Growing up in the Kentucky Mountains (standard:non fiction, 1574 words)
Author: writer_52	Added: Oct 28 2002	Views/Reads: 3302/2151	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Some memories of being a child in te mountains of Kentucky n the early 1950s

"Hi" My name is Junnie. Well actually it is Willie Junior I know that
because when Mom really wants me that's what she calls me, but everyone 
calls me Junnie. I think that is short for Junior but it really don't 
matter to me because I know who they are talking to or about. I Live 
with my Mom and dad and a sister named Gail who is a year older than me 
she is 7 and I am 6 we have a baby sister named Joan but she is not 
much fun because all she does is sleep and cry. Mom brought her home on 
a snowy day last winter and I think Mom felt sorry for her because she 
has been here ever since. Me and Gail wanted a puppy but all we got was 
Joan. My grandma also lives with us or us with her, I am not really 
sure about that either, but no matter we all are happy and get along 
good.. 

We live in a place called Church House Holler in Eastern Kentucky, I
really don't know where this is exactly but I know it is where my house 
is. My house is about a mile off the main road up the holler about half 
way . It is easy to find because after you cross the creek and go past 
the church house you drive by my uncle Hi's house with the big apple 
trees out back then past his smoke house and barn and one of his 
gardens and past his daughters house way up on the mountain and another 
garden he takes care of and then it is our house. 

It is easy to find because it is the only house on the holler with
hedges out front with a gate cut in them so you can find the side walk 
that leads to the front door. The creek is across the road and my dad 
has to park the car there because when my grand pa built the house he 
didn't have a car so he didn't build a place to put one. 

The house is really pretty it is white and has a big porch all the way
across the front with four high backed rocking chairs and two blue 
doors and two windows. that are also blue. We only use one door because 
the other is the door to my Grandma's room and she keeps it locked all 
the time so us kids don't  run through it as we play around the house, 
She likes her things to be left alone so we don't go in there to much 
except when she tells us to go get something and then we only do as she 
asks and we leave. Grandma is real nice and a lot of fun but she can 
get mad and when she does she yells at us and mommy says we shouldn't 
make her mad so we try to be good. She don't yell much. 

My Daddy is a coal miner he works at a coal mines down the road a ways.
Mom says he works hard and I believe her because when I see him walking 
up the holler he is always walking slow and swinging his dinner bucket 
like a pail of water.. Gail and I always wait for him to come home 
because he always has stuff left over from his lunch and to keep it 
from going bad he gives it to us. Seems he always has a piece of 
chocolate cake or pie we can share. We give him a hug and he laughs and 
we walk him the rest of the way to the house. Always telling him about 
our day he is always interested and smiles when we share our days with 
him. 

Daddy gets real dirty at work so when he comes home Mom won't let him in
the house. She has a bowl of water on the old well cover where he takes 
off his shirt and washes up some then he goes into the canning house 
where he has clean clothes he changes clothes and leaves his dirty ones 
in there so he don't get any dirt in the house. 

After Daddy cleans up and changes his clothes we usually have supper. I
always love supper time because it is the one time of the day that we 
are all in the same place. We all seem to talk at once. Mom and Grandma 
are both good cooks and in the summer we have lots of fresh vegetables 
and in the winter we eat stuff  Mom and Granny canned the past fall 
from our garden. We are not rich but we eat good all the time. 

After Supper while Mom and Grandma are doing dishes and cleaning up the
kitchen. Dad usually sits in his chair and reads the paper. Me and Gail 
will go back out to play some or just sit on the front porch in the 
rocking chairs and talk about what we did that day or what we are 
wanting to do tomorrow. 

Sometimes Uncle Hi comes down the road late from plowing another of his
gardens up the holler. When we see him coming with his big Old Black 
Mule we will go to the end of the side walk next to the road and he 
will stop and talk to us. We love to talk to him and pet his mule. The 
Mule is real Big and his name is Hank he always has a collar on his 
neck with chains and straps hooked to it so he jingles when he walks. 


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