Light Throughout The Night Chapter 3: Home Sweet Home
Posted:
2023-01-14 At:
5:30 am:
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Light Throughout The Night is a complete story with many twists and turns. The only way to feel the essence of the story is to read it from beginning to end.
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Chapter 3: Home Sweet Home
When Glow arrived at the field, she was exhausted, both emotionally and physically. She leaned over, resting her head against a stack of new clothes sitting on the passenger seat. She took a deep breath, inhaling their wonderful scents just before falling asleep.
Glow had a backup plan for all the necessities. In some cases, a backup plan for her backup plan. If the stovetop stopped working, she could cook on the grill. If there wasn’t any dry wood for the grill, she could use the biofuel cans.
If the tent leaked, she could cover it with a tarp. Otherwise, she could either patch it with duct tape or sleep in her truck.
If something happened to the food she purchased, she could eat food from the garden. If something happened to the garden, she could eat eggs from the hens or fish from the river.
Even with all her preparation, Glow did have fears. She was worried she didn’t purchase all the essential miscellaneous supplies. She knew, regardless of her diligence, encountering a situation she didn’t take into consideration was a real possibility.
While living on the streets, Glow survived for years with almost nothing. She didn’t have any doubt she could survive in the field. She was tired of just surviving. She’s been in survival mode her whole life. Glow wanted to strive. That’s why the miscellaneous supplies were important. They’ll take her from surviving to striving. They’ll improve the quality of her life.
The type of life Glow lived took a toll on her mind and body. During the course of her life, she developed plenty of personality traits most looked at as flaws.
Glow started thinking everyone was her enemy. She became antisocial and withdrawn. Sometimes abrasive. She’s overly emotional, stubborn and takes things very serious. Glow’s self-reliant, to a fault. She almost always deals with problems on her own. She holds in her anger, sometimes until it reaches a boiling point. Then, she either has a fit or breaks down, crying for hours.
Even with all of Glow’s issues, preparation wasn’t one of them.
Glow slept soundly through the night. Late the next afternoon, she woke to the sound of hens clucking in the back of her truck.
The weather was absolutely perfect. The temperature wasn’t hot. It wasn’t cold. It was perfect. The sky was a deep blue. There wasn’t a cloud in sight. The trees were motionless, picturest. Birds were chirping, singing harmonious melodies.
Glow sat up in the seat, still clinching a new sweatshirt she used as a pillow. She leaned back, looking out the window, seemingly in disbelief. She sat in her truck for at least a half an hour, taking in the scenery. She was finally starting to find peace and peace within herself.
The morning she woke in her truck, in the field, knowing she didn’t have to worry about finding a place to sleep later at night, was a great beginning to the next chapter of her life.
Nevertheless, Glow was anxious to revamp her little neck of the woods. She arranged a stack of extra cement squares into a square to form a fireplace.
Glow walked to the edge of the forest to gather firewood. She found a sufficient supply of decent size downed branches. After gathering the branches, she stacked them inside the cement squares. She lit a fire, placed the grill grate over the cement squares and began boiling water for an afternoon cup of coffee.
When the coffee was ready, Glow took the beach chair to the middle of the field. She took a seat, and enjoyed her cup of coffee like she never enjoyed a cup of coffee before.
The life she was living on the streets, a life of misery and near starvation was in the past. Glow knew her past would always haunt her. Regardless, at the present time, she found a way to enjoy a few minutes of her new life.
Eventually, Glow pried herself up from the beach chair. She had plenty to do.
The hens were at the top of her to do list. Giving them safe and suitable living quarters was important. She grabbed a few pieces of plywood, a few 2 X 4’s, a saw, a hammer, nails and began building a henhouse.
When Glow finished, she gave the henhouse a coat of paint. She grabbed some fence stakes and fencing to build the hens a yard. She built their pen in the shade near her tent. At night she would secure them in the henhouse for safety.
The very next thing Glow did was set up her futon. After her futon was together, for the first time in years, she wouldn’t have to search for a place to sleep.
Glow’s new bed would provide her with a greater form of luxury than most people get from the beds found at five star hotels.
The majority of people who stay at a five star hotels, do so after sleeping on a fairly comfortable bed. To them, the beds at five star hotels are a decent, luxurious upgrade. However, they’re nothing compared to the upgrade Glow was going to get when she goes to sleep.
Glow was about to go from sleeping on the streets, hard, cold sidewalks, bus stop benches, crunched up inside her truck, without enough room to stretch her legs, to a bed. A bed alone is a substantial upgrade.
