After girls camp thank goodness we had a chance to spend some time up at the cabin with our family. The cabin was my safe place, my happy spot, and I really needed it that year.
One day we drove into Young to get some groceries and gas at the tiny market. They had fresh produce which made mom happy, although the bananas were already getting brown spots and the tomatoes were squishy, and ice cream bars which made us kids smile. Dad bought some fish hooks and salmon eggs, he and the boys weren't having much luck with corn that summer, and the little girls were looking at packages of jump ropes and jacks and sidewalk chalk. Mom was excited to see the little store had added a display of paper back books, and she was looking them over when all of a sudden she discovered an old novel she had read years before. It was called "The Middle Window", by Elizabeth Gouge. How excited mom was! On the way back to the cabin she told us the story, and as soon as we got home she began to read.
Reading at the cabin was one of the best parts of our vacations. Each of us had our own favorite books, and you would often find at least one of us, and usually more than that, sitting in a chair on the front porch or laying on the bed in the back, reading. When we couldn't find mom we all knew she was in the bathroom, grabbing a few minutes of solitude to finish a book. I think she stayed up in the bathroom all night with the door closed so the light wouldn't keep us awake, reading "The Middle Window" that night. How she loved that book! Then the next day she began reading it out loud to us.
It is the story of a young woman who finds herself inexplicably drawn to a glen, a house, and a young man in Scotland. At first she is afraid she is being possessed by the ghost of this young man's ancestor, and he is being possessed by the ghost of her husband. Eventually she learns that these first two lovers were tragically separated on their wedding day when the husband had to go to war. Scotland lost the war but the husband escaped and made his way back to his hidden glen and his bride. The British army finds out and they come to take him to be drawn and quartered. He and his bride agree that he will hide in the mountains and only come home if she signals that all is safe. The signal will be putting a light in the middle window of their drawing room at dusk. Well, the British come and overhear the plan, so at dusk they put a candle on a table in the middle window. The young bride comes downstairs, sees the light, and in desperation wrestles a pistol from one of the soldiers and shoots it out the middle window to warn her husband. Tragically, he was outside in the garden and is hit by the shot and dies. Before he dies, though, he assures his young wife that death can not end their dream of building paradise in their little Scottish glen, and at the end of the book you discover that the two lovers have returned, in modern times, to fulfill their dream. Silly story? Maybe. But we sure did love it.
Mom had lots of great books up at the cabin for us to read. She had a collection of Reader's Digest Condensed Books that were lots of fun. One of them was "To Kill A Mockingbird." Oh, how I loved that book. I read it over and over, and aloud to the family as we drove up to the cabin. I used to tell the story to the kids that I babysat and to my sisters. It was one of their favorites. I always told it to my fourth graders when I taught school, although I called it "Boo Radley" and they thought they were hearing a ghost story and never knew it was actually great literature.
I remember the first time I read the entire book and was surprised how long it was, and a little boring in some places. Reading the condensed version first was good for me. When my own kids had to read the book in Junior High they were the only kids in their classes who didn't complain and cheat by just skimming or watching the movie. They actually looked forward to reading the book because it was one of their favorite stories.
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