The Pfleeble house was built in 1959. It was a two story split level set on a half acre of property. In 1959, the property was mostly sand with patches of crabgrass popping through what were supposed to be front and back lawns.
Don and Mary Pfleeble had two daughters, Mary Jr., their first born and Charlotte Jane, their second, born two years apart. Jason Andrew was born three years after Charlotte, mostly called "CJ." Don Pfleeble was an attractive man who served duty in the Korean War and married his high school sweetheart. On his GI bill, he was able to finish college while working full time in real estate. Don wasn't very successful in the real estate business. He decided to take a shot working in New York City. He found a job as a bank clerk in a New York City bank. Like a lot of veterans of war, Don took his family responsibilities as seriously as he had his military duties. During the war, Don reached the rank of U.S. Army lieutenant. When he returned home from the war, all he wanted to do was get on with his life.
Mary Hillger had always caught his eye in high school. He wasn't the man to look for great physical beauty. He loved that Mary had the same interests in all things intellectual. This was their common bond. When they married in 1952, Don immediately began saving for their first home. Their apartment in New York City just wasn't big enough for Don, Mary and their two daughters, Mary Jr., two and CJ, an infant.
Mary and Don could be described as the most perfectly compatible married couple. Mary was easy going and had no problems deferring to Don when decisions needed to be made. She was a rather silent woman whose only goal was to be the best wife and mother in the world.
By the time, Jason was born, Don had put a down payment on a three-bedroom split level in Broad Oak, a quiet, unassuming little town. Soon, their lives settled into a routine.
Don rose at five every morning, Mary prepared his breakfast and lunch. She walked him to the front door and waved as he got into the car and drove off to his job in the city.
Don loved New York City. It wasn't a surprise that he would soon join the hundreds of other men who boarded buses at the Eatonton bus depot five miles from Broad Oak. It was like an urban symphony to watch the men drive into the depot parking lot, plop their permit badges on the dashboard and lock their cars until they returned at six in the evening every day, five days a week.
Mary Jr. and CJ shared one bedroom and Jason had a bedroom, for the time being, all to himself. As a toddler, Mary Sr. soon realized Jason was much more the daring adventurer than his two rather docile sisters. He also was far less obedient and only his father's discipline managed to rein in his unruly nature.
Don and Mary wanted all of their children to go to college. They scrimped and saved and cut corners where they could to make their children's college funds grow.
Saturday mornings were spent with Don cutting the grass and Mary tidying up or doing another load of laundry. The neighborhood was a veritable male ritual with lawn mower and trimmer motors humming in concert with each other. By afternoon, there was grocery shopping and taking the kids to the park to fly kites or play ball.
Every Sunday morning after a special breakfast of waffles or pancakes, Mary dressed their three children while Don showered and shaved and prepared for their weekly trip to The First Methodist Church. After church, Mary started dinner.
Sunday dinner in the Pfleeble family was always eaten at three in the afternoon. Mary usually prepared some of Don's favorites like roast chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli or pork chops with sauerkraut, buttered noodles and applesauce on the side. She always made dessert, usually a two layer cake or pie. The children's favorite was chocolate pudding and she suspected it was Don's as well. So, Mary also made these as a change from cake and pie.
After dinner, Don packed the children into the back seat of the car and off they went to hunt down antiques and yard sales. This was a family favorite and these events were plentiful in the mostly rural area of Broad Oak. While Don and Mary searched for antiques, the kids found old toys and children's books.
When their Sunday forays were over, Don treated the children to ice cream cones at Harrell's Ice Cream Parlor in town.
Don and Mary pretty much decided they had two daughters and the son Don wanted and were satisfied their family was complete. They lived their lives according to routine and as each of their three children attended elementary school, Mary decided to take a part time job as a lunch mother at the neighborhood grammar school where Mary Jr., CJ and Jason attended classes. It was convenient except in inclement weather. Then, they all had to walk the quarter mile sometimes drenched or shivering from cold. Mary Sr. didn't drive.
Their neighbors were quite surprised when Don decided to teach his wife to drive. The Pfleebles were the first family to own two cars in the neighborhood. Neighbors assumed Don's years of college and his New York City job paid off for him.
Five years after Jason was born, Mary discovered she was pregnant again. She was forty-two years old and Don was forty-six. Don was concerned Mary was too old for another child. He also worried he was not as young and full of energy to cope with a small child.
This was the first chink in the armor of their wedded bliss. Mary knew Don had grown complacent with his job, their marriage and their three children. They had enough money to enjoy a comfortable life and still save for their children's college expenses.
"Mary, what did your GYN say about this pregnancy?" Don asked.
"Just that I need to rest when I am tired," Mary answered.
"You realize that you are not as young as you used to be," Don added.
"As I am sure you realize the same," Mary responded.
If Don had any complaints about his wife ever, it was her habit of cluttering up any available open space in the house. She claimed it was because the house was too small and they needed more room, especially now that there was another child on the way.
"We are we going to put this baby?" Don asked, surreptitiously.
"The baby will be in our bedroom for the first few months until he sleeps through the night. Then, we'll put a crib in Jason's room," Mary said.
"And how will Jason get any sleep with a baby in his room?" Don asked.
"Don, why don't you say what you really mean?" Mary asked.
"I don't know what you are talking about," Don said.
"Yes. You do. You really don't want this baby."
"Well, if I am truthful, I am concerned this child is going to put a crimp in our comfortable lives. And let's face it, Mary, we will both be in our 50s by the time the child goes to school. I'll be retired by the time he finishes college," Don said.