Her futon is all black. Even the mattress is black. The mattress is thick and soft. Glow was already thinking about going to sleep later at night, slipping into her new pj’s, just before sinking deep into her new mattress, under warm clean covers, falling asleep to delightful dreams of her new surroundings.
When Glow finally went to sleep, she was exhausted. She slept all night, and all day the next day, only waking up for a few hours to grab a snack. Then, slept all night the next night, waking up early the following morning, rejuvenated, ready to start her new life.
After breakfast, Glow organized the items she purchased for her new home. She prioritized them in order of importance. Storing her food safely and securely was her top priority. She put the shelf together and filled it with the food items she ate most often. Next, she filled the storage chests with the food items she wanted to keep safest and dry.
From there, she began putting together the solar system. Glow was a little worried she wouldn’t get the system working. However, knowing the effort Becky put into the instructions helped her feel much more confident.
The first thing Glow did was build a vented housing box for the batteries. She mounted the solar panels to the top of the box. She put the batteries inside the box and began wiring the system. Glow attached the necessary fuses and ran wirers from the battery box to the power inverter inside her tent.
She instilled the same amount of thought and effort into setting the system up as Beckie did with her instructions. Glow took her time, carefully checking, and double checking the wiring.
When Glow finished, she took a look at the charge controller. The solar panels were charging the batteries. The batteries were almost fully charged. Glow flipped on the power switch for the inverter and plugged in her stovetop. Presto, she now had power.
By the time Glow finished arranging the inside of the tent, everything was neat and organized.
During the next few weeks, Glow’s life turned somewhat normal. She woke up, fed the hens, ate and enjoyed the outdoors. Sometimes in the afternoon, she wrote, played her guitar or exercised.
She went to sleep to crickets chirping and frogs ribbiting. She woke to birds singing and squirrels playing.
Once in a while, Glow woke up early. She stepped outside to a thick fog, growing thicker as it stretched across the field. The grass was entrenched in fog. The forest was dim, distant, seemingly hovering above a dark gray mist. Those mornings were mesmerizing.
A few months after moving to the field, Glow began making friends with some of the local animals.
A lizard turned a small stump near her table into his home. She threw the little fella small bites of food when she ate.
Every morning while she was cooking breakfast, a small group of squirrels visited. She purchased large bags of peanuts for snacking. While she was cooking breakfast she shared them with the squirrels.
She only fed them small amounts of food and only food they ate naturally in the wild. Glow was cautious about how much she fed the squirrels because of another of Beckie’s sayings.
“If a person feeds a wild animal in the same spot for an extended period of time, the animal starts relying on the food they’re fed. The animal loses the ability to find food on its own.
If the person feeding the animal stops leaving food, the animal keeps visiting the same spot looking for food, sometimes going hungry, not knowing how to find food on its own, putting the animals survival at risk.”
Beckie’s saying was also the reason why Glow didn’t ask for money while she was living on the street. She didn’t want to become reliant on anyone other than herself. Glow knew, if she became reliant upon others, she might not find a way off the streets.
Over time, Glow got to know the squirrels. Each squirrel possessed their own unique personality. Some of the squirrels buried the peanuts she gave them. Later in the day, they dug them up for brunch. Others ate their peanuts immediately.
After the squirrels ate, they played on a large Oak Tree near her tent. One of the reasons Glow picked the spot where she set up her tent was because of the Oak Tree. The tree was very old. Its branches spanned into the woods and out over the field. The Oak Tree gave her a sense of serenity.
Every so often, towards the edge of the woods, Glow saw a little fox. He just sat there most days, watching her from a distance, just like she was doing to the fox, from the other end of the field. Once in a while she saw him jumping around, playing in the tall grass. Though, always cautious. At the slightest sound, scurried into the safety of the woods.
Twenty five feet down from the Oak Tree stood a Walnut Tree. When Glow felt like having an afternoon snack, she walked to the Walnut Tree to grab a few Walnuts. She took a seat under the tree, cracked the Walnuts open against a rock, sharing them with the squirrels.
One morning Glow slept in. Just as she was waking, she heard loud definitive chirps from the birds. Panic ridden squawks from the squirrels.
Glow bolted out of her tent, still in her PJ’s. She looked up towards the far end of the field. Vultures were circling low, just above the tree line where the forest meets the field, stalking the squirrels, waiting for them to enter the field, looking for an easy meal.
Glow sprinted across the field, yelling, waving her arms, making herself known, making sure the Vultures knew they weren’t welcome. Before Glow was halfway across the field, the Vultures were scattering.
