Chapter 11 ~ Hard Working Hands

(part 2)

Carmon's philosophy was always one of, “throw another ‘tater into the pot, Ma.  We’ve got company.”  There was always room at our house for one more.  Whether it was a bowl of cereal, a pot of soup or a huge T-bone steak, whatever he had, he shared. 

One summer, for example, our neighbor across the street had been laid off and was having a struggle making the proverbial ends meet.  The neighbors next door had a large family of small children and the dad had recently changed jobs, which left them struggling as well.  It would have been outside Carmon’s personality to offer charity to anyone.  He was too tough for that.  What he did instead was to go to these neighbors with a gallon or two of Dot’s milk and say something like, “We’ve got so much of the doggone stuff that if you don’t take some of it off our hands, we’re going to have to pour it out on the trees.” 

We also had about half an acre in garden and half a dozen fruit trees, so he would do the same thing with peaches, plums, and zucchini – whatever happened to be in season.  The neighbors never received a gift; rather they helped us make room in our freezer by taking off our hands several pounds of meat whenever we butchered a steer or a hog.  He had white plastic laundry baskets which he would fill with an assortment of fresh meat.  It wasn't all stew meat and hamburger, either, but an assortment of steaks or chops and roasts as well.  It was not uncommon for him to fill two or three bushel baskets with meat in proportions similar to what he kept for our family.  That summer, between the meat, garden, fruit trees, and milk, he fed two other families besides ours.

Carmon would have gotten embarrassed if he had been thanked.  Of course, if someone truly wanted to thank him - or to talk to him about anything, for that matter - they would have to be content to stand out back with one foot on the corral fence to do so. 

That was where you could always find him. 

© Gebara Education, 2001. No portion of this book may be copied by any method without the express written permission of the author

Picture of soup pot from www.southernfood.about.com

Picture of milk pitcher from www.freepic.com

Picture of garden vegetables from www.smallgardentiller.com

Picture of little boy on fence from www.clothedinscarlet.typepad.com