Part 5 (2/2)

”How do you make those beautiful decorations on it later?”

”How do you weave a carpet on Grand a lot of these goings-on while the other kids were so whatever they liked to do And Mama and Papa were never too busy to answer my questions I realize no much more I could have learned if I had only kno and when to ask more questions

It seems that my parents favored and petted me at times I'm not sure they did If they did, perhaps it was because they felt sorry for their little ugly duckling And ined they were especially nice to me Maybe they were that nice to everyone Perhaps they were nice to me just to have me around handy when they needed me to help them just a little bit

This latter see sohout ht be possible that they were partial to me on account of the wen, and later on, my paralysis-these factors coupled with the fact that within the last four years along about the time I was born, they had suffered the loss of a two-year-old son, a teek-old daughter, Mah, and Grandpa Johnson

Who canparents as they view their newborn child for the first time, anxious to knohether he or she is beautiful and healthy and without blemish

And who knows the anxiety of parents who, after seeing their child with blemish, must wonder how his condition will affect his relationshi+p with others, hoill affect his outlook on life, and whether it roorse and shorten his days

CHAPTER 4

SOCIAL LIVING; LOVING, LISTENING, LEARNING

There were soto be unable to keep the about so habits and our little family custolected Iup to date

Oh, yes! I had a sweetheart Her name was Gladys, and I must tell you about her

You see, e moved to the Exum farm, I was a little boy barely five years old But then, e had lived there a year and a half, I was no longer just a little kid I was getting to be a big boy, six and a half and going on seven And an to hear about sweethearts Susie was thirteen and was just the very one to explain it to ly, ”A sweetheart is a chicken heart baked in molasses”

But seriously, what she explained about sweethearts a like this, ”Sweethearts are one boy and one girl about the saether and like to do things together He is her sweetheart and she is his sweetheart”

Now the Flints, who had irls and we all played together The one I liked best was Gladys She was just o play together So, when I learned what sweethearts were, I knew for a fact that Gladys was ether

Of course, I didn't tell anyone, not even Gladys I didn't feel any differently toward her We just went right on playing together as we had been doing But I had this newly acquired knowledge that she was my sweetheart

No more than I knew or could understand about it all, I wondered why boys and girls had sweethearts at all They were just like other boys and girls except they were your own age

I never heard of any parents who objected to their older boys and girls having sweethearts and dating (In those days we called it ”going together”) But in our iovern their behavior

The ”good” people in our coirls to dance So, there were no dances in our neighborhood because there were no faood” Instead of dances we had parties Many a Friday night soive a party These parties were always fao to the parties alone Their parents took therown-ups took part in ames they played They were ”snap” and ”cross questions and crooked answers” There were many others but I can't recall them just noas only eleven e moved out of that community, and we never had such parties at any place we lived after that

One night at one of the parties, Frank's girl ”snapped” irl-friends as we do today, just ”Girls”) But I was so timid I just backed away like the bashful country kid that I was She told theot ”stood-up” and would have to pick someone else