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CHAPTER 9

Fran and I talked everything over, and decided to go back and live a modern life again. We talked to Leroy and Janet about the situation, but they didn't try to talk us into leaving or staying. They said, "It is totally up to you. You have to make up your own minds." We thought it over for a couple weeks. We had been Amish again for about four and a half months.

In the meantime, we had been writing letters to New York to my sister Emma, who was married to Andy Miller, hoping they'd write back and at least give us something to hold on to, but Pete, my only brother, wouldn't even write to me. With all this in mind, we went to church one last time on a Sunday.

We were excommunicated, so we couldn't eat with the rest of the Amish. In the eyes of the Amish if we ate with them it would poison their food. Leroy and Janet Smith knew this, and they invited us to their house for dinner after church. After dinner that afternoon, I cut off my beard and cut my hair.

Fran, our daughter Debra and I switched over into English clothes that same day and began leading a modern life. We wrote my father-in-law Dan a letter, and told him that we left and why, adding that they should pick up the little bit of stuff we had borrowed from them, which was at our house. We didn't want to take anything that didn't belong to us. We bought an old Plymouth from Leroy for five hundred dollars. Now we would be spending a lot of time with only friends for the next six months.

In these next six months, I got back in the oil fields, drilling oil wells, but oil fields weren't steady. Fran and I were helping Leroy and Janet out on the farm. The spring of 1983, we moved by ourselves to a small town called Cambridge, Ohio. We got to be close friends with some of the people I was working with. Coincidentally, I was working with Lee Brown, who I had worked with three years earlier.

One night we were invited to Lee's house for a cook out, and it was a wild party. Someone by the name of Fly showed up. Fly was a tattoo artist. One of Lee's friends was getting a tattoo . By this time I had drunk too much, and Fly had finished the tattoo he was putting on the other guy. Fly was looking for someone else to tattoo.

Fly looked at me and said, "How about you, ex Amish man!"

The whole crowd started cheering me on. We had a couple more drinks, and everyone started to dare me. I finally sat down, and Fly began giving me a tattoo.
As the evening went along, I drank so much that I didn't remember what happened, but somehow we made it home. I had never been that drunk in my life.

The next morning as I was waking up, I put my head on my left arm trying to get more sleep. Since my left arm was sore, I put my head over on my right arm. That one was also, sore. About that time Fran woke up.

Her first words were, "Oh my god, David, what have you done?"

"Beats me. I don't remember this one on the right arm."

They looked awful. Fly was a professional tattoo artist, but he must have been as drunk as I was, because these were jail house tattoos. I was furious, and so was my wife. I decided I'd better go over and see Lee, to see what happened last night. I was at Lee's house for about an hour when Fly showed up.

"Just the man I wanted to see," he said to me. "You owe me money for them tattoos from last night.

Angry, I said, "I will not pay under any condition."

"Why is that?" he asked.

Still furious, I said, "Because right after I pay you, I'll beat the living daylights right out of you."

Fly said, "Chill man! Be cool, it's on the house." Still angry with myself for letting this happen, now, I would be stuck with these tattoos for the rest of my life.

Eventually, Fran and I decided to move back to Texas, thinking maybe we would get lucky again, and find a good paying job. But this time we were wrong. It was the summer of 1983; we only stayed in Texas a couple months because we couldn't find any good paying jobs. Houston appeared to be really dull, everybody was looking for a job and nobody was hiring. We decided it wasn't our best interest to hang around. We moved back to Ohio, to the same place out in the country, where we lived before.

Leroy and Janet Smith were in the process of losing everything they owned, because of some Government program. It was during the time the Government programs were being cut back and borrowing money wasn't as easy as a couple years earlier. We felt bad about this and loaned them three thousand dollars, trying to help them, so they wouldn't lose everything they worked so hard for. In the meantime, I went back to work in the oil fields again. Fran was pregnant at the time and our new baby was due to arrive in December.

December of 1983 was a very cold year for Ohio, and we wanted a Christmas baby. The first of December Fran went to the Doctor for a check up. The Doctor told her the baby was ready to be delivered at any time. We were both thrilled. Our oldest daughter, Debra Kay, was now four years old. She was looking forward to having a baby brother or sister. Leroy and Janet were now living closer to us, just over the hill on another ridge.

About a week before Christmas, we had a rainstorm, which soon turned everything to ice as the temperatures started to drop. By the week of Christmas, temperatures had dropped down to twenty below zero. Those little country roads were almost impossible for motor vehicles to use. At this time we owned a four-wheel drive Dodge power wagon, and a 1979 Chrysler.

A week before Christmas we blew up the motor in the four-wheel drive, and two days before Christmas we busted the radiator in the car. I knew a baby was on the way, and with temperatures at twenty below zero with wind chill factors forty and fifty below life was anything but dull. The day before Christmas Fran was having labor pains, so I called a friend of mine, and asked Tom if he could take us to the hospital.

Tom, my friend said, "Sorry. I'm not driving that far in this weather. I'll let you use my car though."

I thanked him and he said he'd be over in an hour with the car, if he could get it started. In the mean time, I called the people I worked with and told them what was taking place. They told me to take the day off and take care of business. I told them I would be back to work tomorrow, if everything went well, and if there was anyway possible. An hour later Tom arrived with his car, and I took Tom back home. Tom told me to keep the car until I get one of ours fixed. I thanked him again and went back home.

When I got home, I made sure there was enough wood in the back room, and also put some coal inside. Then I started to make arrangements to take Fran to the hospital. I called Leroy and Janet Smith and asked them if they could keep Debra for a couple days. The answer, of course, was yes.

