My family had a house in upstate New York for
a number of years from about 2007 to June of 2012. When we sold it I
was very
upset. When we were looking for a house we looked in all sorts of
places in and
around lower Delaware County and upper Sullivan County. Hancock,
Deposit, Margaretville,
Callicoon, Roscoe were just some of the towns. We saw all kinds of
houses, and
people. I remember one house had a lady who we think didn’t like
kids. When she
saw me and my brother, Michael, she looked at my parents and said
“You best
watch you kids, them Yipdogs ‘ll git ‘em…” she just got done mowing
the lawn
for the property we were looking at. When my father asked her about
mowing the
lawn for us she replied “50 Buck an acre” to which my father replied
“But This
isn’t even an acre” And she said “then its 100.” So we kept
searching. Another
house we were looking at was right outside the town of Callicoon. It
was
perfect. Right across the river from the Railroad tracks and the
tracks were
about 50 feet from the house which was perfect for me. The house was
in Rough
shape on the outside but we could have fixed it. So after checking
out the
outside we went inside. It was pretty bad. It was nice and all, but
the ceiling
was only 5 feet high, so we didn’t buy it. Eventually we came across
a house in
Hale Eddy, NY, about right smack in between the towns of Hancock and
Deposit.
It was a manufactured home, a doublewide to be exact. It was right across the
street from the
railroad tracks, down the block from the river, and had two towns we
can get
stuff from that was only a few miles away. It had a front porch
facing the old
Erie Main Line, and had awesome neighbors too. We ended up buying
that house
and I have so many awesome memories from it.
I remember the first time we stayed
at the house. Michael and I met the neighbor’s grandkids, Kyle,
Katelyn, and
Scott. Katelyn was the youngest; she is Michael’s age, 11 at the
time, that’s
probably why they got along so well. Kyle is the one kid who does
stupid shit
all the time, that’s probably why he and I got along so well. He is
a year
older than me. I was 13 at the time so he was 14. Scott was the
oldest. He was
2 years older than Kyle. He usually hung out with their
grandparents. Scot and
Kyle always had this little feud thing going on, who was better than
the other
at something. I
remember the first day
we met, we were unpacking the car and they were playing basketball.
So me and Michael
went over and just hung out with them. We went on a bike ride down
the block to
this huge hill at the end of what used to be the main road and rode
down it a
few times. Then me and Kyle ditched them and hid in the weeds while
Michael and
Katelyn searched for us for about an hour. That night we played
Manhunt. I
never played in the pitch black before but it was awesome. Unlike
down here on
Long Island, It gets real dark, because there is no light pollution,
so you can
see all the stars in the sky and it was beautiful. Anyways it was
real dark. I
never played manhunt either before so they had to explain what it
was. There
were two teams. One had to guard the safe house while the other had
to get in.
It was me and Kyle Versus Michael, Katelyn, and Scott. It was an
awesome game.
We played three rounds. The small Barn we had was the safe house and
the team
getting there started on the railroad tracks. You had to go from the
railroad
tracks, through a ditch, cross the road, go up a hill, past my house
then up
another smaller but much longer hill to get to the barn. We had one
spotlight
on a pole next to the house facing the back yard and two facing the
railroad
tracks(which my father put up for me so I can see the train kind
of).
So
there me and Kyle were standing at the barn waiting for them to
come. We had
the light on it the barn and we were waiting..... and waiting….
And waiting….
Then Kyle heard something so we both ran off to investigate. But
meanwhile,
Kaitlyn and Michael got in the barn and Scott beat us to it. So
now we were it.
So now we are standing on the railroad tracks and Kyle said “ok we
are gonna
hide out in my Grandpas truck fr a bit till they start looking for
us. So we
were there only five minutes till we heard Scott say “THEY ARE IN
THE TRUCK!!!”
So me and Kyle hauled ass toward the barn but Scott got us both.
So we headed
back to the Railroad tracks and started again. So now, me and Kyle
were gonna
stay out of the light and get to the barn from the back. So me and
him walked
along the tracks for about ten feet and then we heard Michael
shout “THERE THEY
ARE!!!!” So we turned around and headed for the railroad crossing,
which was
down the block. So as we were going Kyle said “ok if you go down
the embankment
to the left, there is a dirt road that paralelles the tracks to
the main road
you go down there, and Ill stay up here”. So I went through the
weeds and down
the steep embankment to the road and followed it down. Half way
down the road I
heard “Get away from me you faggot!!! FUCK YOU!!!!”I knew they got Kyle so
I ran faster… Finally
got to the main road and guess who was there. So at that point I
was out and
that was it for the night andheaded
back to my house.Wish
that night never
ended, let alone that week, because that was one of the best weeks
of my life.
ABOVE: The
view of the barn from the driveway. Note the barn didn’t
always look like that,
it had walls but th wood walls were warped and bent and the
window was put in
by my dad. It also had a place t keep sheep and a chicken coup
that me and Kyle
locked Michael Kaitlyn in for about a half hour after we left
them there until
my father found them.
