Part 26 (2/2)

”You're wrong, woot two iceboxes”

I don't knohat they ever did with the old box, but I'm sure he didn't let it bother hiin, the house in which we stored our cotton was about 30 or 40 steps away fro into the cotton house was on the far side, away from the office The door opened to the outside, and the V-space behind the open door made a nice little outhouse for men, who, for any reason at all, preferred not to walk the long distance to the two- holer when all they wanted to do was stand and drain a load of water against the cotton house wall

One day I was up in a far his cotton into the cotton house when Clarence Clark came out from the office and stood half hidden, his front half that is, behind the afore rid of excess waste water Whereupon, I seized the opportunity to play a practical joke on this practical jokester, Mr Clark

I went to the back of the trailer, leaned out over the tailgate so I could see around the corner of the cotton house and, looking toward the office, I said in a loud voice, ”No, o”

Of course, I was only pretending There wasn't a woman within a half-mile But, you know, my performance did exactly what I had hoped it would do, only more so In a fraction of a second, Clark had put away his drainer before he had time to stop the floater I could tell by the way he stepped out fro place that dampness was already down beyond his socks and into at least one shoe Then in about three seconds, when he realized what I had done to him, he looked up at me and said, ”Johnson, I'll kill you for that” But he didn't And I'ot a bath and put on dry clothes

Now, changing the subject, Anita came home from School one day and asked, ”Daddy, why is it that, when kids at school tell a joke or a story, the goofy guy in the story is always naood answer to give her, and I still can't

During those years on the Royston farm, itnessed the advent of cattle auction sales in our part of the country, and of course they led to other little happenings I ht about here

From our home it was only 30 miles to Sater and 50 ether had at least three cattle sales a week I was sitting at one of those sales one day, waiting for the cows to start selling, when they began selling a lot of odds-and-ends prior to selling the cattle

There are tiination Some of the items I have seen sell at such tioats, six banta rooster, three quart-bottles of screor size hound pups, and many others

Well, on this particular day, I was just sitting there being bored when suddenly here coot off to a slow start and didn't speed up an awful lot This gavedirection True, he was a good-looking ani, just the horse forwas, ”If he's all that good, why isn't he bringing ured out the answers just about the time I made the final bid on the old horse I think everyone there that day, except ht him back to sell to somebody like me, someone who had not owned hi week Only I didn't take him back to the sale, I sold him to a cow-buyer who didn't know him And he took hi had only reached 20 when I offered 2250 But just as I announcedtold me I shouldn't have And since no one would raise my bid to 25, nor to 24- not even to 23, I found myself with a horse I wasn't quite sure I wanted I really think the owner had bid the 20 and waited for a sucker like me to raise his bid

But at hohbor's place and caood report He said the horse was lively, spirited, and altogether well behaved I was beginning to feel better about my purchase, until a few days later when Anita tried the new horse

Now, I'ether sure she really wanted to ride the horse It ht have beenI do know for certain, it wasn't Ima's idea However, there Anita was, up on the horse in our front yard, when the wind began flopping her neck scarf And that hen the old horse began to co to keep his front end fairly quiet and close to the ground, but his hind end kept bouncing up and down, getting higher and higher until Anita landed on the ground right by his front feet That's e learned that anything waving or flopping drove the horse crazy andpatriotic horse

Thethe hard hen his hat alrab it He said he barely ot off as soon as the horse stopped bucking, and walked him to the barn Next day he took the horse to the cow sale and auctioned him off

Fortunately, Anita's fall off the horse didn't hurt her, but it sure scared Ima And now, 40 years later, she still tells people how foolish I was for letting Anita get on the horse But I say, ”Why shouldn't she have ridden any horse she wanted to? After all, she was thirteen years old, and has been riding horses and cows for twelve years”

I to rear her children correctly- protect theood ht of all this brings to memory the tiht, fell off the seat and broke her collar bone Now, the way I see it, thehorses and stay away fro his talk, sit on the floor

There seees When I orking at Carriker's river far time, Calvin toldand ride him over to the river farm

I asked, ”Why not haul him in my trailer as I come to work?”

Calvin said, ”He has never been in a trailer, can't get him in one”

It was a six-o that far on foot when he could just as well ride So, nextI hauled him over in my trailer and Calvin was surprised He wondered how I loaded the horse