Appalachia Childhood
By Judy C Meeker
Spring passes on into summer. Whippoorwills can be hear calling out to one another like lonesome echoes at first dark until first light. Then a new day dawns across the hills in streaks of lemony colors and dust motes dancing on rays of sunlight.
The light comes shining straight from the sun above, to peek into a tiny window and awaken a sleeping child.
Dudy sits up in bed staring at the dancing dust mites. After a bit boredom sets in, and the little cabin becomes a lonely place with no other child to torture. She slips from the bed ever so careful not to awaken her ma and pa. Poor Ernie-Lou Cottle snores in bliss unaware of Dudy going through a chest of drawers and trying on what few panties she had.
The child makes a selection, and commences to pull them on. Of course they are too big, but that does not hinder Dudy. She pulls them up beneath her stick like arms and ties a knot in the elestic waistband. And after working her mouth over with Ernie's bright lipstick, she grabs a cigarette from a pack of Lucky Strikes and slips out the door.
Dudy's cousin Nell had been awake for some time and is just getting into her pedal car to go down into the hollow and worry their poor old mam-maw to death when she sees Dudy running up the road. 'Ma, Dudy is smokin' again, she screams over her shoulder, then takes off over the loose gravel before the ugly little tobacco worm could catch up and hitch a ride.
The ghost child hides behind behind a curmbling stone and watches in admiration of the tiny mortal pedaling pass the old graveyard. It has one hand gripped around the steering wheel and the other around a store boughten peach. A sugar daddy hangs from its mouth like a cigar, and it all laid back as if it had been driving before Jesus was born! Oh how the little specter is impressed!
Dudy is running behind and throwing rocks. The ghost allows that she hadn't combed her hair in weeks. The wicked little darling's hair is standing out on one side and mashed flat on the other. It also notices that Dudy's mouth is bleeding from ear to ear and allows that Nell had hauled off and mashed it.
The sad little specter watches the wee funny mortal through hollow eyes. Its bloomers keep sliding down its skinny butt and it stops now and then to pull them up. Finally it just holds them up with a grubby paw and keeps on running.
'Gimme soma that sucker, it squalls.'
'Unt-un, Nell denies.
She speeds over the ruts just like a full grown woman, cleverly swerving to the side of the road to avoid the poop before passing the Hatton place. All five of the Hatton youngins' used the dirt road for a toilet. They hear the commotion and four of them come running from the house to stand in the yard. The two year old Hatton is squatted in the road doing its business...
When it sees Nell come speeding around a cruve, the poor little mite jumps up and hurries toward the safty of the yard on its chubby legs, but it is too late. The reckless driver swerves toward it at full speed and knocks it flat on its back, then speeds away as if it was no more than common road kill.
Dudy, having more mercy for the squalling baby carefully steps around it, and accidently steps in a pile of fresh poop!
Dudy's eyes are pools of madness and her hair sticks out about her head like hay, but the ghost child loved the ugly young mortal and its heart was broken at the sight of the pitiful little figure crying and dragging its big boney feet through the sand.
The spirit watches until the two mortals vanish through the trees, then it swirls up in vapors of wispy smoke to hover above the tree-line. It is worried that Nell will make a wreck on the dangerous steep leading down into the hollow. And very well should be- with Dudy running after and grabbing at the bumper-
Sure enough it sees the red haired imp take off down the rocky cow-path at a dangerous speed. They are passing Uncle Willie's little shot-gun shack, when the ghost-child gets a revelation of Dudy catching the tail-gate and being dragged down through the hollow on her bare stomach.
Dudy is reaching to do just that, when she gets a whiff of old freezer burn- [the smell of death]
She feels the essence of the spirit draped over her skinny shoulders, and slowly seeping int her back and through her arms in a numbing sensation. Dudy rebels against it. ''You god-damn nosey little haint, iffen you keep haintin' around, you is gonna fall in love with me, she warns.''
She grits her teeth out of sheer will power and grabs the tail-gate with a cold numb hand. Thus overcoming the frailty of mortal weakness, and over-turning the order of the soul,she holds on tight and does not make a whimper as she is dragged across the gritty sand and into Mam-maw's front yard.
