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From May To December

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A serial fiction story for your enjoyment

written by James Rada, Jr.

1: Breakdown

Stacy Lawrence glanced anxiously from the dashboard to the winding road ahead of her, as the temperature needle steadily climbed. She had been a teenage mom, but now she was trying for a fresh start. The rising gauge reminded her, though, that you couldn’t always escape your past.

Raised in Gaithersburg, where the cost of living was skyrocketing, she had wanted to stay in the county for the good schools, hopeful that her son could get a good education. Unfortunately, COVID-19 cost her her job as a veterinarian assistant and apartment lease, forcing her to pack up the car and leave for some place affordable to live.

She and Peter headed out on an uncertain path, northwards. They drove north on Interstate 270, leaving Montgomery County. As she drove through Frederick, she took some side roads to explore towns on the map as a possible place to live.

However, she stopped in Catoctin Mountain Park, just to relax. She felt drawn to its beauty—it was like nothing was weighing her down. She and Peter hiked one of the trails up to a scenic overlook that took her breath away. She had seen nothing like this in Montgomery County.

 Once they were back in the car and driving further up the mountain, her car struggled. The engine sputtered, and the temperature gauge rose. Before long, the car came to a stop. Stacy had no one to call for help, and she wasn’t a member of AAA. She and Peter were stranded in the middle of nowhere. The scenic vistas and country setting no longer seemed so inviting. She did not know what to do, and the sun was setting.

Stacy sat on the side of the road, cursing her luck. She knew she should have gotten the car checked before leaving Gaithersburg, but she couldn’t afford it. She leaned her head back against the headrest, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She had been through worse than this. She was a survivor.

“It can’t be that bad, Mom,” Peter said.

She rolled her head to the side and looked at the 10-year-old. What should she tell him? He wasn’t dumb.

“Probably not. I just need to consider what to do,” she answered finally.

“We could walk back to the visitor’s center.”

“They closed at five o’clock.” Besides, she would rather not walk on the twisting road with narrow shoulders. A careless driver could easily hit them.

However, she knew they couldn’t stay here on the side of the road, either. It was getting dark, which would make the road that much more dangerous.

She turned to her son and said, “I’m going to walk further up the road and see if I can find a house. I’ll call you if I do, so don’t play games and run the battery down on your phone.”

“I can come with you.”

Stacy shook her head. “No, you stay here in the car with the doors locked. If anyone comes by, talk to them through the window. See if they know someone who can help us and call me.”

Peter nodded. “Be careful.”

She nodded and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Stacy got out of the car and started walking uphill on the road shoulder. She was hoping to find a gas station, but she would settle for a house where someone was home. All she saw were trees and rocks. Occasionally, a car passed, but none of them slowed to help her. They probably thought she was a hiker.

After a while, she saw a light in the distance. She could make out the silhouette of a farmhouse and hoped for a phone to call for help. As she trudged up the dirt driveway, chickens clucked and the smell of pork drifted from the porch, where a man sat in a rocking chair eating.

“Hello,” Stacy said. “Can you help me? My car broke down on the road, and I need to call a tow truck. I have no idea who to call.”

The man set down his sandwich and waved her forward. “Hope you haven’t been walking long on the road. It can be dangerous. Some idiots take the turns too fast, thinking it will get them into Thurmont faster.”

“I was nervous, but I didn’t see many cars.”

“Would you like something to eat? I make a great pork barbeque.”

Stacy shook her head. “No, thank you. I left my son in the car. I’d like to get back to him.”

The man wiped off his mouth. “Well, let me get my keys, and we’ll drive down and see what’s wrong.”

“Are you a mechanic?” Could she be that lucky?

The man chuckled. “You have to be a bit of everything around here. I can keep my tractor and truck running. If you don’t need new parts, I might be able to help.”

“Thank you, Mr. …”

“Hennessey. Robert Hennessey, but people call me Bobby.”

He opened the screen door, reached inside and grabbed his keys, which must have been on a hook next to the door.

“I’m Stacy Lawrence,” Stacy told him.

Bobby hopped off the porch. “Nice to meet you. Truck’s over here.”

They walked around the side of the farmhouse. Bobby’s truck was an older model, probably older than Stacy’s car, but she bet he kept his car maintained.

They climbed into the cab, and Bobby started the engine. He turned the truck around and headed toward the road.

“This looks like a nice farm,” Stacy said.

“It’s been in my family for generations, but that might change soon. I’m the last one left.”

“You don’t look that old.”

He smiled. “I don’t think I am, but there’s no next generation getting ready to take over. Truth is, I have thought about selling it.”

“Seems like that would be a shame.”

He shrugged. “Maybe, but I never planned on being a farmer. I was a financial consultant in D.C.”

“What happened?”

“My parents got COVID. I came back to take care of them, but then they died, and I wound up staying here.”

“You could sell it,” Stacy suggested.

“I could, but I feel an obligation to my parents to keep it going as long as I can.”

