SUMMER OF '55
Sharyn Martin

"Shall we gather at the river"…. the words rang out over Menlo Creek. Me and Jerry were perched in the highest spot we could safely climb to in the old tree that hung out over the creek. The church from Parker's Valley was having a baptizing, and we had to see it. Jerry's mom and dad had talked about the "holy rollers" and we wanted to view the activity from a safe distance. We'd heard all about the shines these people cut and we didn't want to miss a thing. We edged out on a limb as the preacher led the first lady into the water. He held her hand and dunked her under the water. We'd seen baptizings before, but this promised to be a good one. Up she comes out of that water, shouting and jumping, and people on the bank started hollering and dancing around. We'd never seen anything like this at Mt. Nebo. She jumped and hollered some more, shaking her leg, and the people on the bank shouted louder. The preacher started to lead her out of the water and she was pulling back and shaking her leg some more. One of the men on the bank started in the water to help the preacher get this woman back to dry ground. He slipped on the muddy bank and fell in. Me and Jerry laughed 'til we was afraid of falling out of that tree. The preacher finally got the woman to the bank and she set herself right down on the mud, screaming and rolling around. Guess that's what they meant by "holy rollers", except in her case a big mud turtle was latched to her toe. Turtles don't turn loose til the sun goes down and she had a long wait. Three or four men took a big stick and prized that turtle loose and some of the ladies helped that poor woman up to a chair. Me and Jerry was almost sick from laughing.

My name's Eddie Price. Jerry Wills and me have been friends for a long time or as long as two eight year old boys could remember. There wasn't too much that went on around these parts we didn't know about, and most of it we witnessed first hand. Jerry's grandpa was the preacher at the Mt. Nebo Baptist Church, and we kept up with most of the happenings by hearing about them at church.

This summer we've been to three baptizings, two funerals, two auctions, and seen a calf born. I have to say the baptizings and funerals were the most interesting. Most of the time we stayed where nobody could see us. If our parents knew what we were up to, we'd be in big trouble. We have to cut our own switches at our house, and I reckon Jerry's is the same. My mama always said we had to show respect at church doings, and I guess we didn't act like we had much respect. It's hard not to laugh or get the silly giggles when you see some of this stuff. I remember just last week me and Jerry went to a singing service at his aunt's church. She didn't go to Mt. Nebo, but she was a fine lady anyway. We were sitting there and a group of ladies got up to sing. Have you ever heard a lady sing bass? Well, we were just sitting there, looking around, and all of a sudden they were singing "Prayer Bells of Heaven". Every time they got to the chorus, me and Jerry just looked at each other and started giggling. This lady would sing way down low, "Prayer Bells of Heaven, oh how sweetly they ring". I mean real low, lower than Jerry's grandpa could sing. We just couldn't stand it! Jerry's aunt took us home before the service was over and told us we were going to hell for being so disrespectful. That scared us for a little while, but once we started mocking that lady, we got the giggles again. Guess we're going to hell.

Mr. Johnson's funeral was a real good time. We sat on the back row where nobody noticed us. The preacher started on a hell fire and damnation sermon, and he couldn't find too many good things to say about Mr. Johnson, but he tried. Mr. Johnson had not been a very nice man, according to mama, and probably was not going to get into heaven. He was good to his mother, they said, but that was about all. Well, just as the preacher got wound up good, a wasp flew through the open window. It buzzed and flitted around and directly landed on Suellen Collins. She was sitting about the third seat in front of me and Jerry, wearing a blue hat with yellow flowers. I guess the yellow flowers attracted the wasp. The preacher was trying to make a point, and about that time Suellen swatted the wasp on her neck. She let out a yell, the preacher thought she was shouting, and he said "Well, glory" and got the whole church stirred up. Me and Jerry was under the seat by then we was laughing so hard. Suellen was about in tears from the wasp sting and her neck had a real red place on it. We felt sorry for her, but there was nothing we could do except laugh. Miss Emma Quillen kept patting Suellen's arm, like that was going to make her neck quit hurting. Nobody thought about poor Mr. Johnson anymore.

