Year of the Rooster

[Hoople]

Okay, we bought an old, old ramshackle place here. When I was trying to fight the garden back, which had crept over half the yard AND the house, I came upon an ancient trowel. It was stuck in the earth and forgotten about by the old lady who lived here for 75 years or so. I wrote a short story about it.

A few years later I made a new friend, Joshua. I was in the habit of going to a cemetery in town here... an ancient one with stones from the settlers. I go there often with my dog, Goya. We sit. I write or read under a tree and often walk around, feeling my mortality in a comfortable way.

On my way to the post to mail this short story to Joshua (who died two years ago in his mid or early 20s) I parked under a tree to hang for a bit and reread it, just to see if it was worth mailing. The story was the one about the woman who owned this home... who I always very unconsciously call my landlady, btw. I'm reading the story, look up and the name on the gravestone matches the name of my short story, Lane. Hmmm. I'd remembered my mother telling me the woman's first name who lived here, they called her Ray and the stone said, Veronica Lane. Curious, I thought. I asked my mother if that was her. My mother said, "no, her name was Ray".

Well, I subsequently found out that yes, that is her grave that I'd been parking myself in front of for years, since I moved here seven years ago, to read and write. And there I was, reading a story about her, named after her. It was deliciously spooky. While tearing this place apart I would bring pieces of old wallpaper and knickknacks we found in the dirt or under floorboards, to her grave in plastic bags.

So, out of acres and acres of land, that is where I gravitated. I find that interesting, at least.

And I love the place, it has offered me so much, I want to compose something for a passerby who might stop. I want to say something substantial to somebody passing through. The place is gorgeous - GORGEOUS - and I honestly didn't think I stood a chance in hell of getting a plot there - it's so old. But they happened to open up a few new grown over roads to make money for upkeep and I happened to be there when the woman in charge was walking around planting flags. Otherwise I would never have known. So..... that's my story.

The plot I got is in my favorite spot, amazing.

Sorry so long.