Southern Living, Pt.4, My Life as a Coonass

Well,
to continue this series, we jump to the ripe old age of 8 and a half. Halfway thru the third grade in Rosedale, my Daddy took a job in LeMoyne La. I haven't said much about Rosedale, but I may go back to it someday.
Now LeMoyne consisted of a sawmill, 3 houses for the employees, a combination general store and post office and the quarters. The quarters was where all the black and mixed folk lived. It is located on hwy 71 about 20 miles south of Bunkie, La.
I went to school in Morrow, about 5 miles north.
Southern Louisiana is literally the BEST place in the world for an 8 year old boy to grow up in. We had a two bedroom shotgun house with electricity and indoor water (sort of). A fireplace for heat in the winter sufficed. It don't get bad cold down there elsewise we'd probably have froze to death.
Lets talk about the indoor water first. The water came from a big tank mounted beside the house which caught water from the roof when it rained. And it rains often. But in late July and August, the water would have wiggletails in it when you drew a glass to drink. So, you kept a sock by the tap to strain out the wigglers. Worked just fine and as you all know, I didn't die from it. We eventually got a well, but that comes later.
As I said, southern La., is a boys paradise. Across the road from my house was a railroad track and beyond that was a bayou. In the mornings, the yard would be full of crawfish mounds. You needed only a piece of string and a small piece of bacon to get all the fish bait you needed. Tie the bacon to the end of the string and drop it down the hole. When ya felt the crawfish grab it, pull him out and drop him into a pail. After you caught a few, you got your pole, went across the highway and fished with crawdaddy tails til you got all you wanted. Carry em home and the family had fish fer supper.
The people of southern La, are without a doubt, the friendliest folks I ever met. I NEVER met a stranger down there. They liked me cause I talked funny and I liked them cause they liked me. After a short while, we all got to be able to understand each other.
I made lots of friends thruout the third and fourth grade, Tommy Stevens and Richard (pronounced Reeshard)SOMETHING ending with Deaux, were my two best buddies. I also had a girlfriend named (DAMN, OLD AGE IS HELL!).
On weekends, Momma and Daddy would take me fishing at another bayou. The water was crystal clear and you could pick out the fish you wanted from the bank. Find him, drop a hook in front of him and several seconds later, Momma would have him in the frying pan that was over the fire Daddy had built. This was living!
About a year after we moved there, Daddy bought our first tv. 1956, what a GREAT year! The tv was a 19", black and white Philco. We got about 3 or 4 stations from Lafayette and Opolusas. Sky King, Bilko, Hennessy, Highway Patrol and the Rifleman to name a few. Momma always liked Queen for a DAY! Entertainment at its best. No hidden agendas from the networks, no politics, just entertainment.
Well, none of my blogs are complete without an amusing part, so here are a couple
Now, I was 8 or 9, so my Momma was 28 or 29, it was always easy to member my Mommas age since she was almost 20 years older than me. Anyhow, one day a truckload of Redbones pulled up and drove behind the house. A Redbone, for you undereducated, is a mixture of black and creole. Anyhow, Momma went to the back porch and asked them what they wanted. They looked at her a minute and went back to jabbering amongst themselves. She asked again what they wanted. Same thing. She said in a loud and clear voice, "I BET BY GOD YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT!", whereupon she went into the house and came back out with the good old .45 revolver! (yes, it is the one you have now Sam) You never seen such a sight as a half dozen Redbones LEAPING over a truck and ducking down! After she kept them a cowering about 10 minutes, the foreman drove up and told Mama (he spoke english, they didn't) that they were there to drill us a well.
Shoot, this is getting long, I will continue it later.....Stay tuned for My Life as a Coonass, pt2.