Stacy couldn’t imagine feeling that type of obligation to her parents. They had kicked her out of the house when they found out she was pregnant. She had moved in with Jason, Peter’s father, and they had lived in the basement of his parent’s home. They had moved out of there as soon as they could.

Bobby passed Stacy’s car and found a place to turn around. Then, he came up behind it and put his hazard lights on. They got out of the truck, and Stacy hurried over to make sure Peter was all right.

Bobby had her unlatch the hood, and he lifted it up to look inside. After a few minutes, he looked under the car.

He then stood up and shook his head. “I’m surprised you got this far in this heap.”

“That bad?”

“You’re dripping oil and have a leaking radiator. It also looks like a few other things are either ready to go or have gone. When was the last time you had this car serviced?”

“The last time I had enough money to do it, and that was a while ago.”

Bobby sighed and said, “Well, I’m sorry, but it’s not an easy fix. It will need to go into the shop.”

“For how long? I was heading to Harrisburg.”

“Given that it’s Friday, you won’t find anyone to look at it until Monday, probably.”

Stacy closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. She wanted to cry. How was she going to afford the repairs, plus the hotel?

Bobby called for a tow truck and waited until it came. Then he talked with the driver. He walked back to where Stacy and Peter waited, sitting on a hill beside the road.

“Jack says you can ride with him back to Thurmont. He’ll drop you off at the Super 8 Hotel. Tell them I told you they would give you their best rate. They’ll take care of you. Jack’s a good guy, too. I talked him into taking a look at the car tomorrow, but it probably won’t be until Monday at the earliest before your car is ready.” He paused and smiled. “Welcome to Thurmont.”

Owner of the Carriage House Inn Passes Away

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James Rada, Jr.

James “Pop” Hance worked for a few hours at the Carriage House Inn the day he died on December 30, 2018. He had given sixty years of his life to his businesses — the The Carriage House Inn Restaurant in Emmitsburg and the Gentleman Jim’s Restaurant in Rockville, Maryland.

When he and his then-wife JoAnn had bought the Cavalier Restaurant in Montgomery County in 1948 to open Gentleman Jim’s, it was a gamble. The Hances had seven children to support and both of them were working other jobs (Pop was a draftsman and JoAnn a waitress).

“He was a bit crazy, but he got a little inheritance from a great aunt, and they decided to buy the restaurant,” said Pop’s son, Joe Hance.

Their hard work paid off, and Gentleman Jim’s was a success. Then in 1980, the Hances decided that they wanted to open a Gentleman Jim’s in Emmitsburg, a place that they frequently visited.

The Emmitsburg Gentleman Jim’s didn’t do quite as well, and the Hances decided to change the restaurant’s theme.

“They decided to change the restaurant to a country inn after they went to an auction and bought the carriage that is out front,” said manager Kristy Smith.

The Hances spent the next three years converting Gentleman Jim’s into the Carriage House Inn. In the early years of the restaurant, the carriage was actually inside the restaurant. It opened in 1985, but business really began growing in 1990 as word spread about the great meals there. President Bill Clinton even dined there during a visit to the area.

“Pop had quick instincts,” Kristy said. “He knew what was right and what he wanted for the restaurant.”

When Pop died at Johns Hopkins Hospital on December 30 at age eighty-four, the staff took it hard. Many of them had worked for him for decades. They considered him family, which is why they called him Pop, and Pop considered them part of his family as well.

Born January 25, 1934, in Washington, D.C., Pop was the son of James and Dorothy Hance. He was the husband of Sharon A. (Alwine) Hance, to whom he was married for sixteen years. He was predeceased by his first wife, the late JoAnn (Cook) Hance, who passed in 1998.

Even after Pop retired from actively working at the restaurant, he would still come in. He had his preferred table (14) near the kitchen, where he would sit and sip a glass of wine.

“He loved to come in on weekends and listen to the piano player and put in his requests,” Kristy fondly recalled.

He enjoyed playing golf and vacationing at Myrtle Beach, where he delighted in feeding the ducks. “He would buy 50 pound bags of feed for them,” Joe said.

Pop loved spending time with his family, and was an avid fan of the Washington Nationals and the Washington Redskins.

Joe remembers his father had a great sense of humor and that Pop and JoAnn loved to dress up for Halloween.

Joe started commuting to Emmitsburg from Montgomery County to run the restaurant last March.

“I’m glad for that time,” expressed Joe. “I got to know him again during his last nine months.”

Pop was buried on January 4, 2019, at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Fairfield, Pennsylvania.

Skeeter the Goundhog, an Unlikely “Pet”

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James Rada, Jr.

Having a groundhog as a pet wasn’t part of Harold Long’s plan when he took up the hobby of trapping groundhogs and selling them over ten years ago while working a dairy farm.

Trapping them has helped curb the damage that the groundhogs—considered rodents—can cause to farmland, crops, and farm equipment. It also serves to meet a demand for the consumption of the meat that is a common practice in some cultures.

“Some people came up from Montgomery County and asked if we had any groundhogs,” Long said. “I didn’t. I didn’t have time to be trapping them.”

