Farmhouse and Camper

I posted my latest short story at Black Coffee Fiction http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com this afternoon. Actually, it was the conclusion to a two part story that began last week, called "The Farmhouse".

Back when I was in high school writing essays and stories, we were told to "write what you know".  So today I wrote about an escaped convict hiding out in a farmhouse.  What do I know about a convict?  Next to nothing except for seeing a few television programs.  I do know quite a bit about farmhouses.  

I grew up on a farm on French Road southwest of Seymour.  Our farmhouse was built by German ancestors and was much like the other farmhouses in the area.  There was wainscoting, big kitchens, old furniture.  They were built for big families with few clothes. There were only two closets in the whole house, but a huge pantry. 

This winter, Gary lived in a similar German built farmhouse in Illinois while he took care of the place after his aunt went into a nursing home. He was stuck there from November through mid-April. Usually, when he tried to take a sabbatical and come to Wisconsin something came up, either an emergency at the nursing home or a snowstorm. He was supposed to return home to stay and was all packed when his Aunt Shirley suddenly died.  I told him in the week before the funeral that the farmhouse wanted him to stay there. 

That was the basis for "The Farmhouse".  So many other things came in to the story:  Aunt Shirley was hoarding tuna cans; we found Gary's uncle's 1954 International truck at a business; there were box elder bugs everywhere; there were closets and armoires full of clothes; planting season had begun and that meant tractors working the fields.  

I had only to add a convict and I had a story that my writing buddy Wade says is "nice and weird".  Some of my friends tell me that I am warped when they read my stories.  How can I help it when I am given all the ingredients? 

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Today we took Gary's old camper to the RV place in Neenah to trade it in on an improved model.  I meant to take photos but we were dodging the rain as we rushed from camper to camper.  I will have to take photos another day. 

The new camper will be ready on May 13.  We hope to be off on our first camping trip on May 15 when most of the campgrounds will be open. (Some are still under snow.)  I will have my own room in the camper to use as an office.  I will be able to keep up this blog no matter where we are and post short stories as well.