Part 25 (1/2)

Larry had a regular baby bed and he also had this habit of never going to sleep without his bottle Even when Larry woke up during the night, Iet his bottle and then try to rock hi at Lockheed, we stopped all that ht fixture in thepull-cord that would hang loosely across Larry's bed and I tied it to the far corner of his bed He could reach the cord easily while lying on his back in bed Then I put two of his bottles in two corners of his bed, down by the oing to sleep and the other was for going back to sleep after he woke up during the night

Hebecause he listened well as I explained it all to hiht before he finished his bottle, and hoave his hand sideways to find the light cord in the dark, how to get his second bottle when his first one ran empty, and how to be quiet and not wake ht I wouldto sleep You can go to bed when you want to” Most of the ti in the floor I often woke up with hiht on, but not one tione to sleep And he never cried

Larry was 18 o some place, he didn't fool around He didn't walk, he ran He learned to run about the same time he learned to walk At our trailer court he was known as Cyclone Johnson

During the summer of 1944, by correspondence, we made a deal with Uncle Ji about e should be getting back to Texas Benny Carriker was living on the far the farm, he wrote that he wanted to move to town by the first of September and we could move onto the place at that time So we loaded up and ust But we didn't hurry right straight back to Royston

We reasoned that we ain and I wanted to see a part of Death Valley I had read quite a bit about it and it fascinated me So we drove about three hundred miles out of our way that trip just to see the valley But e ca season in Death Valley was in winter tiust it was really a valley of death and almost void of people, especially tourists-and ain

At least ere not bothered with traffic And since ere about the only ones using the road, and since there were so downhill slopes, and since Dennis had his bicycle in our trailer, he wanted to ride it down at least one of those long slopes So we got his bicycle out and he got on it and he must have coasted for n that read, ”Next sevenup out of Panaas line I could blow hard into the gas tank and blow gas into the carburetor Then the oing up the hill, the carburetor would be eain

Noe had quite a few tools in the car and I always carried soood supply of survival items was a ”must” with me I was sure I would need theood place to use soas tank cap, cut a valve stem out of an old inner tube and fitted it into the hole Then Dennis sat in the back seat with a tire puas cap He puht on up out of the valley without anyand we had noaway Even today I still carry a good supply of old tire tubes, valve steths of rubber hose, and plenty of hay wire

We stopped for gas at Stovepipe Wells and the man there seemed to think ould rees I've seen it hotter than that in Phoenix and they thought nothing of it

We arrived at Royston only to find that Benny Carriker had changed his mind He wanted to stay on the farm until the first of the year, and of course we couldn't move in So, nohat? It would be four et possession of the farm So we moved in with Maht just about anything would do for fourwall boards I worked just one day at the mill, the hardest work I had done in years

When the alar all over the place It took me about five seconds to decide what to do Of course I had been thinking quite a bit about it before The rain merely pushed me over the line of decision

The road was not paved from Hamlin to the mill It would be a mess every time it rained What'sboxes in California So I shut off the alaro back to sleep I to get soht I was crazy

Well, I sort of agreed with Iether This job would just barely pay for rent and groceries Out e could live on halfagain But this time I had an additional probleasoline ration coupons And when I went to the ration board in Hamlin, the lady told et gas coupons to go sooing to have trouble convincing her But I told her the whole story I really spread it on thick and ht I did I told her I kneas needed on the fared hisnor my fault that I couldn't move onto the farm I couldn't help it And noas needed in ork in Burbank

After all as coupons”

Well, I could see that I was getting nowhere with the lady I figured I had to change ing and pleading with her, and with a littleto California and I aet theas to make the trip, and if you will just issue me the coupons it will save et on out there faster and get on the job sooner”

Well, I could hardly believe as I needed I told her and she gave ain

If all A the war, I knoould have lost to the enemy

Ima cried off and on all the way out there this trip It had been hard to find a place to live the first time She just knee couldn't find a place this tie people But I wasn't going to settle for being just average I knew there was a place for us to live soet busy and find it

When we finally got to California, we heard the same story everywhere we tried, ”No vacancy” Real estate firo fishi+ng and don't catch a fish the first hour, you don't just lie down and cry; you fish soot to be a fish soo find him

After a few hours of the sae apartment for rent”

The lady asked, ”Do you have children?”

I replied, ”Yes, three”