Tales of a Texas Boy Page 10

  The worst was the black blizzards, which come up so sudden nobody could do anything about it. The storm would rise up like a long wall of muddy water maybe seven or eight thousand feet high and come in a big wave across the prairie.

  It was worse’n the tornadoes which sometimes came along right after. Pa said the dust would cover everything and even strangle the livestock right out in the field. When there was no water and only dust as far as the eye could see, farmers were forced to pack up what they could and head west and sometimes south to Texas.

  Those who came south didn’t choose very well, ‘cause the droughts were beginnin’ to come down our way, too. The people came for the oil wells, but there weren’t enough jobs for everyone. Most of ‘em went on the dole and just traveled around lookin’ for work wherever they could. Pa hired a couple of men last season, but he couldn’t keep them on. We had just enough for ourselves he said. It did break his heart to turn them away, but there wasn’t nothin’ he could do about it.

  We was lucky so far, but Pa thought things would get worse before they got better. Still, we put in good crops, the pig business was doin’ fine, and Pa did a lot of veterinary work as he had learned the skill from the army.

  So, we traveled to Amarillo to do some shoppin’. Ma sent orders to get a new iron skillet, so we went to the Woolworths Five and Dime store for that. Pa picked up some heavy gloves and some other odds and ends. Then, we stopped at the fountain for an ice cream sundae. I sat at the counter and watched while the soda jerk dished out two whole scoops of vanilla, a whole ladle of chocolate sauce, and a mess of whipped cream. He even topped it with a cherry. It was almost too pretty to eat, but I ate it anyway. That was somethin’ we didn’t get very often.

  We packed up what we’d bought in the truck and spent some time to look around before headin’ back home. It was late in the day, so we’d be stoppin’ somewhere along the road overnight. In the meantime, we took a little tour of the big city and got supper from a man sellin’ hotdogs right on the street. I was too stuffed to eat any more, so we got in the truck and headed back to home.

  We drove out of town and stopped in an oak grove as the sun was goin’ down. It was clear people stayed here often, ‘cause there were stone circles where campfires go. Pa built a little fire. Ma’d packed some cornbread for us, but we were still too full to eat it. We’d brought along blankets and we spent the night comfortable enough under the big oak trees. Late in the night, I woke up to hear some more folks comin’ in the grove. They was quiet enough, and I soon went back to sleep.

  Just before dawn, though, I got woke up again. I saw somebody creepin’ around by the truck. I looked to Pa, but he was snorin’ away. I thought maybe the person was just goin’ by, but then I could see they was openin’ the truck door real slow. Now, I knew he were lookin’ to steal something. I didn’t think there was anything of value in the truck 'cept Ma’s skillet, but it’s the principle as Pa says.

  I jumped up and ran over to the truck. The thief was on the far side and didn’t see me yet. I stopped and snuck around the front of the truck quiet as I could. When I got closer, I could see the thief was rummagin’ through the truck lookin’ for whatever he could steal. The door was open between him and me, so I just jumped forward real fast and slammed the truck door right on him.

  A scream so loud they could hear it back in town came out of him. I was taken aback some as it was real high and sounded a whole lot like my sister when she was yellin’ about somethin’ I did.

  I was holdin’ the door shut on him and he was strugglin’ to get out from the trap. I leaned up against the door and pushed in with my heels hard as I could.

  I could see Pa jump up from his bedding and come runnin’ over. He went round the back of the truck, so he could grab the thief. He nodded his head once he got hold of his arm and I let go of the door. Pa pulled him out and threw him right on the ground.

  Everybody in the camp got woke up by the commotion and come runnin’ over to see what was happenin’. One of them was a big man, wearin’ the overalls farmers always wore. He walked straight up to the thief layin’ on the ground and pulled him up by his collar.

  When he did that, we could see the thief was a girl. She was dressed in pants, a coat three sizes too big for her and a hat pulled down over her ears. I could see she was about my age and I started feelin’ sorry I’d smashed her with the door.

  The man seemed to be her father. He started a’shakin’ her and he was yellin’ pretty loud, too. She started cryin’ and I felt ten times worse. If’n I knowed she was a girl, I wouldn’t have been so rough on her. Still, she was thievin’ and that was wrong.

  Her pa was still shakin’ her and yellin’ in her face. Those words shouldn’t ought to be said to anybody, least of all his own daughter. I was gettin’ summat distressed as I ain’t ever heard anybody that mad at their own kin.

