grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Fourth Grade

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GBE 2 – Blog on: Week 94 Writing Prompt: School Picture

4th Grade

Mrs. Mills was a southern lady with kind eyes, a love for teaching and an unhurried accent that made even a good scolding sound pleasant. She was just what my rambunctious fourth grade class needed.

Arranged in alphabetical rows, we learned cursive and long division, discovered that boys were smelly and girls could be fickle. Just beginning to glimpse the world beyond playground boundaries, we were innocent and carefree, soaking up history, science and life like kitchen sponges.

While Walter Cronkite spoke of Watergate, I perfected my advanced levels of jacks—Around the World and Pigs in the Pen.

During harvest, a cotton trailer became my playground.

During harvest, I began counting down to Christmas.

Sunday mornings were spent at Brinkley Chapel, singing hymns and trying to concentrate on the message. I prayed for my dark soul and for bright, sun-shiny days. I prayed my stomach wouldn’t growl during the ‘every head bowed and every eye closed’ part.

I longed to be Marcia Brady but instead looked like Jan.
I was going to be a nurse and a wife and a mother.
I carry this picture to remember where I started. I carry this picture to remember who I am.

talya

Musical Pairing:

I Can See Clearly Now, Johnny Nash

Keiser Cowboy

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GBE 2: Blog On – Writing Prompt #92 – Gusto!
My hometown looked like every other small southern town with a looming water tower, a cafe serving homemade chocolate pies, and a two pump gas station where hometown boys gathered, telling tall tales and waving to those who slowed at the four-way stop. 
But Keiser was different.
Each day between Gryner wall and Keiser Junior High, the town bore witness to a Wild, Wild West re-enactment provided by her own resident, Howard Ray Dawson.

Howard Ray Dawson

Howard Ray, a grown man who never aged, served as the town’s mascot. Each day no matter the weather, he galloped in on his beloved Trigger through a cloud of dust to the middle of Main Street. 

Howard Ray’s daily western show often stopped traffic and school children, all who were friends, all who cheered his zest for life. 
When Trigger was hit by a car and Howard Ray ended up in the hospital, the town rallied. The Graham family paid extra for him to have a television in his hospital room. Someone bought him a new horse. Everyone visited him in the hospital.

Abraham Lincoln said, “Whatever you are, be the best one.” Howard Ray was special in many ways. And he was the best cowboy to ever come out of Keiser, Arkansas. His enthusiastic spirit still lingers. 

talya
Musical Pairing:

Queen for a Day

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Queen for a DayThere is nothing like a fake bejeweled crown to bring out the claws and money clips. The Halloween Carnival in Keiser, Arkansas was THE fall event of the school year. The anticipated crowning of the Halloween King and Queen rooted the dirty farmers out of the fields during cotton harvest, the most holiest of seasons. Devious PTA wannabe queen-mothers administered full blown campaigns for their prospective royal children.Mississippi County drama at its finest.
Each class had nominees selected by classmates, but only one couple could win. I know this may be  rather shocking in today’s every-single-kid-gets-a-trophy-no-kid-gets-left-behind world. But that’s how things worked back then. The winner was selected based on funds raised for the PTA. Pure greed. Cut throat, not popular vote.One winner, a bunch of losers and no pizza party afterward. Greatness.
In second grade, Craig Barnett and I were nominated as Halloween King and Queen. Our families were friends, our dads farmed side by side, often even vacationing together. So I knew Craig pretty well and was fairly certain he had cooties. He likely felt the same about me.

To raise money for our class, we sold chocolate chip cookies and caramel apples after school and peddled homemade cupcakes to the folks who attended the live auction near our home at Cottonwood Corner. This became our full time job for weeks and weeks. Halloween child slavery.

Keiser School

One of our biggest fundraisers was a rummage sale in downtown Keiser, hosted by our crazed mothers. Ms. Barnett, the quintessential schemer, could always pull a rabbit from her hat. Or from Clide’s hat (Craig’s dad). She lured in hordes of shoppers by hanging her mink stole and Clide’s expensive mohair jacket front and center. These luxury items were well overpriced so no one would actually buy them, but displayed perfectly to attract the nosy townsfolk. This was the talk of our little town, and Clide Barnett was none too happy. Especially since he was seen wearing the camel coat at the country club the weekend before.
 Queen and King of Halloween
My second grade class raised an impressive amount of money by 1969 standards. Craig and I were crowned Halloween King and Queen of Keiser Elementary School. Draped with a velvet robe and an armful of flowers, I still remember how those giant white mums smelled. The crown, constructed of white cardboard, silver glitter and Elmer’s glue, was the envy of all.I now realize after the money was tallied, the final selection was made based on whose parents and grandparents threw the most extra money in the PTA pot at the last minute. We both came from families of natural born gamblers, so we were auctioned off like prized cattle. A farmer frenzy.Forty + years later, Craig and I are still bonded by that coronation.

talya

Musical Pairings:
Queen – Tie Your Mother Down


 

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