The idea stayed with him, though, and when he retired from the dairy farm, he decided to start trapping groundhogs. He now has twenty-five traps in Thurmont, Woodsboro, and Walkersville, that he checks twice a day. Last year, Long caught three hundred sixty-one groundhogs.

He has eight clients to whom he sells the groundhogs. The customers travel to Thurmont from Montgomery County just to buy groundhogs. They will buy ten to twenty groundhogs at a time from Long.

His customers use groundhog meat in recipes. Their meat can be used in any recipe calling for small game, and in many other wild game recipes, too. Groundhogs are vegetarians and their meat is considered tender and tasty. However, groundhogs have a scent gland (as do rabbits and raccoons) that needs to be removed as soon as possible to keep from tainting the meat.

A side benefit of Long’s trapping is that gardens near the areas where Long places his traps are free from at least one invader. Harold Long was trapping groundhogs last year when he caught a nice-sized female that he thought his customers would like.

“I took her out, and three little ones came out of the hole after,” Long said. Long took pity on the cubs. They would have died without their mother. Young groundhog cubs are dependent on their mother for at least six weeks.

Long fed the cubs milk from a syringe and, when they got older, grass and ginger snaps. He kept them in a cage in the house. Two of the cubs eventually died, but the third one had a strong will to live and survived.

Long named him Skeeter, and he is now his “pet.” Skeeter sleeps in a cage when he’s in the house, but he is usually in the barn. Long built the groundhog a fort in the barn, where it could hibernate through the winter.

“He will stand on my leg and wait for me to pet him,” Long said. “I’m the only one he will go to. He’ll snap his teeth if anyone else gets close to him.”

Even when Skeeter is in the barn, he will come to Long because he knows that Long is the one who raised him and still feeds him.

Having a groundhog as a pet is not recommended in general. Though they appear cuddly and cute, they are wild animals and they will take action to protect themselves when they feel threatened.

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Harold Long and Skeeter the groundhog.

Courtesy Photo

Catoctin Breeze Vineyard & Winery Offers Award-Winning Wines in Thurmont

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James Rada, Jr.    

catoctin breeze 2The Thurmont area is perfect for growing grapes that then can be turned into fine wines, and Alicja and Voytek Fizyta have the awards to prove it.

Over the past five years, the wines of Catoctin Breeze Winery have earned thirty awards at shows like the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association Wine Competition and Winemasters Choice Competition.

“The soil here is perfect,” said Alicja Fizyta. “It is absolutely like it is supposed to be, though because it’s stony, a farmer wouldn’t take it for free.”

The soil also contains limestone and other minerals. These minerals are absorbed by the grapes and give them a unique taste.

“It’s all about the grapes,” Alicja said. “You can use the same recipe in different places, and the wines will taste different because the grapes pick up the nutrients in the soil.”

The stony soil also forces the grapevines to send their roots deep into the ground in search of water, creating a stress on the vines that produces grapes of richer flavor.

Alicja and her husband Voytek lived in Montgomery County, but after their children grew up and moved out on their own, they decided to start making wine.

“We decided that we wanted a change of lifestyle, and we had always enjoyed drinking wine with friends,” Alicja said.

They started taking classes and reading books about wine making. They established Catoctin Breeze Vineyard in 2010 in Thurmont when they planted two acres of grapevines. They made their first harvest in 2012. They have also planted another two acres of vines, which were harvested this year for the first time. They now have about 8,000 vines growing.

“We also have a sister vineyard in St. Mary’s County that grows grapes that we don’t have here,” said Alicja.

Catoctin Breeze Winery expects to bottle between 1,200 and 1,500 cases of varietal wines, blended wines, and meads this year under their three labels. The Butterfly Series offers cabernet franc, chardonnay, Syrah, rose, and viognier wines. The Musical Series offers chardonnay, Riesling, Vidal Blanc, Bordeaux blend, petit verdot, and merlot. The Mead Series offers amber, dolce vita, and honeymoon.

“The secret to good wine is to have minimal intervention,” Alicja said. “The wine goes through filtration, but we don’t add artificial flavors.”

It’s a recipe that is paying off as appreciation of Catoctin Breeze’s unique wines grows. In 2011, the vineyard won four awards for its wines. This year, Catoctin Breeze Winery earned eleven awards, including a Best in Show-Reds Award at the Winemasters Choice Competition for its 2013 Adagio Petit Verdot.

While running a vineyard has turned out to be a lot more work for the Fizytas than they expected, they very much enjoy meeting the people who come to enjoy their wines.

“We want to make good wine and meet new people,” Voytek said.

Catoctin Breeze is currently building a permanent tasting room to accommodate its growth. You can visit the winery for tastings, tours, and the purchase of the wines. You can also purchase the wines online or at local retailers.

Wine Tasting and Vineyard Tours are Monday through Thursday, 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.; Friday, 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. and 5:00-8:30 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 12:00-5:00 p.m.

Catoctin Breeze Vineyard & Winery is located at 15010 Roddy Road in Thurmont. Contact them at 240-449-0677 or by email at info@catoctinbreeze.com.