There are kids starving in Japan

There are kids starving in Japan

Once dad had started the fire, he could cook. We had hot dogs and baked beans with some obnoxious green vegetables. I just poked at my food hoping it would disappear. Clara had twice as much food as I did! It would take me a week to eat what she had. Taking pity on me, Clara said, "Here. We can share." She put about half of it on my plate. "We'll race. Ready, set, go!" she pulled out a giant spoon and a piece of bread that could sop up the Lake! She pushed the food onto her spoon and before I knew it, her mouth opened up like a cave and the food was gone! My jaw dropped to the floor (not so far since I was still short). My bugged out eyes blinked once.  - And there was the shiniest paper plate I had ever seen.

I hurried to catch up, but to no avail. As often as we would have this eating race, I could never catch her. And now I was full. So I stopped. Mother said "eat your food. Don't you know there are kids starving in Japan?" I would hear this comment frequently in future years. It lead me to finally reply: They can have mine!

After dinner, my sister and I washed up and jumped into our quilted blankets. A large blanket hung from the ceiling divided the one room into a  'bedroom' and a 'living room'. It had been a warm day, but as the sun set, the cool winds from Canada chilled the cabin. I pulled my blanket close around my neck and breathed the fire-place aroma that had saturated everything.  The grown-ups were still talking. Slowly, their voices became muffled. Eventually they sounded like distant echoes. As I drifted off to sleep,  the voices dissolved and darkness was replaced by light.  I was swimming of course, with Clara. Her strong arms were holding me up as I kicked across Lake Erie. Then as she let go, I started to sink. But I could still breathe. As I reached the bottom of the lake, I heard:  "get up!"

It was light. I jumped out of bed and grabbed the trunks that were still damp from yesterday. "No." said mom. "You wanna go horseback riding?" This would be new territory. "Yeah!"

We drove back over the gravel road to a pasture with a wooden fence. A young lady came out leading a horse just for me.

"Wanna ride?" the horse was gigantic! "How?"

"Easy. Just put your foot here." She guided my foot to the stirrup. After slinging my left foot over the saddle, I was seated, holding on to the saddle's horn. Feeling tall - much taller than I would ever be -- brought a wide smile to my face.

Click! Mom took a picture. When it was developed, it had scrawled over the top "36 months".  The next one would be a few months later. With these bucolic memories, I was ready to dive into Kindergarten at the age of four.  Would someone like Clara be there to help me? Academic waters would be more challenging than lake Erie ever would.