Me and Jerry decided after all this religion we needed to try something else, like tobacco. Jerry's dad had some left in the barn and we felt the need to experiment. We climbed into the loft when nobody was around and went to the stalks hanging from the rafters. It was dry and brittle but we figured it would taste OK anyway. We pinched off some of the end of the leaf, and I told Jerry to go first. He rolled the tobacco in a ball and popped it in his mouth. I did the same. We chewed about a minute, and Jerry started turning green. He went over to the edge of the loft and puked his guts out. In about ten more seconds, I was right behind him. I don't reckon I've ever been so sick in my life. We just laid there in that hot barn loft all afternoon, sweatin' and pukin'. It was about supper time when we felt like getting down. Jerry started toward his house and I went toward mine. We had made a vow right then that we'd never smoke or chew. Mama had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and lemon pie for supper that night. I didn't eat a bite. She wanted to know what was wrong, but there was no way I could tell her what we'd done, so I told her I'd eat green apples and didn't feel too good.

It was up in July when the Smith's farm went on the auction block. They were moving away cause Mr. Smith got a job somewhere else, and he had to sell their place. Me and Jerry went across the field early that morning to be sure to get a good seat. Mama and Daddy said they'd be there afterwhile. Mr. Smith had some tools Daddy wanted, and he was going to quit work early to be there. Me and Jerry didn't want to wait that long. We got close to the Smith place, and there were people everywhere. This was a big event in our neighborhood. The church ladies were selling sandwiches and iced tea, and fried pies for dessert. This was a good as homecoming and dinner on the ground! Me and Jerry walked around with our hands in our overall pockets, acting like the rest of the men. We looked at all the tools and farm equipment, and walked down to the barn. The barn was pretty close to the river and it was a great place to play. The willow trees shaded the place and the stalls had all been cleaned, so it was nice and cool. We played hide and seek, running in and out of the stalls, and around the outbuildings. We heard some kind of chanting talk, and finally figured out that this was what an auction was. We'd never heard anybody talk that fast. We hightailed it back up to the house where all the action was. Jerry decided we could see better if we stood on this old log behind the crowd. We climbed up there, right behind Mr. Cloud. The auction man was holding up a bee smoker and me and Jerry thought of all the fun we could have with that. We watched the crowd, and Jerry poked me and told me to look at Jack Grills' daddy. He would raise his hand whenever the auction man said something. Well, we decided that was the way things were done at an auction. I raised my hand the next time the auction man called out six dollars. Nobody else said anything. He called out six dollars again, nobody said anything. He called out "sold" and here come a man carrying that bee smoker and handed it to Mr. Cloud. Mr. Cloud looked kind of funny, and asked why they brought it to him. The auction man said "You raised your hand. You won the bid". Well, Mr. Cloud had no intention of paying for that bee smoker, and he left it sitting there. We had already run out the back of the crowd, 'cause we knew something was up when the auction man brought the smoker back there. Jerry said we'd get it later if it was still sitting there. I told Jerry he was on his own. I knew my mama and daddy would whale the daylights out of me for this one.

The auction put us in a mood for more real estate investigating. Jerry's great-aunt Belle lived right over on the river in a big old farmhouse, not too far from the Smith place. She had plenty of trees to climb, cows to chase, and a springhouse. We didn't have one where we lived. We had a Frigidaire to keep things cold, but I'd much rather have a springhouse. Water runs through this trough inside and Aunt Belle kept her milk and butter sitting in that water. Well, me and Jerry decided we would use that water to make a springhouse inside so Aunt Belle wouldn't have to come all the way out here to get the milk. We took a big bucket and filled it with water. It was so heavy it took both of us to carry it to the house. There was a dugout with a dirt floor underneath the house where Aunt Belle kept all her canned stuff, potatoes, and cabbage. We figured this place would make a great springhouse. There was a slanted door on the side of the house that flopped back right on the ground when we opened it. We carried the bucket down the stone steps into the dugout and dumped the water at the bottom of the steps. We did this many times til we could see the water nearing the edge of the bottom step. We went around to the back door and into the kitchen to announce our great surprise. Mama, Mrs. Wills, and Aunt Belle looked stunned, or I guess that's what you'd call it. The company tea cups were plunked down on the table, and the chairs pushed back in a hurry. We all went back to the dugout and Mama caught Aunt Belle just as she was about to faint. It was six weeks before Aunt Belle could go back into the dugout for anything, and almost that long before I could sit down without wincing. We won't be doing any home improvements for awhile.

Me and Jerry had a good time this summer. School will be starting soon, and I bet Miss Blake is really looking forward to seeing us in the third grade. She told us at the end of last term "if she never saw us again it'd be too soon". We'll see if she means it.