MY STORY.

I JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH PENNY AND SHE TOLD ME AUNT DARLEEN TOLD HER ABOUT THE MILK I HAD AS A BABY AFTER DR. ELLISON TALKED TO MOM THAT DAY. FOR SOME REASON AND WHEN I TALK TO DARLEEN AGAIN I'LL ASK WHY THE MILK HAD TO BE MADE INTO CLABBER AND HOW THEY FED THAT TO ME THEN I'LL LET YOU ALL KNOW ABOUT IT IF SHE REMEMBERS.

WELL ON WITH MY STORY. JACK ARRIVED IN AUGUST JUST BEFORE MY SECOND BIRTHDAY. HE WAS ALSO BORN IN THE "BIG HOUSE". I DON'T REMEMBER THAT EVENT AND BEFORE REBA CAME TWO YEARS LATER THE FOLKS HAD MORTGAGED EVERY THING TO BUILD THE HOME AND THE DEPRESSION WAS ON IT'S WAY. IN MOMS WORDS"THE MEAN OLD FEDERAL LAND BANK MEN TOOK OUR HOME AND EVERY THING AS THE CROPS DIDN'T PAY ENOUGH FOR THE NEXT PAYMENT" FROM THEN ON IF I SAW SOME ONE COMING I DIDN'T KNOW I'D IN MY CHILDISH MIND THINK IT MUST BE "THOSE MEAN OLD MEN AGAIN". FROM THEN ON LIFE WASN'T EASY FOR ANY OF US. THE FOLKS CLEANED UP THE LITTLE OLD HOUSE THEY HAD USED FOR A CHICKEN COOP AFTER THEY MOVED INTO THEIR NICE HOME. UNCLE JOE LET THEM PUT IT ON A PIECE OF HIS GROUND OVER BY THE TWIN GROVES SCHOOL. WE HAD SWINGS AND THE SLIDETO PLAY ON UNTIL THE SUMMERS GOT TO HOT. THAT WAS THE TWO THINGS IN THE SCHOOL YARD FOR THE SCHOOL CHILDREN AND WE WERE ALOUD TO PLAY THERE. MAYBE BECAUSE DAD WAS ONE OF THE SCHOOL TRUSTEE'S ARE MAYBE JUST BECAUSE WE DID IT. THERE WAS TREES ON THE DITCH BANK BETWEEN US AND THE SCHOOL YARD AND I WAS A REAL TOM BOY I COULD CLIMB AS HIGH AS MY TWO BROTHERS AND SWING DOWN LIKE TARSAN IF I WANTED. WE HAD A WAGON AND A CAT THAT WE DRESSED UP IN SOME OF THE WORN OUT BABY CLOTHES AND PULLED THE CAT IN THE WAGON AS WELL AS REBA. WHEN REBA WAS BORN I REMEMBER GOING OVER TO AUNT LEAH'S AND SEEING THE NEW BABY DAD LIFFED ME UP ON THE BED TO LOOK AT HER IN MOM'S ARMS. MY MEMORY HAS FAIDED AND THE NEXT THING I REMEMBER ABOUT REBA WAS ME BEING THE SCHOOL TEACHER AND TEACHING HER TO READ. SHE LEARNEDD A LOT BEFORE SHE WENT TO SCHOOL AND ENDED UP BEING A VERY GOOD STUDENT. SO I DIDN'T MESS UP HER PHSYCY TO MUCH.

WE HAD LOTS OF THINGS TO DO DURING THE YEARS WE LIVED BY THE SCHOOL HOUSE. THERE WAS A BIG INFLUX OF MAGPIES AND THE COUNTY AGENT PAID A PENNY FOR EACH EGG AND THREE PENNIES FOR THE MAGGPIE HEADS. BAKER AND JACK AND I WOULD GO TRYING TO ROB THE NESTS AND CATCH A FEW BIRDS. BAKER WOULD TAKE THE BOUNTY TO TOWN AND I DON'T REMEMBER EVER GETTING RICH FROM THAT JOB BUT IT GAVE US SOME THING TO DO . MY TREE CLIMBING CAME IN HANDY. SOME TIMES WE WOULD BE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE JOHNIE WOODFIELD HOME AND THEY HAD APPLE TREES WITH GREEN APPLES. WE I MUST SAY WERE NOT VERY GOOD CHILDREN AS THOSE APPLES HELD SUCH APPEAL TO US THAT WE BORROWED SOME NOW AND THEN WITH OUT PERMISSION BUT THEY WAS GOOD TO THE TASTE. SOME TIMES THEIR GRANDSON WAS HOME AS THEY LIVED WITH THE GRANDPARENTS AND HE WOULD COME OUT AND HELP US PICK AND EAT SOME OF THE APPLES. UP UNTIL HIS PARENTS MOVED TO CALIFORNIA WE ALWAYS HAD HIM HELP US. AFTER THAT BRO. WOODFIELD DIDN'T WANT US AROUND EATING HIS FRUIT SO HE'D YELL AT US IF HE CAUGHT US CLOSE. WHEN JACKIE CAME TO SCHOOL AND TOLD ALL OF US HE WAS MOVING TO CALIFORNIA I GOT VERY ANGRY WITH HIM AND WOULDN'T LET HIM SWING IN "MY SWING" ANY MORE. I THINK I WISHED WE WERE MOVING TO SOME EXOTIC PLACE ALSO.

WHILE IN SCHOOL EVERY CHRISTMAS WE PUT ON A SCHOOL PLAY. ALL 8 GRADES WOULD BE INCLUDED AND ONE YEAR IT WOULD BE ABOUT THE BIRTH OF THE SAVIOR THE NEXT IT WAS A SANTA SHOW. THE YEAR I WAS IN EIGTH GRADE THERE WASN'T ENOUGH BOYS TO TAKE ALL THE BOY PARTS SO I WAS ASK TO BE THE SANTA THAT YEAR. THAT WAS A LEADING PART BUT I WASN'T SURE ABOUT BEING SANTA. ALL THE FAMILY'S WHO ATTENDED TOLD ME I DID A GOOD JOB. THERE WAS A LOT OF MEMORIZING TO BE DONE AND OF ALL THINGS I HAD TO SING A SOLO WITH MY POOR VOICE. WE PRACTICED DURING SCHOOL HOURS AT THE SCHOOL TO LEARN OUR PARTS THEN HAD A COUPLE ARE MORE DRESS REHEARSALS AT THE CHURCH. BACK THEN WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY ONE DEMONSTRATING AGAINST CHURCH AND SCHOOL SO IT WAS DONE THAT WAY. OUR EIGTH GRADE GRADUATION WAS HELD IN THE WARD CHURCH ALSO. AND WHEN I GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL IN ST. ANTHONY WE USED THE OLD STAKE BUILDING. MY HOW WE'VE LET RADICALS TAKE OVER OUR GOD GIVEN RIGHTS.