Their relationship cooled slightly until the day Mary was rushed to Broad Oak General Hospital. She knew something was wrong from the minute she asked the nurse if she could see her infant.
"Mrs. Pfleeble, Dr. Simons will be in to speak with you directly," the nurse said, hurrying out the door.
Dr. Simons appeared a few minutes later.
"Mrs. Pfleeble, there is something we need to discuss."
"Yes? And what is that? Is there something wrong with the baby?"
"Your son is healthy."
"Then, what do we need to discuss?"
"Your son has Down's Syndrome," Dr. Simons said.
"Down's Syndrome?"
"Yes. Your son has diminished intellectual capacity. He will require special schooling," Dr. Simons continued.
"You mean my son is retarded? How can you know this so soon after his birth?"
"In Down's Syndrome, children have distinct facial features. He may also have a weakened heart and possible thyroidism."
Mary Pfleeble was devastated.
"Does my husband know?" she asked.
"Your husband was told while you were in the Recovery Room."
Mary knew somehow Don would blame her for this. She just knew he would blame it on her age and the span of time between Jason's birth and their second son's birth.
When she finally saw the infant, she understood more clearly what Down's Syndrome was. Still, she couldn't help feeling the overwhelming love for her baby. He was perfect in her eyes. Hours old, he was already smiling and grasping her finger. This made Mary feel hopeful.
On her last day in the hospital, Mary saw the change in Don immediately. He was perfunctory in his attitude toward her and never even glanced at his new son.
"What shall we name the baby, Don?" she asked.
Don kept his eyes fixed on the road as they drove home.
After a long pause, he said, "I'll leave that to you."
Mary Jr., CJ and Jason were thrilled with the new addition to their family.
"Mom, what is our brother's name?" Jason asked.
"We haven't decided yet. What do you think his name should be?" Mary asked.
"What about Noah?" Jason asked.
"Noah? Why Noah?" CJ asked.
"Well, he was the last man to save his family before the big flood. Our Sunday School teacher told us that, remember?"
Mary Sr. beamed at Jason.
"Well, Noah it is then," she said.
Little Noah slept quite a lot for the first six months of his life so his retardation was barely noticeable. He didn't try to roll over in his playpen until he was nearly a year old. Mary made certain Noah saw Dr. Hendersen, his pediatrician, regularly.
"Mrs. Pfleeble, Noah is as healthy as can be expected. He just isn't going to advance in the same way your other children have," Dr. Hendersen said.
"I know that. But, doctor is there nothing more that can be done to help him to be "normal?"
"For children born with Down's Syndrome, their "normal" is the only "normal." He will be fine so long as you and your family don't expect him to keep up with the rest of you."
Noah was the apple of his sisters' eyes and Jason found he could "teach" Noah a lot of things. Not that Noah actually remembered Jason's lessons, but Noah loved nothing more than looking into Jason's deep blue eyes and laughing whenever Jason did funny things for him.
Few in the neighborhood knew about Noah. Don tried to keep the child from the view of neighbors as best he could. His relationship with his wife had grown cold and had caused a rift.
Mary Sr.bore it with as much patience as she could. When she felt depressed, Noah was always right there to bring a little sunshine in her life and that of his siblings.
"Daddy doesn't like Noah, does he mother?" Jason asked.
"Your father just doesn't have much time to spend with us as he used to. He works very hard," Mary said.
"Dad had time for us before Noah was born. Daddy doesn't want anyone to see Noah. That's it. Isn't it, Mother?"
"No, of course not! Where on earth did you get such an idea?"
"Well, whenever you put Noah in the high chair at the table, Dad excuses himself and goes into the living room and reads the paper."
Mary knew she was lying to Jason. It was true. Don didn't want Noah. Mary hoped the man would warm up to his son's affliction.
"Don, we can't keep Noah a secret from the neighbors forever. They saw me when I was pregnant. They know I had a child. We can't lock Noah inside this house every day," Mary said.
"Do as you please, Mary. I am a busy man," Don said.
"You were always a busy man. You are just refusing to admit your son has Down's Syndrome," Mary said, tears running down her face.
"Now, Mary. None of that. Just give me time. This is a lot to put on my plate now," Don said.
Mary spent the first four years of Noah's life caring for him and taking him for walks. She didn't care if the neighbors knew about him.
Ironically, by the time Jason was ten years old, he would take his little brother outside and play ball with him. Noah loved that and seemed to never tire of the outdoors and the bright, colorful world around him.
By the time Mary Jr. and CJ were in high school and Jason in junior high, Noah was a regular part of the neighborhood. The children in the neighborhood took Noah into their circle as if he had always belonged there. When strange children, usually neighbors' relatives from the city discovered Noah's affliction, the neighborhood children were right there to protect the boy.
Mary realized how lucky they were to live in such a kind, understanding neighborhood. She never knew that the neighborhood children could be so protective until one day, Noah wandered off into the nearby woods that bordered the neighborhood houses.
Mary and her children scoured the streets. Noah was gone. Mary Sr. feared the worst. Then, Jimmy Tallman got some of the boys together with Jason in tow and decided they'd search in the woods for Noah.
When eight neighborhood boys emerged with the laughing and smiling Noah, tears streamed down Mary's face in relief.
"You boys deserve a reward. How about we have a picnic in our backyard to celebrate?" Mary Sr. said.
Noah was laughing and smiling with the crowd of boys as if he was a regular member of a neighborhood gang. Mary thought she'd never seen him as happy. But, she knew it was time for Noah to go to school. Due to his Down's Syndrome, he wasn't eligible for regular school when he was six years old. He'd had testing on his level of intelligence. It was barely at the level of a three year old. Still, he was growing physically and was already beginning to wander away.
