A journey into the past…….

“Come on, come on, hurry up!” My cousin Carol Ann cried.

“I’m coming as fast as I can!” I said as I hurried forward.

“I have something really cool to show you. You won’t believe how good it still looks.” She replied.

My cousin Carol Ann is eccentric to put it nicely. She is an amateur ornithologist and talks incessantly of birds and habitat preservation. She is also pretty cool to hang out with if you can get her mind off of birds. We met by chance at the barbeque. I haven’t seen her in over two years.

I walked up the steps to the old Waverly High School auditorium. It was built around 1890 and still stands but needs major repairs. Carol Ann opened the door and it creaked eerily forward. It had been many years since I had been in here. The original school building had burned down in the fifties and this was all that remains of the complex. This lone auditorium stands as a last testament to the countless students that graduated from Waverly high school. The last student graduated in 1949 according to my great aunt.

“It is still as it was before the war.” Carol Ann said.

I looked around in wonder at the ancient light fixtures and the rows of seats running downward before me. The room was filled with that musty smell of age old wood and plaster. The back of the room was filled with a half assed attempt by the Baptist church to make some more Sunday school rooms. Apparently, they stopped several years ago in mid progress. The new sheet rock stood out as a glaring reminder of the church’s attempt to gain more real estate.

“You know, my grandfather and grandmother walked across that stage and graduated in 1934.” I said.

“I know. That’s why I wanted to show you this.” Carol said as she stepped up on the stage.

The wood floor creaked beneath her feet. She started pulling on a rope and a stage curtain came gently down exposing a beautiful hand painted fresco. It was a painting of an Italian renaissance style mansion surrounded by palm trees. All around the fringe were hand painted advertisements going as far back as 1897. I stood in wonder as I recognized some names from my family who were prominent in the town at the turn of the century and there after. It was so well preserved that it looked like it was painted yesterday. The colors were still bright and vibrant.

“Man, I wish I had a digital camera.” I thought.

“Becky had it appraised.” Carol said.

“How much?” I asked.

“The appraiser said it would go for $30,000 at an auction.” Carol replied.

I walked up on the stage and felt the fabric. I felt as if I was touching a part of my past. We ambled around for a bit and then made our way back to the barbeque.

I had a great time at the barbeque. It was delicious and the turn out was amazing. I have never seen so many people at one time in Waverly. People had come from all around to join in the fun.

It had been many years since I rode a horse but it came back to me quickly. Some friends of my family owned the horses so they let me take kids for rides around the perimeter. They were busy trying to prepare barbeque for hundreds of people. I had forgotten how much I love to ride and be around these majestic animals.

Pipe Tobacco had asked, “What is Brunswick stew?” Brunswick stew is a tomato based stew that is a traditional side item for southern barbeque. It is made of pulled pork and chicken, lots of spices, corn, and tomatoes. It is cooked for a long time and gets really thick. My great grandfather often cooked it in a large black iron kettle over a fire.