''Screeck, Squalt, Kerthunk!'' Nell slams on her brakes and leaps from the car running, and though Dudy's head had been slammed against the bumper, she is right at Nell's heels and closing in.
Nell is just dashing around the hog-Pen when Dudy grabs her by a long braid and yanks her to the ground. But you might know that Dudy's over-sized bloomers would slid down... She lets loose of Nell's hair long enough to pull them up, and in that split second of time, nell leaps from the ground and jumps up in the air like a riled rooster. She carefully pulls her sucker from the side of her face and places it back between her teeth before swatting Dudy down like a common miller! [moth]
The old woman who had seen the commotion from her front poarch now hears it, and getting the bucket of water that she kept on hand for such occasions, she heads for the hog-pen.
Nell had overcome Dudy who was trying to fight with one hand and hold her bloomers up with the other, and was just about to win the battle by pulling Dudy bald-headed, when Mam-maw dashes in and throws water on them both.
''Wa-wa-wa!'' They squall in unison, running their separate ways. Dudy runs south of the beaten path. Nell runs east toward the wooded area. Now dear reader there is a revelation in these two directions if one has ears to hear and eyes to see...
''I has stopped many a dawg fight with a bucket of cold spring water, Maw-maw giggles around her pipe.''
The old woman goes back to the porch to ponder and wait... Soon the two imps come out of hiding just like she knew they would. They are both shame-faced and nervous. Nell is hiding something behind her back. The old woman guessed it to be candy.
She ignores the stingy imp and turns to Dudy. ''Whatcha doin' out runnin' the ridge in nothin' but your ma's red drawers, and your mouth all painted up like some old strumpet, and another thing, I betcha ain't combed your ratty head since school been out.''
''I combed my hair this mornin'.'' ''Dudy lies.''
''Old John the boogy-man gonna getcha for lyin' to mam-maw, Nell warns.''
Dudy is not concerned about her cousin prediction, but the ghost-child hovering above the eaves is crushed by the news, and says a silent prayer for the tiny mortal who was headed down the path for ruin and damnation.
The old woman glares at Nell's neat appearance and allows cleanliness does not cover a multitude of stinginess. ''Give Dudy soma that sucker you has hid behind your back.''
''Unt-un, Nell denies.''
The old coon hound slips up behind the greedy child to sniff the candy with interest. Mam-maw watches him, a smug glint in her eyes as he slips closer and closer.
With one swift movement of his head, he snatches the candy from her hand and runs under the floor where she can't get him.
The ghost child hears the old hound gnawing on the good sweet taffy, the pitiful screams of Nell, and the harsh cruel laughter of Dudy. It feels that the old woman is well pleased and that her grandchildren will hear a moral to this story. It spirals down through the eaves to blend with her pipe tobacco and to hang around her head like a smokey halo before drifting off into the woods to find peace and quiet.
The old woman listens to her grandchildren. One squalls in rage and grief while the other one mockingly laughs in a pitch that seems to pierce through her head like a needle. When her mouth begins to nervously twitch around the stem of her pipe, she calls out in a loud voice saying, ''You two sum-o-bitches get outa my face and go on home, go on now before I break me a switch and cut the hot piss outa both of you all!''
But it is not until she gets to her feet and walks toward a near by tree do they take their leave.
Head Lice
One night around the first of December, the north wind whispers through the tall white pine. She bends and sways but does not shed her gown beneath old man winter's icy wet kisses as the maple, oak, and hickory had done. The wind dies to a whimper and leaves the modest pine alone to stand fully clothed in a forest of naked trees. Up right and decent, she stands, her lush green gown a sparkle with hoarfrost. But not for long...
By the middle of December her branches would hang across city streets, stretched from pole to pole like long feathery snakes attired in gemstones. This green decoration was call Christmas roping by city folks. It was called tying pine by the gentle hill folks who made it.
Mommy and daddy Cottle had been tying pine all week. They had a big order to fill and so little time. Dudy had hindered them causing them to get behind. Mommy had to stop every hour around the clock to wear the tiny imp out with a pine brush. Watching the child hop about the cabin in showers of green rain and squalling soon begin to wear on their nerves.