Noah was enrolled in a special school for children with Down's. He didn't like the school bus and became agitated when Mary helped him board the bus every day. Dr. Hendersen was glad Mary enrolled Noah in school. He felt she should have done it earlier.
"Your son needs social interaction with more than familiar faces," Dr. Hendersen said.
"I just worry about him in the company of strangers. He becomes quite agitated when he has to board the school bus."
"That is very normal for children like Noah. They can't express themselves the way your other children can. So, his fears are hidden behind a curtain and he reacts by being aggressive," Dr. Hendersen said.
"But what if he is aggressive with the other children?"
"He won't be. The staff at the school are quite capable of keeping their students safe at all times. Stop worrying needlessly. Find yourself a hobby that will distract you from making Noah your obsession," Dr. Hendersen said.
Mary thought about that. It was a good idea. As a child, her grandmother had given her several china dolls and by the time she married, she had at least a dozen very valuable dolls in her collection. Whenever she and Don would go to garage sales before Noah was born, she would scoop up any dolls she found.
"Mary, if you buy any more dolls, we will have to get rid of the kids. There's no more room for them," Don said.
"Oh pish tosh! My dolls are in an etagere. It doesn't take up much space," Mary replied.
Don wasn't just referring to Mary's doll collection. It was the other things she seemed to amass. She saved outdated magazines and newspapers in the carport shed. The recreation room was always loaded down with the children's toys and games. Don felt as if the walls in their home were creeping closer and closer. He spent a lot of time at his job just to avoid the clutter.
For the next years, the Pfleeble family managed to get Mary Jr. and CJ into college and Jason followed two years later. Mary Jr. didn't finish college when she met her college sweetheart Joe Barnette. CJ was always the more likely to be consistent and received her diploma in liberal arts and took a job in Ohio as a director of public relations for a museum. Then, she met Henry Calverton, a college professor. They married in 1961.
Mary Sr. was feeling the twinges of an emptying nest. Don's life was so tied to his job that he barely spent any time at home other than to eat and sleep. Jason and Noah were the only ones left at home and Jason was about to attend classes at a community college in the fall of 1964. Noah was still the neighborhood mascot, well protected by the now teen boys and girls he'd grown up with.
The Barnette marriage wasn't exactly made in heaven. Joe found Mary Jr. to be unwilling to discipline her children, preferring to leave it to him the minute he returned home from work. Joe wasn't an innocent lamb either. He resented that his wife was beginning to go grey at age forty-five. Joe constantly nagged her to "do something about her appearance."
"Why can't you be like other wives and look nice when I come home from work?" Joe asked.
"Because I am here all day with your children," Mary Jr. said.
By 1964, the Barnette had two toddlers under the age of four with a third one on the way. The two older children, Sammy and Jake, were a handful and Joe was always "too tired" to discipline them. Sammy and Jake learned the art of getting away with mischief before they ever entered school.
When Serena was born in 1967, Sammy was ready for pre-school. Not that he wanted to go to any school. Mary Jr. saw trouble brewing for her sons and she blamed it on Joe's lack of attention to their behavior at home.
"Joe, Sammy got into a fight at school with one of his classmates," Mary said.
"So punish him. Why bother me with this? He has a teacher. Can't she manage an overactive little boy?" Joe asked.
Mary found summer vacations to be endless days in a cramped apartment was pure torture. When Sammy and Jake weren't throwing things at each other, they were breaking her things. One of the things they broke was her doll collection.
Like Mary Sr., Mary Jr. started her collection as a child, fully encouraged by her mother. The doll Sammy and Jake broke was irreplaceable. It was one of those antique German china dolls, hand painted and made in the early 1900s.
Mary sat down on her bed with the broken doll in her lap.
It can't be fixed. The face is smashed to smithereens, she thought.
Still, she hated the idea of throwing it away. So, she stored it in a shoe box and placed it on top of her bedroom closet shelf.
"You two broke a very expensive doll. I hope you know that. Don't expect any dessert after supper," Mary said.
"So? Who cares?" Sammy snarled.
When Sammy wasn't the one being sent home from school, Jake was. The two boys were barely six and eight years old and already they were rude and disrespectful to adults and their teachers.
"Mary, you are with the boys and Serena all day. I am not. It is up to you to discipline them. Why don't you take them over to your mother's house for the summer? She has a large backyard they can play in and it is fenced in so they can't get too far," Joe said.
"I wouldn't have as much trouble with them if you'd buy us a home of our own," Mary said.
"You know I can't afford that. Three kids in less than six years and now you want a home too? I would need to work two jobs. Or...maybe you should take in ironing or washing like my mother used to do," Joe said.
Mary knew arguing with Joe was pointless. He always seemed to have the last word.
Mary thought about it. Her mother could use a little help with Noah. Mary Sr. had said fourteen year old Noah was a lot stronger now that he was a teen and he seemed to be more aggressive.
"Mom? I wonder if you would mind a little help with Noah?" Mary Jr. said.
Mary Sr. didn't even bother to check with her husband on this issue. They rarely spoke and Mary was busy with minding Noah, getting him off to his special school and trying to keep their house clean. Jason had a driver's license and a car now that made things a little easier. Jason had his studies and he sometimes got annoyed at Noah for distracting him.
In Jason's last year of college, he met a pretty, dark-haired young woman coed, Carol Ann Cummings. She was the same age as Jason, attended the same college and was quite smitten with the blonde-haired young man with the sky blue eyes.
