Englemans

It was snowing. I'm not sure, but I think I was twelve (12) years old. It was definitely after 1981 because we had the dining room addition on the house which we didn't add until after the tornado in 1981. I remember looking through the window and seeing someone (a very large someone) walking out of the woods and across the yard in a beeline toward the house. This person was shuffling and pulling something with a rope that looked like a frozen turkey. This is the first time I remember meeting Jay Engleman. He was big, near 300 pounds. He claimed to be a gourmet chef, but I can't remember him holding down a job except in brief spurts and never as a chef. So, here he came to our house dragging his chainsaw on an overturned hubcap through the snow. The Englemans had recently moved into a spot at the end of the "Junk Road". They lived in an olive drab army tent. An old one made of waxed canvas with leaky seams and heavy flaps. It was obvious Jay must have already met my dad, because he knew where to go for help. He said he was out of wood. Think about it. They lived in a tent and were heating with wood and venting out through the top flap on the tent.
My dad could fix anything. So, he fixed the chainsaw, grabbed his own Husquavarna monster (affectionately named "Marcelle Ledbetter") and went about fixing it. Within days, my dad and several men from our church had built a small shack out of scrap lumber on the tiny clearing for the Englemans. They lived out there for many years, but eventually moved off. Thomas walked to our house to catch the school bus in the morning. He was always hungry and ready to eat breakfast with us. He had every Star Wars toy made. But no water for a bath and no breakfast. There were no other houses on Junk Road and we road our bikes through there often since it let us avoid the steep hills near our house. We found several paper bags filled with dried paint, often in shiny metallic colors like silver and gold leaf. Jay claimed the metallics gave a better buzz. Those years were filled with sad, tragic glimpses into their life. They stayed several years, but eventually moved off.