Basically a Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer childhood

There's grim stuff and good stuff in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer's childhood. Same goes for Dad and Cain's childhood. Plus I pointlessly describe this creek I love.

Above: Not the creek, but looks close enough to count.

A couple miles from the little Adventist church on the prairie I grew up in, there's a creek that runs down to a river. Creek’s about four feet wide, generally muddy brown. Revolting brown foam collects on logs that hold the water up, but if you stick to where the water flows, there’s no foam and you don't get bit by leeches. Overall, it is perfect for wading, rafting, crawdad hunting, frog catching, fish watching, beaver spotting. It's full of multicolored rocks of all sizes, good for skipping and collecting and flipping over to see what lives underneath.

We didn't fish in the creek or river because we were proper vegetarian Adventists.

Dad showed me how to find a large flattish dark rock and test other rocks to find one that made marks on the dark stone. We played tic-tac-toe on big rocks by the creek.

There were old Osage Orange trees along the creek. Dad taught us that Osage Orange was the tree settlers planted to have a hedge “horse high, pig tight (pigs dig, tough roots), and bull strong”. There was always some freshly washed out soil on a curve in the creek, with orange colored Osage Orange roots sticking out. These trees had soccer-ball size green round fruits that fell onto the ground every fall. Tastes awful. We'd chuck them into the creek and watch them float down.

Sometime in the middle of the twentieth century, an Adventist man, I'll call him Founder, bought acres and acres of land near this creek. He built his home on a hill overlooking it, sold off the other land for cheap to other Adventists. This is important, cuz these are the Adventists I grew up surrounded with.

Founder and his wife, whom I'll call Fern, had two kids I'll call Cain and Abel.

At that time, not too far away, my  Grandma and her sister lived next door to each other in two old Victorian Era farmhouses. Both Grandma and Great Aunt had huge families. As far as I know, most of the kids--Grandma's, Great Aunt's, and Founder's--attended the nearby Adventist grade school. And, of course, all and sundry attended the little Adventist church on the prairie to varying degrees.

There's an old black and white photo of two chubby babies in a creek. Dad’s one of the babies.

I thought the other baby was Cain, which woulda made a nice start of this story.

But I looked it up and no. The other baby is one of Dad’s Adventist peers, a decent human. When I was in the single digits of age, I’d randomly prattle at him. He’d listen and gave enough of a damn to smile back and ask questions to understand me. Throughout my teens and twenties, he’d talk to me if I talked to him. He played harmonica for church, which inspired me to take up harmonica. He was not creepy, weird, shouty, nor did he cause me nightmares, so you won’t hear much about him on this blog.

Keep in mind that most people in the little Adventist church on the prairie I grew up in were exactly that kind of person—decent, normal, caring, getting on with life, tryna give their kids a better upbringing, living as best they know how.

But I have digressed.

Back to two young boys and a creek.

Ever since they were tiny, Dad and Cain roamed the woods, fields, creek and river together. They drank water straight from flat little springs bubbling up from the ground. They argued whether Eastern Meadowlarks could mate with Western Meadowlarks. (Note: Per this link, no. https://www.nature.com/scitable/content/western-meadowlark-and-eastern-meadowlark-two-distinct-4257520/)

They camped, canoed, rock climbed, all the Pathfinder thangs, they did together.

Now Pathfinders is like Scouts, with the army-like uniforms, triangular neck scarves, badges, honors, marching, outdoor skills, etc., with a special Adventist twist. Both girls and boys attend, and they’re taught how their Pathfinder skills will help them survive in the mountains during the Time of Trouble.

You see, Jesus in Matthew 24:16 King James Version said, "Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:". This verse, Adventists teach, applied to the A.D. 70 Seige of Jerusalem AND is advice for Adventists in particular. And it ONLY applies after the USA President and Pope make a global Sunday law, and set the death penalty for anyone who goes to church on Saturday. That's when this verse kicks in. Adventists are supposed to flee to the mountains then. (So the current Pope is NOT the Antichrist, YET. He will be once he passes the Sunday Law. This is a big important distinction in Adventism.) It’s downright considerate of Jesus to have that double meaning in that verse.

