1 The Bell and the Falls MY name is Mary Ann Alice Mary Ann Alice McCrank I was named after the bell in the steeple of St Martin’s Church in Martindale They got the bell and named it back in 1885 They named it Mary Ann Alice That was almost forty-one years ago Seems like a long time But my mother says it’s not a long time My mother Fuzzy McCrank is forty-one years old too She says if I say forty-one years is a long time one more time she won’t finish the dress she’s making me for the next big covered-bridge dance at Low if there is one I love that bell in St Martin’s steeple The sound of it When my father Frank McCrank pulls the rope on Sundays and special days or weddings or funerals you can hear the pretty sound of the bell all up and down the Gatineau River down to Low and up to Venosta and all along the tumbling farms And everybody hears it but not very many people know I’m named after it and what it’s saying when it rings Mary Ann Alice Mary Ann Alice I’m quite poetic I don’t mind saying My teacher Patchy Drizzle says I’ve the soul of a poet He wrote that on a story I handed in to him last spring I asked him would he not say that in front of the others because they’d tease me and he said he wouldn’t I told my mother though About having a poetic soul
She had a sad look on her for a minute and then it went away and she said Well the soul of a poet or not get yer pail and get out there There’s poetic cows to be milked and they’re waitin on ya I told my father My father too is poetic My father when he feels poetic he brings out his bugle and he walks down the river to the Paugan Falls you have to go for about two little valleys to get there and he plays his bugle to the thundering water there and you can hardly hear him the thunder of the water is so thunderous But it’s quiet up here at our farm You don’t really hear the roar of the falls But it’s there You don’t hear it but you do The way you listen to your heart at night in bed If you want to hear your heart you can But if you don’t well then just go on ahead and go to sleep and forget about it But the pretty church bell from St Martin’s you can hear Mary Ann Alice Mary Ann Alice Sometimes it’s carefree and happy like on Easter Sunday or for weddings and sometimes sad and muffled when somebody dies And something else you hear these days Something not so easy to understand It’s the rumors Everybody’s talking about something frightening and exciting Somebody’s going to build a dam Right here And the falls will disappear Can you imagine it It doesn’t seem believable How could it be possible That falls like the Paugan Falls would
just disappear But that’s what’s going to happen they say And I’m very worried about it And another thing The whole river’s going to come up The water will rise up How far up will it come Everybody says different Some say it won’t come up much at all Others say it will come up to your front door Others say those who read the Bible all the time that they’re going to build themselves an ark like Noah did and get in it and wait Eddy Lamarr says he’s going to build an ark up on top of Dizzy Peak which is on his land His wife Lizzie says he can build it all he wants but she’ll never get in it My father Frank McCrank says it’s just like in the Bible Noah in the Bible had a terrible time trying to get his wife Mrs Noah to get in and sit in his ark My father says Noah and what’s her name his wife hated each other because they both snored in their sleep How he knows this is beyond me I think he’s only pulling my leg My father likes to joke and tease Lots of people who like to joke and tease only do it to cover up how they’re not very smart themselves But my father does it because he likes you And he’s very smart as well as being poetic He studied engineering for a while before he came up the Gatineau to become a farmer He’s worried about the river rising too
2 Developments TODAY’S the day of the big church picnic Father Foley says it’s the last church picnic that will ever be held here at the falls All this’ll be under cement in a few months Everybody’s here and there’s so much to think about while I’m helping with the supper The tables underneath the trees are bending with the weight of what’s to eat There’s bees and wasps and butterflies and small birds fluttering over the food And there’s Mickey McGuire Jr over there working on the firewood for the stew pot hanging there I’m going to kiss Mickey McGuire Jr one day I don’t know when but I’m going to kiss him There’s small white clouds in the blue sky I’m excited but I don’t know why Something’s going to happen but I don’t know what And I almost feel afraid Patchy my teacher says poets always feel that way Excited and sort of afraid So much to think about The heat bugs are singing There’s grasshoppers arching You can sidespy them in the tall grass around and about the upper field Oh another thing I should tell you I’m developing very quick or so my mother says My father started for a while calling me Sprout I told him to stop it and he did My father’s a joker like I told you but he never goes too far He knows when to quit not like some around here
