Whiskers, Mud, and Old Muddy Pie
Posted: Sunday, July 05, 2009
by Maxine Headd
It was a beautiful day when I woke up to see it. I lay in my bed of Straw mixed with hay on a Blanket with Straw sticking out around the edges. I felt very comfortable lying there on my bed of Hay and Straw in the early morning light. I lay really still and watched to see if anything about it would change. I lay still on my makeshift Bed, and I just watched the beautiful Birds which were coming in through the window. I watched them along with a few Bugs, which were crawling across the planked striping of the Walls. The Skies were a deep and brilliant blue, with white Cloud circles in them. The Clouds high above us were just slowly wisping away, chased by the waves of Wind that we could not see high above us in the sky.
I felt well satisfied that I was in good hands, that there was nothing there to bother me. There was nothing that would harm me in that setting of broken House and good Hay. Mama came in then, she picked me up and wrapped me around in her large fleshy Arms and Hands. Then she took me out to the Car to get a breakfast of Pancakes left over from the early morning breakfast of the other Children. The syrup was ready to go, and it tasted like Blackberry Waffles. The Waffles tasted so good in the warmth of the early Spring. When I was done eating the Waffle Pancakes, she washed off my Hands. Then she turned to the back of the car getting a Jar of water out of the Car, it was a large Mason Canning Bottle with a sealed top on it. She also got a few fresh Strawberries out of the car. She told me that she had to go back to picking Strawberries. But these Strawberries were picked just for me. I had to stay by the car, and not get away from it very far, because I might get lost in the large field of Strawberries. Then Mama went back to the Berry fields, where my Brothers and Sisters were deftly working in the Fields. The Strawberries were huge, red, and very delicious to eat that she had left for me. I was more than content to pick up my Corn Dolly that Mama had made for me, and go out to play with my older sister Virginia. Virginia was three years older than me, and my nine month old baby brother, Ronnie Lynn lay in the Weaver Basket stroller quietly asleep for now.
We had a good time playing in the Field that morning as the Berries were picked. My Brothers and Sisters came up to the Car for their Lunch. Mom and Dad had brought a Baby Carriage with them, and my Brothers and Sisters pushed me and Ronnie around inside the Baby Carriage. Gee, that was lots of fun, but then they had to go back to work until the evening hours. But after the work was done then, we would play until 8:00 or 9:00 o'clock or until bedtime. Then Mom and Dad pulled out warm Blankets for us from the back of the Car. All of us lay down on Blankets, that lay on the Hay inside the House and we fell fast asleep.
In the early morning hours, everyone went back to work, and the little children slept in. Mama fixed our Breakfast for us later and we played by ourselves until dinner time. This evening after work hours, Mama and Dad were going to go and look at another House for us that would meet our needs. It would have running water outside, and lots of Bedrooms for all of us. The new House would be great, and there would not be any Furniture for us to use. It would only be ours for a few weeks of work, as Mom and Dad would probably go back to our regular home within a few months. It would then be time to chop Cotton. After that, it would be Cotton picking and Watermelon throwing time in Missouri. We would be going there at a later time, but right now, my family was were picking fresh Strawberries. These Strawberries would go to Markets locally and regionally.
Yes, we had lots of work to do. There were a lot of my Brothers and Sisters there with us. Each one of them, as they came up to the Car with filled Berry Baskets would come by, and see what the little ones were doing. My family's visiting us like this during the daytime hours made the day pass faster and easier. All of our Brothers and Sisters felt responsible to watch the little ones as they worked in the Fields. We certainly enjoyed all the attention we were getting. And by the time, the day was over, everyone felt that they had the best day possible.
At night time, Dad would get out his Guitar and we would sing Church Songs for the next week. Daddy was a good musician, and he taught all of us how to play every kind of song as we grew older. We sang all kinds of Songs, Christian, Hillbilly, Country Music, and Bluegrass. Songs that would go out into the night air as my Daddy sang them to the world. Every once in a while, a person would come around and thank us for all the singing that we were doing. They told us, it really sounded good to hear the songs as we sang them. We all loved Dad's singing, and our very own as we learned how to live to be the best singer or Guitar player around.
The Thompson family was there for the season of Berry picking. Berries were the first crop to start coming off in Monet Arkansas. 1950 was an uncertain year for everyone, The Korean War had started June 25, 1950 and ended in Panmunjom on July 27 1953 in our lives, but we knew that we had each other by the hands. Two of my older brothers were fighting in Korea this year. Jessie would be glad to get to come home after he had been too close to a Grenade when it went off. He came home injured, and he had to spend a lot of time in the Hospital before he came home to us. But he did come home in time to get married for 1952. George came home in the following year and he was to be married as well. Mom and dad said their family was growing by leaps and bounds and it really was.
I had two older brothers than Jesse and George, but Pneumonia and the dreaded Measles had taken David, and little John Henry had pulled a pan of hot water off the stove onto his little body. It was hard for Mom and Dad to take losing the two oldest boys like that. Mom said it was an easier peace if she just didn't talk about it. That way we could have more peace in a hard time. The rest of the children survived, and Mom and Dad took great care of them in those times.
After the Strawberries were finished, Mom and Dad would go back to our Missouri home in time for the Cantaloupes and Watermelons to come off. If the season was a good one, my Brothers would work in the Fields until late at night. They could work late at night now because the Farmers now had Headlights on their Farm equipment. They would be getting out the Cantaloupes and Watermelons for the Farmers to sell. After that, the Cotton fields, Soybeans, and Wheat fields had to be cut.
There were just so many hours in the day, and not enough of them had daylight to work with. Sometimes, in another field, we could hear the Black Workers singing their Hymns as they worked their Fields in the early afternoon hours. The Black Workers worked different hours than we did and their way of working had a certain momentum to it. Their day started at 5:00 in the morning and when about 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon came, all of them would quit working for the day. We didn't understand that, and although we talked about why it was different, no one would ever say why it was different it just was the way it was done.
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