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 Ocracoke Journal: Letters from 1984
By PAT GARBER When, at the age of 19, I told my mother that I intended to spend my life as a hobo, she asked one thing of me. She asked that I write home every week and, in my letters, tell my father and her about my life. Since I loved my parents very much and liked to write, I readily agreed. "But," I told her, "if I do that I may not always have time to keep a journal. The letters will be my journal, so please keep them for me." My parents’ house was put on the market in 1999, following my father’s death, and as my sisters and I went through the rooms, I found the letters. They were neatly divided into bundles, with rubber bands around them and notes that told the place I had been and the year I had written them. There, in a dusty cardboard box, lay the account of more than 30 years of my life, with details of names and events and occasions I had long since forgotten. One of bundles said "Ocracoke, 1984-1985." That was the first time I lived at Ocracoke, the year following a heart-breaking divorce that sent me reeling. After four months of crewing on sailboats in the Bahamas, I hitchhiked north to spend a week with my family at a rental cottage in Nags Head. I stopped for a day at a little island I had never seen before, called Ocracoke, and before I knew it I had a job and a place to park my tent. The letters in this bundle document that exciting, painful, joyous year. I pull out the worn and yellowed pages, prop them on my knees, and begin reading. Aug. 20, 1984 Dear Mom and Pop, I found a place to live. It’s small, but not as small as that pup tent. My friend John, who owns the Three Quarter Time Bar, is renting it to me—just two rooms and a screen door with no lock. I bought a used bike for $25 from someone who was moving and named it Mary Jane. I can get to all my jobs on it. It’s great fun! I’m at work now, waitressing at Maria’s, an Italian restaurant with a bar and dance floor, but I don’t have any customers. Actually I have four jobs. When I’m not waiting tables here, I have a job in the kitchen making pizzas. I clean motel rooms at the Anchorage four mornings, and I’m the laundry lady there for two mornings. Not long after I moved into the above-mentioned cabin, Hurricane Diana threatened Ocracoke. This storm, originally a Category 4, caused great alarm on the island, and John, worried for my safety, told me I needed to move somewhere safer. I moved into an old house behind the Anchorage Inn and shared the house with two other motel maids, Tracy and Penny. Sept. 16 Tracy, Penny, and I had a blast during the hurricane. It was really scary the night before it came in. A loudspeaker kept announcing the evacuation and the ferries leaving. The next to last announcement said “Warning. This is your last chance to leave the island.” Then, a while later, it said it was no longer possible to leave, so it gave instructions for what to do and where to seek refuge. I was lying in bed, listening, and it all seemed spooky and dream-like. The next morning, the wind and rain started. Tracy, Penny, and I went to stay at a friend’s house, where we had a hurricane party for two days! No one on the island got hurt and I’m back at work now, cleaning rooms again. In October I moved again, this time into a little cottage in the marsh called the Bachelors’ Pad (now Marsh Haven). I went home to Richmond to get my Siamese cat, Twinkle, who was staying with my parents. I also bought a 6-month–old doberman pinscher, whom I named Duchess. October 12 Duchess went for her first boat ride with me yesterday, and really liked it. Bobby, a commercial fisherman and crabber here, took us out to his pound nets. He cooked blowtoads, flounder, and fried hard crabs to go with my vegetables, and we had a seafood feast! Duchess cleans rooms at the motel with me each morning. I’m not sure Scott, the owner approves, but he hasn’t said anything. She and I had a long run on the beach, and she is exhausted for a change…She loves to run out in the salt flats, where she can go for a long way with water just up to her belly. She chases birds, and today she was in for a big surprise when a sea plane circled above us. She thought that was some bird! Duchess chased it for a while, then stood and watched as it flew out of sight. Sometimes her exuberance can be rather much for this small house. Like a little kid, she becomes more excited when company comes and wants all the attention. She is such a funny, loveable dog. Twinkle also wants to be included in everything, and gets very upset if I take Duchess with me and leave her at home. I loved the cottage I rented from Andy and Calvin, but living in it was definitely a challenge, especially during the cold winter months. The sandy lane was often impassable and the wind went right through the walls that were not insulated. November 3 I finally got my heat going yesterday, after freezing to death for the last two nights. I don’t have any luxuries here. I have to hand light my stove and my heater, and go buy kerosene every couple days. I pull out the fuse to turn off the hot water heater. The electricity has been going out about every day now, usually for about an hour. I bought more wicks for my oil lamp. But it’s all part of life here. My friend Tony says that just driving down my road is an act of real friendship! I met many wonderful friends at Ocracoke, and they helped me get my life started here. Tom greased Mary Jane, my bicycle, for me, and it runs like a race car now, even though it still looks like a bad joke. I have so much fun with that bike—especially at night. My road is full of potholes that are about a foot deep, and riding down it in the dark is like a roller coaster ride! There is a ditch full of water beside the road, so the challenge is to remember where the curves are and not plunge into the water. My friend Penny, after a night of partying at the pub, wrecked her bicycle the other night and is black and blue now. We had lunch together today. She’s still really sore. One of my greatest joys was the natural world that surrounded me on the island and in particular at my little marsh cottage. November 7 The ducks area passing through in great numbers now, and a lot of them stop here. I’m putting my bird book to much use. I saw a white pelican, way out of his range but I’m sure that’s what is was. And today I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw a scissor-tailed fly-catcher, an absolutely beautiful bird, also out of its range. I wonder if they could still be displaced by Hurricane Diana. Work, which was plentiful in the summer, became hard to find in the late fall and winter. Making ends meet was a day-to-day challenge. December 1 I’ve been refinishing furniture for Eleanor Hamilton, an older lady who is an artist and has a sort of antique shop. I gave her very reasonable prices, and she gave me dinner (with her husband) the other night. I worked with Tony the last three days, insulating a house, and I have a job next week working for Shawn, my Mongolian friend. I’ll be cleaning and putting up tiles in the Coast Guard Station, which is being remodeled. Shawn is coming to my house for dinner Sunday night (chicken fricassee and dumplings). I also made $5 buying liquor for some fishermen on a trawler who didn’t have a way to get to the liquor store. They tried to give me more but I told them that $5 was fair. I helped Tom set nets after I finished stuffing insulation today, and he gave me fish for dinner. He says he’ll get me some crabs to bring home at Christmas if they are there, but you never know at this time of year. My life in the marsh was pleasant and rewarding, but it was often lonely. December 10 I just finished putting up my Christmas tree, a small cedar that I cut near here with the saw you gave me, Daddy. Tomorrow I’ll cut some yaupon holly. I made a grapevine wreath from the vines that grow on a lane near here. It’s kind of sad doing it alone, and I thought about not decorating at all but changed my mind. Since I don’t have any decorations for my tree, I’ll use popcorn strings and shells, and put my Indian doll on top for an angel. I’ll come home on the 22nd, if that is okay. Oh by the way, Twinkle loves the tree and keeps climbing it. I may have to tie it to the wall! I spent Christmas, 1984, with my family in Virginia, but after the new year I loaded Duchess and Twinkle in my car and we headed back to Ocracoke. I will continue with letters from 1985, the next part of my Ocracoke adventure, in my next column. (Pat Garber has written columns and articles for local publications and is also the author of two books, “Ocracoke Wild,” and “Ocracoke Odyssey,” which are both about her life on Ocracoke and the natural world there.)   |
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