Chapter Four

I was not a welcome addition to Amelia's solitary existence. Even so, that left her with no qualms about parenting me as she thought best. There were enough rules to knock me flat on my back and my great-aunt was not averse to informing me when I'd broken one.

A small school existed in town and I had to walk every step of the five miles it took to get there. The blue station wagon was often too unreliable for me to get a ride. As was Amelia, who thought the walking would improve my sense of gratitude for what I had. It was the only time I was ever to cross the train tracks.

My boundaries were marked in three square miles. A mile to the west was a ravine with a sheer drop into a rushing river. To the north was a forest I was not allowed to step foot into. In the east, two miles from the shack, were the train tracks. These swung south in a wide arc until they hugged the ravine's edge. In this shallow bowl, I was kept safe and sound and thoroughly depressed.

Great-aunt Amelia was always very clear and very direct about everything. Especially where socialization was concerned. In her aged mind, she had come to the serious conclusion that she did not like how malleable and impressionable my generation was. To her, it was a thing to be fixed right quick in myself. Which meant that her harsher rule struck me hardest of all: I was not to step beyond the tracks. And no one was to cross them with me.

It was her ever-powerful aura that clung to me those days in the classrooms. That defined atmosphere of her constant disapproval that drove everyone away from me. A serious sense that I was tainted seemed to drift around the school. After only a week. I knew Amelia would never have to worry. For no one would dare cross these tracks with me.