Little Girl and Baby Sister

Little Girl opened her eyes slowly and looked around the room.  It took her a few moments to remember where she was.  That she was in the new house.  Baby Sister was still asleep when Little Girl slipped out of bed and made her way to the jar.  The old house had a bathroom inside the house.  There was also a crepe myrtle tree in the front yard that Little Girl climbed almost every day.  She’d have to find out what was around here.  Maybe another crepe myrtle tree.

Stellajo was already in the kitchen when Little Girl went in.  “How about a bowl of cornflakes?” Stellajo asked as she moved from table to ice box and back.  “OK” replied Little Girl, “but I don’t want regular milk, just canned milk and water.  OK?” 

Land’s sake, Little Girl, that stuff isn’t nearly as good as milk, ‘specially on cornflakes, said Stellajo as she fixed a bowl with cornflakes and canned milk.  “Would you like a cup of tea, Little Girl?” 

“Hmmm,” Little Girl replied—mouth filled with cornflakes.  Little Girl liked it when Stellajo made her a cup of tea, actually half tea and half milk and half sugar. 

Finishing her cereal and cup of tea, Little Girl decided it was time to go outside and see what was around.  The weather was warm already so it would be a perfect day to go exploring.  Out the back door she went.  There was a stand of woods behind the house.  Lots of possibilities there.  Going around the side of he house to the front yard, Little Girl saw a long drive way going up to a trailer that had a front porch built onto it.  There wasn’t a crepe myrtle tree, but there was a really big tree with a tire swing tied up in it.  This place was really looking up to Little Girl.

Rounding the corner, she saw the front of the house with four steps up to the porch.  The front yard wasn’t really big but it was all dirt and that was a plus.  Looking to her right, Little Girl saw the beginning of the long drive way.  Looking to her left was a vacant lot.  There were lots of houses across the street.  But there were no kids or anyone else outside. 

She took a seat on the bottom step and began to draw in the dirt with a stick.  Satisfied with the drawing, she erased it with her barefoot then began another drawing.  Hearing a noise, she looked up to see a little girl standing in the drive way watching.  Little Girl smiled a little smile and went back to her drawing.  The little girl crept closer and closer.  Little Girl moved over on the step and the little girl took the invitation and sat down.

“Hey” said Little Girl.  My name is Little Girl, what’s yours?”  The little girl said something under her breath  but Little Girl couldn’t understand her.  “What’s your name? she asked again.  Another answer under her breath with her head down and eyes looking up shyly.  After several attempts at hearing her name, Little Girl lost patience and asked rather loudly, “HUH?”

“My name is Delmer Mattaox but everybody calls me  Cooter!”

Little Girls smiled.  Cooter smiled.  And a friendship was born.

Cooter’s mama and daddy welcomed Little Girl.  Over time as Little Girl got to know Mama Mattox better, she decided in her young mind that she waned to be just like Mama Mattox.  Mama Mattox wore her hair braided wrapped on the top of her head.  Little Girl thought that was real pretty and wanted to wear her hair that way, but it stuck out in many directions when she tried braiding it.  Her own mama worked at the mill and left early in the morning so Little Girl had to do mostly for herself.  After a while she gave up on the braids and just wore her hair down.  But that didn’t stop her from watching and  admiring Mama Mattox.  Now everybody in Little Girl’s family smoked cigarettes.  Everybody except Baby Sister.  Little Girl didn’t like the cigarettes but Mama Mattox did something she had never seen before.  She dipped snuff.  And she spit.  Boy, could she spit.  She could sit on the front porch in her rocking chair in the afternoon shelling beans and spit over the banister.  Little Girl knew she wouldn’t get away with dipping snuff, so she got a small jar with a screw lid, filled it with water and kept it in her pocket.  Periodically, she’d take a sip of water and spit.  Oh, the pleasure in puckering up and spitting.  At first she dribbled water down her chin a lot,, but after a while she was able to spit a few feet.  She never did match the ability of Mama Mattox.  But she didn’t do bad for a four year old.

