One of Daddy’s coworkers also indulged in the hunt. I loved hearing the stories they told.
Slim was a God-gifted liar, so well-known for his lying, that anyone who repeated one of his tales had to buy coffee for the group. One day, Slim came rushing by several of the fellows standing around at work and one of them called out, “Slim, stop and tell us a lie.”
“I ain’t got time.” He called over his shoulder. “Martin Bishop just fell in Smokestack 19 and I’m on the way to call an ambulance.” He rushed on as the other men took off in the opposite direction to check out the accident at Smokestack 19. They were breathless upon getting there and found Martin hard at work, totally unaware that he’d just been tragically killed. I guess they all had to buy their own coffee.
Slim and his wife, Ida Ruth, had a large family. Like many men of the time, his work was done once he left the job. One blazing August afternoon he came home to find a workman, a man of his acquaintance, digging a ditch that ran along the right of way in front of his place. The man was stripped down to his undershirt in the sweltering heat with sweat pouring off him. Slim stopped to talk and sent one of the kids for a glass of ice water. “Man, it’s too hot for you to be shoveling in this heat. Git on out of that ditch and let Ida Ruth finish it!” I don’t guess Ida Ruth heard about it, because there was no murder.
Mike Parsons had been raised in Arkansas and considered himself an authority on all things Arkansas. No one could mention Arkansas without getting an earful of his knowledge, experience, or connections. He must have had a hundred sisters, since he had a brother-in-law in every town. It was getting a little tiresome and Ray Marshall decided to set him up. “I’m going to come in to work tomorrow telling a wild tale about a town in Arkansas I made up. Y’all follow along and see what ol’ Mike has to say.”
The next morning at work when they stopped for coffee, Ray started his story, “Any of y’all ever heard of a little town up in the Arkansas called Catscratch? I was driving through there one time and………”
Mike Parsons jumped in. “Sure, I been there several times. My sister married an old boy from there. He raises them big pink tomaters just outside Catscratch. They got a real nice little place.”
An uncle with a tail ?
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I need to get toUncle Albutt!
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You need to tell the story about our uncle who had a tail !! Ha
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OK. I won’t forget Uncle Albutt!
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Are these stories true? How many characters did you know? Wow-you got set up to write! hahah!
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They are all true. Some were my family. Some were people in community. My family took storytelling seriously. Favorite times were holiday meals and Sunday dinners. Stories went on for hours. Lots of times there was storytelling at night. I loved every second.
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how rich!
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It was a good life, even if I did have to go to church.
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As it was, women were twice as tough as men in those days given all they had to do. Puttin’ up with men being the worst of it.
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Women still are. We do it all.
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Yeah, for us there’s no meet the guys at their level, we have to be better to get noticed for some reason. Some guys get it, but many are still archaic in their thinking. It’s a change that’ll take time.
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Our generation is better than our parents. Hopefully our children and grandchildren do better.
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Thanks! I needed some light and funny reading today! You tell great stories yourself!
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Oh the menfolk and their tall tales….
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Listening in was great. If we asked questions they remembered and ran us off.
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Thanks for reading.
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You’re one of a kind Linda. You’re welcome.
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You are, too!
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😀 Thank you!
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