My Children Are More Precious Than Gold (12 page)

Chapter 9

Fourth Of July Picnic

“
Easy, Buck.” Jacob pulled
back on the horse's reins to keep him moving slowly as the Bishop's
flat bed wagon bounced over the ruts and rocks, jostling the
passengers.

Pap had taken the side boards off the
wagon so the children could sit along all three sides, dangling
their legs over the edge. Once in a while, one of the older
children grabbed one of the younger ones to keep them from pitching
head first off the wagon when it bounced in a rut or over a rock.
Nannie sat stiffly in the seat next to Jacob, trying to keep the
large kettle of chicken and noodles from spilling in her
lap.

“
Mercy sakes! I'm glad to
see the Parkin swimmen hole ahead of us,” Nannie said, checking
under the kettle for spills. “I was afeared I was goen to be wearen
these noodles afore we got here.”

“
Hang on, Nannie. Yer doen
fine,” soothed Jacob.

“
Yep, Mama,” Lue teased.
“Don't lose any of em noodles. We want to eat all we kin get of em
fer dinner.”

“
Humph!” Nannie grumped.
She brightened when she recognized the people already gathered for
the fourth of July picnic. The tranquil clearing around the Little
River swimming hole was alive with jabber and laughter. “There's
Doak and Otillie Woods. My, there's no getten ahead of em two when
there's a meeten. They always get to it first. Hi Tillie! Hi Doak!”
Nannie greeted then she climbed down from the wagon then reached
for the kettle on the seat. “Jacob, pull the wagon over in the
shade. Tillie, we can use our wagon to set the vitals
on.”

Otillie reached onto her buggy seat to
lift off a big, black, cast iron kettle The thin, older woman bent
over from the strain of carrying the heavy kettle. “Lue, hep Tillie
with that kettle. It looks heavy. I hope that's a mess of yer brown
beans, Tillie. No one cooks beans like ya all do.” Nannie smiled
down at her elderly friend.

“
Thank ye kindly,
youngun,” the older lady said to Lue as he took the kettle from
her. She looked at Nannie. “But that's pure nonsense, Nannie and ya
know it. Beans is beans, but good guess. That's what's in the
kettle all right.” She busily pushed a loose hairpin back through
her long, gray braids that wound around the crown of her head while
they walked together.

“
Doak, did ya bring yer
fishen pole? Sid and me are ready to try out that catfish hole
around the bend afore time to eat,” said Jacob.

“
Sure did, Jake, and we
better get goen afore it gets too hot to fish. Say, we haven the
largest fish contest again this year? I won last time,
member?”

“
Ya never let us forget
that, old man,” his wife quipped. “Ya three get goen now. Some of
the men have got a head start on y'all.”

“
Ever seed such a bossy
woman afore, Jake?” Doak teased in a raised voice as the men walked
away.

“
Yep, Doak. I knowed of at
least one more jest like her,” Jacob joked loudly. He knew behind
them the two women would be standing side by side, clucking at
their jesting.

The Bishop children needed no
encouragement to head for the swimming hole. The boys rolled up
their pant legs, and the girls brought their skirts up between
their legs to tuck the tails in their waistbands. Soon the clear,
sun sparkled water riled to a rusty brown from the invasion of
children.

Nannie spread a crazy patchwork quilt
on the ground under the shade of the hickory tree grove. She sat
down with the other women to chat and watch the children play in
the water. Patting the spot beside her on the quilt, Nannie
motioned for Tillie to join her.

“
Nannie, here comes the
Parkins family walken in,” Otillie pointed upstream. “I declare,
Sister Etta May and her Mister are skinny enough to blow away in a
strong wind and their younguns ain't much better. Em younguns can
sure move though. Look at em head for that swimmen
hole.”

“
Now, Tillie, not ever one
puts on lard as easy as I do,” Nannie patted her thighs and
laughed.

“
Ya look jest right to my
way of thinken,” Tillie said, softly. “Hey, Sister Etta! Brother
Parkins, my Doak, Jacob and Sid jest went off to fish in the
catfish hole with the other men ifen ya want to join
em.”