Jason and Carol Ann announced their wedding two months after their graduation.
"I wouldn't mind a break. You and the children come on. You can stay as long as you like," Mary Sr. told her eldest.
Mary Jr. did just that. It did seem that Sammy, Jake and even little Serena enjoyed being outdoors and having the run of the place.
Mary Sr. was also more capable of disciplining them than their own mother.
"Mary, you need to be more firm with those boys. They are beginning to run wild," Mary Sr. said.
"Mother, I just find it impossible to get my work done and manage their discipline too," Mary said.
"Well one thing for certain, I am not going to allow Sammy or Jake to destroy my doll collection," Mary Sr. said.
"You have my permission to punish them when you think they need it," Mary Jr. said.
The truth was that Sammy and Jake had grown so unruly and disobedient that both Mary Sr. and Jr. found it difficult to keep them out of trouble in Noah's neighborhood.
Amazingly, Sammy and Jake were afraid of Noah. He was now almost five feet five inches tall and weighed nearly one hundred and twenty pounds. His stocky body was overpowering.
Mary Sr. warned Sammy and Jake not to rough house with Noah because "Noah doesn't know his own strength."
When it was time for Mary Jr. and her children to return home, she realized she couldn't take living in that tiny apartment much longer. She tried to find an affordable home and even approached her mother and father about a loan for a down payment.
The Barnette apartment continued to grow in clutter. Joe Barnette couldn't take anymore. He decided to move out.
"Mary, I can't take this anymore. Your constant cluttering is out of control. Look around you. Every corner in every room is jammed with junk that should be thrown away. Why do you keep this stuff? It's of no real value, you know."
"Joe, it isn't of value now. But, in years to come, it will be," Mary Jr. responded defensively.
"You are just like your mother. She is a hoarder too. The two of you make any room in any living space like a junk maze. Why do you two do that?"
"My mother and father were antique collectors," Mary answered.
"Your father isn't the one who collects the junk that makes the clutter any more than I am the one who does that here in this apartment," Joe said.
"Maybe if we had a bigger place, it wouldn't seem to be so cluttered," Mary said.
"Here we go again. A bigger place? What? So you can fill a bigger home up with your junk?" Joe said.
"Where are you going to live?" Mary asked.
"I've already rented a small furnished apartment in Keysdale. I'll make sure you and the kids get your weekly allotment of money for food. I'll pay the bills. I'll pick up the mail once a week and drop off the money you'll need," Joe said.
"That's very generous of you, Joe," Mary said.
"It isn't generosity. It's responsibility. I can't afford to divorce you or I would. I can't afford alimony and child support for three kids."
It wasn't long after that Mary Jr. realized Sammy and Jake were getting on each other's nerves and Serena was beginning to spend more time alone in her room.
Mary Sr. called her daughter when CJ told her that Joe Barnette had moved out of their apartment and Mary Jr. and the kids were left all alone.
"Mary? It's Mom. CJ told me Joe moved out? What are you and the children going to do?"
"What can we do? We're stuck here in this tiny, cramped apartment, Mom. Joe said he'd pay the bills and make sure we have enough money for food and other things," Mary Jr. said.
"Well, if there is anything I can do, just give me a call," Mary Sr. said.
The winter of 1994 was like no other. The snow seemed to be endless. Don's retirement was only two years away. Mary Sr. and Noah settled into a daily routine. Noah went off to his school every day, Monday to Friday. Don hurried off to work. For the first time in many years, Mary Sr. had about six hours of time all to herself five days a week while Noah and Don were away.
It was a frigid January morning in 1995 when Mary rose at dawn to get Don and Noah off for the day.
"Oh dear. That snow is pretty deep," she mumbled to herself.
She thought about shoveling it; but, she realized she wouldn't have time to get Don and Noah their breakfasts.
"Mary? Is that snow very deep?" Don asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"I'm guessing at least two feet deep," Mary said.
"I'll go out and shovel before I shower or I'll just get all perspired and have to shower all over a second time," Don said.
He put on his winter jacket, the one he always left hanging in the utility room on the hook, pulled on his rubber boots and slapped a woolen cap on his now bald head.
He reached for the snow shovel and headed out the door. He shoveled the snow away from the exterior door and started to shovel around the car when he felt an odd pain in his chest. The pain got worse within seconds and he felt nauseated and dizzy.
Mary wondered why it was taking Don so long to shovel the snow. It was nearly time for him to leave for the office.
She heard a knock on the front door and hurried down the stairs. She figured Don must have locked himself outside.
When she opened the door, it was Jim Tallman, Jimmy's Dad.
"Good morning, Jim..." Mary started.
"Mrs. Pfleebles better call the ambulance. Don is laying out there in the snow. I think he's had a heart attack," Jim said.
"Oh my God! No!" Mary said.
She called the number for the ambulance and told them to hurry. But by the time Jim went back out to see to Don, he was dead.
He stood over the man's lifeless body as Mary rushed outside to her husband. The wail of an ambulance was heard in the distance growing louder as it grew closer.
Don Pfleebles was rushed to the hospital where Noah had been born. Mary and Noah followed in her car. Jim Tallman offered to drive her. But, she was insistent she could make it on her own.
She knew by the look on the emergency room doctor's face that Don was dead. Tears streamed down her face. Noah placed his head on his mother's shoulder.
"Mama? Why are you crying?" he asked.
"Daddy is gone, Son," was all she could say.
"Where did Daddy go?" Noah asked.
"To heaven. You remember? I told you all about heaven? It's where we go when we finish living," Mary said.