Then one day, mommy went to whip Dudy and she had jumped behind the sofa where daddy sit rolling wire. The enraged mommy Cottle had raised the pine brush to strike out at the sofa, but missed and struck daddy Cottle across his face. He had packed Dudy up then and there and drove her to mam-maw Henches, and the old woman had to keep her until roping season was over.
Head Lice
Mam-maw Hench hides a fine toothed comb in her apron pocket, and tips to the poarch on stealth feet. There she sits on a wobbly old bench to smoke her pipe and to wait in perdition for the wicked Dudy Cottle. The old woman wants to catch her grand-daughter and run the comb through her tangled locks, then cut them off to the scalp if possible- The child had let the little Perdue twins wear her coonskin cap on their lice infested heads. Now she had them too. Mam-maw could see the tiny bugs crawling through her hair, but Dudy would not let the old woman get near her with a comb.
She had been trying to catch her for two days now, but the fast young imp had always out run her and hide in the woods.
Dudy's cousin ''Nell Gritt'' comes out with a pair of sissors and reaches them to the old woman. ''Mam-maw are you aimin' to scalp Dudy today?''
''Shhh!'' ''Maw-maw warns around the stem of her pipe. ''Just act like we be done gone and forgot about them lice. ''Don't be namin' it, then when she start pass me on her way in the cabin for sweet-milk and cornbread, I will get her. ''Here she come now, step back Nell soma us is bound to get hurt.''
Nell sees her cousin skipping down the beaten path and singing at the top of her voice.
''It weren't God who made honky tonk angels like you wrote in the words of a song. Too many times married men think they still single and has caused many a good girl to go wrong!''
''He-he-he, Nell giggles.
''Be quiet Mam-maw hisses.''
Every nerve in her body is tensed in readiness to catch the little singer, but Dudy does not come on the porch as the old woman had thought. The child is alerted by her keen insight for survival and commences swinging on the saggy gate instead. ''Gimme some sweet-milk and corn bread.''
Mam-maw ignores the request and tries a different approach. ''Dudy honey, where did you learn that prutty song about them angels? ''I do believe its the pruttiest song I ever heard!''
A shamed smile crosses Dudy's dirty little face. ''I made it up my own self! ''Mommy and daddy say I sing just like Kitty Wells!'' ''She lies''
''Sang me and Nell that one about the blues.'' Mam-maw suggest around her pipe.''
Of course the proud little singer does as it is told.
''Wella I never felt more like singin' the blues, I never thought I'd ever loose your love dear, you got me singin' the blues!''
A sad frown crosses the old woman's kind face. ''That song puts me in mind of poor old Matte. ''Her man up and run off with some old strumpet from outa Letcher County, leaving poor old Matte with five little youngins' to raise all by herself. ''She never did get over that soft headed sum-o-bitch. ''Her heart is broke to this very day.''
After a moment of silence, she turns her mind back to Dudy, and the plight of poor old Matte and her two-face husband is soon forgotton. Dudy commences to show off just like the old woman knew she would. The child stands on its head, does a cart-wheel, jumps up in the air and clicks its heels together before taking a bow.
''Y, pond my honor Dudy C. Cottle, iffen you aint the pertest thing, brags the old woman. ''Come over here and gimme soma that sweet sugar.''
Dudy feels so proud of herself that she is nigh into bursting with pride. A pride that goth before destruction...
The proud imp runs into mam-maw's open arms for a kiss, then like a bolt of lightening the old woman snakes out a hand and grabs her by the nape of the neck. Dudy cannot move her head. Mama-maw holds her like one would hold a poisinous snake.
''He-he-he, Nell giggles. ''Mam-maw aims to comb your hair then scalp your head bald as the tars [tires] on your daddy's truck, the she gonna pour coal-oil over it to kill the nits!''
''You just hush up your mouth Nell before I slap a horse face on yoy, Mam-maw warns, before she begins to cut Dudy's hair. ''Snip-snip-snip!''
''Wa-wa-wa!''
Mam-maw cuts the tangles off to the scalp on one side and goes to cut the other side when the wobbly bench gives away beneath the battle. The old woman lands on her butt, her pipe still clenched between her gums, a surprised look on her face. The sissors fly one way and Dudy flies another, running up the beaten path toward the woods. The right side of her head is bald as a billiard.