“
Thankee, Misses.”
Touching the brim of his straw hat, Bennie Lee Parkins grinned,
exposing pink, toothless gums, before he strolled toward the river
bend.

“
Etta May, put that
dishpan down on our wagon. That's what we's usen fer the food
table. Then join us,” Nannie invited, patting her quilt.

“
Praise the Lord. We made
it. Jimmy Bob and Susie Kate could hardly wait to get here. They
hurried us faster than I like to walk,” Etta May drawled slowly as
she plopped down. “Woo ee! I'm plum tuckered out from walken in
this heat,” she declared, wiping her forehead with the hem of her
skirt.

When the sun was high overhead, the
women shouted, “Come and get it!”

Dripping water, the children stampeded
up the bank to the shade trees. “Easy, younguns!” Nannie held her
hands out to slow them down. “Line up. The men will be here in a
minute. As soon as they fill their plates, ya all get yer turn.
Mercy sakes, ya remind me of a pack of wet dogs. Ifen ya was to
shake, ya'd drown all of us.”

“
Did we hear someone
holleren it was time to eat?” Jacob called, leading a group of men
around the bend.

“
Come and get the food
afore these younguns get started clean everythen up. We’s haven
trouble holden em back," called Tillie.

“
By gum, we cain't have
that,” Doak blustered. “Cause us men are starved from worken hard
fishen this morning.”

Nannie leaned over and hissed in
Otillie's ear. “Lookee there would ya? That ole Tutt Jones is comen
with the men. Who invited him?”

“
Must have smelled the
grub from a ways off jest like always.” Otillie grinned at Nannie's
inhospitable tone of voice.

“
Mercy sakes, he should
jest go on back home to eat,” growled Nannie. She glared at the
slouchy little man ambling along with one strap on his overalls
flapping behind him.

“
Now, Nannie, that's not
very Christian of ya with him a bachelor and all. He probably gets
lonely and likes a good meal once in a while.”

“
Look at that, will ya?
He's sitten down by Dillard. Couldn't he sit somewhere else? He'll
be fillen that youngun's head full of his tall tales like always,”
Nannie moaned, ignoring Otillie's compassionate plea.

“
Now, now, Nannie, Tutt's
harmless, I think,” her old friend offered softly. “The younguns
seem to like his story tellen. He entertains em. It'll work out all
right, and we best get ourselves in line fer the food otherwise we
might be the ones who don't get anythen to eat.” Otillie tugged on
Nannie's arm to get her started.

Squatting down beside Dillard, Tutt
wolfed down the food on his plate as if he hadn't eaten anything
for some time. When the tin plate was cleaned until the shiny blue
and white enamel showed, Tutt set it down beside him in the grass.
He took a plug of tobacco from his shirt pocket and held it out
toward Dillard, offering him a chew. He grinned when Dillard
frowned at him and nodded no vigorously. Tutt gnawed on a corner of
the plug until a piece broke off in his mouth and stuck the rest
away. Wallowing the chew with his tongue around to his right jaw,
he turned his head to the side to spit away from the others under
the tree.

Tutt elbowed Dillard in the ribs to
get his attention.“Ya been the one goen to the pasture after the
milk cow lately, Dillard?”

“
Sure, sometimes but most
always she comes to the barn on her own. Why?”

“
I jest wanted to warn ya
to be careful about wonderen around yer pasture by yerself fer a
while is all.”

“
Why's that,
Tutt?”

“
Folks seed a black snake
here abouts that's the grand daddy of em all.”

“
That big, huh?” Lue
butted in.

Tutt paused to look around to see how
big an audience he had. “That big!” He declared, raising his voice
now to include everyone.

“
Tutt, I seed big snakes
afore,” Dillard declared and snickered. “I ain’t ascared of any ole
snake.”

“
Ya ain’t seed one like
this one. No sir, ya ain't. I heard tell this one could likely
swallow ya whole if he be a mind to. He's bigger around than a
man's arm and has a stub tail. Reckon he must have caught it in a
trap or got it mowed off. That ole snake kin stand straight up on
that stub and look ya right in the eye.”

