THE LADY WITH THE FIVE POUND BOX OF CHEESE Now there was one thing we never thought of and that was being poor. We might not of had nutn but we still was not poor. There were things we didnt like to be called. Some of those fellows would go off to St. Louis and after a while would come back driving a shinny big car and call the farmers, clod busters, when this happened they become disliked by all the farmers. Anyways getting back to the story of the lady that had five pound boxes of cheese. We spotted the car coming up the lane to the house. Her car had a little more dust on it than most cars, like she had been driving the back roads.We jest happen to think, Old Red the rooster was on the porch and he would spur a stranger, he was sitting where he wasnt suppose to be anyhows, on the back of dads rocking chair on the porch and dad would not have liked that atall. Would ya let me go back on this story a few years? Thank ya. About 1945 or so, my dad started drinking out of the water bucket with a different dipper than the rest of us. I noticed from time to time he would cough up blood from time to time, he was struggling at every thing he did, I guess that is why I had less brothers and sisters. We knew about the TB he had but didnt know anything about his lung cancer. Every time a boy left home the oldest one became, cock of the roost. That meant when dad was unable to be around the oldest was the boss and had to follow dads directions about the work to be done when dad was unable to be there. Dad grew weaker and weaker as the months went by and was only able to go out and point out what needed to be done. We were eating fine and did not consider ourselves poor and as dad would say it, Well keep the ball rolling every day. So to be blunt with you, we didnt know what poor was. We all had play and work clothes and Sunday go to meeting clothes. When I am talking about clothes, we had two shirts, two pair of socks with holes in the heels, Two nice home made shirts, one pair of hand me down shoes with air holes in the front sole of them to let out any smell that might get out of them. Sometimes we might get careless and dirty up both pair and have to go to bed while mom washed them. I never in my life met a nicer woman than the one with the clip board that come to the house, which a small box in her hand. Mom took the box and opened it and told the lady she had some real good pickles in the cellar ifn you would like a jar of them and she declined. Mom gave one of the boys the cheese and at the kitchen table the pinching off bites started and we made a purdy good mess out of that big block of cheese. She asked dad about the name on the pickup and dad told her it was his oldest sons truck and he had left it there for him to use. Dad continued to say,its a nice truck, I couldnt handle one of those with the crank on front of it, it broke too many peoples arms. Dad told her after her asking to go inside of the house that it was hot because the wind is not blowing from the right direction, but she wanted to go in anyhows. Dad looks over at my older brother and whispers, She is gonna try and buy this place off of us. She walks through the house and when she got to the kitchen, she noticed that us boys had already eatn two pounds or more of that cheese and we told her how good it was. The nice lady walks back out to the porch and laid her clip board down and was walking to her car and brought back another five pound box of cheese. Mom told her if she had about fifteen minutes she would go up there on the fence line and pick her some fresh poke salad and again the lady declined. The instruction to mom was that she could not give it away or sell it, and you will be getting these and other things on a regular bases. The lady was so nice even though I had to face her all the time, because I had a big hole in the seat of my overhauls. She then started talking to my dad, your sick arent you?. My dad was not one to talk about his health problems, but he answered, a little bit maybe, I think I have TB and maybe a little cancer of the belly. Then she asked, you would consider me sending you to Mt. Vernon for a few days. His answer was, thats a long way, I think it is on the other side of Springfield. Mam and I have been married all our lives and we have never spent a night apart, but I guess there is a first for everything. The nice lady says, the state will send you a little check each month to help you with the kids and family. Mom was strict with the cheese because when one of the kids came home they would want to take some back with them because it was so good. Mom would say, eat all you want here, but I cant give any away or sell it. That was one of the nicer ladies I ever met, just wish I hadnt had that big hole in the seat of my pants so I could have gotten closer to her.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 00:44:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015