There was always something to do on the farm. Everyone had to pitch in and do their part. When the berries were all picked and washed, Ma made jellies and jams, putting that into canning jars and sealing them with a pressure cooker.
I always thought the pressure cooker to be one of those gadgets that would blow up at any moment. Ma always said it could do that if you didn't keep an eye on it. It never blew up though, just made a lot of steam.
There was a lot going on in the kitchen during summer. There were eight of us kids to help out. Pa worked outside a lot but when the crops were all taken care of, like in between planting and harvesting time, and after the hoeing was done, he'd help out in the kitchen with the rest of us.
There were chickens to butcher and breads and pies to be made. Also, sometimes Ma would try her hand at something new, like the time she made yogurt. I felt sorry for Ma cause no one really cared for it. I never liked yogurt anyway so I thought it was horrible. But I still felt bad no one else liked it either.
When the work was done and the supper made and eaten, the dishes all washed and dried, we all got ready for bed. Some of the younger kids had pajamas but us older kids didn't, we just wore whatever we wanted to bed.
When the TV was working we would sit in the living room together and Pa would see what kind of show was on that night. Sometimes it was Lawrence Welk, sometimes Hee Haw. I remember if we were allowed to stay up late, like on a Friday night, we could watch Creature Features. I was always interested watching the show, but then I was afraid to get off the couch and go upstairs to bed. After doing that a couple times Pa said it's probably best I didn't watch no more of those shows, but he still let me anyway, and I was still always afraid.
Those scary shows got me to thinking what I had seen at the cemetery. It had been over a week now since Ma picked berries there. I just had to go back there to see if that footprint was still there, and maybe spot that foot again, with whatever creature was attached to it.
There was a family living just a quarter mile away from the cemetery. Jim was a little younger than me. He and his sister lived with their Ma in an old farmhouse. I decided to go see if he might want to walk with me over there. Two heads and four eyes are better to have if you're looking for something totally unknown, and that seemed to be what it was.
It was only a mile to Jim's house across the fields. No one cared if we walked across fields as long as we weren't destroying anything.
Jim was in the yard when I walked up the lane. I wasn't sure what he was doing, just hanging around the yard looking for something to do I guessed.
'Hey Jim, ' I said.
'Hey Jeb,' kicking a rock sideways into a patch of flowers.
'What's going on?'
' Not much, just thought we could walk down to the town hall and look around. I thought I saw something last time Ma went picking berries. I couldn't make out what it was, all I saw was a foot.'
' A foot!, Jim said incredulously, 'That's really weird, how come that's all you saw, you sure that's what it was? You might of just been seeing things, you know you're eyes ain't too good.'
He was referring to the fact that I always wore glasses with lenses like coke bottles.
'I know I'm half blind but I know what I saw, and there was a foot print back in the cemetery between two grave stones that were half toppled over. It matches what that creature's foot looked like!'
Jim looked kind of sideways at me and said, 'Are you sure you just wasn't thinking about that foot print and that's why you thought you saw a foot?'
'No!, I saw it, and anyway, we can just go look can't we? If the print is still there then maybe...'
'Yeah, ok. Let's go see what's there. I was way too bored messing around here anyway. '
So, Jim and I walked down to the town hall. As we were walking past the concrete slab where the old building used to be I thought I might walk around the spot, just to see what I could see. Jim didn't comment, he just did the same thing. We didn't see much though, all the mystery was gone now, all gone but the floor.
We headed down past the slab and I showed him where I saw the print that day. It was still there! Not only was it still there, there were other prints just like it now around the sides of the pit.
'Whatever this thing is, it's been back! ' Looking around, I didn't see anything, just more graves and bushes and trees. Jim looked around too, a little uneasily I noticed.
' There's definitely something staying here, whatever it is. I wonder if it's dangerous. I don't think I want to tangle with some weird creature that wants to eat us for dinner or something. ' Still looking around, as if the thing were behind a bush close by or something.
'Yeah, me neither. I don't know if it's mean or not but it didn't come anywhere close to me or Ma when we were here.'
Jim had walked over to the pit and was looking down in to see what was there besides prints. He put his first finger on his right hand into one of the prints, then pulled his hand back quick.
'What!, what's wrong?' I moved closer , but not too close.
He wiped his hand on his pants and shook it a little, as if he had something sticky on it. 'Nothing, it just feels weird that's all. Like there's some kind of electricity around it, but not really electric, just, weird.'
Jim turned back to me with an odd expression on his face.
'What the heck is going on Jeb?'
I didn't have an answer to that, I just shook my head.
We looked around a bit more but we saw no more that day. I walked back with him to his place and then over the fields again to home.
It would be another year, the next berry picking time, when I was back in that place.