ABOVE:
This
is basiclly how dark it gets. This is the general area of
where me and Kyle
started the game.We Played during the summer though.
I also remember
that week was the first time I
ever went for a walk on the railroad tracks. The trains almost
never ran in the
daytime so I walked along them searching for cool things. But that
time I went
with Kyle, Kaitlyn and Michael. We walked almost every day, both
ways. I remember
my brother was talking about his friend Mario so Kyle stole his
phone, called
Mario and said “Itsa Luigi” in the exact voice “Is time foda
fuck!” We couldn’t
stop laughing. Mario was screaming “MICHAEL! WHO IS THIS!” We
couldn’t stop
laughing at that and the fact that Kyle was wearing a green hat.
Also, I
remember somehow we got to talking about Cory Duffle and Duffle
bags and Kyle
thought of this little jingle, “Shittin in the Ghetto while lookin
at my Duffle
bag” We couldn’t stop laughing at that either. On those walks,
there was this
section of Rt. 17 (future I-86) that was the exact height of the
railroad
tracks, so what we used to do was do that little thing with your
hand and arm
that would get the truckers to honk and they all did exept for
one. They got on
their radio so we just ran home. On one of our bike rides up that
massive hill,
when going up it directly to your left is a huge drop-off down to
the railroad
tracks. And that drop-off gets steeper as you go up the hill. Well
at the top of
the hill, we found a old vaccum cleaner. So we threw it down the
hill and threw
rocks at it, seeing who can hit it the most, on another day we
fond a computer
moniter and we threw that and it got wedged against a tree. The
screen didn’t
break tough so we pelted it with rocks and Kyle threw a gigantic
one, got it
loose and it rolled the rest of the way down. That time, my
brother stayed home
so we went and got him and walked alont the railroad tracks until
we got up to
it. The screen still didn’t break so I found another massive rock
and threw it
through the screen. My final memory of that specific vacation was
we were
skipping rocks in the river and a fisherman yelled at us, “Stop
throwing those
fucking rocks, what are you kids retarded , I’m trying to fish.”
So Kyle came
up with the Idea that the four of us should all pick up rocks and
on three,
throw them in the river and run. And that’s exactly what we did
“One, Two,
THREE!” Plop,p-p-plop
p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-plop.
And we ran laughing. We heard him screaming more but we were
too busy
running and laughing to hear what he was saying. That’sthe last memory I have from that one specific
vacation up there
with Kyle and Kaitlyn, But there are many more with them, just
without my
brother. Like
one winter we were on our usual walks and we were at this section
where right
before 17 paralleles it and becomes level with the tracks, there
is this stream
that freezes in the winter, so we thought it would be fun to slip
around on it.
So we did for about 10 minutes and we heard cracking so we got off
and
continued walking. On the way back, we did it again but only I
heard it
cracking. I think you might know where this is going. So I got off
and just as
Kyle was saying “Quit being a pussy” it started t split. Kaitlyn
went on the
opposite side and Kyle went to the side where the railroad tracks
were, where I
was. I decided to be a dick and push him back on… and every step
he took after
I pushed him, his feet went through. “Shit, Shit, Shit,
Shit,Shit”. “FUCK YOU
GERARD!” I was laughing so hard I couldn’t keep standing, and I
pissed myself
alittle I cant deny it. Kaitlyn tried to get over but her foot
slipped though
“NO MY NEW BOOTS!””. Well eventually they made it back over. On
our way back
Kyle said he is gonna take a short cut to get over to the road.
You had to go
down to an area where water usually collects but that day it
didn’t, so it
seemed. You had to go down on one of the old telegraph poles that
came down
several years before. It was low enough so you can jump but high
enough so you
couldn’t climb it. Me and Kaitlyn stayed on the railroad tracks.
So as me and
her kept walking all we heard was “SHIT!!!!!!”. When we met Kyle
on the road he
was covered knee deep in thick black mud. He sank knee deep. We
never figured
out how, but he did it.
ABOVE: How
winter looked….
Another
time, in the middle of summer we had just past that part where we
do that thing
with the trucks and we were walking and it started to smell. The
smell got
worse and worse and then Kyle said “DUDE LOOK!!!!” There was a
half decomposed
deer, the heign legs were missing along with the tail and the
back. But its
front legs, chest, neck and head were there. so they picked up
rocks and threw
them at it, it sounded hollow, like if you were to knock on your
own chest, but
it was a little louder. I almost heaved and they were laughing at
it. I got out
of there because that sound along with the smell was unbearable. On another day, they decided to play
a game called “Horse”. It’s a basketball game so I don’t know how
to play it.
So they were playing and Kyle was winning and Katlyn started
yelling “BRRRICK”
every time Kyle took a shot. So in retaliation, Kyle started
yelling “PIG!”and
that eventually evolved into “Oink Oink Oink Oink Oink”. So Kyle
won but I was
laughing too much to care.
