When you drive north from Philadelphia to come to this place where we live now, you have to go through the Lehigh Tunnel. Before the tunnel everything looks like suburban Philadelphia. When you come out the other side you’re in a different place. Even the sky and air are different. This is how I fell in love with Rohrsburg.
I’ve met a lot of people here. I’ve not become very close to most of them but that’s not the way things are done. Most people here work too hard for survival’s sake to go to parties and have lunches out and then go shopping.
This area has always been economically depressed; it’s worse now than ever. So the young people are leaving their homes to get jobs.
However, this is just a very short introduction to a series of portraits of some people I’ve grown to love while living here.
The Kile family owns a small farm which is just down the road from us. All through the spring, summer, and autumn they sell what they grow–corn, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, beets, rabbits, and more. We always buy our eggs there.
Doris Kile is the ruling matriarch of the Kile family. You don’t meet people like her in cities or even towns like Bloomsburg. Physically small but unbelievably tough, she never gets sick, drives herself unmercifully, gets up in the summer at 3 AM to pick corn. All she sells is delicious. Here’s how our relationship with the Kile family began. Peter began stopping there to get eggs and see what the produce looked like. And Peter being Peter, he started chatting with Doris and soon they were friends. Doris’ husband, Alan, is a grumpy old man who hates almost everybody and walks around with a scowl on his face. I was afraid of him. Peter kept urging me to stop there and make friends with a nice neighbor. In matters such as these Peter’s usually right. So now Doris and I are friends. I have a special story about Doris which I will leave for another time.
Three stories related to the Kile family:
1) Bill Kile, their son, is our accountant and his wife, Ella, alters clothing for me. Believe it or not, she only charges $2 to hem dresses and jeans. They are all very devout Christians and live their faith. They never try to convert us and I am sure we are the first Jewish people they’ve ever met.
2) One day I went into Doris’ kitchen and found her and one of her grand daughters playing a card game. I noticed that Doris’ hands were dirty and I was quite surprised until I looked again. Doris had been growing things so long that dirt had embedded itself into the pores of her skin.
3) When we would go away, Doris and Alan would come over and take care of our dog Homer. Homer grew to love them and they loved him. Now, I mentioned that Alan Kile is a grouch. One day I stopped at their place to get eggs and Alan was standing there, frowning at me. I said to Alan that I was Leslie Mastroianni and didn’t he know me? No, he didn’t recognize me. So then I said–Homer’s my dog. Remember him? Alan began to smile at me and after that we all became friends. When Alan was in a nursing home for a hip replacement, I visited him and brought him the Sunday paper and chewing gum. He thought that was funny.
lgmwriting 