The House in the Meadow

Chapter 1 Daewon Lost and Found

In a meadow surrounded by woods, there was a little house and, in the front yard, there grew two old gnarled apricot trees whose branches grew downwards and came close to touching the earth. If you were a child in the summertime, those branches created a perfect little shady place that imagination could easily turn into a fort. In winter, the trees provided a little shelter for the small birds that refused to migrate to warmer places. Eight cousins lived in the house. The oldest was only fifteen, and the two youngest were eight. They were a lively bunch, always goofing around and forgetting to speak quietly when they played. Their shouts could be heard from one end of the meadow to the other. Every day except for market day they practiced their dancing and singing.

Very early in the morning on market day, they left the little house, making sure to lock it up tight, and walked along overgrown car tracks to the main road which snaked around the mountain and down into the city that covered the hills below. There they waited for a bus, mostly filled with elderly from the mountain villages, who went to the city market to sell the things they grew. In the winter, the bus was nearly empty. Slowly, stopping here and there the way buses do, the vehicle made it's way to the city. At last, they reached the noisy city with it's towering buildings and crowded sidewalks. They walked the few blocks to a little square situated beside the market street that was perfect for performing. Here they showed off all the talents they practiced. They danced and lept and sang and even did a few gags, anything they could for the coins watchers threw into a small plastic pail. With this money, they bought all the supplies that they could for the week. Sometimes, when the weather was awful, they made hardly anything. They stretched the food as far as they could. An occasional chicken might've gone missing from one of the neighboring farms or a few cabbages from a field. Nothing much. They tried as hard as they could to live an honest life.

A friendly lady at the recycling center let them dig through the old clothes that other people didn't want, to find things that fit them. When she asked about their parents, they lied and said they worked at the nearby factories. One time, Euijin found a brown stuffed bear that was missing an arm and eye in a pile. He hid it and later, when they were back home, gave it to Feeldog. He fixed the stuffed animal right up, sewing a new arm and replacing the eyes with two big brown matching buttons. He even made the bear a cape and crown. Hansol slept cuddling that bear every night.

Euijin was the oldest, but Feeldog was the one in charge. They both tried to teach the younger kids the things they remembered from school. Hansol's favorite thing, besides the bear, was when the wind whistled through the branches of the old trees in the yard causing the windchimes to make music. (Feeldog had made the windchimes from things other people threw away like metal spoons and cans.) Hojung, the quietest of the cousins with a sweet smile, taught himself to play the old guitar they'd found. He'd sit on the front porch and practice. Hansol turned circles or made up dances to the music while Chan sang. Sometimes, Daewon would join in and teach them songs he'd made up. Marco fished in the stream that ran through the woods; during winter, he'd have to break a hole in the ice. He tried to teach the younger boys, but Chan had a hard time sitting still and Jun was too loud, he scared the fish away. Hansol liked to bring books and read beside Marco when the weather was good. In the grey morning light just before daybreak, Daewon liked to half hang out the upstairs window to watch grazing elk and listen to the birds sing. He could be silly sometimes, laughing so his whole body shook and he'd reach out to shake the person closest to him. He was quick to give hugs if he saw that someone was sad. Like any family, there were clothes to wash, food to cook, dishes to clean, and floors to sweep. Sometimes there were arguments. Euijin and Feeldog then called a family meeting. They'd talk about their problems till they agreed on a solution. Mostly, they lived happily.

Life flowed on like that from late Autumn till early spring when the trees started to sprout new leaves from their buds. That market day, the sky was a clear blue with few clouds, and it was almost warm, except when the cold wind picked up. People packed the market, the surrounding streets, and the square. They made quite a bit of money from busking. Marco charmed the women selling fish cakes into giving them a discount. He tried his third eye smile on the butcher, but the man just humphed and said that he should be more serious. The butcher did put a little extra in the bag when Hansol quietly stared at him with his big deer eyes and Chan chattered at him sweetly. Euijin and Feeldog proudly smiled at each other. Their kids knew how to be charming.