Burnt Church NB

foreign granny used to say and broad beans and shucking Peas on the porch by the sea naps in the afternoon with grannies back to me then cocktails of Granddad pink ginger ale from bottles on the blue cabinet in the room with the men on horseback tea in bed with Granny or baking bread with Granddad running to the beach and bare feet the rough worn Road made you walk like a and the seagrass sliced your legs and you are wary of jellyfish stings though they're washed up flashy bodies fascinated do so and the jetty with its oily smell haunts you still sand bars if we were lucky racing after clams as they Dove deeper into the sand and how their fat tongue would spit at you if they were caught and put in the bucket to be cooked up by granny and the washing machine why would help granny ring out the clothes and wash watch her strong hands no one has her thumbs says but then she wears her bracelet watch her strong hands push down on the spider web-like rubber ring that squished out the water and held the clothing and cranberry juice Popsicles or better yet Tang and pretending to be Pussycats who would be given dark blue dishes filled with brightly colored sweet cake decorations that rolled around in the bowl until you caught them with your tongue and crunched their yummy chalky sweetness the grandfather clock the tick tocked in the hall Grandad's carpets that repeated over over in the hall the never-ending sound of the sea and the smells that wrap themselves around you like pears soap witch hazel the shed downstairs where everyone slept with me granddad's bread and the smell of the cupboard in The Upstairs Hall knitting hot water bottle covers of soft pinks yellow those green Blues special trips Portage Island on a boat I can barely remember and lobster feasts too honeycomb breakfasts which were such a treat and trips to the dump with Dad driving on his knee old Kerwin the youngs and Mrs Anderson and that woman with the house and the pool she had a big swordfish somewhere outside and beautiful bead curtains I once touched inside and blueberries in the Sun and the golf course from miles and sticky sap from the trees the bathtub outside where we washed our feet till they ached like ice cream headaches Neapolitan ice cream the door to the cellar where we'd climb up and cling at the top and press our face to the screen and laugh at granny in the kitchen and she'd say and we'd slide down screaming on our bear bums and Spike and the books Griselda and the ogre and that one with the lion and the pink and yellow trees and Granny used to call me Jemima Puddle Duck when I washed the dishes [Music] curling into bed with Granny them tummy Rumble touching the black Chucks by her bed her big dresser drawers her red hat her glassy things with silver lids and her smell stephanotis the piggy banks that led downstairs granddad's Black Beer loved so much by dad the Big Shiny Buddha and the tall one too the beautiful glass paperweights A Room With a View of the sea but forever I'll carry in need