Barbara and I have spent the last two weeks going over and proofing my book, Spreading Wing. Four hundred pages worth. It should be ready for sale on amazon.com in America and Europe in December 2012. I hope you enjoy it!
Meeting Her Family and Milking Goats - A two part story
I met Barbara at the Delta Dip in Dumas, home of the Ding Dong Daddy. I knew immediately I wanted to marry this girl. But, I had this problem. I just could not talk to a girl I really liked. Well, Barbara was so fun, outgoing, bubbly and pretty, she just brought out the real me. I managed to set up a date with her for the next week. The time was January, 1966.
Following her
directions, I headed for Watson Saturday night. I had misgivings. It
was a well known fact at A&M, twenty-five miles away, that a
young man just did not venture into Watson, alone, after dark. Watson
had three or four really bad young dudes, they loved to fight, and
they were good at it. I slunk down in the seat as I drove down Main
Street, well, actually, THE street. It was dark, but not nearly dark
enough. Watson was like an old western town. In fact, at least one
old western movie was made there. I couldn't help but remember all
the men I had seen die in the street of just such a place, in the
movies. Well, I made it through town, breathing easier, and headed
for her house, out a winding gravel road three miles through the
cotton fields.
When I arrived,
Barbara invited me in. I thought the whole family must be there, but
no. I just barely scratched the surface of the Dunnahoe clan that
night. Her little sisters, two squirmy little girls, whispered and
laughed to each other about how tall I was, how big my hands were,
and would you just look at those feet! Her brother, about my age, was
there with his wife and baby. The brother, JD, shook my hand and all,
but the look in his eye was anything but friendly. It wasn't until
years later, I began to piece it all together from his stories. I
began to realize, JD was actually the one I had heard stories about
at A&M. He was not real big, but he had mastered the art of
getting three running steps in and throwing the first punch in a one
punch fight. Little did I know, the real danger was not on the
streets of Watson, but here, in this house, looking at me hard.
Barbara's dad,
I liked immediately. But her mom quickly found things to do in
another part of the house when I came in, so I didn't get a chance to
really know her that night.
I was going to
Wing one weekend, to see Mom and Dad. Barbara was going to Little
Rock that weekend, to see sister Frances. So we set up a date to go
to a drive in movie Saturday night.
On Saturday,
Mom wanted me to take her to Gravelly to pick up a bunch of cats
someone was giving away. They were guaranteed rat catchers, and Mom
had a pretty good crop of rats at the cow barn. We did, and they were
a wild bunch. I finally got all of them in a tow sack, and we headed
home. Halfway there, they somehow got out of the sack, and tore up
jack, running all over my clean car all the rest of the way. Well,
after I got them delivered to Mom's barn, I cleaned that car up
really good for my date with Barbara.
We were in the
middle of the drive in movie, and things were going good. All of a
sudden, Barbara sits up real straight, and pointed toward the
windshield. "What IS that? Every little bit, I see these little
things float by, looks like a cat hair!" "I don't know,
Barbara. Sometimes, a fellow just sees little things floating around
in your vision. Perfectly normal, they say."
Barbara told me
once about her long school bus rides home every day, and how tired
she got of that. The bus gets to within half a mile of her house,
then turns off on a very long crooked side road to deliver another
bunch of kids, then came back out. Barbara decided one day it would
just be simpler if she had the driver just let her off when he made
the turn to the side road, and she could walk that last half mile,
and it would be a lot quicker. So she did. She was about two hundred
yards from home when she heard the bus coming. She had to sprint all
out that last two hundred yards. She was not about to let that driver
pass her trudging along. The next day, the driver asked her if she
wanted to get off at the turn again. "Nah'. I'll just ride with
you."
Barbara and I
got to date a few more times, but then student teaching was over, and
I was headed to the hills of St. Paul, Arkansas in my 55 Chevy to
begin my teaching career.
.
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