THREE ACRES
And Six Dependents
By Phyllis Smith
=
In March of the year 1937 Norm
received a rather chilly little form
letter from the War Department
telling him to report to Aberdeen
Proving Ground at such and such
a date, I was simply aghast at the
idea and kept saying to Norm,
“What would happen if you just
didn’t show up?” He eyed me in
true soldierly disgust and answered
me in an Ogden Nash fashion, “I've
never seen a court martial, I hope I
never see one, but I can tell you
anyhow, I'd rather, see than be
one.” I began to get the impression
that he planned to answer the
summons so I asked, “How did
_ you ever happen to take R.O.T.C.
in college anyway?” “It was
simple”, he replied, “I merely sub-
stituted R.O.T.C. for a course in
poetry” and I could tell ‘from the
far away look in his eyes that he
was wondering if there had been
any pretty girls taking the Omar
Khayyam special while he was out
in the fields tripping in gopher
holes learning the basic art of be-
coming an infantry officer.
Bob was boarding at Seminary
that year and when some friends
of ours volunteered to take Norma
and Wade until school was out,
Norm decided to take me to Aber-
deen and just close up the house
until summer,
We arrived in Aberdeen at dusk
on a cold rainy night and spent
several hours hunting for a room.
We found lodging in a prefabri-
cated shack which had obviously
been hooked together a few days
before we arrived. The rain came
in without knocking and settled in
pools on the bedroom floor. A baby
wailed in the next room so I
crawled in the clammy bed and
shed a few tears myself. The next
morning it was still raining and
more water had come in wunan-
nounced so Norm said, “Let's get
out of this houseboat and find
another place to stay.” Talk about
famous last words. For the next
week we had to go back to the
prefab and rest our weary bones.
Aberdeen was definitely a boom
town and every available room was
rented out at fantastic prices. One
night we made our way to the
Western Union office and prepared
to wire the kids that I would be
home soon because we couldn't
find a place to stay. We wrote the
wire and the operator read it back
and then remarked that her hus-
band had just left for active duty
the day before and that she was
planning to rent one room if we
would eat out. Norm and I just
stood there like a couple of Cigar
Store Indians, speechless with de-
light at the prospect of boarding
on dry land for a change. We went
back to the houseboat and gathered
up our belongings,
ulous lodging fee, said, “Bon Voy-
age, happy sailing,” and quickly de-
parted.
We found Phoebe Thompson's
house without much effort. Norm
remarked to me that it looked well
anchored so we were soon estab-
lished in our new room. Anyone
who has ever lived in one room
will probably sympathize with us,
but it is something you have to
experience yourself. Never are days
as long as those in which you have
absolutely nothing constructive or
even destructive to do. I read until
my eyes rebelled, knitted all sorts
of unwearable objects, and drove
around the countryside looking for
old historic homes. The only one
I ever located was the birthplace
of John Wilkes Booth and I realize
that any red blooded American
would rebel at paying a quarter
to go through the traitor’s home-
stead, but being a lowly Canadian
and not overly versed in Lincoln
lore I proceded to pay the admis-
sion and looked over the estab-
lishment. You couldn't tell from
looking at the old four post bed
that it had witnessed the birth of
Lincoln's assassin. A moth eaten
old lady, one of Wilkes descend-
ents, was living in the house sur-
rounded by photographs of John
and the infamous Ford Theatre. No
one had been there in over a year
so the old lady kept me there ex-
plaining that John hadn’t really
shot Lincoln. I guess she must
have been very convincing as Norm
and I went to a party on the Post
that night and Norm overheard me
remark to his superior officer that
I didn’t think John Wilkes Booth
shot Lincoln after all. Norm sud-
denly decided that it was time for
us to go home but every time after
that when I saw General Hatcher
he used to grin and ask me who
I thought did shoot able Abe.
—Phyllis M. Smith
___ THE POST, FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 1049
paid the fab- .
bY LIE
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