Part 28 (2/2)
”What was so special about it, Mama?”
”Folks told that Mrs. Goode baked five different layer cakes, and then she thought that wouldn't make a big enough show. So, at the last minute, just before Ollie brought his bride home, she dashed in and iced three stacks of corn bread to make them look like three more layer cakes sitting on the sideboard!”
”Sure enough, Mama?” Gertie asked.
”That's what they told on Mrs. Goode. She does like to put on the dog whenever there's any sort of a to-do.”
”Now, Mama, you can't talk about infares,” Walker said. ”You fixed quite a dinner yourself the day y'all welcomed Anna into the family. Remember? You had enough grub cooked up for a log-rolling?
”It was nice,” Anna told Mama.
”Aw, I'm afraid it wasn't much!”
”Walker, is Lucille anybody I've met over here?”
”No, Anna, you don't know her. She's a girl Old Man Hawk and his wife raised. She's their niece. Mama, did Lucille and Ollie have their wedding at Mister Hawk's house?”
”Why, no. They were just like nearly all the other young couples around Drake Eye Springs. One preaching Sunday they come driving up to the church in Ollie's buggy. It was right after services. And they didn't even step down outta the buggy. Folks who hadn't already gone home lingered around 'cause they saw something was up. Both Lucille and Ollie were dressed fit to kill. As soon as the preacher came outta the meeting house, he took his stand by the side of the buggy and started the ceremony.
It didn't last two minutes! He just had Lucille and Ollie join right hands and repeat the 'I will's.' He then p.r.o.nounced them man and wife, and that was the end of it. As soon as Ollie could hand the license papers to the preacher, he gave his old horse a slap with the reins, and off they went!”
Dorris pulled his chair over closer to the corner where Clyde was sitting. ”You just oughta've been here for their s.h.i.+varee, Clyde! Man, we made enough racket to wake the dead!”
”Yeah?”
”We didn't s.h.i.+varee 'em till they moved out to themselves.
Old Ollie thought we'd forgot 'em.”
”Who all was in on it?”
”Oh, me and Bess and Jim-Bo and Hi and Casey and the Hansen girls-the whole gang of us young folks. And we took along everything we could lay our hands on: cow bells, washtubs, five or six syrup buckets with rocks in 'em! Captain Jones even let us borrow that fife and bugle of his!”
”Don't forget that I was blowing Papa's hog-calling horn!”
”Yeah, Bess had that steer horn Papa's got. Man, we nearly scared the daylights outta Ollie and Lucille! They admitted the next day that they thought the world was coming to an end!”
”Y'all sure enough surprised 'em?”
”And how! See, we waited till about nine o'clock that Sat.u.r.day night, when we knew they'd be sound asleep. Me and Jim-Bo and Hi climbed up on the roof with the washtubs and hammers while the rest of the boys and all of the girls were easing their way up through the hall. Then, when Jim-Bo let out the whoop, we all cut loose! Wow! What a din!
”We heard Lucille scream! Next minute, Ollie came running out in his nights.h.i.+rt! Then they saw who it was. As soon as they could pull on some clothes, we all went in. We stayed and stayed.
I reckon it was nearly midnight when we left, wasn't it, Bess?”
”Yes, Lucille cooked us so much ham and battercakes and stuff it took a long time to eat it all up.”
”Did y'all ride Ollie on a rail?”
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