Chapter Six
Back Where We Belonged
After three months of living in our van, we were ready to begin again.
Instead of rebuilding in Paintsville, Mom and Dad sold the property as it was and we moved back to Salyersville.
Leaving Paintsville wasn't easy. I was leaving friends, school, memories, and the girl who had given me my first kiss.
Back home, Mom and Dad bought a farm on Johnson Fork.
Everything happened quickly. Before long, the house was furnished, we had new beds, and life felt steady again.
Our home was a two-story white farmhouse with a large wooden barn. The property was fenced and soon alive with chickens, goats, ducks, geese, a horse, and even a cow. Mom and Dad planted two large gardens.
When school started, I recognized the faces around me. Coming home felt familiar.
Because both of my parents had large families before they married each other, some of my nieces and nephews were close to my age. I even went to school with some of them. To other people it might have sounded unusual. To me, it was simply family.
For the first time since the fire, it felt like we belonged somewhere again.
I thought the hardest days were behind us.
I couldn't have known that life was about to ask far more of me than I had ever imagined.