[October 22, 2023] It didn’t look like much. It was old, with fading paint, rusty rims, worn-out seats, a cracked passenger window, missing window handles, and terrible gas mileage. Shortly after starting High School as a sophomore, I finished my Driver’s Education and obtained my Texas Driver’s License. A friendly neighbor sold me his old car, a 1953,… Read More »
[October 21, 2023] “Old Red” was the best coonhound (a Redbone Hound) on this side of the Mississippi River, and I was happy to know Billy, his owner, and I often went hunting with him and his dog. All three of us were each eight years old, regularly went dove hunting together, successfully, I might add, and we… Read More »
[October 16, 2023] She had a great body, was content and cooperative, and had a sweet temperament. And she seemed to like me. Every afternoon after school, I visited her, visited her family, talked to her, and helped as best I could. I was 11, and Bessy was 6, and she always seemed to appreciate me being there… Read More »
[October 11, 2023] The sun burned our skin, and the humidity made us feel like we were suffocating. I remember the relentless sun, incessant bugs, circling buzzards (lots of buzzards), people dragging their kids about, and some adults dressed up in old-fashioned military uniforms. At the time, I wondered why my Dad had taken this family trip, about… Read More »
[October 4, 2023] “For the hundredth time, Douglas, stop picking your nose while eating.” Mom was a stickler for good manners because she was interested in civilizing us kids. She knew that well-mannered children who say “please” and “thank you” and know how to shake hands, present a genuine smile, and listen politely to adults, then adults will… Read More »
[September 29, 2023] Few things scared me in my years as a kid. Maybe I was too busy doing kid “stuff,” running around with my friends, working at odd jobs around town, playing ball, fishing, swimming, playing in the woods, and just goofing off, to be scared. I did have a fear of getting beat up by the… Read More »
[September 23, 2023] Since before I can even remember growing up, I had a gun, not a toy gun, a real gun. Everyone I knew had at least one gun, usually a shotgun for bird, squirrel, or varmint hunting and maybe a rifle for something bigger. I was anxious to learn how to hit a moving target with… Read More »
[September 15, 2023] I found the bamboo fishing pole sticking out of the water back along a hidden dirt bank. I was really young, maybe seven years old, when my good friend Albert was going to show me a great fishing hole in the Bayou Bonne Idee just east of town. It was Saturday morning as we agreed… Read More »
[September 10, 2023] Long ago, when I was a tween (not a child but also not a teenager), I was probably 12 years old; I was dropped off by Fanny, my school bus driver, at my home. Walking with my books under my arm, I noticed a used cigarette burning in the ditch out in front of my… Read More »
[September 4, 2023] I was very young and did not witness the brave act of one lone man who stood up against the powerful and very dangerous Ku Klux Klan. But the whole town knew, for some were witnesses when the local Marshal blocked the KKK from entering this rural town. It was shortly before I was born,… Read More »