A
Wave Goodbye My
sister, Dianne, and her husband were in a room across the
hall and only silence could be heard from their
direction. In the next room my brother, Chester, and his
wife were trying to heal the rift between them and were
sharing a room for the first time in several months. The
walls were so thin that we could hear each other shifting
in our beds and soft mutterings as we carried on our own
little conversations. The kids were all downstairs,
"camping out" on the living room floor and
occasionally one of us would have to remind them that we
were getting up early in the morning. Standing
6'5" could have been a problem when it came to
constantly bending with a chainsaw to cut trees and the
voice on the other end of the line apparently was
somewhat concerned over his ability to stand in that
position for long periods. Issuing a chuckle, we heard
Chester reassure the person that he had never had a
problem with it before . . . if he became tired he would
just get on his knees for awhile and saw from that
position. It wouldn't be the first time!The click of the
phone was accompanied by a shout of jubilation . . . he
had finally found a job with a good paying company! We
all had a brief celebration as we shouted back and forth
from our rooms. Chester was so excited . . . he just had
to wait until the Fourth of July celebrations were over
and then he could begin "bringing in the
bacon." Fishing
ended up being a bust and the river was too rough for the
kids to swim in so we headed for a nearby park to eat our
lunch and do a little gold panning. Chester had a smile
on his face the entire day . . . he loved to be around
people and thoroughly enjoyed being in charge of
entertainment. We all had our cameras out, taking
pictures of each other taking pictures. The daylight
began to wane and Dwight and I gathered everyone together
in our station wagon to start the trek home as Chester,
Suzi and their kids climbed into their truck and led the
way 'til we hit the main road. With a honk, an enormous
smile, and a happy shout, Chester waved us on by as we
passed him and started our journey home. As the men entered the area where my brother had been cutting they could see him lying on the ground, his saw beside him. The night before, when the crew heard his chain saw stop was the end of Chester's life. It had stopped because a tree had fallen and hit him in the head. Most logging crews work in "partner teams" but my brother's partner had been killed two days before and the boss had not assigned a new man to work with him yet. It was reported that he died instantly, but we will never know. All we do know was that he died alone, in the woods he loved with an entire work crew within shouting distance and he was left there while everyone else went home. As the tears run down my face I keep the last picture of him in my mind . . . A happy smile, a jubilant shout, and a wave goodbye. I miss you, Chester.
Return
to [New] [Archives] [Join] [Contact Us] [Poetry in Motion] [Store] [Staff] [Guidelines] |