Life was good in the new house, which turned into the old house after just a few short days.  The woods behind the house was filled with magical beings who moved so fast you had to look really hard and fast to see them as they zoomed from leaf to leaf and flower to flower.  Little Girl and Cooter would sit for long periods of time, just looking hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the fairies.  Besides the magical woods, there were other houses and kids in the neighborhood.

Across the street from Little Girl’s house was a row of houses.  What was special was behind the houses.  Railroad tracks.  With real trains going by ever so often.  They weren’t suppose to play on the tracks, but of course they did.  Sometimes they’d see a rattle snake sunning on one of the railroad ties and get scared.  Then they would stay away for a couple of days—just long enough for the snake to move on.

Every house on the street had a flag in the window.  It was a red flag with golden fringe and white stars.  The flag in Little Girl’s window had two stars on it. One for her daddy and one for her uncle who were in the war.  Most houses also had a sign with numbers on every side:  25—50—75—100.  This was for the iceman.  The iceman drove a horse and wagon loaded with chunks of ice.  When you needed ice for the icebox, you’d put the sign in your window with the amount of ice you wanted up.  The iceman would take his pick and cut off a piece and then pick it up with a pair of tongs and carry the ice into your house.  Little Girl and Cooter would run behind the wagon, being very careful not to step in the horse leavings and jump on the back step.  The iceman yelled for them not to do that, they could get hurt, but never stopped them from reaching in and grabbing a handful of ice chips.

One morning as Little Girl and Cooter sat on the bottom step looking at the day ahead, they saw a Model A car pull up to vacant lot on the other side of the house.  A strange car pulling up to a vacant lot immediately caught their interest and they watched intently.  Out of the car got a man, a lady, an older lady, a little boy and an older girl.  Soon a truck came up and stopped behind the car.  Two men got out and together with the car man took a biiiiiig thing out of the truck.  This really caught the interest of Little Girl and Cooter so they moved a little closer to get a better look.  After a while, it took shape.  They were putting up a tent!  It was a big tent.  Little Girl and Cooter would come to spend lots of time inside the tent with Little Henry and Eve. 

Little Henry wore an aviator cap and pretended to fly everywhere.  His plan was to grow up, become a pilot, join the Navy and go to the war.  Eve was a few years older than Little Henry.  She was already in school but in the summertime, she rode bicycles and visited the magical woods with Little Girl, Cooter and the growing gang.  Over time, their daddy began building a house around the tent.  What a thing to see. 

Mr. Player moved his family to town so he could work in the Navy Yard.  With the war on, everyone was doing what they could to help and he felt he could do more in town than on the farm.  Little Girl thought that was a good thing because she got to play with Eve and Little Henry.  They had a dog named MacArthur but Little Girl didn’t much like him.  He barked a lot and didn’t seem to like anyone.  They said it was because he was old and worn out.  After a while, he just wore all the way out.  They decided not to get another dog because being in town was hard on a dog.  But being in town was good for Little Girl, Cooter, Eve and Little Henry.

Mr. Player’s mama lived with them.  She sat on the front porch and made purses out of the cork circles in the top of cocoa cola and pepsi cola caps.  Little Girl watched her sometimes but could never figure out just how she made those purses.  Little Girl’s grandma sewed with a sewing machine, but she didn’t make anything out of the cork circles in the top of cocoa cola and pepsi cola caps.

Mama worked in the mill and was gone every day.  Grandma and Grandpa worked, too.  Uncle had gone to the war.  Great Uncle spent a lot of time taking care of Great Grandma so Little Girl and Baby Sister spent many hours out in the magical woods or riding bicycles or jumping railroad ties.  Stellajo made sure they got something to eat but the rest of the time, it was just fun and joy.

Time went on and Little Girl began school.  She moved on to other interests and quit visiting the magical woods.  By the time she became a teenager, dipping snuff had gone out of style, especially with women so she never did dip snuff and spit with great abandonment.  But she did grow up and become a grandma and she taught her grandchildren how to spit watermelon seeds.