The Pot Belly Stove - A Rez Boyz Adventure
Our house in Northern Minnesota, winter of 1948.
My two brothers and I had just finished supper, fried Spam also known as Ojibwe steak, and potato soup. Mom was cleaning up and we were really excited, it was Wednesday evening and we had just gotten our new radio. It was a beauty, used, but hey it was new to us. It sat on a table, with a wood covering and had a huge face with two dials. The newest wonder of the tech age.
Dad was at work, he worked the 5pm to 1am shift in the iron ore mines. A tough job, but he was a tough man. January in northern Minnesota is not a day in the park. Howling winds, snow piled six feet high and cold, I mean really cold. 25 below zero. A great night to be in the house and listening to our favorite three radio programs with the pot belly stove roaring.
I better describe the house. The kitchen, living room, dinning room and den were one room, today it's called a great room, we called it no walls. Two bedrooms, one for mom and dad and the other for the three of us. One bathroom, yup we now had indoor plumbing, a first for our household. Dad, Uncle Tall Man, Uncle Duncan and our neighbor, Chad One Finger Beretta had built it in the fall and also added a porch to our house. No permits required, but that's another story.
Before dad left for work he would bring in plenty of split wood for the stove. It was my job if the first load of wood got to low before we went to bed, I was to bring in more.
The next rule was that none of us could touch the radio. Only mom and dad were allowed to do that. If you broke anything in those days there was no replacement and the radio was dads pride and joy. I thought that us boys should have been his pride and joy, but dad always said: I can shut the radio off, you boys I can't shut up.
The three of us made sure the fire in the stove was roaring, and gathered around the radio, waiting for mom to come over and turn it on for us. You didn't have to worry about finding a station, there was only one in the north woods. Station IMRED, broadcasting from Cass Lake Reservation. Mom came over and turned it on and we were really excited. The first program was my cousin, Luther Walks The Horse, telling the news of the day. Luther got his first job as an announcer for the station only a week before. Luther would get excited reading the news and forget his place and get stories mixed up. He once totally forgot where he was and started chanting. The rez listeners thought some one had died which led to rumors that Luther was brain dead.
Anyhow Luther let us know what was happening in the world. Our world was about two square miles. The first program, Sargent Preston of the Yukon and his dog King. What an adventure, Sargent usually saved a maiden in distress, and King would save them.
Next up was Inter Sanctum, it started with a creaking door opening. My youngest brother, Dolt would usually pee his pants when the he heard EEEKKKKKKK door. By the end of the program we were all scared out of our wits, and then it was time for bed.
I checked the pot bellied stove in the great room, fire going good, plenty of wood piled next to it, we were set for bed. The three of us piled into bed, one bed for the all of us, but that was ok, because it was always so cold the body heat helped keep us from freezing.
This is when things started to go wrong. Dolt, my youngest brother woke up in the middle of the night and was cold, so he went out to the stove to get more heat, in his thinking he would open the door in the front of the stove so more heat would come out. This is why we called him Dolt. Dolt jumped back into bed, happy and warm.
The next thing that I knew my mother was hauling us out of bed, screaming that the house was on fire. Dolt ran into the closet and shut the door, I told you why we called him Dolt. Mom got us out of the bedroom. The great room was filled with smoke and sparks were shooting out of the door Dolt had left open. The sparks flew when ever the wood crackled. Mom's favorite rug, actually the only rug we had was smoldering. This was a very bad sign for us since mom really got upset when we got dirt on her rug, now we were burning it up.
Our little town didn't have a fire department, we had volunteers. Add this to the fact that we didn't have a phone set the stage for disaster.
Mom was opening up windows and doors. It was 25 below zero out, we were caught between freezing to death or burning up, and it was the middle of the night and it was blacker than a well diggers ass which added to the fear and confusion.
Thank goodness that the three of us wore long johns to bed. You know the kind with the trap door in the back. Dolt usually put his on backwards so when it was that time Dolt would create a huge mess in his long johns.
At that moment dad pulled up in front of the house in his 1934 Ford pick up. Dad was used to the cold, the truck didn't have a heater that worked and had holes in the floor boards so it was air conditioned all the time. A typical rez truck.
Meanwhile it was my mission to save the radio. Rushing to where I thought that it was, the smoke was blinding, I knocked it off the table and it crashed to the floor. Oh no, my life was coming to and end, I broke the radio.
I could hear my brother Dolt screaming, I thought that he was on fire until I heard mom shouting at brother number two: ''Quit hitting your brother'' Brother number two telling mom: ''Dolt lighted the house on fire the dolt.'' Mom answering,'' beat him up once were outside and safe.'' Brother number two invented a lot of words.
There was the time that he used a four letter word, he walked around with a bar of lava soap in his mouth for a week.
At that moment this giant of a man came through the door, our dad, with the volunteers right behind him. Fat Freddy Fagan, Big Man Crow, Duward Farqward and Chad ''One Finger'' Beretta. Instead of opening the front door Big Man Crow used his new fire ax to split it open. I could hear Big Man Crow shouting, ''I love this ax.''
We were saved. Dad scooped up the radio and mom led us outside to safety. Duward poured water on the stove which filled the room with steam...No matter we were saved.
Thus ended another night in the life of ''The Rez Boyz''.....
My disclaimer..Names have been changed to protect Dolt..