Mary Jr., Sammy, Jake and Serena were already at the Pfleebles' home. CJ and Jason trickled in shortly after.
Her family was together again. But, Mary Sr. knew that her life was forever changed. With Don gone, now she had to take charge. She'd never done much taking charge. She always left that to Don.
In the months after Don's funeral and burial, Mary Sr. and Noah visited Don's grave every Sunday. Gradually, Mary Sr. was able to wade through the mountains of paperwork required to process Don's life insurance, his will and other legal matters.
By 1998, Mary Jr. realized her now teenage kids were at each other's throats every minute of every day in that cramped apartment, made even more so by Mary Jr.'s hoarding. Joe Barnette was true to his word. He never missed a weekend dropping off his money and reminding Mary about the clutter she was amassing.
"Joe, we can't stay in this apartment any longer. I'm moving in with my mother. She could use the extra help now that Noah is a young man. Some of the new neighbors on the street are not too pleased with the fact that my brother is allowed to roam about out in the open," Mary Jr. said.
"What are you saying? You are giving up this apartment?" Joe asked.
"Well? You don't expect me to live with three grown adult children in this place, do you?"
"Does your mother know about this?"
"No. I plan to tell her. I'm sure she won't mind," Mary Jr. said.
Mary Sr. was actually glad for her daughter's company. Sammy and Jake were driving now and Serena spent most of her time with her friends in the apartment complex. Jason also decided to move back home when he and his wife Carol divorced. So, Jason partitioned a space in the utility room and created an extra bedroom for himself. Sammy and Jake slept in the recreation room with a pull out sofa bed and Serena and Mary Jr. shared a bedroom on the third level where Noah had his bedroom and Mary Sr. had her master bedroom.
Mary Sr., now nearly sixty-seven years old managed to keep everyone from tripping over each other. Jason seemed to be spending a lot of time with some friends in Broad Oak, some of whom Mary Sr. knew were into drug abuse. She soon noticed Jason's temperament change from the pleasant young man he'd always been to an angry, raging bull. He took most of his anger out on Sammy, Jake and most of all, Noah. Twice he'd struck Noah hard enough to leave bruises.
"Jason, I'm sorry. You have to leave! I cannot have you under the influence of Lord only knows what with so many others living here with me," Mary Sr. said.
Jason was enraged at this time.
"So, I'm to leave my home so these others who don't belong here can stay?" he bellowed.
Mary Jr. heard Jason's loud voice and ran to the kitchen where he and Mary Sr. were standing.
"Mom? What's wrong?" Mary Jr. asked.
"Your brother here is on drugs. I've asked him to leave. He's struck Noah twice and I will not have Noah abused by Jason. He has to go," Mary Sr. said.
Jason had to be removed by his brother-in-law, Henry, when neither Mary Sr. or Jr. could get him to leave quietly. Although Henry was not much taller than Jason, he was considering more stocky and Jason knew Henry was no match for him.
He threw several things into a plastic garbage bag. That was the last time Mary Sr. saw her son, Jason alive. A few years later, Jason's drug habit was the end of him. He was living in a dumpy walk up in New York City, ate at soup kitchens and didn't much care about his future.
He phone his childhood home several times. His mother refused to speak to him.
"Mother, Jason needs you. He wants to move back home," Mary Jr. said.
"We cannot have him living here with your young children and him abusing Noah. He's a drug addict, Mary. We are not professionals and if he really wants to clean up his act, tell him to get help. There are plenty of places he can go if he really means to clean himself up," Mary Sr. said.
Mary Jr. had never known her mother to be so rigid about any of her children. She did have to admit her mother was right. With Sammy and Jake now in their teens, Mary Jr. knew she couldn't risk her sons ending up like Jason.
In December 2000, Mary Jr. took a phone call from the Broad Oak police.
"Mrs. Pfleeble? This is Lieutenant Bronkowski, Broad Oak police. I wonder if you can come down to the police station?"
"What is this about?" Mary Jr. asked.
"Are you Mrs. Pfleeble?"
"No, I am her eldest daughter, Mary Jr. I can take a message for my mother. She hasn't been feeling well. She is asleep. Can I help?"
"No. I'm afraid your mother must come down to the police station. Please wake her. It is an emergency."
Mary Jr. rushed passed the littered stairs loaded down with old magazines and plastic garbage bags that had been collected since she and her children moved into her mother's home. Mary Sr. seemed not to mind the clutter even though she'd already tripped down two of the stairs as a result of trying to avoid the bags of old clothes on the steps.
"Mother, the police need to see you. What can it be about? He wouldn't tell me. He says it is an emergency and you must go to the police station immediately," Mary Jr. said.
Mary Sr. slept on a bed loaded down with soiled clothing she intended to put into the washing machine and just never seemed to get around to. The bedroom she once shared with Don was so overloaded with half used bottles of cosmetics and lotions on the dresser and old shoes and boots that were worn out on the closet floor. All of the space that once remained after she gave Don's clothing to the local organization for the needy was now packed so tightly on hangers that she avoided taking anything out of the closet.
The hall upstairs wasn't much better. Mary Jr. hadn't bothered to get rid of her children's clothes that no longer fit them. So, they too were stuffed into bags. She told Mary Sr. she intended to use them to sew new jackets and shirts for herself. She just never seemed to get around to it.
The two Marys drove off the the police station in silence. They were led down the hall to the Lieutenant's office.
"Mrs. Pfleeble? I am sorry. Your son was found dead last night," he said.
"My son? But that can't be. He lives in New York City," Mary Sr. said.
"Your son is Jason Pfleeble?
"Yes."
