There we stood – – – beside the rails.
I looked at Bogdan Yelcovich and he looked at me and then we both looked at Jim McFee.
You remember Bogdan from Russia and Jim from Knoxville, Tennessee don’t you?
Jim asked “Well what are you two goons looking at?”
“You” we said in unison. “What the heck are we going to do here in Henryville on a Friday night?” I continued on.
Jim looked at me and shrugged his shoulders as if to say “I have no idea.”
You see, the three of us had just taken a train for a fifty mile trip from Scranton to Henryville; all on Jim McFee’s word that we would have a good time. He said he had family there.
So we asked the man at the station where the McFees lived. He gave us good directions and then smiled. It was not a friendly smile – – – it was more of a “I know something that you don’t know” smile.
Well, it was a heck of a walk. When we got there Jims Uncle Eppy and Aunt Polly were doing chores.
Uncle Eppy had fire going and Aunt Polly was making soap.
When they saw Jim they immediately dropped what they were doing and ran over to him. Jim got hugged like no man ever got hugged.
We said we did not wish to interrupt them so they asked us to stay and watch. It was an interesting experience. I had never seen anyone make soap before. Bogdan said he used to make soap when he lived in Russia or Eastern Europe or wherever he lived before Scranton and the Isthmus of Darien.
Uncle Eppy and Aunt Polly made us promise to stay for supper and then they would put us up overnight. Real nice people.
The next morning Jim’s Uncle Eppy gave us some fishing poles and took us trout fishing. We had a good time on the stream. I was surprised to see so many couples walking across the footbridge.
Uncle Eppy said that we were close to some big hotels in the Pocono Mountains. That was the reason for all these people. Lots of vacationers.
I am glad that they were all dressed up and not fishing. That left a lot of fish for us to catch. Aunt Polly cooked them up for us that night. She made some fish-head soup for us to eat the next day, before we caught the train back to Scranton.
We slept well in the fresh Pocono air. Aunt Polly fixed us breakfast; bacon and fresh eggs from the coop. Uncle Eppy had walked over to the next farm and brought back home-made butter.
That was the best breakfast I ever had. Especially with that fresh butter on Aunt Polly’s sourdough bread. MMMmmm.
We took another walk to see more of the stream. We didn’t fish but we did see a bear. That was a little frightening. Everyone was excited to tell Aunt Polly about the bear. She listened courteously but I think she had seen a bear before.
We had our fish-head soup, which was delicious, and caught our train back to Scranton. Aunt Polly Sent us a postcard about two months later.
She was so nice.
waldotomosky 