INTERVIEWING MRS. WILKINSON: The Place

My sister and me managed pretty well, and there weren’t any family around, so they let us stay on in the house. I’ve been here ever since. Married Arthur when I was seventeen, and he farmed a bit with me when he wasn’t logging, but he didn’t last too long. Stepped on a nail and got blood poisoning. Never had time to have a baby, and never wanted another man, after Arthur.

My sister left here right after Gram died, went out west and never came back. I hear she’s dead now, too.

I’ve kept things up pretty well, I’d say, like Gram did. Still have hens, the flowers, and pumpkins and beans and that. I spend all summer out in the yard. I don’t like winter so much. The house feels cramped then, what with the imps and all, but I keep busy, keep things tidy. Gram would have wanted it that way.