What happened that summer of 1978 changed the course of my life forever. It is the first day of summer vacation and Mom already has the back of our station wagon loaded down with our luggage. Every year the day after school lets out, Mom packs the car and we drive from our house in Greenville, South Carolina to Rabin, Georgia. That is where my mom's sister, Aunt Laura and Uncle Bob live with their only child, Katie. She and I are only six months apart in age. We are more like sister than cousins. Mom had me and my little brother Kenny get in the back seat. I hated riding on long trips in this car because the air conditioner was broken and it felt like an oven. I had on shorts and my legs kept sticking to the leather seats, that I don't think are leather at all, but plastic. So, I guess it is safe to call them pleather seats. Anyhow, my name is Amanda McKinney we are on our way to my cousin Katie's house to spend the entire summer. My dad is a truck driver and we don't get to see him much at all. He is always on the road traveling. My mom is a stay at home mom. That means that she doesn't drive to a job anywhere, she just stays at home and cleans house and take care of Kenny and me. I guess she gets tired of it just being the three of us and so when school lets out for the summer, she is more than ready to take us to the farm.

I was so hot and Kenny complained for the one hundredth time that he was hot and thirsty. I could see Mom's annoyed look in the rear view mirror from where I sat. I didn't complain because I didn't want to make mom mad. She had a real short fuse and if we said or did the wrong thing she would have one of her spells. Go to hollering and swatting at us. I just kept quiet, but obviously Kenny had not learnt to keep his mouth closed.

Mom said that she had to stop soon and get gas. When she stopped she said that she would get us a Moon Pie and R.C. Cola. It was mine and Kenny's favorite treat. Mom always stopped at this little gas station along the highway. Ever since I could remember stopping there, these same two old men were in front of the store playing checkers. A man in a gray jumpsuit with a matching hat would pump mama's gas and wash her windsheilds, while she ran in to grab a few snacks and drinks for us. Mom got back into the car and said that she probably shouldn't give us anything to drink or eat because we had been so annoying bothering her the whole trip. Kenny started to cry. I knew Mom would start spanking me if he upset her. I told her that I could wait until we got to the farm, if she just wanted to give Kenny a drink that was okay with me. 

Mom mocked my voice and said, "That's okay with me. Who do you think you are? You don't make the decisions, I do. You better be glad that I am ready to get to the farm and get out of this hot car with you pesty little brats."

To my releif she passed out the Moon Pies and R.C.Colas. Then she turned on the car and headed toward the highway. It didn't feel like long at all before we reached the little, narrow, dirt road that led to the farm. As we drove along I saw horses and cows, chickens and pigs. It was authentic farm land out here, that was for sure. We came to a long winding driveway that belonged to Aunt Laura and Uncle Bob's farm. Mom pulled the car down the driveway and I could see the two story, white farm house come into view. The house had a wrap around porch, a swing and rocking chairs that had a table between them with a game of checkers on it. Aunt Laura had these huge Boston ferns in hanging baskets between each column on the porch. There was an array of colorful flowers that adorned the walkway . I loved everything about this house. Somehow when we were here it was like nothing was bad in the world, everything was good and we were safe.

I was the first one to hop out of the car, and so lucky me, the first to get a hug from Aunt Laura. Now , don't get me wrong, I loved my Aunt Laura and all that, it's just that when the woman hugged you it was like being put in a death grip. I wiggled my way free of her and it was Kenny's turn next. I halfway felt sorry for him and half thought he deserved what he got. He still had this very Gerber baby look to him with his chubby cheeks and sky blue eyes. Aunt Laura pinched his adorable cheeks and then put him in the death grip. Kenny pulled away from Aunt Laura and made a mad face. Mom looked at him like you better mind your manners mister or you're gonna get a popping. It was amazing to me how just one look from Mom could say so much. I feared her wrath because, I knew she would beat me with anything she could get her hands on,  just for nothing it seemed, just to beat me.

That's why I liked being here with Aunt Laura and Uncle Bob. Mom wouldn't beat me in front of them. Aunt Laura and Uncle Bob were Christians and they were super nice to me and Kenny. I guess that is why I felt safe at their house.  Also, because Mom expected me to take care of Kenny when she had a sick headache, which she had about three times or more a week. If Kenny got too loud or did something he wasn't suppose to, then she would beat me for it.

After Aunt Laura hugged Kenny she started over to hug our mom, Valerie. The two sisters were just ten months apart in age and had been close all their lives. How they could be so different is beyond my understanding. Just as Mom and Aunt Laura finished hugging , Katie came from behind the house and screamed, "You are finally here. I have been waiting on you forever. Amanda, see if you and Kenny can go swimming at the pond with me."

I asked Mom and she said okay. We didn't have our swimsuits unpacked yet, so they said we could just go in our shorts and shirts we had on. We ran so fast through the woods that we were at the pond in no time at all. We threw off our fip-flops and jumped in the water by swinging on a vine out over the pond and jumping in. We got out over and over to take turns jumping in from the vine. The water felt so refreshing after having been in the hot car for much of the morning.

After we had tired of jumping in the water and swimming, we climbed out to lay in the tall grass along the embankment to dry out. We lay there for a long time not saying a word. Then Katie broke the silence and asked me what did I see in the clouds. She said that she saw a horse jumping over a fence. I said that I spotted an elephant smelling a flower with its trunk, Then, she asked Kenny what he saw and he said that he saw a bear climbing a tree. Just then, a horn sounded and scared the hi bee gi bees out of us.

It was Uncle Bob. He said that he had been at the back of the property mending a fence that was torn down in a storm they had there earlier in the week. "It's getting late you kids need to come on back towards the house before it get's any darker. Why don't the three of you jump in the back of my truck and I'll drive you back." Uncle Bob suggested. So, we climbed in and rode back with him. The air was still warm and the sun was going down making colors of light pink, blue and yellow display in the sky like a tapestry.
I felt that wonderful feeling of just being a kid and everything was good, just as it should be when you are a kid.

When we made it back to the farm house, Aunt Laura and Mom were setting the picnic tables outside and I could smell Aunt Laura's good home cooking piping out in the air from the kitchen. She had made her famous fried chicken and potato salad. Nobody around here could cook like Aunt Laura. That's why she always won blue ribbons in the county fair cook off.

I was eight years old that summer and Kenny was six. We were so excited to be at the farm where life was simpler, slower and enjoyed more. But, this would be the summer that everything changed for us through a course of events that only fate could control.