Spring passes on into summer. Whippoorwills can be hear calling out to one another like lonesome echoes at first dark until first light. Then a new day dawns across the hills in streaks of lemony colors and dust motes dancing on rays of sunlight.
The light comes shining straight from the sun above, to peek into a tiny window and awaken a sleeping child.
Dudy sits up in bed staring at the dancing dust mites. After a bit boredom sets in, and the little cabin becomes a lonely place with no other child to torture. She slips from the bed ever so careful not to awaken her ma and pa. Poor Ernie-Lou Cottle snores in bliss unaware of Dudy going through a chest of drawers and trying on what few panties she had.
The child makes a selection, and commences to pull them on. Of course they are too big, but that does not hinder Dudy. She pulls them up beneath her stick like arms and ties a knot in the elestic waistband. And after working her mouth over with Ernie's bright lipstick, she grabs a cigarette from a pack of Lucky Strikes and slips out the door.
Dudy's cousin Nell had been awake for some time and is just getting into her pedal car to go down into the hollow and worry their poor old mam-maw to death when she sees Dudy running up the road. 'Ma, Dudy is smokin' again, she screams over her shoulder, then takes off over the loose gravel before the ugly little tobacco worm could catch up and hitch a ride.
The ghost child hides behind behind a curmbling stone and watches in admiration of the tiny mortal pedaling pass the old graveyard. It has one hand gripped around the steering wheel and the other around a store boughten peach. A sugar daddy hangs from its mouth like a cigar, and it all laid back as if it had been driving before Jesus was born! Oh how the little specter is impressed!
Dudy is running behind and throwing rocks. The ghost allows that she hadn't combed her hair in weeks. The wicked little darling's hair is standing out on one side and mashed flat on the other. It also notices that Dudy's mouth is bleeding from ear to ear and allows that Nell had hauled off and mashed it.
The sad little specter watches the wee funny mortal through hollow eyes. Its bloomers keep sliding down its skinny butt and it stops now and then to pull them up. Finally it just holds them up with a grubby paw and keeps on running.
'Gimme soma that sucker, it squalls.'
'Unt-un, Nell denies.
She speeds over the ruts just like a full grown woman, cleverly swerving to the side of the road to avoid the poop before passing the Hatton place. All five of the Hatton youngins' used the dirt road for a toilet. They hear the commotion and four of them come running from the house to stand in the yard. The two year old Hatton is squatted in the road doing its business...
When it sees Nell come speeding around a cruve, the poor little mite jumps up and hurries toward the safty of the yard on its chubby legs, but it is too late. The reckless driver swerves toward it at full speed and knocks it flat on its back, then speeds away as if it was no more than common road kill.
Dudy, having more mercy for the squalling baby carefully steps around it, and accidently steps in a pile of fresh poop!
Dudy's eyes are pools of madness and her hair sticks out about her head like hay, but the ghost child loved the ugly young mortal and its heart was broken at the sight of the pitiful little figure crying and dragging its big boney feet through the sand.
The spirit watches until the two mortals vanish through the trees, then it swirls up in vapors of wispy smoke to hover above the tree-line. It is worried that Nell will make a wreck on the dangerous steep leading down into the hollow. And very well should be- with Dudy running after and grabbing at the bumper-
Sure enough it sees the red haired imp take off down the rocky cow-path at a dangerous speed. They are passing Uncle Willie's little shot-gun shack, when the ghost-child gets a revelation of Dudy catching the tail-gate and being dragged down through the hollow on her bare stomach.
Dudy is reaching to do just that, when she gets a whiff of old freezer burn- [the smell of death]
She feels the essence of the spirit draped over her skinny shoulders, and slowly seeping int her back and through her arms in a numbing sensation. Dudy rebels against it. ''You god-damn nosey little haint, iffen you keep haintin' around, you is gonna fall in love with me, she warns.''
She grits her teeth out of sheer will power and grabs the tail-gate with a cold numb hand. Thus overcoming the frailty of mortal weakness, and over-turning the order of the soul,she holds on tight and does not make a whimper as she is dragged across the gritty sand and into Mam-maw's front yard.
