too.
That kind of music is great to listen to. But it isnât hitting up on nothing for dance music.
I guess Gaten would have been happy with Sara Kate in this house. I know one thing, if Gaten could see her feeding dogsâmuch less stray dogsâout of the bowls we eat out of, he would just up and die again.
Sara Kate may think she is so clean, but this letting dogs eat out of dishes will never set with me. Me and Gaten didnât eat after no dogs. I bet if Jim Ed and Everleen knew about all this, theyâd never eat a bite in this house.
I donât think Gaten would have liked all those little yellow notes stuck all over the refrigerator, either. Gaten couldnât stand a messed-up place.
I guess in her own way Sara Kateâs not all that bad. Everleen even bragged about the way she took care of Aunt Maude. She is my great aunt and is some kind of old.
Well, after she had a stroke, she fell in her kitchen. Trying to stir up her a bite to eat, she said. It was some kind of big bite. Stewed chicken and dumplings, green onion tops and onions smothered in fried fatback drippings, green crowder peas with snaps, cornbread and grated sweet potato pudding. She made the pudding because she wanted to try out a new rum flavor she bought from a Rawleigh Product salesman.
Everleen was going to take her in, but Sara Kate offered, since Everleen was working so hard at the peach shed. That was one time Sara Kate came in real good. I couldnât help out too much with Aunt Maude, because she kept mixing me up. After her stroke her mind was affected. She lost her marbles, thatâs what happened. She forgot Gaten had been killed. Every day she would say, âGaten come in yet?âOr sheâd say, âCome on, Clover, let me comb your hair. Go and change them dirty clothes. Put on a dress. I want your daddy to see heâs got a little girl when he gets home from school.â Then sheâd tell about the time when she was teaching school. They made a fire in the big wood heater and a big snake crawled out through the grate.
Sara Kate makes mugs of coffee or tea in the microwave, does needlepoint and listens. She picks up enough of Aunt Maudeâs slurred speech to laugh. Sometimes when she talks about Gaten as a young boy, Sara Kate cries.
Poor Aunt Maudeâs mind has got to be torn up pretty bad. Sheâs been eating Sara Kateâs turnips and things cooked flat-out in water, without a speck of grease. Once she zipped her lips and wouldnât eat. And donât you know Sara Kate fixed up her plate all pretty, dotted the greens with red Jell-o cubes and Aunt Maude ate it. You got to be in mighty bad shape in the head to eat greens and Jell-o.
In no time Sara Kate had nursed her back to health. She got well enough for her daughter to come and take her to Greensboro to live.
Maybe if Sara Kate could get ahold of poor old drunk Gideon she might cure him up. They didnât do a thing for him down at that first place he went to. He is walking down the hot dusty road now, swaying from side to side. He said heâs learned AAâs twelve steps. It seems like heâstaking twenty-three steps to make his twelve. If he keeps on heâll do a solo two-step dance.
Gideonâs thin body looked like the frame of an undressed scarecrow. Leaning into the wind, his body traveled faster than his feet. Even so, that body had started to look like it housed a living creature. Gideon had spent seven days in a detox center. Heâd been sober all those days and it showed. He showed off a white button he got at the AA meeting. His wife was so proud of him, she said it even tickled her bones.
I am probably kin to Gideon, but not as close kin as he makes us out to be. Good old Aunt Everleen tries to tie us up to as much kinfolk as she can. She stretches out the family line just like she stretches out sadness. She needs kinfolk to worry about, to be sad over, and make unhappiness so big she can
That kind of music is great to listen to. But it isnât hitting up on nothing for dance music.
I guess Gaten would have been happy with Sara Kate in this house. I know one thing, if Gaten could see her feeding dogsâmuch less stray dogsâout of the bowls we eat out of, he would just up and die again.
Sara Kate may think she is so clean, but this letting dogs eat out of dishes will never set with me. Me and Gaten didnât eat after no dogs. I bet if Jim Ed and Everleen knew about all this, theyâd never eat a bite in this house.
I donât think Gaten would have liked all those little yellow notes stuck all over the refrigerator, either. Gaten couldnât stand a messed-up place.
I guess in her own way Sara Kateâs not all that bad. Everleen even bragged about the way she took care of Aunt Maude. She is my great aunt and is some kind of old.
Well, after she had a stroke, she fell in her kitchen. Trying to stir up her a bite to eat, she said. It was some kind of big bite. Stewed chicken and dumplings, green onion tops and onions smothered in fried fatback drippings, green crowder peas with snaps, cornbread and grated sweet potato pudding. She made the pudding because she wanted to try out a new rum flavor she bought from a Rawleigh Product salesman.
Everleen was going to take her in, but Sara Kate offered, since Everleen was working so hard at the peach shed. That was one time Sara Kate came in real good. I couldnât help out too much with Aunt Maude, because she kept mixing me up. After her stroke her mind was affected. She lost her marbles, thatâs what happened. She forgot Gaten had been killed. Every day she would say, âGaten come in yet?âOr sheâd say, âCome on, Clover, let me comb your hair. Go and change them dirty clothes. Put on a dress. I want your daddy to see heâs got a little girl when he gets home from school.â Then sheâd tell about the time when she was teaching school. They made a fire in the big wood heater and a big snake crawled out through the grate.
Sara Kate makes mugs of coffee or tea in the microwave, does needlepoint and listens. She picks up enough of Aunt Maudeâs slurred speech to laugh. Sometimes when she talks about Gaten as a young boy, Sara Kate cries.
Poor Aunt Maudeâs mind has got to be torn up pretty bad. Sheâs been eating Sara Kateâs turnips and things cooked flat-out in water, without a speck of grease. Once she zipped her lips and wouldnât eat. And donât you know Sara Kate fixed up her plate all pretty, dotted the greens with red Jell-o cubes and Aunt Maude ate it. You got to be in mighty bad shape in the head to eat greens and Jell-o.
In no time Sara Kate had nursed her back to health. She got well enough for her daughter to come and take her to Greensboro to live.
Maybe if Sara Kate could get ahold of poor old drunk Gideon she might cure him up. They didnât do a thing for him down at that first place he went to. He is walking down the hot dusty road now, swaying from side to side. He said heâs learned AAâs twelve steps. It seems like heâstaking twenty-three steps to make his twelve. If he keeps on heâll do a solo two-step dance.
Gideonâs thin body looked like the frame of an undressed scarecrow. Leaning into the wind, his body traveled faster than his feet. Even so, that body had started to look like it housed a living creature. Gideon had spent seven days in a detox center. Heâd been sober all those days and it showed. He showed off a white button he got at the AA meeting. His wife was so proud of him, she said it even tickled her bones.
I am probably kin to Gideon, but not as close kin as he makes us out to be. Good old Aunt Everleen tries to tie us up to as much kinfolk as she can. She stretches out the family line just like she stretches out sadness. She needs kinfolk to worry about, to be sad over, and make unhappiness so big she can
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