Late that evening I took Fran to the hospital. Between one and two o'clock on Christmas morning a healthy baby girl was born. We named her Rebecca Noel. She was a very cute little baby. Early that morning I had to leave the hospital to go to work in the oil fields. I was exhausted, since I wasn't able to get any sleep that night. However, I was also happy that the baby was healthy and my wife was well.

On my way to work I had to stop at the Smith's place, and tell our daughter Debra she now had a baby sister named Rebecca. Debra was so excited! Then, off to work I went.

The weather was very cold and the roads were in really bad shape. I arrived at the drilling rig in time to start my shift. I told my driller and the people that I worked with the good news. Everyone was so happy for me, and glad to see me back to work. We normally worked eight-hour shifts, unless we were finishing up the hole, running casing or something went wrong.

If a crew didn't show up, we had to stay over until we got relieved, as the drilling rig had to run twenty-four hours a day no matter what. I was hoping everything would go well and it did. The first eight hours went by rather quickly. Before I knew it, it was time to go home. Even though the roads were bad, it didn't take me long to drive home. When I got home, the house was freezing, the fire had gone out. The first thing I wanted was a cup of coffee. The teakettle was on the top of the stove, full of water and frozen solid. I opened the water spigot and it was frozen as well. So was the toilet.

I started a fire in the big furnace. I figured it would take about two hours for this big old house to get warm. I was lucky about one thing. We had running spring water coming from underneath a big rock, right behind the house in front of a big hill. I grabbed two buckets, went out back, filled them with water. Then, I put some water in a small dish and put it on top of the stove. That was going to be my coffee water. I put another large pot of water on top of the stove, so I could mop the floors. It didn't take long for the coffee water to heat up.

I was in a hurry because I wanted to go see Debra Kay at the Smith's house, before going to see Fran and Rebecca at the hospital. The water was hot now so I made myself a cup of coffee and sandwiches. I had made a big mess in the kitchen and living room, not taking time to wipe my feet when I was coming in and going out. I figured I made the mess so I better clean it up. I mopped the kitchen and living room floors. After I finished, I went out back and filled the furnace.

Then I went outside, split some wood and piled up the furnace room with wood and coal. I went back in the house and got a few feet into the living room, when I slipped and fell right on my back. I got up and fell right back down again. The third time I got up and was able to make it into the kitchen. However, when I got into the kitchen, I fell down again. I figured when I mopped the floors, I must have been in a hurry and mopped haphazardly.

The house wasn't as warm as I'd thought I was just warm from working so fast. Both floors were frozen solid where I mopped them. It was almost impossible to walk on these floors. But I managed and went in the bedroom and changed into clean clothes.

I went up to see Debra for about forty-five minutes. From there I had about an hour drive to go to the hospital to see Fran and the baby. I arrived at the hospital about ten o'clock that night, and stayed with Fran for about four hours. I was really getting tired, so I left and went home. When I got home, it was three o'clock in the morning. This left me a total of two hours to get some rest I had to be at work at six-thirty. I got to work, and put my eight hours in, but wasn't so lucky this time.

Our relief didn't show up at the end of our eight-hour shift. I had to work sixteen hours, with just a couple of bologna sandwiches that I had packed myself for lunch. At the end of my sixteen-hour shift, I was dead tired. I took off for home, which was about an hour's drive. I got home, changed clothes, filled up the furnace and headed straight for the hospital. I got halfway to the hospital, when I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I pulled off on the side of the road and closed my eyes for about forty-five minutes.

After that I felt a little better and I continued on to the hospital. I arrived at the hospital around eleven-thirty or twelve o'clock. My wife was doing well and so was our baby. I was so glad to see them, but Fran took one look at me and said, "You look awful, David." I stayed with Fran and the baby until around two o'clock in the morning, then left to go home. When I got about halfway home, I felt myself falling asleep. Again I pulled off on the side of the road, and napped. After that I went straight home.

The weather was warming up fast; the temperature must have changed thirty degrees. It was now ten above zero. I got home and fired up the furnace, then went to bed for a couple of hours. When I got up to go to work the next morning, the temperature had warmed up, the sun was out, and it looked like a beautiful day. It was warm enough that the snow was melting on the roads on top of the ice.

I had to work four hours over time that same day, before our relief finally showed up. They were four hours late, because of the road conditions. I left and headed for the hospital. The hospital was giving us a champagne dinner that evening, since Rebecca was the first baby to be born in that hospital, on Christmas day. I wasn't sure if I could still make it in time for the dinner, but I decided to try. But first I had to go home.

When I got back on the gravel roads, they were completely covered with ice. I got within five miles from our home, but there was one hill I just couldn't get up. I parked the car, and thought I would walk the rest of the way home but when I stepped out of the car, the road was so icy, I couldn't even stand up. I had to walk home across the fields. By the time I got two miles from our house it was dark, and I began to realize I would have to miss my champagne dinner at the hospital with Fran and the baby.

When I got home, I made myself a cup of coffee, and something hot to eat. After that, I called Leroy and Janet Smith and talked to Debra for a while. Then I told Leroy I had to stay in town for a couple days, until the weather cleared up. I'd be staying at Lee Brown's house. If anything went wrong he should call me there. I also asked him to call Fran the next day, to let her know what was going on. The next couple days I stayed at Lee's house until the weather cleared up. Three days later I brought my wife and newborn baby home from the hospital. I also picked up Debra from Leroy and Janet's place, and brought her home.

Everyone was glad to be back home. Sometimes I don't know how I would have made it, if it wasn't for friends and neighbors like Leroy and Janet Smith or Lee Brown and his family.