''Screeck, Squalt, Kerthunk!'' Nell slams on her brakes and leaps from the car running, and though Dudy's head had been slammed against the bumper, she is right at Nell's heels and closing in.
Nell is just dashing around the hog-Pen when Dudy grabs her by a long braid and yanks her to the ground. But you might know that Dudy's over-sized bloomers would slid down... She lets loose of Nell's hair long enough to pull them up, and in that split second of time, nell leaps from the ground and jumps up in the air like a riled rooster. She carefully pulls her sucker from the side of her face and places it back between her teeth before swatting Dudy down like a common miller! [moth]
The old woman who had seen the commotion from her front poarch now hears it, and getting the bucket of water that she kept on hand for such occasions, she heads for the hog-pen.
Nell had overcome Dudy who was trying to fight with one hand and hold her bloomers up with the other, and was just about to win the battle by pulling Dudy bald-headed, when Mam-maw dashes in and throws water on them both.
''Wa-wa-wa!'' They squall in unison, running their separate ways. Dudy runs south of the beaten path. Nell runs east toward the wooded area. Now dear reader there is a revelation in these two directions if one has ears to hear and eyes to see...
''I has stopped many a dawg fight with a bucket of cold spring water, Maw-maw giggles around her pipe.''
The old woman goes back to the porch to ponder and wait... Soon the two imps come out of hiding just like she knew they would. They are both shame-faced and nervous. Nell is hiding something behind her back. The old woman guessed it to be candy.
She ignores the stingy imp and turns to Dudy. ''Whatcha doin' out runnin' the ridge in nothin' but your ma's red drawers, and your mouth all painted up like some old strumpet, and another thing, I betcha ain't combed your ratty head since school been out.''
''I combed my hair this mornin'.'' ''Dudy lies.''
''Old John the boogy-man gonna getcha for lyin' to mam-maw, Nell warns.''
Dudy is not concerned about her cousin prediction, but the ghost-child hovering above the eaves is crushed by the news, and says a silent prayer for the tiny mortal who was headed down the path for ruin and damnation.
The old woman glares at Nell's neat appearance and allows cleanliness does not cover a multitude of stinginess. ''Give Dudy soma that sucker you has hid behind your back.''
''Unt-un, Nell denies.''
The old coon hound slips up behind the greedy child to sniff the candy with interest. Mam-maw watches him, a smug glint in her eyes as he slips closer and closer.
With one swift movement of his head, he snatches the candy from her hand and runs under the floor where she can't get him.
The ghost child hears the old hound gnawing on the good sweet taffy, the pitiful screams of Nell, and the harsh cruel laughter of Dudy. It feels that the old woman is well pleased and that her grandchildren will hear a moral to this story. It spirals down through the eaves to blend with her pipe tobacco and to hang around her head like a smokey halo before drifting off into the woods to find peace and quiet.
The old woman listens to her grandchildren. One squalls in rage and grief while the other one mockingly laughs in a pitch that seems to pierce through her head like a needle. When her mouth begins to nervously twitch around the stem of her pipe, she calls out in a loud voice saying, ''You two sum-o-bitches get outa my face and go on home, go on now before I break me a switch and cut the hot piss outa both of you all!''
But it is not until she gets to her feet and walks toward a near by tree do they take their leave.
Head Lice
One night around the first of December, the north wind whispers through the tall white pine. She bends and sways but does not shed her gown beneath old man winter's icy wet kisses as the maple, oak, and hickory had done. The wind dies to a whimper and leaves the modest pine alone to stand fully clothed in a forest of naked trees. Up right and decent, she stands, her lush green gown a sparkle with hoarfrost. But not for long...
By the middle of December her branches would hang across city streets, stretched from pole to pole like long feathery snakes attired in gemstones. This green decoration was call Christmas roping by city folks. It was called tying pine by the gentle hill folks who made it.
Mommy and daddy Cottle had been tying pine all week. They had a big order to fill and so little time. Dudy had hindered them causing them to get behind. Mommy had to stop every hour around the clock to wear the tiny imp out with a pine brush. Watching the child hop about the cabin in showers of green rain and squalling soon begin to wear on their nerves.
