Summer time has always been my favorite time of year.
I remember most the berries my Ma had us pick from not only our garden on the farm but also a mile away at the old town hall and cemetery lot. There were blackberries mostly, but also some rasberries.
The old town hall building had mostly been neglected and forgotten over the years, though someone may have tried to keep it from worsening by putting a strong padlock on the door to keep out the curious.
My Ma would drive us there and park in front of the old building, then we would would get out of the car and proceed to look next to and all around it for anything good to eat. Blackberries mostly. Some rhubarb too though, and sometimes even a few strawberries.
I remember asking my Ma what was in the old building and was told very strongly not to worry about what was in there.
'You stay out of that place!' She said.
So of course that made it even more mysterious then before. I tried to look in the cracks in the door and walls but couldn't really see anything except darkness. I don't remember there being anything like windows, though there might have been, all boarded up tight. Still, it was a mystery to sit on my mind for quite a time. Then, one day Ma took us down there and the building was gone! Just gone!
I never knew who tore it down but there was nothing left but the cement floor after that. I still wished I could have seen inside it, but I would never have another chance to try. All gone.
Ma would take us next into the cemetery on the back side of the property. There were more berries to pick and I didn't mind helping because it meant I could explore the place while I looked for more to pick.
If a person wasn't careful he could end up with a foot caught sideways in a hole. I found that out when I was hopping from one old grave stone to the other. You see, some of the old stones had fallen over part way, and my foot got stuck between two of them. I think I may have bruised my ankle a bit, but otherwise I was fine.
Right there next to that hole was a raspberry bush with a few red berries on it. I began picking the berries from the bush and putting them in a small plastic bowl I carried, being careful not to scratch my hands and arms as I did it. It was easy too to sneak one or two into my mouth as I worked, and when I was finished with the Bush there weren't as many in the bowl as there should have been.
Ma noticed the fact that I was eating more than I saved and said something to the affect that maybe I should try to put more in the bowl than in my mouth. I said I would try to, and headed further back into the cemetery.
I hadn't gone far when I noticed there was another hole between grave stones. It was quite a bit bigger than the other one and there was no way I could miss it.
I didn't see any bushes to pick from around these stones though. It looked as if someone had been digging here. There were no foot prints in the bare dirt at the edge of the hole, but at the center of it there was a weird sort of print something or someone had left behind. It was really strange that there was only the one print, as if whoever left it just either disappeared or jumped out of the hole completely missing the dirt on the edges.
I was still looking at the hole when Ma said it was time to go. I would have to come back later and see what else I could find, but for now it would have to wait.
We got back in the car and headed back to the farm house.
On the way past the corner of the property as I was riding and looking out the window I thought I saw something in the trees. It was hard to see because of how far away it was but I could just make out one of its feet as it was standing on one of the grave stones. It had a weird shape to it, almost like the foot print I saw in the hole.
I thought, 'Naw, it couldn't be, just a coincidence, that's all'.
All the way back home I still couldn't think of anything else.