  Pa stepped forward and held his hand against the man’s chest, not like he was pushin’ but just like he’d do with a horse to settle it down.

  “Take it easy. No harm done here,” Pa said quiet-like.

  “She’s a damned thief,” the man yelled, then he slapped her hard across the face.

  Pa hauled back his fist and shot it right into the man’s jaw. It dropped him like a rock and he fell on his back. The girl took the opportunity to skedaddle over to her ma.

  “Now, sir, that is no way to treat a girl and it is no way for you to speak in front of my son here.”

  I thought the man would yell at Pa or he’d get up and try to fight him. But he didn’t. Instead, he started to cry and he held his face in his hands and started sobbin’. I was purely shocked at this turn of events. Pa let him go on for a short time, then he reached his hand down to help the man up.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the man gasped for breath.

  “It’s all right. You just shouldn’t be treatin’ your girl like that. It ain’t proper.”

  As the sun was now comin’ up, everyone started to go back to their own camps to start up their fires again. The man walked slowly over to his own camp. I was glad to see him put his arm around the girl’s shoulders. She flinched back some, but he spoke to her quiet then she wrapped her arms around him. They stood there holdin’ on to each other, like family should.

  As we boiled up some coffee and got the cornbread out for breakfast, Pa tol’ me these folks had lost everything to the dust.

  “Sometimes, you can’t blame a person if they go too far, if they’d already been pushed too far,” he said. He shook his head and I saw he was sad. I was sad, too.

  We packed up our gear. Pa took the rest of the cornbread and went over to the family’s campsite. He handed the package to the girl’s mother, then talked to the man for a few minutes. I saw them shake hands and Pa came back and tol’ me to get in the truck.

  Once we were headed down the road, Pa said, “We’ll be seein’ those folks in a couple of days.”

  “Why, Pa? Are they comin’ to visit us?”

  “I’m hirin’ John, that’s his name, on for a few days.”

  “But, Pa, you said we just had enough for us to get by. You quit hirin’ people on last season.”

  “I know, I know,” he said and didn’t speak for awhile.

  Then, he said, “We just have enough to get by, that’s true. But, if folks don’t have enough to even live, then we just have to make do with a bit less.”

  “Yessir, Pa. I can see how’s that’s the right thing to do.”

  We drove on home mostly quiet the rest of the way. When we got home and Pa took Ma aside to tell her we’d be havin’ company, she shook her head, but not like she was sayin’ no. She tol’ me to get out to the chicken coop and see if those hens didn’t lay a few more eggs. She had some bakin’ to do.

  Chance Encounter

  All kids eventually grow up, but in that in-between time interesting things can happen. When Eddie moved to East Texas and began High School, he joined the football team. The team was good enough to go to
the State Championship. Along the way, he meets a woman who turns his head around.

  Life was tough in the 30s, but people didn’t complain, they just tried to get along as best they could. When I was gettin’ in my teen years, times were tough enough that Pa decided we’d move the family to East Texas. The reason for this is in one word: oil. My uncle Alex started up in the oil business and he’d invited Pa to come help out. This was fine with Ma, as Uncle Alex married her sister Alma.

  So we packed up the furnishings and moved out of the farmhouse. I’d only just found out Pa didn’t own the farm we’d worked near Hereford, but was just a tenant. He’d never said and I’d never asked, but that fact gave me some understandin’ of why things were the way they were. Since we didn’t own our land, it left us high and dry when the droughts moved down our way. I believe the owner decided to sell the land to one of the ranches, and we didn’t have a place to live anymore.

  When I got to high school, I didn’t know anybody, but I found out I was good at sports. That helped me fit into my new school. I played football, basketball, and bein’ a fast runner, I also took to the track events. Football was my favorite, mostly ‘cause folks liked to watch the football games more’n the others.

  Our team, the Salem Wildcatters, did pretty well in 1937 and we ended up winnin’ the district championship. It was a big deal for the school to win, so us on the team were feelin’ pretty proud of ourselves when we were told we’d be goin’ to Dallas for the State Championship.

  Now, we didn’t figure to win, because just about the entire junior and senior classes were on the team. I was a junior that year. That meant the coach didn’t have much to pick and choose from. But, we got lucky and beat out the rest of the schools within a hundred miles or so.

