Who Could Wish For More

Even by standards of long ago, it was a primitive place.
There were no electricity and the roads were not paved. The houses there did not have any plumbing. A dirt road heads to the mountain, while another heads down to the creek.

Lacking electricity, we went to bed early and rose each morning while dew was still on the grass. Kerosene lamps were cleaned early morning by the gossiping women and children were sent to the well or small river to get fresh water.

The best time would be in summer. Hummingbirds with tiny wings fluttering so fast were feeding from the flowers. To avoid the mid afternoon heat, the women would draw window shades and spread blankets on the floor for a nap. In the fields, the herds crowded under the shade of spreading trees. Everything seemed to stand still in the afternoon, and yet you could hear small sounds..bees buzzing, birds whistling nearby the porch. You could walk to the hen house and watch a hen perform the mystery of laying an egg.

As the sun was falling, men drifted back to their own houses hot and tired. They took their bath from the water that we, kids, had hauled up earlier from the river. Asdusk deepened, you could see fireflies flying towards the kerosene lamps, just waiting to be caught and bottled by us. As twilight changed to night, an owl's hoot can be heard from nearby. I was not afraid of owls at that time.

As the 4 of us sat on the porch 1 night, we saw a shooting star. Someone said, 'Make a wish!'I did not know what he meant at that moment. I did not know anything that I would wish for.