The End of Hell(part three)

     Even a tiny sliver of light could not penetrate the heavy darkness.  After all this time my eyes had not adjusted to the pitch black.  I had to rely on my other senses to keep up with my surroundings.  I could hear the dung beetles rolling turds with their hind legs.  I knew by the sound when one rolled over on his side because he tried to push to much at one time.  The flies buzzed on all sides of me.  There must be thousands of them, their wings were deafening.  As annoying as they were, I was glad that they were here.  I have had no contact with humans for several years and the loneliness was devastating.  Trying to make friends with these little monsters was futile.  All they wanted to do was land on your face and track all around on their little stick legs.
     Loneliness is a constant companion, ever deepening and gaining weight.  It presses down on you so tightly that breathing is a hard labored chore.  Oh, just for some human contact.  Someone coming in to slap me around would be better than this nothing.  If someone would just appear and utter a kind word, I think that I would break down and weep uncontrollably. 
     With the absence of light, there is no way to tell time.  Just go to sleep when you are tired of doing nothing.  Sleep is my only friend.  When he comes around, he allows me to escape this deep dark pit that I am trapped in.  As you can imagine, when I escape, I go to a world completely opposite of this one.  The sun is warm on my face and the wind blows gently across my body.  The sky is so bright and blue that it hurts my eyes to look up.  I force myself to look at the brilliant white fluffy clouds.
     There are so many people around, children running to and fro, playing catch and hide and seek.  Daddy Frank had a large family and we all gathered up there on Sundays.  He and Maw had seven children and each of those had from three to seven kids.  Then there were friends and neighbors that stopped by.  There was always a crowd of over a hundred people there.  Definitely not lonely here.
     Walter was always amazing to me.  I could never get used to him being the way that he was.  He was a small man, with a small head.  He was always wearing overalls and never tired of asking everyone for a nickel.  Some of the older cousins would offer him a quarter, but he would not hear of it.  He would sit in the porch swing and smile as if he were in charge of the world.  His mind never developed beyond kindergarten.
     My other cousin, Denver(affectionately known as "Dimp") was younger but in the same shape.  He could care less about coins and money, but his Pall Malls and toy cars made him happy.  With his baseball cap pulled down to the left, almost covering his eyes, and his overalls buttoned on one side, with no shirt, he was a strange sight.  His enlarged tounge could never fit into his mouth.  But beware, do not make fun of him for he would pick up a rock and stone your ass.  When he died at sixty eight he had been a boy all his life.  Each pocket of his overalls would be stuffed with metal toy cars.  That was his funeral attire.  There was a crowd at his funeral and much weeping.
     The game of hide and seek this day had twenty two or twenty three kids.  Base was the steps at the front of the large wrap-around porch.  There was an endless supply of hiding places, even in broad daylight.  The barn was in disarray, with all types of things inside to get behind.  There were several other outbuildings, trees and every one's favorite, the outdoor toilet behind the house.  It was rotted pretty bad.  Since the pit was almost full, there was no need to repair it since it would be moved soon anyway.  Several boys and I were hiding behind it.  Charles Cook got so excited that he pushed against the wall to hard.  Oh crap, the wall gave way and he fell in.  None of us would help, all we could do was laugh at him.  He tried to get out of the mess, but he would slide back in again and again.
     The adults were eating Sunday lunch(dinner in the south) and when they finished eating they would just sit and visit.  It did not matter that you were hungry; don't even walk by and look in.  Wayne ran to get Charles' mom.  When she found out what was happening, she started cussing and fussing.  She threatened to leave hiim there and have another child to replace him.  All the men were tanked up pretty good and were having a grand old time at Charles' expense.  He did get cleaned up, but is still pissed off until this day.  Or should I say, "shit on."