Chain link fence

A chain link fence separated our backyard from the neighbors, but it might as well have been a moat.  The six foot wall of metal mesh discouraged any conversation with the occupants of the house next door and the children were never invited to play at our house.

In the 1960's the house was occupied by the family of Herman Schmidt, the school janitor.  Most of the family consisted of skinny blond boys, except for Martha and Mary, pale young girls with white blond hair streaked with yellow.  More reserved and civilized than the volatile male residents of the house, Martha and Mary seemed to look after each other.

Our family never had anything good to say about the Schmidts, and we considered ourselves to be higher on the social scale, despite our modest circumstances.  As Martha and Mary observed us though the chain link fence,  I wonder what they were thinking about our family. 

And what of those key events that form the family lore from Haughville. Were Martha and Mary at home that sunny afternoon when Mr. Schmidt threatened to shoot my mother?  Were they asleep that summer night when their father torched the house with the children inside?

Last year, my sister saw Martha and Mary at a funeral.  While at least one of the Schmidt boys had done time, the girls had grown up to be normal women, married with children, managing their lives.

The chain link fence of our childhood was installed over compacted soil the consistency of concrete. Over the years a honeysuckle vine threaded itself up the fence, probably rooted in organic matter that collected in a small fertile pocket, perhaps where the fence post met the garage.  Each spring the vine bloomed with white blossoms streaked with yellow, with a sweet fragrance that lasted only a few days.

Sometimes in the most deprived of environments there is just enough goodness to get by.