meet me in outerspace

I remember when I used to like green peppers. Raw, cooked whatever. It didn’t matter to me as long as we were “up north”. Up north was Montello, WI. My uncle and father had purchased a couple of acres of land and built a building in a couple of weeks. This building was really a garage, or would be when the real house was built. But for two summers, it served as the cabin. My uncle pretty much lived up there and my aunt, who was still working and not yet in a wheelchair, would come up on weekends. My sisters and I were always excited to learn we would be spending the weekend with my dad there. During the day, my sister and I spent most of it at the lake, fishing, swimming, or canoeing. At night we would have the required campfires and I would always get scared whenever my dad mentioned the demon bats. They had red eyes and they sat in the treetops waiting for a little child to wander away. I made sure to walk a straight path from the cabin to the fire and back if I ever had to move. The night would end around 2 and everyone would retire to the cabin to sleep on bunk beds and pull out couches. In the morning, my uncle and dad were usually already gone fishing by the time I woke up, but my aunt would be there getting ready to make breakfast. My sister and I would help out (breaking eggs was my favorite part) but I always had to cut the peppers for the omelets. I insisted for a long time that I did not like peppers (I never actually tried one) and didn’t want to have to cut them, but my aunt always made me. She said she would stop making me as soon as I tried one. Well, I finally did, and I didn’t hate it. In fact, it was pretty darn good. I didn’t mind cutting the peppers after that cause I would end up eating them as I went.

As all good things, the fun times in Montello had to stop. My family all moved to Colorado, the house was built (so there was no more cabin, just a garage) and eventually my uncle became an alcoholic and my aunt got a divorce. Sometime in between all that, I started to not like green peppers again, this time because of experience.