"Well, apparently, Jason moved into a run down hotel in Barrsford. Do you know the city?"
"I...yes. I do."
"We need you to positively identify your son's body."
The two Marys followed the Lieutenant to the morgue. The medical examiner there was waiting for them. She lifted a white sheet that covered the body of Jason Pfleeble.
Mary Sr. went faint. Mary Jr. and the Lieutenant guided her to a bench in the hall outside the morgue.
Jason's body had to be cremated and his ashes given to Mary Sr. He had no life insurance to cover the cost of a proper funeral and Mary Sr. was living on an extremely tight budget now that her daughter and children were living with her.
After high school, Sammy and Jake both enlisted in the military. Mary Sr. hid her gladness that now her home wouldn't be so crowded.
Oddly, she never demanded her daughter get rid of things she seemed to be unable to ever throw away. It was probably just as well. Mary Sr. was no longer able to afford regular trash pickup. It was one of the "luxuries" she learned to live without. Late at night, she and Mary Jr. would take their trash to whatever public trash container they could find. Not that they ever had much more than half a bag of garbage.
It was pretty amazing how a tiny bit of foil turned into a ball as big as a car tire or how plastic bottles could be rinsed and saved "in case" ...a phrase Mary Jr. became obsessed with.
CJ and Henry stopped in to visit with Mary Sr. and were appalled at the condition of the inside of the home. From the outside, it looked as it had when Don was still caring for it. But inside? It was loaded with boxes of things Mary Jr. had saved.
"What are you doing with all of this junk Mother?" CJ asked.
"It's not mine. It's your sister's. She plans to find uses for it. We are still collecting dolls just like we did when you girls were little," Mary Sr. said.
"I never collected dolls, Mother. You did. You and Mary Jr. She's a disaster. Mother, do you have any idea how dangerous it is to keep all of this junk? This place is a fire trap. If you needed to leave in a hurry and the rooms were covered in smoke, you'd be trapped in here," CJ said.
"You are just as dramatic as you were as a child," Mary Sr. said.
"Henry? Please...she won't listen to me. Tell her," CJ said.
"Momma, I'm afraid CJ is right. With all of the junk you and Mary Jr. have collected since she moved in here, it IS a fire trap. And, Mary Jr. smokes. That's a recipe for disaster," Henry said.
"Mary Jr. is very careful about her smoking. She doesn't ever fall asleep with a lit cigarette," Mary Sr. said.
"Mother, I'm afraid that this place may also be health hazard. What if one of the neighbors calls the Department of Health?" CJ asked.
"The neighbors aren't allowed in here. Anyway, there are so many moving in and out of the neighborhood. We don't get to know them like when you were young," Mary Sr. said.
Mary Jr. came in from the backyard and overheard part of her sister's conversation.
"What are you telling Mother about CJ?" Mary Jr. asked.
"The dump you've turned this place into. It's a pig sty. When did you clean it last?" CJ asked.
"There are no dishes in the sink and we can't very well move everything we've saved outside. Some of it is valuable stuff we can sell one day," Mary Jr. said.
CJ looked around the kitchen. It was true. There were no dishes in the sink. But, there were piles of things on the counter so that not an inch of space remained.
"How do you even cook meals in this cluttered kitchen?" CJ asked.
"We manage. We may not have the kind of money you and Henry do. But, we do manage to eat. Noah is well fed. He's not undernourished. My boys are in the military and Selena is living with her Dad now," Mary Jr. said.
"Why is she living with Joe? Is it because of what you turned this place into? Just like you turned your old apartment into?" CJ said, angrily.
"That's none of your business CJ. Mind your own business!" Mary Jr. said, running out the back door.
"Mother, why don't you just sell this place? You don't have the money to repair it anymore and you can't live here without paying the taxes. Come and stay with us. You and Noah would have a small apartment upstairs all to yourself," CJ said.
"What about Mary Jr.?" Mary Sr. asked.
"She's a grown woman. She's nearly a senior now. She should have thought about her future twenty years ago instead of frittering it away collecting a mountain of junk she will never use," CJ said.
"Oh, CJ! I could never abandon your sister. She takes good care of me and Noah," Mary Sr. said.
"Momma, CJ and I would look after you," Henry put in.
"But, you live so far out of state. I like it here in Broad Oak. I'm too old now to pull up roots and move to a strange state," Mary Sr. said.
CJ and Henry never returned to their mother's home again. From time to time, they sent her money to pay some of the few bills she still had to pay on her limited income.
The two Marys and Noah managed to get through each day in a monotonous routine of sameness. Mary Sr. making the morning coffee, Mary Jr. seeing to Noah's breakfast and getting him off for the day to his special school.
The recreation was no longer accessible for all of the bags, boxes and junk Mary Jr. kept amassing. Still, her mother said nothing. The upstairs bedrooms were barely accessible with only a small path from the doorway to the bed, the dresser and the closet. The utility room had half empty boxes of detergent and bottles of fabric softener, some of Don's old, rusted gardening tools and the remains of furnace filters stacked in six large piles.
Mary Jr. seemed to always budget enough money to pay the exorbitant cost of cigarettes which rose to nearly $10/pack to encourage smokers to stop smoking. Mary Jr. had become a chain smoker.
In 2005, Mary Sr. began to be ill more often. She lived in mortal terror of going to a doctor or the hospital. No matter how ill she felt, she refused to even consider medical care.
"I can't afford to pay for trash pickup. How will I manage to pay for the doctor or hospital, even with your father's coverage. It doesn't pay much and somehow those thieves always manage to send huge bills for their services. No doctor and no hospital, Mary Jr....you understand me? I'd rather die quietly. At least, I have kept up the cost of my funeral. I haven't had to cash in my insurance policy yet," Mary Sr. said.