  The school hired a bus to take us to Dallas and our mothers packed us all big lunches to take along. We figured to take the bus up to Highway 20 and then head west to Dallas. We were pretty excited and did a lot of jokin’ around and even some singin’ on the bus. Sister, that bein’ what we called my sister Dorothy, was goin’ to come up the next day with the band and they’d get to play durin’ our game. We were playin’ against a Dallas team, so we expected we’d play just the one time.

  We’d got on to Highway 20 and traveled a piece when the coach said to take a stop for lunch and to allow us to use the facilities. That meant we stopped at a gas station with a little diner sittin’ next to it. Some of the boys were well off and decided they’d eat lunch at the diner. I had the lunch Ma packed, but went to the diner with the other guys to get myself a Coke.

  It was crowded in the diner as it only held around twenty people, if that. In one booth at the far end of the diner there sat one of the prettiest women I’d ever seen. Her hair was all curled up and she was wearin’ lipstick and blue stuff on her eyelids. A fur wrapped around her shoulders, even though it was plenty warm outside. She was sittin’ with a man and another woman, but it was hard to see anybody but her in that booth.

  I saw some of the other boys stop and whisper to each other while they were lookin’ at her. She smiled at us and seemed friendly enough.

  I went up to the counter to buy my Coke and saw her lookin’ my way. I turned to her and gave her a smile, wantin’ to be polite and all. She crooked her finger at me lettin’ me know she wanted me to come over. So, I did.

  I went over to say howdy and she patted her hand, which had on a glove, on the seat next to her. I sat down, naturally.

  She asked me, “what are all you fine-looking boys doing out here?”

  “Why, ma’am, we’re headin’ to Dallas to play in the football championships,” I answered respectfully. Up close, I could see she wasn’t a really young woman, maybe in her thirties or forties. Still, she was made up nice and smiled so you’d just fall into those blue eyes. I’ll have to admit, I was smitten.

  She laid her gloved hand on mine and said “You look like you’re a runner. I’m guessing you’re the quarterback.”

  I hate to admit I blushed. I answered her, “Actually, I’m a halfback, ma’am.”

  She actually reached over and squeezed my arm! I was pretty much dumbstruck by that point as I hadn’t been this close to a woman like this in my whole life. She sure wasn’t like the ladies that lived in town. She wasn’t like any lady I’d ever seen. But, at the same time, I got this feeling I knew her from somewhere, I just couldn’t place where it was.

  “Yes,” she said, “nice strong muscles. I can tell you can throw a football really well.”

  I was beginnin’ to get a little dizzy and, I’m truly embarrassed to admit, but I was feelin’, well, I’ll just say I was feelin’.

  She took her hand away from my arm. I think she saw I was getting embarrassed and all. She talked about this and that for a while. How’s the crops been? Has the weather been good? and other such chitchat. Some of the other boys come over and were standin’ around the table by that time.

  Red, who was my best friend, takes a napkin and hands it to the lady and said, “Please, ma’am, can I have your autograph?” She takes the napkin and signs it for him. The other boys started givin’ her pieces of paper to sign, too.

  Now, I was truly puzzled. She must be a famous person, but for the life of me, I couldn’t place her. I was too embarrassed to ask, since it looked like everybody else knew who she was but me. I figured I shouldn’t miss a chance, so I handed her a napkin to sign. When I looked at it, I couldn’t make out what it said. Mostly, it just looked like two big circles with some squiggles, so I was none the wiser.

  After awhile, she gave me a nudge to get up out of the booth, so I stood up to let her out. She looked around at the boys, since now the entire team was collected at the booth, includin’ the coach and the bus driver.

  “Well now,” she said as she stood up, “I guess you all’d like to see some of the real me.” With that, she put her hand on her hip and kind of jutted it out.

  With a whole different voice, she said “Come up and see me sometime, boys.” Then, she sashayed out of the diner while I stood there with my mouth hangin’ open. I felt really stupid when I realized I hadn’t recognized Mae West.

  Red gave me a nudge and said, “How about that, Ed? Mae West right out here in the middle of nowhere and we got to meet her. Now, we can just lose that old game and it won’t bother me at all.”

  Nope, it wouldn’t bother me at all, neither. We did lose the game, but I saw in the Dallas newspaper that Miss Mae West appeared at the Majestic the same time we were in town. Those folks paid good money to see what we got to see for free. I’ll never forget the prettiest, and nicest, blond lady I ever did meet.