids – they would run out of the house and hide while he would stagger around yelling, throwing furniture and breaking anything in his path. They would wait until he finally collapsed before coming back to tidy the place up. In the morning, he would wake up ashamed, sob and beg for everyone’s forgiveness.
Before his children were born, he lived with his wife in a trailer on the land he had purchased on the Turner Trail. The land was lush and green and he set about building what would be the family home. Side by side, they cut and shaped every piece, nailed every nail and spent all of their time in the construction. He purchased a small generator and with his homebuilt sawing machine and compressor, he was able to use the abundance of local timber. Most of the trees they had cut down to make way for the house, were recycled and the lumber was eagerly converted to beams, planks and posts. Once the stumps had been burnt out and the basement and drains dug – the two Kellors were a construction team with purpose. The dream not only came true, but they were blessed with the arrival of baby Robert, just after the last plank was nailed. The dream waned in later years as he took to the drink and it completely ended that day when he collapsed and died while mowing the lawn around his castle, leaving Edna’s mother to raise her three pre-teen kids.
Edna’s mother was a wonderful and caring woman whom everyone in Putney and surrounds, knew and liked. Unfortunately she suffered from severe diabetes and Edna was called upon to administer the regular injections of insulin to her. At first, she found it terrifying, but after her mother told her that without the injections she would die, Edna became very proficient and did so for many years after. Perhaps this was where her interests in healing arose.
Her mother was a devout Catholic and it was always her secret desire that Edna may one day look at entering a cloister and become a nun. Nowadays it always brings a smile to Edna’s face when she thinks of that - just how far off the mark had that wish gone? She dearly loved her mother and her heart aches when thinking of her.
Edna loved the homestead on the Turner Trial, and hoped she could spend the rest of her life living there.