The House On the Hill

As the autumn mist drifted up the river, the pungent, stale aroma of the flooded Missouri River soured the night. A thick wall of mosquitoes covered the rocky winding trail leading to the old house at the top of the hill. The combination of the odor from the river and the loud buzzing of the biting little pests surrounding my head enhanced my dread of meeting face to face the nemesis of my childhood fear. I alone would have to face my fear and request an act of kindness and goodwill from a couple who had never received kindness or support from our community or myself.

As a tough young lad, I feared nothing except the house on the hill and people who lived there. They seemed aloof and very unsociable. Throughout my life, these ghostly creatures remained nameless and obscure. Their lifestyle seemed mysterious, almost occult like. There were no signs of modernization. There was no running water, electricity or phone service violating their property. Not even a mailbox designated their existence in our tiny river town.

Their dress was unusual and odd, as was their appearance. Their clothing seemed to consist of flannel, denim, and solid black cotton. The jet-black mane flowing freely down the backs of both the man and woman was not ordinary but nothing about the couple on the hill seemed ordinary.

Loud screeching cries from animals and sounds of crushing metal would echo through the trees in eerie motions. The hillside moaned with the sound of pounding drums and unfamiliar vocalizations in a repetitive manner, which would terrify me late into the night. Startling blast of gun shots from the hillside always resulted in a feeling of panic, as if the shot was a warning directed at me. Abov...

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... I knew nothing about, and unwilling to accept that there is more than one appropriate way to live. Even though their lifestyle was estranged from the way of life for most, it was by far the appropriate life for them. I realized, material objects were just aging possessions which soon become worthless and many individuals spend their lives running in circles like hamsters in a cage; worrying about getting ahead and "keeping up with the Jone's" and never take the time to realize the value of life itself.

At the late of age of 40, I made the personal decision to embrace diversity, face and question situations in which I don't readily comprehend and share my experience of this new awakening with others. If the world as a whole could open their minds to new experiences and accept the power in diversity, imagine what a wonderful world we would have.