Annie “Nana” Davis was always sort of scary in Nilé’s opinion. During the summer months, she and her sister Eden were sent off to Nana’s home in Trappe, Maryland and left to live the “country life” for a few weeks.

Her house was off the road a bit. A large lawn split down the center by a walkway would greet them. Having lived in the city all her life, Nilé was amazed by the country smells. Sweet and pleasant floral aromas of Nana’s garden could suddenly be interrupted with frightening and pungent odors that the nearby woods would send just by taking one step in any given direction. Whenever their car would stop, strange insects would crawl up the doors forcing Nilé to compromise her fresh air by rolling up the window.

As soon as Daddy turned off of the highway, the road dissolved into dirt. Small pebbles would attack the side of the car announcing their arrival, and seemed to voice their distrust of his foreign northern car with loud clicks and prattles. The old dog down the road would howl for a few minutes then lumber on back to a porch to host the flies and spiders left scurrying around when he ran off. Two wild cherry trees greeted Eden and Nile´. They imitated identical twins with the only real distinguishing difference being the direction in which their branches leaned. Most of the time the trees would be pregnant with tiny dark cherries whose branches would hang wearily over parts of Nana’s porch or broken down fence.

Once Daddy’s horn was recognized, Nana would step out onto a white wooden porch flanked by sturdy tall backed swings. Eden and Nilé would scramble to claim the swing that hung evenly as their own, but Eden being the older and stronger of the two always won the one that hung evenly. Daddy would fuss “They ain’t no different! All I have to do is pull up one or two of the links and that swing will be straight!” But he never did, hence the battle went on for years.

Nana wasn’t one to reach out her arms and beg for hugs. More than likely, she was drying off her hands from cleaning greens or snapping beans and would be anxious to get back to her station, but obligated to come out and talk. “Hey there!” she’d holler. Momma would walk her back to the kitchen and Daddy would bring in the luggage. After Eden and Nilé had their share of swinging, they would ease into the kitchen to see what Nana had for them. If they arrived in the morning, it was fried corn, cut fresh off the cob with bacon and fried tomatoes. Homemade biscuits dripping with butter were stacked on a nearby plate and Nana would bark “If you’re gonna’ eat, EAT!” Then she’d push the plates toward her great-grands and try not to smile.

The house she lived in was built by her and her husband. It was huge to Nilé who was used to living in a row house. It had a living room and a parlor. The girl’s bedroom was crisp and neat. White eyelet curtains with a sharp crease ironed through the center of each panel adorned the window bottoms while the tops remained free. The wallpaper (tight and brown in the corners of the room, with not very friendly faded flower buds) greeted the girls with a dry country familiarity. Fresh white linens with a faint smell of the back yard woods were there to offer a little cheer, and though the room was large and smelled of cedar chips, it was always a welcomed sight. The hard wood floors were covered with faded rag rugs and there were two cast iron vents in the corners that when opened allowed the heat from the kitchen to flow through the room. The bed stood high with a stool by it. Tall mahogany posts surrounded the girls as they slept. Eden loved the posts, as they made her feel like a princess. Nilé loathed them saying they made her feel caged in. Across the room, in the center of the dresser there was a white porcelain bowl with a matching pitcher placed inside. By morning, the pitcher was filled with hot water. A large brown bar of rough textured soap and two white washcloths and towels sat next to the bowl. Because Nana’s day would begin around 5:00AM, the girls woke up to the smell of fried chicken or pork chops and gravy. Nana would cook dinner early in the morning when the house was cool. By the time they had washed up in the porcelain bowl, hot grits with pancakes and a pork chop or two were being dished out for two little girls and Nana was hollering upstairs: “If ya gonna eat…come on an’EAT!” Nana worshipped Eden and Nilé but never let on, often times mumbling under her breath “Them chilren’ just rotten to the core!” Eden and Nilé figured at best that Nana simply tolerated them.

The entire Davis property was theirs to roam, from the cornfield across the road to the woods which they called “the forest” behind the house. Nana knew that they would not venture toward the woods because it had a smell that frightened them. The only thing off limits was the back stairs. Nana warned countless times that if she ever caught one of them on them she would “Whup on their tales like they was a mule!” But the threat alone could not keep either of the girls from exploring them, an intricate labyrinth with hallways and hidden doors, all of which eventually lead to a small cave about 500 feet away from the house. Eden and Nile had only seen it once when Daddy took them. It was dark and foul smelling. Neither of them had to be told to stay away from the cave, but the back stairs seemed to call them…