Life in a Mountain Town ‘Mayhill, New Mexico’

When I was about six months old and the crops were all in, and cold weather was setting in, Dad went to work for Uncle Loyd in his Garage as a mechanic. One night he come home late and very tired from the days work. After supper he told Mama, “I’m going to turn in early. I’m really tired tonight.” “Okay,” She said as she pulled a strand of hair up out of her face, “I’ve had a long day too so I’ll get the kids put down, and get to bed early too.’ Sometime in the middle of the night Mama woke up hearing a strange noise coming from beneath the bed. She could feel the springs moving and she jumped up and lit the lamp so she could see. Dad was under the bed with his hands moving around in the springs. She said in an exasperated tone, “What do you think your doing?” About that time he woke up and was startled to find himself pined under the bed. The bed was so low that it was almost on his chest. “How did I get under the bed?” He asked, with a shocked look on his face. “I was dreaming that I was working on that blamed car.” He started struggling to get out, but couldn’t, so Mama ask Brother Jim to help her lift the bed off of him so he could get out. While standing there watching him strugggle out thinking about it all she started laughing so hard she doubled over, and almost let go of the bed, then everyone started laughing. It was laughed about quiet a few times through the years when someone would remember it. There was another time that was about the same except for one difference, the next time was a little more exciting and expensive. It wasn’t long after that incident while still working part time for Uncle Loyd as the winter slowed everything down, and there wasn’t that much work elsewhere, but he got another part time job working in Cloudcroft in the old Railroad Round House. Someone had a machine shop in the old building that he was working for, and he would come home from work some times and say, “Boy, that old building is not very stable any more. It creaks and groans all the time. It would make a good Halloween place for the kids. It’s kinda’ scary some times. I’ll be standing by the bench working on something when the wind blows against the building so hard that the bench moves away from me and then moves back.” His sentence trailed off into a low tone and he looked up at us. “I think maybe that it’s just all going to come falling down one of these days.” Then one night, as before, he came home late, and repeated the episode of dreaming a dream and getting into action. He dreamed he was standing by the bench he’d mentioned a few days earlier, and the building started to fall in on him. He grabbed Mama by the arm and started hollering, “Come on, hurry up, we’ve got to get out of here, the building is falling.” And as he spoke he jumped up, and as he did she jerked away from him as he flew out the window taking it with him and landing beside Mama’s rose bush. Mama jumped out of bed and ran outside where he had landed in a pile of glass and window framing, screaming and yelling, “Veolan, are you all right? Tell me you’re Okay?” When she arrived by his side he was sitting there holding his head and looking disoriented. “I guess I’m okay, but I am feeling some sore spots. I see I have some cuts on my arm, and there must be some cuts on my head as I’m seeing some dripping blood. Can you help me get into the house?” As they started up the steps and onto the porch he looked at her and said, “I’m sorry honey, I was dreaming that darned building was falling in on us.” As she started helping him into the house Brother Jim and Sis were standing in the living room in their night clothes, staring wide eyed, with their mouths wide open, and scared. Mama told them, “It’s going to be alright he’s just a little bruised with a few minor cuts. Why don’t you two go back to bed while I get him doctored?” After she got him cleaned up, and bandaged the cuts, they took some cardboard box’s, and tacked up on the open spot where the window used to be to keep the cold out, and after getting back in bed Mama commented, “I’m so glad you didn’t fall into my rose bush and I hope the rest of the night is uneventful.” The next day he spent putting in a new window, and there were a few other events of sleep walking and talking in his sleep but these two were the most eventful during our years of growing up. There were others in our family that reacted to dreams. Uncle Lee was one, and even Dwain and I walked and talked in our sleep. I’m pretty sure there were others, but I can’t recall them at the moment.