The Tale of Mary McRainey

Ms. Mary McRainey had the most beautiful gardens in all of Southern Illinois , at least that's what all the tour books said. Mary had lived in Sand Creek for the last couple of years.Before that she had lived in an institute for the insane, but know one knew that. She had a nervous breakdown after her only son drowned in a fishing accident. And had spent two years in that horrible place, where one can only imagine the torment and torture you go through while there.

Her sister Ellen came to visit her one week -end and found Mary clean and dressed. That was the first time in her many visits to Mary that had happened.

" Ellen I am ready to go home." She said this to her sister very
solemnly.
Ellen didn't dare tell Mary that her husband had sold the house and left with another woman just a few months before. She waited until she got her home.

" Mary, I've got bad news, Evan has sold your home and left." Ellen's lip trembled.

"I know Ellen, I've known for a awhile. He ran off with Cheryl Miller. One of the kind nurses told me about it repeatedly." Mary's bitterness was quite evident as she spoke .
"I've lost everything Ellen, except for you." Mary sobbed quietly in her hands as Ellen wrapped her arms around her sister's slender shoulders.

The two sisters lived quietly together for 2 years when tragedy struck again. Ellen was killed in a car accident on the way home from work one night. Ellen had been the only family Mary had left in the world. Now she was totally alone...

Mary sold the house she and Ellen had shared and after the insurance had been collected she moved to a new city. Sand creek was 3 hours away from where she had lived with Ellen and no one knew her there and that's the way she wanted it.

That's when Mary began her gardens. It started as therapy for all the grief she had endured.She needed something to take her mind off the horrible sadness she felt on a daily basis.

Mary had a two story Victorian with 2 huge lots, and she completely filled them with plants. Not just any plants, but heirloom plants and exotic plants.

She also had the most amazing life like statues in various parts of the garden. Statues of people to be exact. When asked where she got her statues, Mary always replied that she had made them herself.



She had gotten on the garden tour just a year after moving to Sand Creek. During the tours Mary still felt a little lonely, but
when everyone would leave Mary always made a point of telling the statues good night. Because of course Evan and Cheryl were there, and the kind nurse who had taunted her relentlessly in the hospital. Those statues, so life like, so real.....

by Nita Barrow- Zimmerman

todays song...blue moon with heartache by roseanne cash