Kavika 2015 all rights reserved.
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Yes, the three of us survived until adulthood. Barley.
LOL. I take it he got a good beating that night.
Not exactly. Me, being the oldest and brother number two took the brunt of it. Dolt, being the baby could get away with more stuff than the rest of us combined.
Ain't that a universal truth...lol
Wellll, isn't that what big brothers are for, to transfer the beatings to the person responsible?
I remember this story. Well written as always, and very entertaining. Again, think you should get all of your writing published !!
Thanks Nona, perhaps someday I'll do something to get them published.
Thought someone moved into my childhood home for a minute. Except the kids room (me and my older sister) didn't have walls around our "room". The only other difference was the middle section, great room, had a dropped floor and the stove was at the far end near the kitchen and parents bedroom door. The stove was also the kitchen stove.
Today, not many believe this home existed so close to the Nations Capitol in the 1950s
Very funny rendering of a brutal reality.
Enjoyable.
Thank you.
Thanks for stopping by dave.
Another wonderful and totally enjoyable story, Kavika. Just want is needed in an otherwise boring FP.
Thanks RW.
Is it alright if I put this up on my Facebook page? I think my family would enjoy it, especially my brother and, sister.
No problem Galen, go ahead but be sure that the ''Kavika 2015 All rights reserved'' is in there.
NP, I'll make sure it's there even if I have to put it there myself.
I can't stop laughing - can hardly type. DAMN! Your stories are entertaining. Maybe it's more meaningful for me because back in those days radio was all we had and you reminded me of The Inner Sanctum, but more so because almost half a century ago I used to spend bachelor "weekend hippie" weekends alone up in "commune country" (Killaloe, Ontario, area) at the vintage farmhouse I had talked a musician and his group's manager (Kensington Market - see my article) into buying there, although they almost never used it. The "big room" on the main floor was the kitchen, dining room, living room, and even bedroom combined. No plumbing, but a dug well hand pump was outside. The outhouse was a frigid run through the snow. There was a beautiful antique woodstove and as you descibed, a pot-bellied stove for heat (with a kettle on top). In the cold winter, the upstairs bedrooms were still cold, so the bed in the "big room" was the place to sleep, with a fire burning in the pot-bellied stove. Chopping the woodpile hardwood logs for the fire was good exercise. By early morning, the fire had already burned out so the air was a bit chilly, but that signaled that it was time to rise, fry up some bacon and eggs, and go out on snowshoes for a walk with my camera through the fragrant cedar forest.
I think someone later on must have left the pot-bellied stove door open, because, sadly, the all-wood-frame farmhouse burned to ashes.
Too funny Buzz. I have a Rez Boyz adventure entitled ''The Outhouse''...I'll have to dig it up and post it.
I'll add my story about the "snoring bear" (which you know) to it if you do.
OK, that a deal Buzz.
I loved this from beginning to end!
Two questions:
1. Was Dolt the middle child?
2. Were the names of the volunteers changed?
Dolt was the youngest.
No, the names are the same. Remember Indians have lot's names...
Great story Kavika!
It is amazing that you and your brothers made it to adulthood. I know that there must be many more tales to tell about your youth.. I look forward to reading more.
Ha, who said we are adults....Facts not in evidence..
Dear Brother Kavika: Fried Spam = Ojibwe Steak.
Priceless!
Winter nights in MN.
Not that far from winter nights in upstate NY.
Winter is defined from mid November until late spring here.
Two seasons.
Winter and fixing pot holes.
Thursday last Mrs. E. and I at 5:00 AM drove five counties south to be with our grandson.
He had strep throat.
We took him to his Doctor.
We stayed with him until midnight.
When he finally nodded off, I drove Mrs. E. and me home.
Normally a 2 1/2 hour journey, it took us double that.
White out heavy wet driven snow in gale force winds.
No visibility or traction on back roads.
Saturday night last, Mrs. E. and I drove three counties west to enjoy dinner with our good friend SpikeGary and his First Lady.
The meal was fine.
We had to skip walking it off along side the Erie Canal due to low temperatures and gusty winds.
Sunday it snowed.
I feel you Brother.
If not for all the rain, snow, ice, sleet and freezing to below 0 temperatures Upper MN and NY would be broiling deserts.
We dodged another one, dear friend.
Enoch.
Are you aware that summer in northern MN is a Tuesday afternoon in August..
LOL
I caught that.
Dear Brother Kavika: Laughing so hard I fell off my chair at the computer!
Enoch, Getting Up Slowly
What a tale - and I know it's true 'cause you said it was true
And I never ever speak with forked tongue.
Enjoyable and humorous story, Kavika. Thanks.
Was the house okay after? Did the radio still work after being knocked onto the floor?
After the ''incident'' the house always had a smokey smell to it.
The radio, thank goodness, was saved with no long term damage. (Dad's pride and joy)
Thanks for stopping by Dignitatem.
Ha, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
That was hilarious!
Dignitatem asked the questions I was wondering about as well.
I have one unanswered question though: Did Word Inventor, brother number Two, finish the job of beating Dolt once outside?
LOL,,,great story Kavika!
Not that night he didn't, but the next day he smacked him up beside the head...LOL
Has Dolt gotten any smarter over the years?
Not really...LOL
Something for Dolt.
Opppsss
Never tease the lion.