Home

How To Get Home

Share

Today at 3:24pm | Edit Note | Delete

How To Get Home
By Mallory Wheeler

If you come from the east or the west on the interstate,
Take the exit at American Falls.
If you come from Blackfoot, or north, follow the highway,
It will take you right through my hometown.
Those are really the only two ways to
reach my Aberdeen.

There is a crack in the sidewalk by the Mexican restaurant, where
My sister totaled my mother’s car on her way to church one Sunday.
There is an Icee shack in front of the grocery store. Delicious.
If you turn toward the west on main street,
You will see where I went to kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school. All lined up in one row.

If you turn east between that crack in the sidewalk, and Sinclair,
That is the road I have lived on my entire life.
Who would have known that moving only a mile down the road would change a young girl’s life?
There’s my home. The one I grew up in. there is a door on the second story, just suspended on the side of the house. And the memory of the balcony we never started.
More down the road. Out into the country side.

There’s the cemetery.
My grandparents, cousins, and some friends are there.
The canal, where I used to jump in on hot days,
The field right across from my house,
Where summer after my freshman year, two horrific car crashes changed my view on life forever.
One of those crashes involved a classmate. LifeFlight landed in my front yard,
And took him away. I still think that it is a miracle that he survived.

Now the pine trees that guard our house from the wind.
They hide their needles in the grass, and if you don’t have calloused feet, they WILL jump out and bite them
My lawn. There are probably not so wild turkeys eating the bugs.
Don’t worry. Only Turkzilla will chase you.
My driveway. Gravel. I don’t recommend bare feet.
The shed, where we keep the lawn mower, the gas, and other tools.
It used to be the original house. With one big room, and a loft. It is falling apart on the side facing the fields because of the constant irrigation.
The chicken shed.
The evil ones live there.
I was chased by a rooster when I was little, and they seem to think I make a good target.
At least we don’t have geese.