The dawning of a new day

I had butterflies in my stomach!

Due to the fact that my father was about to begin shepherding another flock of church congregants at his fifth parish since I entered into this world, you might think I had plenty of experience when it came to dealing with these particular situations; but this anxious sixth grader was filled with nervous excitement about the next stop on life’s journey.

It was the dawning of a new day!

Shortly after the U-Haul traversed the Fifth Street Bridge in the heart of Ellwood City with the blond-haired minister behind the wheel, my big brother John and I were excited to see a few familiar faces when pulling up to the church parsonage which sat directly across the street from Northside Elementary School.

Several members of the congregation – that we had previously met when Dad candidated for the open pastoral position – were bundled up and armed with thermos bottles containing hot chocolate to battle the chilly spring weather while patiently waiting to welcome their church’s new first family to the community.

Chris Honneffer – one of my bunkmates from two summers of Kid’s Camp at Living Waters – and his entire family were among the many eager beavers ready to unload our personal belongings into the Cape Cod-style house which was situated beside the colossal red-brick building with stained glass windows.

Following an extended meet-and-greet out on the front lawn, a constant line of traffic formed between the back of the moving truck to the front door of the one-and-a-half-story dwelling like an army of ants carrying boxes of all shapes and sizes in one direction while the freckle-faced athlete scooped up our friendly Pomeranian named George for a backyard potty break.

Upon reaching my new sleeping quarters on the right side of the spacious hallway after passing the full bathroom at the top of the enclosed L-shaped staircase, I promptly pulled a pair of pre-made signs – boy’s bedroom and girl’s bedroom – from a box marked “desk supplies” and expeditiously posted them next to the doors on opposite sides of the corridor for directional guidance with box and furniture placement.

That’s an ingenious idea!

“You must be a magician,” suggested Chris as he grabbed another box from the back end of the storage container on wheels. “It can’t be a coincidence that we keep picking up boxes labeled for your bedroom every single time we come back out to the truck; so, there must be something fishy going on.”

Surely there’s a top hat with a magician’s cloak in one of these boxes!

“Only if it were that simple,” I snickered before we carried another load of medium-sized cardboard containers to my upstairs bedchamber. “When moving out of our old house in Bentleyville, I made sure the movers placed all the boxes for my bedroom in the same location at the back end of the transport.”

This used to be Danny Richmond’s bedroom!

“Danny said he had a walk-in closet,” I remembered while stopping to perform a pull-up on the first of two hanging closet rods. “However, I’m not too keen on walking through my brother’s clothes just to get to my own every single morning; and if our four-legged friend has an accident during the night, it’s going to be like walking through a mine field.”

Once this talkative pair – along with the other adolescent striplings – finished unloading all the boxes designated for the boy’s bedroom, we began hauling a passel of oddly-shaped receptacles down to the underbelly of the three-bedroom home that required us to walk through a maze of rooms prior to reaching the basement steps on the opposite side of the kitchen.

Talk about a perfect place to roller skate!

“Do youns have skates,” questioned Dirk Arkwright upon walking around the heating unit beside the chimney. “If not, you might want to invest in a pair to practice down here; because the Royal Rangers and Missionettes have a skating party once a month at the Ellport Roller Rink.”

My jaw dropped upon hearing the exciting news!

When five-year-old Leslie Arkwright wandered down the open staircase into the wide expanse, she asked her teenage half-brother if he had seen Danny Bubb and the minister’s youngest daughter; because they were playing hide-and-seek, and she couldn’t find those little rascals.

They stepped into the canning room under the front porch!

Thinking she was going to surprise them, the little blonde-haired lass was the one caught off guard when she found the animated preschoolers stealing a kiss from each other; after which she ran back upstairs muttering something about the preacher’s daughter making a move on her boyfriend.

Way to go, you two-timing gigolo!

Not long after the unfortunate incident which had the school-age boys giving the big man on campus a round of high fives, the small group of women gathered in the heart of the home called everyone to take a well-deserved break with a smorgasbord of menu items for the noon meal.

The would-be juvenile delinquents each grabbed a plate of food before scurrying out to the back porch still laughing it up about the drama that unfolded in the cellar.

“I’m glad your house is in Lawrence County,” admitted Jimmy Bubb, Jr. after finishing up a delicious ham and cheese sandwich. “Since we have separate school districts on either side of the county line, you’ll both be going to Lincoln High School this fall with the reigning basketball champs; because you surely don’t want to hang with the River Rats.”

What Jimbo failed to mention is that Riverside High School has taken home the crown three out of the last five years!

While the teenage boys were arguing about the fierce rivalry between the two high schools, I had just learned from my intimate friend that this former middle school student would be heading back to elementary school across the street from my house.

Now it was time for me to get my panties in a bunch!