Founder and Fern led Pathfinders. They taught canoeing, camping, how to cook corncobs in their leaves on a fire, how to tie a double bowline knot.

That was important, as Adventist hero and former Pathfinder Desmond Doss used that knot to rescue folks at Hacksaw Ridge.

Dad taught me that knot, when I was little. Both the single and doubled up rope bowlines. He showed me how Desmond Doss used as a makeshift non-slip two-loop carry to lower injured soldiers down Hacksaw Ridge.

When I was grown, Dad's sister told me Cain sexually harassed her in Adventist grade school. I'll bet you money he sexually harassed Dad’s other sister, too. Cain had sex with a girl in the basement of the Adventist school.

None the less, Dad and Cain remained friends. I don't know if Dad knew about Cain verbally sexually harassing his sister. Things were different back then. Sexual harassment was much more accepted and much less talked about.

Grim things happened. Dad’s parents got a divorce. When I was growing up, all Dad’s siblings had a parent they sided with in that divorce. The schism be real. Dad took Grandma’s side.

Divorced, Grandma wasn’t safe in her own home. Founder told me, with a wink and a nod, that my grandma “was a good looker back in the day”. She was beautiful old, too, I say. But pretty woman living alone with her kids, in a rural house, without a man to protect her in that patriarchal society? Not safe then and there.

Family legend has it that she was sexually harassed by a drunk neighbor dude. Unsteady on his feet, uninvited, he followed her inside and all the way upstairs. Now grandma's house’s staircase is a neck-breaking steep thing.

Grandma was smart, used that to her advantage.

She acted like she was going to give him a blowjob, got his pants down to his ankles, then ran hell-bent-for-leather to a decent neighbor couple’s home. Drunk dude couldn’t chase Grandma down the neck-breaking steep stairs with his pants round his ankles. Decent neighbor dude removed the drunk wannabe rapist from Grandma’s house and scared him off somehow. The story got around the neighborhood and wannabe rapist finally moved away—basically laughed out of town.

Grandma’s house burned halfway down. Grandma and her kids patched it up best they could. Dad and his siblings spent that winter’s nights huddled all together for warmth under one blanket.

Founder’s barn burned down, and all the tools in it too. There's no relationship between the two fires that I was told of

After Adventist grade school, along with some of their siblings, Dad and Cain attended Adventist boarding school, called "academy" in Adventist lingo.

SDA boarding academies are like Hogwarts in that everyone knows everyone, most are related to each other, and the girls live separate from the boys.

Dad worked full time at academy. He learned plumbing, construction, roofing, site maintenance, vehicle repair. He went home, installed running water and flush toilets in Grandma's house. I don't know what Cain did during this time.

Given that Adventist academies are ALL about getting free labor from their students, I'd bet Cain worked at academy much like Dad did. I doubt he worked as hard. His home already had toilets and running water. I bet Dad and Cain worked together frequently, going by how they did later on in life.

I do know that, in academy, or maybe the extension of Adventist academy, Adventist college, Dad dated the woman that Cain eventually married. She was Dad’s first girlfriend. This “date someone that friend marries” is common in Adventist circles, as Adventist social circles tend to be pretty small.

Dad said he didn't marry that lady, because she'd get mad and not say why she was mad. Then she'd explode unpredictably, Dad said. Whereas, my Mom is gonna tell you she's mad and why, in no uncertain language, usually right then and there.

Dad told me he always had “a soft spot” for that lady, “You always have a soft spot for your first girlfriend or boyfriend”, he said. I am genuinely thankful that Dad overshared this to me. This absolved me of guilt for having my own damn soft spot for my first boyfriend, when I was growing up in purity culture, wherein thought crimes like crushes and affection towards the opposite gender are demonized.

Dating was, and is, very serious business in Adventist circles.

As is recommended in purity culture today, Dad dated seriously, with a mindset towards future marriage.

Dad’s a fan of the super long prank. In Adventist academy, Dad was awarded the academy "never missed a day of class!". Knowing this, Dad skipped the award ceremony.

"No! You aren't doing this to me!" Dad says the award ceremony man wailed. He tells that proudly to this day, with a sly grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

So that’s what I know about those two boys’ childhood.