my childhood memories ( part three )

There is not much room sleeping with four in one bed. My older sisters would make my sister and I lay at the foot of the bed because we kept their feet warm. But we dare not say no because they were the ones in control sorta. My Mom was a special lady & she knew what was happening. She spoke to the older girls not to make us sleep at the foot of that bed anymore. Mom said not to think that us girls told her 'cause they did no such thing. My brothers got along real good. They did not have alot of squabbling going on like us girls did. We were a poor backwoods family and we didn't have too much by the way of clothes. We each had, what my Mom said, " Good enough to wear to school clothes", and take them off soons' you got home from school. We had what she called play clothes. Which we did as Mom would have the clothes all set out for us. 

And they were so faded out but we wore them 'cause they were the onlyest ones we had! My Gramma Rose would make all us girls slips from whatever material she had. Usually the flour sacks and old sheets. She would make us younger girls dresses from her old house dresses just so we would have more to wear. Twice each year we would get boxes full of clothing and toys. Of course Mom would go through them in the privacy of her bedroom, which was off limits to all us kids. She would put away the toys and the clothes that looked nearly new for Christmas gifts.

But after my Dad got some good paying jobs we had a little bit more of nice things to wear. We each would get a set of new clothes to wear to school after vacation was over with. We all got BusterBrown shoes 'cause they lasted the longest. Mom always told us if it started raining when we were where coming home from school, to take off the shoes and tuck them underneath our arms. We all did just that 'cause we didn't want to get scolded by Momma.

 When I first started kindergarten I would bawl my eyes out for Momma. When the teacher went out of the class I would get out the door and go to where she worked 'cause I knew it was across the street from the school. The doors were always locked so I would sit there bawling. Then someone would see me sitting out there and let me in. They all knew me after the first time I went there and would take me to my Momma. Once when I was there I got hungry and et Mommas lunch but I left some for her as I knew she would be hungry too. After about a month or so Momma said I would have to stay in school 'cause the truant officer would pick me up and I would be scolded right proper like. Then after school let out all us kids would meet in the courtyard so as to walk home together.

We lived about two 'n a half mile from school which was not so bad walking in the warm days. On rainy days Dad would give us a ride in his old GreenHornet. Then winter come and the good days we had to walk to school. If it was snowing hard and blustery, Dad would take us. I remember that Mom would pack a lunch in a brown paper bag, for all of us. Sometimes it was a biscuit for each of us or a hunk of cornbread. If there were still apples in the cellar, we each got one. We drank water from the fountain in the school hallway. We would all meet at a place we were told to by the one that got to carry the lunch bag. We didn't notice that we were being watched by a certain teacher. The next day we went to school she came to us before we split up to go to our classes and handed each of us lunch tickets. From then on we all had free lunch and the food was great. We got a glass of milk and dessert too!Some of the kids picked on us 'cause we were poor. But Mom said try not to let it bother us as God loved us and she loved us and that was all we needed.

                              ( to be continued )