Part 4 (1/2)

During that first year in school, one side of ht, especially when I laughed or smiled Half ofthere, doing nothing

The doctor prescribed some red medicine that Susie carried to school every day and poured solad it was a beautiful red color I don't believe I could have stood it if it had been brown

Anyway, I slowly got over most of et rid of the horrible picture my condition had printed on their liness I was born with a ”wen” in the corner of one eye next to my nose It was a lump about the size of the end of e I hen you measured the end of my thumb, and how much of my thumb you included in the measurement After all, how much of a thumb can you measure and still call it the end

At any rate, I was far fro of half my face

Not so with the rest of enerous as he was elegant, and he was a handsome man

Mama was a lovely woman I can reine how beautiful she must have looked to Will Johnson 15 years earlier When I was very young, I liked to watch her do her long hair up into one big plat, then coil it round and round on top of her head and pin it so it wouldn't come down

Frank was handsoe Susie was a good-looking girl However, all girls looked good to me-as they were supposed to Earl's presence would iroup of kids And Joel was downright pretty, that is, for a boy Although Albert and Williaer than I, and at times little more than pesky little brothers, still I could easily see that they both had so to be desired far above that which looked back at me from myI had ever seen until I becahtly wen stayed withI couldn't bear the looks of me in the mirror as I shaved So, one afternoon I drove over to the Staottable and then asked me if I wanted him to put me to sleep

I told hi to do toon me And when he had finished the operation, he sewed me up, stuck a patch over the place, and told me to let someone else drive me back to Hamlin But since it was only 22 miles, and since I had driven over there alone, and since there was no one to drivedoctors ever since

But, we're getting ahead of our story Let's get back to our younger days when my little sister was about two years old and she had two or three brothers ere not much older One of those brothers noticed, as most little brothers do sooner or later, that there was a difference in his and her ways of draining water

For exao, he would o around behind the sht play fireman up the side of the smokehouse wall Or le to survive

On the other hand, his little sister would squat and her dress would hide the entire operation But the day he becah to peep to see as taking place, he committed the unpardonable sin And it would have caused extreion of the lower hind part of that small boy if his mother had learned of what he had done What she would have done to hi price for a little boy to have to pay for a little knowledge that et caught That was the beginning of a lot of secret things that little boy did throughout his childhood-secrets he didn't share with anyone

We four boys went out together most of the time, both to work and to play But at the Exuo with us ent to play Her presence created a little probleood hiding place

I remember one day out in the pasture where there were no trees or bushes to hide behind, one of the smaller boys had to drain his water and he solved his problem in his oay He simply said, ”Ollie Mae, look the other way” She did, then he turned his back and minded his little business

In the fall of the year, we oftenbecause of so much cotton to be picked However, we didn't lose as much time from school as some of the families around us Many a tio to the cotton patch and pick for an hour or two and then go directly froo directly from school to the cotton patch, pick cotton until dark and then go ho breakfast or supper in daylight was a luxuryoften went on until spring and so in the spring in order to get the last of the cotton out of the field in ti

But our as not always hard field work So with Papa in the wagon to haul a load of wood, or hbor's

That kind of asSo some of us smaller ones would have to stay hoar stick candy locked in the botto us smaller ones on those occasions I really shouldn't call it bribery; rather, it was a consolation offered to us younger ones who had to stay hoon, it didn't hurt us soon a o, and ould accept it gracefully, since we all had to stay home But if one or two of the boys rode aith him, that was hard for us smaller ones to bear

But we couldn't throw a fit, because fits were not allowed in our family We just had to suffer the heartbreak in silence and a fair anity And as they would drive away, it see to us, ”Coet a stick of candy” And of course, that would help our feelings somewhat, bless our little hearts

Soet a stick of candy for staying hoer ones went down on the creek in Grand in water in our own pasture after suest and all It was understood that the oldest of the bunch was always the boss and had the responsibility for the safety and well-being of the entire party