Sometimes, Glow enjoyed watching them fly high in the sky. They seemed like part of the sky. The wind, an extension of their wings as they glided effortlessly above.
Nevertheless, she only enjoyed watching them when they were high in the sky. Vultures are predators, and the squirrels were her friends. Their presence was a problem.
Glow saw a Vulture take down a prey in the wild. It was gruesome. A Vulture was slowly circling high above. Glow calls their slow circles, high in the sky, their circle of death. A smaller bird was flying almost fifty feet below. Without any hesitation, the Vulture darted downward into a rapid dive. Within seconds, snatched his prey out of the air.
Then, flew to a nearby tree where he slowly picked the little bird apart with his beak, while the bird was still alive. She wasn’t about to let that happen to any of the animals keeping her company.
From time to time, Glow saw raccoon tracks near her garden. She did a good job enclosing the outside of the garden and installed netting above.
Nevertheless, the raccoons were persistent, sometimes, trying to dig their way under the fence. If Glow heard them while she was sleeping, she woke, grabbed her flashlight and a broom, before going outside to scare them away. After seeing Glow run outside with her broom and flashlight, the raccoons usually didn’t return for months.
Even though predatorial animals weren’t known to occupy the area, Glow was cautious. She usually kept her bottle of mace within reach.
She also closed the tent door tightly after she entered or exited to prevent pesky bugs or small snakes from entering when she wasn’t looking.
Frequently, in the evening, before going to sleep, Glow sat out in the patio to watch the sun set behind the forest. The trees slowly turned into silhouettes. The orange sky turned black.
Glow spent a lot of time thinking. Depending on the situation, a person’s mind is their best friend or worst enemy. People don’t stop thinking. A person’s mind doesn’t ever stop working, whether sleeping or awake. Thoughts are always going through a person’s mind.
With Glow’s past, most of the time, her mind is her worst enemy. Her head is filled with bad memories. She can’t stop thinking about them. She can’t stop thinking about all the pain she’s been through.
Now, with her new life, sometimes Glow thought about different things. Things that don’t fill her soul with hate. Sometimes, she even thought about good things.
Often, after breakfast, Glow laid out a beach towel in the field near her beach chair. She laid on the towel, on her back, looking up at the sky. She lifted her legs, resting her feet on the beach chair. She felt more relaxed with her legs resting on the beach chair. Then, she’d just think, while staring up at the sky. She thought about all types of different things.
Many times the things she thought about helped her feel better about her herself. After years on the street, a person starts to think they’re not worthy. They start to believe the things people say. “Look at that looser, nearly passed out on the sidewalk.” “Uuggh, we can’t let you in here looking like that.”
Glow thought about the things people said about her and all the things she did wrong. Without much structure, she found plenty of things to do wrong. Then, she began thinking about travesties man created. Some of them made her feel like a saint.
She thought about the person who created the nuclear bomb. While most people were thinking about their husbands, wives, kids, family, friends, supermodels and supercars, some jerk was thinking of a way to build a bomb large enough to blow up an entire city.
Even though Glow wasn’t proud of many of the things she did during her life, when she compared herself to people like the person who invented the nuclear bomb, she felt much better.
It only takes a few individuals to ruin things for others. If a hundred people were in a room, and a few were rude, loud and obnoxious, those few people would ruin the atmosphere for every other person in the room.
The same could be said for the person who developed the nuclear bomb. Except, he or she put the lives of an entire planet at risk.
Glow believed in God. She thought about the things he created and how they meshed together.
She watched the squirrels carry acorns in different directions away from trees to bury them. A few months later a tree sprouted. The squirrels spread the forest, preventing trees from growing too close to each other, without enough sunlight or soil to survive.
Squirrels were given the natural ability to climb trees. Squirrels ate acorns and buried them out of instinct. They meshed with nature. That’s how God designed them.
Glow possessed a deep understanding for the importance of wildlife and the resulting devastation when even a single animal species becomes extinct.
She thought about what would happen if squirrels ever became extinct. Squirrels are responsible for the growth of millions of trees each year. Trees provide homes and food for billions of animals, including birds, lizards and insects. Trees provide oxygen to all life. The devastation would be astronomical.
Those were the days Glow was delighted to live in the field, watching nature as intended.
If the squirrels visited while Glow was thinking, she began conversations with them. Glow didn’t have anyone to talk with. She liked voicing her opinion and sharing her thoughts.
“Ya got it good here little squirrel. You were born here. You have a piece of property where you can do whatever you choose. You have a home, a place where you sleep at night.
