From 1961 through 1963 I can remember living on North East 23rd Street, either with my Pepaw, or an old shack or our Insurance man's rent house. It was an old dirt road that went past our house, a dip that was usually filled with water and then it dead ended in a turnaround. Just before you got to my grandfathers house on the North side of the road stood a huge orange water tower. Must have been the 70's when my dad showed me polaroid's of it frozen over from an ice storm. The ground was mushroomed with ice, fence honeycombed with ice windows, trees with huge hanging stalactites hanging down, a virtual Winter Wonderland.
Pepaws was also on the North side of the road, a two story house of great mysteries to a young boy. He had this huge garage or barn that looked like an airplane hanger to me. There must have been two dozen broke lawn mowers in there and a Link Trainer, an old school virtual reality teaching aid for pilots. I fancied sneaking in and playing in it but never could gather up the courage. Pepaw was a Civil Air Patrol pilot and on occasion would take me up in borrowed air planes for birds eye views of my hometown & Milsap where my great granddad lived.
Over on the South side of the road before you got to Pepaws was a Feed Tank or pond if your not a Texan. Dad and I would go fishing there and one time when we had not caught anything I drug my line in the water, I was using a cane pole, line, weight and floater and caught a small perch. It was the first fish I ever caught but dad made me throw it back as it was too small. I was about five years old when this happened and at the same tank dad and I would take burlap bags, a frog gig and go Bull Frog gigging along the banks of that tank. I would hold the bag open and dad would gig the frogs. Mom prepared the frog legs in an iron skillet but failed to cut the nerves in the legs so they danced in the pan. They did taste good, though most of those days we ate beans and biscuits.
Across from Pepaw's were the Shoemake's, Pa, Ma, Tiny a teenage girl and the boy Jake. Jake could roll a Prince Albert cigarette with one hand doing all involved making a smoke except licking the paper close. Once Jake gave a Horny Toad a roll your own and we watched the cigarette's tip glow as he inhaled but never exhaled and died. I was sweet on Tiny and remember her showing me her music box that looked like a miniature juke box, not sure what tune it played, possible Elvis.
When we had moved next door to the Shoemakes I had climbed the rock fence in front of our house and into a Persimmon Tree, picking the fruit and hauling them home in my white t-shirt. Well that shirt was stained and ruined by Ma Shoemake took the Persimmons and made us some jam with it. These people were more family than friends or neighbors.
I remember one day when my little Cousin Ricky was staying with us, we were at Pepaws and got our shoes and socks covered with grass burrs. Mom had two of us pulling burrs out of our socks while she drank coffee. Well she must have dropped one in her coffee because one became lodged in her throat. She grabbed Ricky and Robin in her arms, me in tow and we went over to the Shoemakes to call for a doctor. She was taken to the Nazarene Hospital where she stayed a couple days and had the burr removed. I still have the burr in a glass jar. She liked to tell the story how she tickled the nurse with her complaining, "I wish I was going into labor and repeating" I remember worrying about mom as dad too me to outside the hospital where I had to wait for mom trying to guess where she was in that big hospital.
I remember when Pa Shoemake died, they layed him out in his casket at his house. They use to do that in those days, I'm not sure if I attended services. Jake and I continued to be friends for many years to come, even as an adult.
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