In 2006, Mary Sr. was seventy-six years old, worried what would happen to Noah if she died and went to sleep every night wondering if she would wake up in the morning.
It was a late autumn evening when Mary Sr. started down the stairs to the front door to get the mail. She and Mary Jr. took to only going outside of the house at dark. As she started down the stairs, she felt a horrifying pain in her chest. She fell to the floor dead.
Mary Jr. realized she hadn't heard her mother return from getting the mail.
"Mother? Are you alright?" Mary Jr. called from the kitchen.
The house was silent. Noah was first to search for his mother.
"Mary! Come quick! Momma is on the floor!" Noah yelled.
Mary Jr. saw her mother was dead. She didn't know what to do. She knew she couldn't afford the cost of the ambulance to take her to the hospital.
"Noah, help me. Mother is just tired. Let's put her in a chair so she can rest," Mary Jr. said.
The two lifted the old woman's body into an old swivel chair Noah found in the utility room. They wheeled the chair into the foyer. Mary Jr. opened the front door and placed her mother's body in the doorway.
Mary Sr. remained slumped over dead in the chair until the emergency services arrived.
Mary Jr. didn't want the EMTs to see the condition the house was in. She remembered what CJ said about the Department of Health condemning the place. She and Noah clung to each other to avoid the EMTs gaze into the other rooms.
Mary Sr. was laid to rest without any funeral service and without CJ's knowledge. When Mary Sr.'s will was read, it was clear what here greatest fear was: Noah's care. She left the house and property to Noah and Mary Jr. as his legal guardian. That meant that Mary Jr. could live in the house with Noah as long as Noah remained alive.
Little by little, the burden of cost of remaining in the house began to take its toll. First, the old car Mary Sr. owned needed a new transmission. Then, Mary Jr.'s car needed front and back brakes. There was no money for any of these repairs. So, the two vehicles just sat in the driveway idle.
Mary Jr. found use for them. After only two years, both vehicles were packed to the ceilings with things she stored in them. Jake felt sorry for his mother and bought her a used car so she could get to the store for food and her cigarettes.
"Mother, you really must do something about this place. Aunt CJ and Uncle Henry told Serena they are going to force you to sell," Jake said.
"They can't do that! Noah owns the place now. So long as he is alive, there is nothing they can do."
"What are you going to do when they shut off the utilities? Learn to live without them? And the gutter under the roof out back is falling. I'll do what I can to fix it so you don't end up with water in the bedrooms," Jake said.
Neither Sammy or Serena had any desire to visit with their mother. When Serena came at all, it was to bring food her mother said she couldn't afford.
"Mother, you need to stop that smoking. You can't afford food. But, you afford cigarettes?"
"Serena, cigarettes are all I have left to enjoy in life. You want to deny me that too?"
"Sell that doll collection and 90 percent of the junk you keep saying is valuable. You'll have plenty of money. What about selling those 2 cars? They've been sitting there stocked up with your junk. Mother, I really think you need professional help. You have become an obsessive hoarder," Serena said, handing a bag of groceries to her mother.
Mary Jr. said nothing. She didn't want Sammy, Jake or Serena to know the truth. There already was leaking from the broken gutter in the bedrooms. The walls had begun to mildew. Mary Jr. kept the doors to the bedrooms shut tight. Noah slept on one of the sofas in the living. She slept on another.
Soon, the real disaster was about to strike. Mary started to wash the dishes and found the water was turned off. She ran downstairs to the bathroom in the utility room and tried to flush the toilet. No water there either. She knew that the water and sewerage company turned these off.
She got into her car and purchased several gallons of water which she carefully rationed. She was able to flush the toilet so long as she dumped water into it.
"Mother, these gallons of water are heavy. Why do you need so much bottled water?" Serena asked. She left five gallons of water in the garage Mary said she "needed."
By the time the electric and natural gas was turned off, Mary had become pretty adept at keeping warm. Mostly, it was due to all of the piles of junk everywhere that kept the interior of the house tolerable.
She tied old blankets around the piping in the utility room so they wouldn't freeze. One night, she thought there might be mice in the upstairs crawl space. She heard what sounded like tiny feet scratching against the ceilings. It was mice. It was squirrels building nests. She learned to just ignore the newest residents of the Pfleeble home.
On Noah's fifty-second birthday, he became quite agitated during his special school session. When he didn't return home, Mary got into her car and found a phone booth and called the school.
"I'm afraid Noah won't be coming home, Mrs. Barnette."
"No? Why not?"
"He injured another student today during his birthday celebration. I'm afraid we have to have Noah seen by our school psychologist. Are you his legal guardian?"
"Yes. Our mother passed away three years ago. We have a sister, CJ. But, she lives out of state. I'm all Noah has left."
That wasn't quite accurate. CJ and Henry both offered to have Noah live with them just after Mary Sr.'s death. Mary Jr. knew if CJ managed to do that, she would be without a home. Her greatest fear now wasn't being homeless. It was having to get rid of all of the things she called her "collection."
Each time Serena visited to drop off water, Mary Jr. avoided letting her inside the house.
"We may need you to provide information on Noah's home visits."
Mary Jr. was aghast. There was no way she could allow anyone from Noah's special school inside the Pflebble home. They'd declare it uninhabitable and all of her "things" would end up being trashed.
"Where would you need to meet with me?" Mary Jr. asked.
"We usually do all of our visits at your home."