Then one day, mommy went to whip Dudy and she had jumped behind the sofa where daddy sit rolling wire. The enraged mommy Cottle had raised the pine brush to strike out at the sofa, but missed and struck daddy Cottle across his face. He had packed Dudy up then and there and drove her to mam-maw Henches, and the old woman had to keep her until roping season was over.
Head Lice
Mam-maw Hench hides a fine toothed comb in her apron pocket, and tips to the poarch on stealth feet. There she sits on a wobbly old bench to smoke her pipe and to wait in perdition for the wicked Dudy Cottle. The old woman wants to catch her grand-daughter and run the comb through her tangled locks, then cut them off to the scalp if possible- The child had let the little Perdue twins wear her coonskin cap on their lice infested heads. Now she had them too. Mam-maw could see the tiny bugs crawling through her hair, but Dudy would not let the old woman get near her with a comb.
She had been trying to catch her for two days now, but the fast young imp had always out run her and hide in the woods.
Dudy's cousin ''Nell Gritt'' comes out with a pair of sissors and reaches them to the old woman. ''Mam-maw are you aimin' to scalp Dudy today?''
''Shhh!'' ''Maw-maw warns around the stem of her pipe. ''Just act like we be done gone and forgot about them lice. ''Don't be namin' it, then when she start pass me on her way in the cabin for sweet-milk and cornbread, I will get her. ''Here she come now, step back Nell soma us is bound to get hurt.''
Nell sees her cousin skipping down the beaten path and singing at the top of her voice.
''It weren't God who made honky tonk angels like you wrote in the words of a song. Too many times married men think they still single and has caused many a good girl to go wrong!''
''He-he-he, Nell giggles.
''Be quiet Mam-maw hisses.''
Every nerve in her body is tensed in readiness to catch the little singer, but Dudy does not come on the porch as the old woman had thought. The child is alerted by her keen insight for survival and commences swinging on the saggy gate instead. ''Gimme some sweet-milk and corn bread.''
Mam-maw ignores the request and tries a different approach. ''Dudy honey, where did you learn that prutty song about them angels? ''I do believe its the pruttiest song I ever heard!''
A shamed smile crosses Dudy's dirty little face. ''I made it up my own self! ''Mommy and daddy say I sing just like Kitty Wells!'' ''She lies''
''Sang me and Nell that one about the blues.'' Mam-maw suggest around her pipe.''
Of course the proud little singer does as it is told.
''Wella I never felt more like singin' the blues, I never thought I'd ever loose your love dear, you got me singin' the blues!''
A sad frown crosses the old woman's kind face. ''That song puts me in mind of poor old Matte. ''Her man up and run off with some old strumpet from outa Letcher County, leaving poor old Matte with five little youngins' to raise all by herself. ''She never did get over that soft headed sum-o-bitch. ''Her heart is broke to this very day.''
After a moment of silence, she turns her mind back to Dudy, and the plight of poor old Matte and her two-face husband is soon forgotton. Dudy commences to show off just like the old woman knew she would. The child stands on its head, does a cart-wheel, jumps up in the air and clicks its heels together before taking a bow.
''Y, pond my honor Dudy C. Cottle, iffen you aint the pertest thing, brags the old woman. ''Come over here and gimme soma that sweet sugar.''
Dudy feels so proud of herself that she is nigh into bursting with pride. A pride that goth before destruction...
The proud imp runs into mam-maw's open arms for a kiss, then like a bolt of lightening the old woman snakes out a hand and grabs her by the nape of the neck. Dudy cannot move her head. Mama-maw holds her like one would hold a poisinous snake.
''He-he-he, Nell giggles. ''Mam-maw aims to comb your hair then scalp your head bald as the tars [tires] on your daddy's truck, the she gonna pour coal-oil over it to kill the nits!''
''You just hush up your mouth Nell before I slap a horse face on yoy, Mam-maw warns, before she begins to cut Dudy's hair. ''Snip-snip-snip!''
''Wa-wa-wa!''
Mam-maw cuts the tangles off to the scalp on one side and goes to cut the other side when the wobbly bench gives away beneath the battle. The old woman lands on her butt, her pipe still clenched between her gums, a surprised look on her face. The sissors fly one way and Dudy flies another, running up the beaten path toward the woods. The right side of her head is bald as a billiard.
posted by James at 4:59 AM
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