My Sister Carol Strait Behind the Desert Gate

My mother is at a loss. How did she get in there?  How do we get her back out?

Twice we made the trek.  Twice we made our way to the west coast where my Dad had National Science Scholarships at major universities, the first in 1959 at the University of Oregon, and then in 1964 at Stanford.

We did not fly.  We drove.  Across country, from Michigan in our Ford Station Wagon.  We would take the southern route on the way out, seeing relatives in Texas,  Then we went across Arizona and the desert.  We would briefly hit what stops we could, but never stay very long.  I remember going by the Grand Canyon and barely getting out of the car.

Why we stopped at this monument in the middle of the desert, I'm not sure.  The first time on the journey, we were only four (me) and three (my sister), so they probably had to make frequent stops to accommodate us.

At this particular stop, my sister Carol, while none of us were looking, somehow found herself inside the iron fence of this monument.  We don't know how she got in there.  But it was time to go and she wouldn't come out.  If any of us tried to grab her to help her get out, she would squirm away.  She was crying a storm, and we were at a complete loss as to what to do.

In my four year old mind, I thought....well, that's it.  This is where my sister is going to live now.  We would just visit her when we came through in the future.  Of course we would need to leave her some food....

Food!  That was it!  Somebody, either myself or my parents, offered her a treat, a candy bar or something like that (the details are lost to the fog of time).  Her eyes lit up, and she suddenly slid through those bars, like a buttered rat with collapsible bones.

I have more memories of our trips west, but this was one that sticks to my mind, and was one of the earliest events I remember.  This and the car my sister brought to life in Eugene, Oregon (see the story Echoes of '59)  are what stand out in my young mind.

I am glad she didn't stay behind the desert gate.