There's nothing like being lost. Such a feeling of despair, and aloneness, and fright.  And of course your imagination runs wild and you imagine all sorts of things that are going to happen to you.

We were ones that believed in ghosts.  (Still do.  I just know what they are now . . .)  And with that came all kinds of scary possibilities.  Monsters dominated the corn field I was told.  Dead people roamed there getting food at nightime to take to their coffin so they wouldn't get hungry.

A lot of that was told by older cousins and Uncles.  Mom's two youngest brothers were only 4 or 5 years older than me at most.  So, we grew up together.  Now, they were mean!  (Well, to me they seemed mean . . . and you can tell by these stories I was an angel!)  Of course, I never was mean.  (You had that figured out didn't you?)  And they told me all sorts of things which were readily believed without so much as questioning their integrity.

So, when I got lost in the corn field, I was really, really scared.  After I finally calmed down from the initial realization that I was lost and that I would never get out, and I had stopped crying hysterically . . . (I was sure glad none of them other cousins were around!  Specially the girls).  I made up my mind to just walk out to the end and I would know how to get back to the house from there.

So, I started walking.  All the while I was trudging through the tall stalks, I was trying to figure out how I had gotten turned around.

Now it was quite an ordeal to get lost.  Did you ever look at a corn field?  Those stalks regularly get 8 and 10 ft high.  And you can't see further than 2 or three rows to the right or left, nor can you see down the row very far.

And it gets quite dark as well.  Unless the sun is directly overhead, you can't tell which way is which.

So, I walked and walked and walked.  I knew I had walked a mile or more.  To an 8 year old, that it was an awful big field!

Finally, I decided that I had went too far, and turned around and started back to the other end.  I walked for at least 5 miles but never found the end.

Finally, I heard the voice of an angel calling, George Earl, are you in there?  Where you at?  The voice of my dear grandmother.  Halleluiah!!  I was saved!  No dead people was gonna get me!

I started yelling as loud as I could, and finally, I saw the dear face of my precious grandmother peeking through the foliage.

She said "George Earl, did you get lost?"

I broke down and started whimpering again, and she hugged me close until I regained my composure.  Finally, with that angel voice of hers she reassured me "I won't tell anybody you got lost ok?"

With that she promptly turned toward the house and led me out.  I felt like I was follerin' Moses or something.  Only she knew where she was headed!

And I guess she never did tell anybody about the time I got lost in the garden . . .

George Cavaness
10-09-1994