Mousey
My grandparents ran a farm way out in the country in the mountains. Back during the depression days, my grandfather was able to hire a couple of men to work for him on the farm. One of them was Mousey.

Mousey apparently was a man of few words. Tall, thin and very shy. My mother was used to having him around, but was still a bit afraid of him. He stayed in a small room at the back of the house on the third floor of their huge, old farm house. Mousey is a man of legend to me.

When the family gave up the farming and moved into town, Mousey came with them. As I understand it he had no family of his own, though I don't know what his real story was. But again, he had a small room, upstairs, in the back of my grandparent's big old house. They must have felt sorry for him and kept him on as part of the family in some weird fashion. He was long dead before I came along.

When we were children, the older cousins used to scare us little ones by telling us that Mousey was going to get us. I was afraid of his rooms, both at the farm and at the house in town. I always believed he was going to suddenly appear and grab me. I have no idea why he scared me so much, but he did.

Mousey was just one of those many thousands who drifted during the depression days, and then just stuck at the best place he found in life. My grandmother was a very kind woman with a huge heart, and I have no doubt she took good care of the help. They barely could afford for themselves, but they fed the help and gave them board. Mousey is the only one who stayed on for any amount of time.

I wish I knew more about where he came from, why he had no family and why he was so quiet and shy. But somehow the mystery of Mousey is a family legend that I will hold dear the rest of my life.
(The Lunatic Artist throws paint to the wind, Fri 31 Oct 2008, 20:06, 2 replies)

I've often wondered about him.
It seems as though Back In The Day it wasn't uncommon to have some family member living with relatives who just wasn't quite right and that the kids were warned to leave alone. I suspect that many of them were the sort of people who currently inhabit the mental hospitals...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 31 Oct 2008, 20:32, closed)

I'm sure he was harmless...
But to a child, the thought of a man who didn't speak to people, living in the back room upstairs was quite frightening. And he wasn't even a relative!
(The Lunatic Artist throws paint to the wind, Fri 31 Oct 2008, 20:44, closed)