I wont wear shoes again but to church and such till school starts back in August. Its summer time. Around 1951, 52, 53. What to do first?? Maybe I’ll go pin hook fishing from the old oak bridge, or maybe I’ll go get Connie Gene and play cowboys and indians, or I could run through the woods riding saplings down and having great fun, or probably the creek needs damming up first, Or I could go out and lay down in the tall hay field and look at the carolina blue sky and dream of playing for the yankees, or maybe I’ll go over to the Shooks house and trade for her funnybooks (I hardly ever had any new ones but she always did and never mentioned it was mostly a one way deal), then I could sit on the high front porch and read every page including the ads over and over, The Lone Ranger. Silver , his horse stories, Lash Larue, Jughead, Archie and Veronica, Superman-able to leap over tall buildings in a single bound—and Hopalong, Roy, Cisco and Pancho and on and on…
Which will I do first? Maybe go tease Cons bull again till I get scared. Uh oh, gotta do chores first. Cut some kindling out of the chestnut we got off the mountain behind the house, split some stovewood and fill the wood box. Feed the chickens and get any eggs, and at times do damage to the occasional black snake in the hen house, Carry slop to the hog or hogs—now that was a chore, the hogpen was in the woods and to get the slop bucket there was work,,I would get me a stick and scratch their backs and I believe they loved me–they would grunt and squeal, and I guess that was why It was sad when the 22 went off at hog killing time–but those tenderloins and biscuits for dinner soon erased my anxiety. Oh, Lordy, its wash day. Gotta pump the tubs and washer full. Ide pump with both hands and it was a chore,..Then wash the clothesline-twice-not washing it one time got me a switching for the ages, so now i had to wash it twice. Crime does not pay–Then help carry and hang out and take in. Lordy I can hear the creek gurgling my name. I gaurantee you it was a prettier sound than a phone or tablet or some game starting up…Finally we finish up or so I thought, Now got to go in the garden and pull weeds and be so careful not to step on anything,,,! cant remember my two sisters ever doing anything..But I know they swept, and cleaned and helped with the washing. They learned to sew and to cook. My Lordy they washed their hair and combed and brushed all the time..And they were always looking in the mirrors,.. Enough to make a little boy sick. And they even kept their shoes polished and shined up, and white socks rolled down-disgusting stuff, all that primping…Finally I’m flying down the hill to the creek and let the adventure begin. I’ve decided to shoot water snakes laying on those limbs with my beanshooter–1 can’t ever remember killing any but I knocked-scared a lot off those limbs ! figure I’ll stay down
55 here as long as possible, I heard mom say to leave the tub on the porch. That meant her baby boy Jack was gonna have to wash his “rusty’ feet…..Sometime in the late evening Mom would come to the back porch and yell ‘Its supper time’ or ‘time to come in’…We would sit at the old wooden table and perhaps dad would tell about him and George Suttles gettin behind an AC unit at the Enka plant and eating lunch, and having a prayer meeting right there, or mom might mention quilting with some neighbor ladies, and commenting the beans were almost ready to pick, or she might need some more mason jars this year,.,my sisters might talk about boys and school. they said they couldn’t wait for school to start back–how disgusting is that?–Especially at the dinner table–Then I might tell dad about the crayfish I caught or the hogsucker, or about the snake in the hen house…….It was family time–no phones, tablets, I-pads or TV We had each other and didn’t realize how important that was. I rode around some last Saturday and began to notice and look for kids outside playing. You know how many I saw? One littl e girl on a bicycle. No baseball or basketball, no horseshoes, no tag, or hide and seek, no hopscotch–nothing…….technology has come a long way and we have seen tremendous things since the 40s. I’m just not sure its all that great for families. oh well , I can still dream. Think I’ll stay in my old canoe on the rivers of my memories and go out on the porch and dream once more of throwing a 100 MPH fastball and playing for the Yankees with Mantle, Ford, Martin and the rest….You be blessed this day and every day, you hear me?????”