Hi Goils!
Nice life! Here is a picture of your Mother and Yoda, new dog in Kenton! Doesn't take her long to forget you Maggs! More later. Love, Dad!
Thanks for the pics – it was great to see you guys. Never be shy to ask for some fish.
Slept soundly until 6:00am and thought I’d just close my eyes for a few more minutes. Woke up a few minutes before 7:00am, just in time to turn off the alarm before it could wake Her Majesty! Rest of house was quiet so I assumed our hosts had not arrived during the night. Went to the back door to find Yoda and his feline companions eager to come inside. Yoda circled my legs so closely that I had to be careful not to trip over him on my way into the kitchen. The cats, for their part, immediately leapt up onto a dog food dispenser by the front door to have breakfast. I went to the fridge to investigate the possibility of overlefts and came up with some potatoes and the remains of beef kebabs with mushrooms and onions. Delighted by my find, I put the spuds in a frying pan and went to rouse Coriandre. She had a quick shower while I finished preparing breakfast.
Turning the pan to a low heat, I went to have my own shower and found Cora Lee doing her face in front of the mirror. While beautifying she had noticed a vial of pills on the vanity and the prescription stated that they belonged to one "Kristen Neufeld". She thought that the medication might possibly have belonged to Alexander’s girlfriend. At any rate, she said that if it didn’t, she hoped that “Kristen was an understanding Mennonite girl!” The feeling that the Grays didn’t actually live here anymore was growing stronger and stronger.
Nevertheless, I took my shower and while I was bathing, more evidence for the Gray’s not inhabiting the house surfaced. When Corinne went to the back door to let Yoda out she noticed some mail on a shoe stand. All of it was addressed to one “Cody Jones” and we had not seen any other evidence of letters or junk mail for the Grays. By the time I was squeaky clean, Coriandre was in full fuss mode, convinced that we were in someone else’s home. (Who's been sleeping in my bed", asked Mama Bear?) She wasted little time calling Dallas who immediately asked: “Where are you?” Countering his question, Cora Lee replied: “Where are you?” “At the farm”, Dallas replied! “We waited for you until midnight and assumed you had gone on to Winnipeg!” Unbeknownst to us, they had sold their house in Kenton this past April and assumed we knew this to be the case. When we had visited last September they had mentioned that they were planning to move to the home Bill and Norma had occupied until it became impossible for Bill to care for her, with her slip into Alzheimers. They had never directly mentioned the move and simply assumed we knew that they had left Kenton. As soon as we discovered they were not living in Kenton, all the pieces/clues fell into place and we realized that like Goldilocks, we had stayed overnight in someone else’s home! As soon as Coriandre finished talking to Dallas she made haste to vacate the premises, to git out of Dodge! I was a bit disappointed as I’d concocted a more than wonderful breakfast of overlefts. Coriandre would have none of them, guilt overcoming hunger, but I was determined to eat my share, (After all, I’d done the dishes, scrubbed the rotisserie and put everything away in cupboards or drawers, [probably not the proper home for any of the utensils or containers I'd found on the counter when we arrived, but thereby giving Kristen the added pleasure of a bit of a treasure hunt when she finally reclaimed her kitchen!]), and, after relishing the ab/fab concoction I'd created, I shook my head sadly at the uneaten portion in the frying pan, and against my better judgement, put the overlefts of the scrumptious overlefts back into the fridge! ("Who's been eating my porridge?" whined Baby Bear!)
Coramandel scribbled a brief note of apology, I put a somewhat confused Yoda out the back door, letting both cats back in, (leaving the pet situation as found), locked the front door and beat a hasty retreat, out the back door, to the car. Cora Lee wouldn’t even let me put my seat belt on, insisting I drive away before the enraged owners returned. Convulsed with nervous laughter we made our way to Road 71 North, a few kilometers away, to pull into the Gray homestead, a farm I’d been visiting since the early ‘50’s. Kimberley, the youngest daughter, and her parents, Judy and Dallas, came to greet us and ushered us inside where we learned the very sad end to the tale of Freeloading Gone Terribly Wrong!
Once l had talked to Cora Lee he phoned Cody’s brother’s company in Virden to explain the mishap. The two brothers owned an oil hauling business working in the Virden oil patch. Dallas was aware of this having sold their house to Cody and Kristen. When the brother answered the phone he told Dallas he was in Winnipeg at the General Hospital. Apparently Cody had been involved in some sort of serious accident and he was in Intensive Care. From the sound of things, the prognosis was not a good one. Both the brother, (We never learned his name.), and Kristen had gone to Winnipeg to be with Cody. This was the reason that there was nobody home and the house was left as we found it and why nobody returned to find us sleeping in their bed. What otherwise was a pretty funny story had a more than upsetting ending, at least as far as the owners of the house were concerned.
To be continued...
Flashing forward, I just phoned Dallas, (Thursday, August 2nd, 10:00pm, CDT), to ask if he had heard about Cody’s condition. As it happened, he had seen Kristen driving home on his own way home that evening and followed her to the house. She had brought Cody home from hospital and he was, generally speaking, not suffering from any life threatening injuries, although he was “pretty cut up”, according to Dallas. He learned that Cody had been on a fishing trip with a friend and they were driving home, “hammered”, when Cody lost control of his truck crossing a set of railroad tracks. His fishing partner left the scene of the accident after the vehicle rolled and came to a stop. Police took Cody to Hamiota and then he was taken to Winnipeg for plastic surgery once he was stabilized. According to Dallas he bit off most of his lower lip as a result of the crash, along with suffering other serious facial lacerations/injuries. Dallas said that Cody didn’t want him to see his face but Dallas persisted and said he looked a mess.
When Dallas walked up to the house Yoda came to greet him and when Dallas said “Hi Yoda” the dog gave him a very quizzical look as Dallas had never seen him before. Kristen was just as puzzled until Dallas informed her of our extended stay. According to Dallas, she wasn’t at all upset by our “freeloading visit”, rather found it quite amusing, especially given the fact that Cody was now out of danger. Dallas said that he would invite them over for a drink, (I suppose Cody will be having soda water!), when we stay, on the farm, not in Kenton this time around, on our way back to Vancouver, so that we actually have a chance to meet our unknowing hosts!
Too crazy to be made up!!!! Can't wait to hear all about it in person!!!!
That is why you should not eat cows they are too sweet!!! xx
- Patrick James Dunn Greetings from Falcon Lake! Just had a wonderful pickerel filet dinner with Rosie-the-Riveter and Coat Hanger. All washed down with some delicious wine: Ventisquero, Casablanca, 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, 13%; Nieto Sentiner, Mendoza, 2011, Malbec,14.5%; 19 Crimes, Nuriootpa, 2010, 2010 Shiraz Durif, 14%
Ayn P Hello Falcon Lake!! Hugs to all!! Very jealous of you!! Luckily we're going to Rick's house for a party on Saturday or we'd cry!!
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