If a park was nearby, you could enter and leave the park whenever and however you choose. You’ve done a lot of things right. You don’t bother anyone and haven’t invented anything destructive enough to destroy the planet. As a result, you got it better than many humans.
Us humans, we haven’t done as good of a job protecting our liberties. We were born in this country just like you. Though, millions of us don’t have a home of our own. Many have to work over twenty years, at a minimum wage job, just to afford the down payment on a piece of land like this field.
We can’t enter or leave most parks at our own leisure. There are lakes and parts of the Ocean where we need a fishing license just to catch food. Some forests require a us to purchase a license before we’re allowed to take a walk through the forest.
We’ve caused the extinction of thousands of animals and did a good job taking away the same liberties you squirrels enjoy in this field.”
Glow thought about how various things man invented were similar to the human body. Man invented computers. Computer hard drives work in a similar fashion to the human brain. Camera’s work in a similar fashion to the human eye.
Often, Glow imagined her life as if her mom were alive.
She thought to herself, “I might have someone who’s there for me. Someone to teach me things. Someone to teach me about life.
Maybe, I would have followed in her footsteps. Perhaps, I would have become a professional wrestler. Maybe, even a good wrestler. Possibly, at this very instant, I’m in the ring, wrestling, with the crowd cheering.
I’d have aunts, uncles and grandparents. Perhaps, today, instead of laying here by myself, I’m visiting relatives, eating dinner with them, being a part of something. I wouldn’t be alone. Maybe, I wouldn’t have spent the previous five years on the streets. Maybe, my life wouldn’t have turned into a disaster.”
Glow was naturally very emotional. When Glow thought about her mom, the core of her soul saddened. Her eyes glossed over. She used all her inner strength to hold back tears. She couldn’t. Glow broke down in tears as she laid on her back by herself, crying in the field for hours.
Glow even thought about how she thought. Years ago, Beckie mentioned, “Running helps people think better.” Glow did sprints as part of her weekly exercises.
Glow sprinted for both physical and emotional reasons. Running across the field as fast as possible was a great way for her to release anger. Sometimes when she ran, she yelled, screaming at the top of her lungs, trying to let her inner anger out.
Even though Glow removed herself from her past, she couldn’t rid herself of her past. The memories from a lifetime of mental abuse and neglect severely scar a person. Glow’s memories of abuse frequently suffocated all her other memories. All the awful things done to Glow by those who were supposed to have loved her, took over her thoughts.
If Glow ran during the days she was able to block out her past, she thought of the best ideas, either while she was running or a short time thereafter. Without much education, Glow tried to figure things out herself. She thought about why she thought better after sprints.
Glow looked at the brain as an engine, in a similar way to an automobile engine. Then, she looked at blood as a type of fuel.
When a person’s heart pumps faster, it sends more blood to the brain, just like a car, when it gets more fuel, the faster and stronger the car runs.
Glow thought about how she laid on her back in the field, with her feet up on the beach chair. She usually felt more focused. She figured the reason was because blood flowed better to her brain.
She never knew if she was right or wrong. That didn’t matter. She liked trying to figure things out. The things she was thinking about occupied her mind with thoughts other than thoughts about her past.
Somedays, Glow wrote for hours. She grabbed a notebook, pulled up a chair next to the table and wrote whatever was on her mind.
She wrote about the squirrels. She wrote fictional stories with wild plots and creative characters. She wrote different songs.
Having lived most of her life on the streets, Glow often wrote about the way she felt while living on the streets.
Christmas morning, a few hours after Glow woke in an alley, she wrote about the sights and sounds she saw and heard and the way she felt.
“She sits in an alley.
Today's Christmas.
The streets are as cold as ever.
She sits in a place where Christmas Trees and gifts don't exist.
A place where Santa doesn't visit.
Christmas lights decorate the trees and businesses of a nearby street.
Kids play on the sidewalk with gifts.
Christmas music echo's from an apartment.
She sits in an alley.
The streets are as cold as ever.
A place where Christmas Trees and gifts don't exist.
A place where Santa doesn't visit.
She sits in an alley.”
Glow wrote about the way she felt while living life on the street.
“She walks the streets at night,
under the stars and city lights,
in the rain and in the heat,
alone without nothing to eat.
There she stands, all alone.
She ain’t mad.
She ain’t sad.
Tired, hungry, looking forward to bed.
A blanket.
A covered entry way.
That’s where life led.
Wake up to a resident.
Lady, ya gotta go.
Rain comes down.
She gets wet.