“
Aw, Tutt! Did ya ever
seed him yerself?” Asked Dillard, doubtfully.

“
Nope, not yet, and I
don't much want to meet up with him either.”

“
if I run into that ole
snake, I'll be sure glad to let ya know his where abouts so ya can
steer clear of him,” Lue teased, getting up to refill his
plate.

Later, the women covered almost empty
food kettles with dish towels to keep the flies from lighting in
them. Everyone, with bellies full, sat peacefully in the shade. The
smaller children napped on the quilts, but the older ones sat
impatiently, waiting for the grownups to tell them it had been long
enough since the meal so they could go back to the swimming
hole.

Near the middle of the afternoon,
Jacob and the rest of the men agreed that it should be safe for the
children to swim. Letting out war hoops of joy, they stampeded down
the bank and splashed into the river. Some time later, above the
children’s screams and laughter came a cry for help.

“
Look, Jake!” Is that yer
youngun, Don, waven his arms around off in that corner by hisself?”
Doak shouted. “He looks like he's in trouble fer sure!”

“
Jacob, go hep Don!”
Screamed Nannie.

Jacob and Tutt jumped up to run toward
the river while the rest of the group followed behind them. The two
men stepped off the bank and waded into the shallow, muddy water.
They swam across the deep hole to where Don was waving his arms up
in the air. Before they could get to the boy, his head went under
the water, then coughing and sputtering he came back up. That time
no sound came out of him as his blue face went under again.
Grabbing hold of the boy, the men lifted his head above water and
swam for the shore. Two other men rushed to the water's edge to
help drag Don onto the bank.

Jacob rolled Don onto his stomach and
began to pump up and down on his back. Suddenly between coughing
and gurgles, red, river water spurted from the boy's blue lips.
Turning Don over, Jacob propped him up in his arm. “What happened
out there, son? Ya okay now?”

“
I got cramps so bad I
couldn't move. Sure scared me!” Don declared, coughing. He spit out
a mouthful of water.

“
By gum, it scared us,
too,” laughed Doak as he fondly roughed up Don's wet hair. “Tutt,
hep Jake get this boy into the shade over there. Lean him against a
tree to rest fer a spell. The lot of us kin go back to haven a good
time. No harm done now that the excitement is over. I don't know
about the rest of ya men, but heat or no heat, I'm goen fishen. I
want to catch that big fish yet this afternoon soen I can win the
contest again!”

Chapter 10

The Blackberry Patch

Bess, Don, and Dillard trekked up the
pasture hill toward the blackberry patch with their coon hound,
Jasper, trailing along sniffing the path behind them. Bess set the
pace by walking briskly. She wanted to get to the patch, get the
berries picked and get back home before the heat of the July midday
became unbearable. Don moved his portly frame along as fast as he
could, waddling somewhat like a duck. With his short legs, Dillard
skipped to keep up with the other two, having a young boy’s
enthusiasm about starting another day of adventure.

“
Did ya hear Tutt tellen
at the picnic about that big, ole, black snake folks seed here
abouts?” Asked Dillard.

“
Sure I did,” Don
grumbled, wishing he was somewhere else that morning. He hated
berry picking.

“
I didn't,” said Bess.
“What about it?”

“
Jest a big ole snake
that's the granddaddy of em all, crawlen around in the pastures
here abouts, Tutt says. He's as big around as a man's arm and has a
stub tail he can sit up on ta look ya right in the eye.”

“
Ah, Dillard, did Tutt say
he'd seed this snake hisself?” asked Bess, dubiously.

“
Nope, but he said plenty
of other folks did,” admitted Dillard.

“
Where did they seed this
snake?” Questioned Bess.

“
I told ya. In pastures
around here abouts. It gets around fast.”

“
Dillard, don't ya know
when Tutt's funnen y'all?” Don scoffed, puffing to catch his
breath.

“
No sir! Not this time. He
was serious,” defended Dillard.

“
If ya say so,” Don said,
shrugging his shoulders. He willingly gave up on the argument.
“There's the berry patch. Let's get to picken our pails full and
head back home afore it gets any hotter out here.”