My
final memory with both of them was one day during a summer, we
were walking
alog the tracks and Kyle saw an old path so he told me to go with
him. So we
went though this small section of forest to get to it. When we got
to it we
walked along itfor
about ten feet and
he said “Holy shit” turned around and ran. Now I had no Idea what
was happening
but we went back to the tracks and Kyle told Katlyn that there was
a sign that
read “No tresspassing. Violators will be shot, Survivers will be
shot again” so
we got out of there. Other
memories I have are just me and Kyle. I remember me and him were
walking and we
saw a chipmunk run up a small embankment so he picked up a rock,
threw it, and
he didn’t hit the chipmunck but the rock rolled down after hitting
the ground
and hit the chipmunk and it barrel rolled down the hill. And when
it got to the
bottem it poped up, looked around, saw us, and ran back up. We
couldn’t stop
laughing at that. He would also tell me stories about what he has
done in
school. Whenever he told me stories or even when he was gonna do
something
stories he always had this goofy smile, that smile alone made me
laugh
sometimes. I specifically remember one stoy where he went on a
field trip with
his friends to a Ice skating place called Skate Safe. Him and one
of his
friends were messing around, and they saw another one of his
friends, who
couldn’t skate against the wall. So they started skating towards
him. They
rammed him over the wall, and he broke his arm.There is
also one
not-so-good type of memory with him as well. Well,
one of the last times I saw him, while we were on one of our
“Hikes”, as we
called them, he turned to me and said “Do you care if people smoke?”
I said no
because I honestly don’t care, so he pulled out a bong, to which I
responded
“HOLY SHIT!!! YOU SMOKE!!!” He told me that he was doing it since
Senior Year
of high school. So basically for that entire vacation he smoked. On
the last
day we were sitting near where the dear used to be (It was gone,
something must
have moved it) and he turned to me and said you want to try? Now, he
has been
asking me the entire time to try it and I kept saying no. So finally
to shut
him up I said yes. He then said “Dude I aint got water you have
any.” I had a
Pepsi Throwback and we did it with that. It was the worst thing I
ever did. My
nose mouth throat lungs ears all burned and I said “DUDE I AINT EVER
DOING THAT
AGAIN!!!!!” my father had no Idea I ever did it. He would have
probably killed
me if he did find out.
ABOVE:This
is the house itself. Originally the well cover was just a
small green square,
and the porch railings weren’t painted.
Other than memories with my friends,
I have a few memories with myself. I remember sitting by the
railroad tracks
and waiting for the freight train. I would go on walks by myself and
think. I
would just think about random things. I’ve thought about important
decisions on
some of those walks, like where to go to college, why I did, or
should do
certain things, that stuff. Also I would reflect on things I’ve done
in the
past. Things I’m too ashamed to talk about, or type either. Also I
would look for
cool things along the tracks. I found some old Insulators from the
telegraph
poles. I’ve got at least 50. I’ve found rare ones and common ones. I
also found
an Air hose, and even a fishing rod. But most of the time I would
walk just to
think. Everyone that came with me hated it, except my friends. There
is just
something about walking on the railroad tracks, the heat, the smell,
the
sights, I’m not really sure what it is exactly but it helped me put
pieces
together in my life that were astray. I would walk east and west of
my house.
One time I actually walked two miles out. All the way from Mile Post
171 (which
is directly in front of my house), to Mile Post 173. Walking out was
fine, but
it was the walk back which was torture. I thought there was
absolutely no wind
that day walking out, but on the way back, I felt it. Take note also
this walk
was during the winter.
ABOVE: Milepost 173, the
farthest I’ve EVER
Walked.
The wind stung my face, my legs
started to burn. I was hoping a freight train would come so I would
hop on and
ride it home. So I walked the two miles back and by the time I got
home, I
could barely feel my legs. Even when I sat down, I felt as if I was
still
walking. So I never walked that far ever again. Now in
2010, my father put a “For
Sale” sign on the front lawn of the house. When I asked him about it
he said
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna sell it, I’m only putting it on market
so I can see
what I can get for it…” I wanted to believe that, but deep down
inside, I had
that bad feeling he was really selling it, but I ignored that
feeling and
convinced myself he wasn’t really going to sell it. This feeling
crept around
in the back of my head until around the middle of May of this year
(2012) when
my worst fear was confirmed, he was selling it. So the last time I
went up was
in the middle of June, Right before Rail camp. I went on my last
walk heading
west with my brother. We went about a mile to go see the signal
bridge. I
really liked it. So just for the hell of it I turned to my brother
and I said
“Ok, I’m gonna climb up and you’re gonna take a picture OK?” So I
climbed on up
and he took my picture. And that’s it. It’s gone. The place that
helped me out
so much is gone. Gone forever.
