When I was in the 4th grade, something terrible happened! My dad got his barber license and started working with Charlie Moore at the City Barber Shop in Douglasville. I don’t remember if my sister was upset, but my brother and I were devastated. We did not want to leave the country” which meant leaving our home next door to my grandparents’ farm.
Daddy’s new career meant that we moved to Douglasville, and I had to change schools.
Soon, my new school (Beaulah Elementary) had a holiday, but New Georgia Elementary that I had left did not. All my friends and close cousins were in school that day. So David and I always convinced our parents to take us to Grandma Hix’s house to spend the night and the holiday with them.
After breakfast, I was running through kudzu playing by myself close to where David was with Grandpa plowing behind his HUGE (to me back then) mules, Pet and Idder.
Grandpa walked behind the plow wearing his usual fedora with leather straps loosely across his shoulders that he used to control the mules. Sometimes they got a light slap, but he mostly started, stopped and guided the mules’ direction. David was dropping seeds behind Grandpa. There was nothing David had rather do than to be with Grandpa even if he had to worked.
Before the pastures was land covered in kudzu, and I had a playhouse somewhere in a spot in that kudzu and that’s where I was.
Suddenly, I heard someone running through the kudzu toward me and a woman’s voice calling my name. I was absolutely shocked! It was two classmates from New Georgia, Brenda (also my cousin) and Melinda. Behind them, trying to keep up through the thicket was our fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Sneed.
They had come to get me to spend the day with my old classmates at New Georgia since I was out of school. It was one of the best days ever!
To this day I am warmed by the idea that they missed me and wanted me so much that they went through all that trouble to collect me and take me back to spend the rest of the day.
Just so you know, we were true Southerners obvious by our our accent. I was a grown woman before I realized that Idder’s name was actually Ida, and my great aunt’s name wasn’t Vater but was actually Veda.
Those were some of the best days of my life!
