July 15^th 2009

I was told to start keeping a journal about what is happening here in Basalt Falls. Not much really happens most of the time. Now and again, Missus Hellmley’s rabbits get out and get eaten by something. My uncle blames the owls, but I don’t know. They sure are messy when the have all of their guts strung out. The rabbits, not the owls. I’ve only seen one dead owl, and that was stuffed. A mortician in Bisbee has it on his display case. It is really neat.

Yesterday one of my neighbors came by, which was nice. Her name is Rebecca, and she is my friend. We had a tea party in the back. We had to use iced tea, because it was so hot outside. She sure has a lot of imaginary friends! We had six cups out, all full of melting tea, and as far as I could see, there were only two of us, but she kept on talking to a whole bunch of people. She said they used to live here, in my house.

They don’t live here anymore, but the tea was gone after the party.

My other friends from school don’t come over very often. I had a sleep-over party once, and everyone left before lights-out time ! Uncle Red does tell some scary stories now and again. I guess that they are scary for other kids, but for me, growing up here in Basalt Falls, they seem kind of silly.

Our house. I want to talk about our house. It is in the outskirts of the Falls, next to the old volcano. It (the volcano, not the house) popped up in the 1920’s, and fried all of the pepper farms nearby. The town was almost ruined ! I guess the local bank had to help out everyone keep afloat until it went under in the depression. The bank owner jumped into the volcano crater and died. Of course, the volcano had cooled down by then. Those rocks are really sharp !

From our porch, you can see it just to the south and a bit to the west. It looks like a pile of flour dough that mom uses to make bread on Sundays. But, like somebody punched it really hard in the middle. I like the volcano. If you lean out over the porch, you can hear it whistling. The scientists who come out say that it is the wind coming from the vent tubes. I don’t know if I believe them or not. Sometimes, just sometimes, you can almost hear words in the wind from the volcano. Late at night, sometimes, just sometimes, it sounds like screaming. I don’t like those times of night. I like earplugs.

In my room in my house, I have a wave machine. It is blue and tan and white, and it rocks back and forth, and sounds like the ocean when you turn it on. I turn it on most nights. I like the sound of the ocean. It makes me happy.

Outside of my room is the gabled porch. I have two doors that I can open up in the morning, or even during the summer monsoon storms. I have my own chair that I sit on, and from there I can see the volcano. Everything is sort of sap green, except for that old volcano.

We have mesquite bushes that grow all around the house. I like the desert bushes, because they smell so nice when it rains. The all have prickles to them though, so you have to be careful when you are running around. Catclaw mesquites are super nasty! My sister was wearing a pair of new hose, and got hung up in one. Uncle Red had to get her untangled, and there was quite a row about it.

Anyway, the house is nice and big. My bedroom is on the third story, just above the library. My sister’s room is across the hall, but since she went off to college, she doesn’t stay here much, so the whole floor is very, very quiet.

Uncle Red lives upstairs. I guess in what used to be called an attic? He says he gets the best television reception there. He is really mad about the television stations going to complete digital this year. We had to get a dish installed on top of the roof so he can watch his shows. He really likes Rachel Ray. I think she laughs too much.

We have oak flooring in our house. It was put in just a few years ago by this really nice guy. I think he liked my sister. He gave us a “screaming deal”. Some of the boards are a little loose, and creak now and again. He never did quite finish, some of the trim still needs to be put in, but all in all, it is a lot nicer than the old shag carpeting that was down before. It always smelled funny, especially at the base of the staircase.