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At that time Plano, Texas
just outside Dallas was really only a small country place.. There had been
building projects with the schools as if they knew in advance about the
great crowds of people who would cause the town to explode with population
but, for the moment, it was comfortably a little town. Ultimately it would
become so big the streets formed one solid residential area all the way to
Dallas and completely filled the pastures we were presently driving
through.
“Oh look! There is my
street.” By some chance we had driven by a short lane named Donna.
“Will you drive up this
street.” Rodney was well acquainted with my weird requests when we were
driving and he readily turned to go up the street. At the very end of the
drive was a farmhouse. It was unique, small, yet large. The high peaked
roof gave it a presence on the end of a wheatfield and directly at the end
of this road. The house was built close to the ground with a low
foundation and this made it easily accessible for a wheelchair. A for rent
sign on the front lawn gave us a phone number and when we called the
friendly lady told us how to get to her house.
Mrs. Donahoe was in her
front yard when we drove up. She was snapping green beans. I sat down
beside her and began to help her snap the brittle pods. The elderly woman
and I chatted there under the shade of a tree which gave a little relief
from the blazing Texas sun. When I told her we wanted to rent the house
she was quiet. Finally she answered me.
“Oh you wouldn’t want to
live up there. This is country out here, quite a way out from Dallas, you
know.” This gray haired, country woman had an opinion of me, I could tell.
The new car, my town clothes, everything about us probably screamed,
“city.”
Mrs. Donahoe would you let
me pay several months in advance? That way if I can’t decide to stay you
won’t have lost anything.”
This was no problem because
instead of the 60 dollars she was asking, we had been paying close to 500
dollars a month for rent. There was quite a difference in the range and
difference in cost. It would be easy to pay even six months in advance at
the price she quoted to me. Mrs. Donahoe was a business woman and money
was the key to success with her. For my part, our returned cleaning
deposit alone could easily cover the rental on the house for six months
and she probably knew that.
After we were moved into
the house there was just no joy to equal the freedom I felt. Mark was out
buzzing around the yard on his new go-cart, riding his bike down the road
with a boy who lived on the corner of the other section, running through
the tall wheat or fishing in one of the ponds. It was wide flat land and I
could see him in every direction. It was wonderful.
His new friend, who was
just a couple of years older seemed more like a brother than buddy. Pete’s
mother worked and his father who worked shifts watched him during the day
when he wasn’t in school so the little boy was happy to have
companionship, too.
When I took Mark to enroll
in one of the very new, modern buildings I was sure of this being the
perfect place for him. The strength of the Native American with athletic
ways often makes ordinary classrooms hard to live through. This was what
was called an open school and was just the perfect place for him.
If that was a pleasant
experience I had no idea what was in store for me when Rhonda and I walked
into the junior high school. |
