My First Mermory

My First Memory

I was in the yard drawing in the dirt, when my mother called to me from the poarch.

Mother said to me, "What would you say, it I told you you will be having a little brother or sister?"

I do not remember what I said, but I think I said, "I wanted a little sister." I do not know why this is my first memory. I do have someone memories of looking at my hand and feet prints in the cement walkway. I can remember skipping around and just doing nothing. My next memory was the night my sister was born. Henry and Avis our neighbors came to see us, and I thought nothing about it, and did not know Avis was a midwife. I was setting in the front room on the setee with Henry, I do not know what we were talking about, but I told him I had something to show him, jumped up and he stopped me and said I could not go to my part of the house because my sister was being born.

We lived in the house with my Daddy's parents. The house had two large rooms across the front and there were two large rooms across the back. They were built so the house was in an L shape. There was a porch that we along the front of the house. The first large room was Ma's kitchen, there was a wood stove for cooking and a long table for her large # of boys to eat at. The next room was their setting and sleeping room. When you walked into the room from the kitchen to your left was a chair, that Ma Sina set out, and there was a window where she set, Next after the window was a wood stove, then another window, and setting by it was a sette (we call them love seats today.) If you turned and looked away from the windows was two full beds, with a space between that went into a bedroom in the back. The bedroom to the back was Grandma Sene's room. Going streight into this room, was her bed, and that is all I can remember about that room.

Entering this room about half way turn left was a door that went into the fourth room. This was the room where my sister and I were born. Sometime and I do not know when Daddy built a small room behind this on which was the kitchen. We had no running water or bathroom. I do remember going to the outhouse, and I have no memory of having a slop jar.

In our setting room was two beds, one for mother and daddy and one for me and my sister. Walking into the kitchen on the left was the stove and on he opposite wall was the sink. Looking right was the table, and the referigrator. I do have a memory of mother washing something in the sink. I also remember Pa bringing the fresh milked milk and wanting to drink it, but mother would not let me, because it had not been stringed yet. Stringed, is where you take a cloth and place it over jar and pour milk through, staining out anything that should not be in milk.

My only other memory was waking up one morning and looking under the pillor to see if the tooth fairy had left me money for my tooth. The tooth was gone but there was no money and I cried, and cried. Mother told me to search again and sure enough the money was there.

I can recall playing in the back yard when a ma chicken got after me. I just always seem to be in the yard playing. I remember Uncle Willie coming to see his brother my Pa and them setting under the shade tree talking. He was always talking about church and getting kicked out ( I still have this visual picture of him being litteraly being picket up and I see a foot kicking him out) and I always felt sorry for him. I also remember him talking about the end of time and how he knew based on his knowledge of the Bible that the world would end and I figured it up and I would be 34.

I do remember years later she was at the sink doing something and she saw a snake and called out the back door for me to go get Johnny to come help. I did not hang around to see it they got it out.