"Oh. That's not possible. I am having a lot of repair work done and there are construction workers all over the place," Mary Jr. lied.
"We just need to know the condition of your house to make sure Noah can visit with you on his weekends home. We will be there in two weeks. I'm sure most of your construction work will be completed by then."
Mary Jr. was scared. What if they came and refused to be put off?
When the day came for their visit, Mary Jr. made sure she wasn't home. She took a long walk to the store to buy cigarettes. The day before, she took most of her things out of the cars and packed them into the metal storage shed at the back of the property. She mowed the grass and cleaned the windows outside.
To Noah's social workers, the Pfleeble house looked as if it was in great shape. They never returned for another visit.
Mary Jr. replaced her "collection" in the two cars sitting in the driveway. Neither car had any room left by the time the last item was stored.
When the social worker called to ask about the ownership of the two cars, Mary Jr. said they belonged to her son who "fixes up old cars and sells them." That was also a lie. Sammy was still in prison and Jake left the state for the West Coast. Mary Jr. hadn't spoken to either of them in over two years.
For the next five years, her life was one endless challenge to keep finding space for the things she collected. Neighbors had no idea of where she got most of what she collected. Mary Jr. did most of her foraging in the dark of night when the neighbors were sure to all be fast asleep.
Then, she would take walks on the day before each garbage collection and poke through the trash cans looking for "valuables." Her latest fanatical hoarding was plastic fabric softener caps she told herself she would turn into Christmas tree ornaments. Following that it was those tear-off aluminum caps on coffee cans she "might find use for." She amassed more than six shoe boxes full of fabric softener caps and had a pile three feet high of the tear-off caps. She even started to collect old, colored plastic pop bottles she thought she could turn into a profitable venture by converting them to a variety of uses. The kitchen was littered with these in a strange looking pyramidal shape against the sliding glass kitchen door. Every window in the house had smaller bottles on the ledges. She filled them with sand and colored the sand with food coloring.
Serena thought if she got her mother out of the house for her 75th birthday, Mary Jr. might just get rid of the mess in that house. So, Serena planned a small birthday party at her home for her mother. Mary Jr. never showed up.
Serena knew the telephone was shut off at the Pfleeble house. So, she jumped in her car and drove to Broad Oak. She found her mother lying crumpled over on the kitchen floor. Serena called for an ambulance on her cell phone.
"No! Serena! No hospital. I can't pay for it. Don't let anyone in the house," Mary Jr. mumbled slowly.
"Mother, you've had a stroke of some kind. I can't take the chance on driving you to the hospital. Besides the EMTs are already on their way. Can't you hear the siren?"
"Please Serena. My things. They'll take away all of my things."
"Mother, if you die, your things are not going with you," Serena said.
"I'm not going to die. I can't die. I can't let anyone take my things. I can't Serena. Don't you understand"
Mary Jr. was dead just as the EMTs arrived. They were shocked at the sight of the interior of the house.
"Did your mother live here all alone?" Pat Scoldera, an EMT asked.
"Yes. I'm sorry. She was a very sick woman. We tried and tried to get her to move. But, she insisted she wasn't going anywhere."
The EMTs removed Mary Jr.'s body.
For the next five years, the Pfleeble home remained as silent as a tomb. The two cars remained packed to the ceilings and all of Mary Jr.'s things were left to Serena to deal with.
Serena moved some of the things to her own home. But, she knew that no matter how much she removed from the Pfleeble home, it would take years to make it habitable enough to sell.
"Aunt CJ? I want to ask you a question. Noah is now the sole owner of the house right?" Serena said.
"Yes. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I remember some years ago, my mother arguing with you about selling the place. When I went upstairs, I didn't realize there had been a major leak in the roof. She never let anyone up there in those bedrooms. There is mold all over the walls," Serena said.
"Oh Serena, you didn't see black mold. Did you?"
"Yes. Black mold, green mold and worse. Squirrels and raccoons have eaten huge holes in Noah's old bedroom. It looks as though they made nests up there," Serena said.
"Dear God! Serena that place will have to have a bulldozer take it down if the town gets wind of its condition," CJ said.
"What should we do? I mean...is there anything you or Uncle Henry can do?"
"Let me see what legal means we have. I'll do it right away. My God if that mold is that bad, it could make the neighbors sick and what a lawsuit that would be," CJ said.
None of the neighbors were aware that Mary Jr. had even died. They rarely saw her and just assumed she was getting on in years and stayed indoors more of the time now. It wasn't until the neighbors heard the huge bulldozer and trucks in front of the Pfleeble home that they realize no one had lived in that house for half a decade.
Nothing in the house was removed. The bulldozer drove over the front lawn directly into the center of the Pfleeble home. Down it all came. Next, men in protective uniforms came to monitor the carting away of Mary Jr.'s "things."
With only the cement foundation still visible, the neighbors pleaded with Broad Oak officials to sell the property.
The first buyers to see the foundation were Janet and Tim Reveneau. Janet surveyed the property back and front.
"Do you think we can do something with this?" she asked.
"It will cost plenty. Wait...Look, Janet! This must have gotten left behind," Tim said.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It's one of those fabric softener caps. Must have been in the garbage."
"Hang onto it. I'll use it for a decoration to remind us of what this place looked like before we built our new house onto it," Janet said.
"Just don't get any ideas about collecting them. You heard what the real estate agent said about the last woman who lived here," Tim said.
"Yes. I heard. She was one of those fanatical hoarders. Don't worry. I know when to throw things away," Janet said.
She tossed the plastic fabric softener cap in one of the trash cans on the street as they drove away.
No comments:
Post a Comment