That’s what happens when ya ain’t got a roof over ya head.”
Glow took a guitar with her and a few how to books. Glow messed around with Beckie’s guitar when she visited. Ever since, she yearned to learn how to play.
She practiced almost daily. Soon thereafter, the sounds of plucking strings turned into rhythms. She played the songs she wrote for the squirrels. They hopped up on the table, listening attentively until she finished.
From the time Glow moved to the field, she began doing a lot of things right. She seldomly got sick. She’s somewhat young. Her immune system is still strong. Maybe her body developed a higher tolerance to illnesses while she was on the street.
Glow’s daily habits are also a benefit to her health. She always boils drinking water after running it through a filter. She doesn’t let anything food related touch the ground and she bathes regularly.
Glow devoted herself to exercising. She began eating healthier and taking vitamins. She stopped living a life of simply surviving, she was striving.
The weakened and diminished muscles in her body, due to malnourishment and lack of sleep were regaining their strength. Her energy level rose. And the anger she keeps within from years of suffering, eased.
The hens enjoy the field. They have plenty of room to run around and lay eggs often.
Glow’s garden blossomed into a thick vibrant source of food and nutrition. She waters the plants and checks their health every evening.
Glow harvested Corn, Watermelon, Zucchini, Onions, Potatoes, Green Beans, Tomatoes, and Lettuce along with other types of vegetables and fruit.
Before moving to the field, Glow wasn’t much of a cook. Other than watching her ex-boyfriend cook a few meals, she didn’t have any experience. She’s been simply surviving for years, without a kitchen, eating whatever was available. The few meals she did put together weren’t much. She called them grub.
When Glow arrived at the field, she did the same. She threw a can of vegetables or Beans in a pot, let them boil, and ate them a few minutes later. Regardless of her cooking skills, she built from those meals. She added Eggs, then, Fish. Soon thereafter, plates of grub turned into delicious healthy meals.
For breakfast, Glow almost always ate Cheerios. She poured them in her Coffee and added a scoop of Peanut Butter. She purchased cases of Cheerios. They’re healthy. They don’t go bad for years. They’re inexpensive and serve as an excellent afternoon snack.
Glow figured out different ways to eat Cheerios. Sometimes she poured them into a jar of peanut butter and ate them out of the jar. Other times, she ate them out of the bag in the same way she ate chips.
Overall, Glow took better care of herself. A few days a week, after she bathed in the river, she ravished herself with beauty supplies. She brushed her long dirty blond hair all the way down to the small of her back. Then, painted her nails. She slid down on the beach chair, threw her feet up on the table, letting her nails dry as she basked in the sun.
From time to time, Glow encountered the occasional storm. The wind howled, whistling as it blew through her tent. The canvas flexed in and out. Thunder boomed shortly after a bolt of lightning lit up the sky. Trees bent. Wind surges snapped branches. Weaker trees fell along the outskirts of the forest.
Glow was always fascinated with storms. Watching their wrath was thrilling. Nevertheless, she respected their fury. When lighting struck to close, she sat in her truck to wait out the storm.
Glow was determined to stay in the field, regardless of the storms severity. During the worst storms, she grabbed her sleeping bag, ran to her truck, curling up in the front seat until the storm passed. She knew a bolt of lightning has the potential to cut through her tent like a hot knife through butter.
Other times, when the storms weren’t as formidable, she opened the windows to let the breeze blow through the tent. She laid on her bed, looking out the window in deep thought.
Sometimes it rained for days. She laid still, listing as the rain pounded the roof of her tent.
Occasionally, the field was the quietest, most peaceful place she could possibly imagine. The wind didn’t blow, not even a slight breeze. The tall grass didn’t rustle. The river slowed. The sounds of rushing water disappeared. The animals stayed quite. The silence was the silentest silence she ever experienced.
Eventually, weeks turned into months, months turned into years. Glow rarely left. The land provided her food. When she did have to go food shopping, she kept to herself, picking up just what she needed, as quickly as possible, before going straight back to her home.
During those years, other than the cashier at the store, she didn’t have any interaction with human beings. She didn’t leave the field. Glow was already use to being alone. Staying in the field by herself felt natural.
Keywords: Light Throughout The Night, Chapter 3, Home Sweet Home, Glow, A New Beginning, Living In A Tent, Self-Reliant, Peace, Solar System, Wildlife, Nature, Field, Forrest, Self-Sufficiency, Squirrels, Lone-Soul, Inner Anger, Grub, Fiction Book, LTTN
Category: Light Throughout The Night Book
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