The Pecan Tree

The next year we move to farm a little closer to 84 east. That was the year I started school. I hated it too. Mama would try everything to get me on that school bus. I would finally tell her " I will go today but I am not going to tomorrow". We had a Dodge car, a big black one. My brother Bud (Johnnie) would take me riding in it. I had a yellow and black shirt and it had long sleeves. I would hang my arm out so everyone could see my new shirt. We also had a barn and two mules. There were some big shrubs in front of this house and we had a porch. We had a dog and his name was Big Dog. I don't know who named him that. One day I got a stick in my finger, and my sister Betty got it out on the front porch. She told me to rub it in my hair and I wouldn't get another one. There were some big pecan trees across the road from this house. M.C. had a limb that he would lay down on in one of the trees and it would look like he was laying on a bed. We would also go over there and play. We would take spoons and start digging a hole as long as our arms were. M.C. said we were digging a hole all the way to China. I always believed everything he said because he was older. ( Guess I still do) I remember my mama would catch the bus in Pansy and ride it to Dothan to take care of her mother that was dying of cancer. Sara and me would go with her. I don't remember much, except that we would be standing by the road and she was holding Sarah until the bus came. Sometime daddy would get drunk and pass out on the porch and mama would be mad. I remember riding a wagon to Ashford to take a bail of cotton to the gin and it would be late when we got home. I would go to sleep in the back of the wagon. Daddy would buy oil sausage, hoop Cheese and crackers on the way home.The family thought they were steak. Sara made up a song called "Sara Welch and Ester Griffin" They were friends of Betty's. She would sing it all the time. I got my first tricycle that year at Christmas, at that house, it was red and white.I remember we had a smoke house where we kept meat. Daddy would take me to Tolars store and I would get a R.C. and some crackers. The drinks were kept in a box with ice on then, I don't know if there was electricity or not.