Eleven
____________
The
Staples of Life
I cherish my memories of Binger. There was the
little town called Lokeba where we went sometimes. Before we got the Model T we
traveled with the horses and wagon to get staples such as sugar, flour, coffee,
and things like that.
We always had fresh stuff from the garden:
onions, tomatoes, peas, beets, leaf lettuce, radishes, green beans, cabbage,
okra, potatoes, sweet potatoes, hubbard squash, and of course… watermelon.
My brother, Richard, was always talkin’ about
the giant watermelons we grew. My Ma made wonderful dressings and gravies out
of pure cream. Every Sunday we had fried chicken, usually the extra roosters
that had hatched and grew big and tasty. We needed all the hens for egg layin’.
Ma also canned vegetables and fruits. She made the best jams ever from wild
berries and plums and to reduce the liquid content Ma cooked it all down for
quite a while. There was usually no pectin around for the buyin’, it was hard
to come by.
Ma also cooked sauerkraut sometimes in a large
crock. Richard and Teddy didn’t like it so much, so that left more for Ma, Pa,
Mary and me.
“I remember when your grandfather stood in the
center vendors’ area in Union City when I was just a little boy. He’d be there
for hours sellin’ from his case with collapsible legs; he sold everything from
small children’s toys to shaving utensils. He had dolls, doilies, cloth
napkins, you name it… he had it. He was one good pitchman, if you ask me,” John
Charlton related some memories of his father to his children.
Grandpa sure lived an interesting life, didn’t
he,” Rae Ann surmised.
“He sure did,” their father took a deep breath
and then let it out with a long sigh.
Richard, Teddy, and Mary all listened with the
same eager ears as their sister Rae Ann listened with.
"Vaudeville," Mr. Charlton continued
his conversation, "Now, those were the days. I remember hearin’ my own
grandfather reminisce upon them days from time to time. You know, your
great-grandfather was somethin’ of an entertainer in his day. Great-grandpa
even used a ventriloquist’s dummy in some of his shows. But that's a whole
nother time and a whole nother story, youngins. We'll save that for some other
day, we got work to do. The world already has enough pencil jugglers and folks
fluffin’ papers, we don’t want to be addin’ any more dead weight to what’s
already there. You girls run along and help your Ma, ok.”
The girls agreed and scampered off toward the
kitchen.
"You boys won't never be forgettin’ what
the Bible teaches us will ya, 'that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own
business, and to work with your own hands?"
Richard and Teddy replied, “No, Pa, not never.”
“Hard work ain’t never killed no one, except
maybe in the tale ‘bout John Henry,” the boys’ father affirmed, “So, let’s get
us out to the barn and get to work… bucking bales.”
The boys knew they were in for a hard afternoon
bucking bales of hay. Most of the bales weighed 100 pounds, but some were as
heavy as 150. Teddy usually helped with the smaller 50 pound bales, but Richard
was growing into a strong young man and enjoyed bucking as many of the larger
bales as his body, energy and strength could handle.
Their father informed the two boys that,
"The chaps and hay hooks are in the back of the wagon in the rear of the
barn. I'll be right back, I just need to tell your Ma somethin'."
Once their father returned, their day’s work
commenced. After a few hours the three male Charltons returned to the house.
“What an afternoon, whew,” Richard told Rae Ann
proudly. “We worked harder than ever out there.”
“Good for you, Richard.”
“You makin’ fun of me?” Richard questioned his
sister angrily.
“Naw, not right yet, anyway.”
Richard looked as though he might explode. His
face turned red and the veins in his neck stuck out like muscles on a
strongman. Rae Ann decided to calm him down, “I was just funnin’ with you,
Richard. We womenfolk been cleanin’, scrubbin’ and bakin’ this afternoon. I
baked you a special little cake, all for you and only you.”
“Sorry, sis,” Richard began to calm down, “I’m
just beat. Didn’t mean to get all flustered and all.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“A cake? Wow! Thanks, Rae Ann.”
“There’s nuts in it too, just the way you like
it.”
No one else in the family enjoyed nuts in their
cake, so Richard usually never had the pleasure of enjoying his favorite cake
style very often.
“And Mary baked Teddy one too, all by herself.
It’s a little bit lopsided, but I’m sure it will taste just as fine as can be.”
“Anything would taste good now,” Richard
groaned, “we are so hungry—”
“I know,” Rae Ann interrupted, “you could eat a
horse.”
“A cake sounds a lot better right now, sis.”
“Well, Ma has a great supper for us first, then
we can have some cake.”
With supper finished swiftly, the time for cake
arrived with the enthusiastic acceptance of everyone, especially Richard.
Just as the final bite of cake was being
polished off by Richard, who ate his as slowly as he could in order to make the
pleasurable moment last as long as possible, an automobile drove up outside of
the house. A man knocked at the front door and Teddy ran to see who was there.
“Hello, son,” the man greeted the youth. “Your
Ma or Pa home?”
Mr. Charlton arrived at the door just as his son
turned to summon him.
“Pa—”
“Hello, can I help you?” John asked the
stranger.
“I hate to bother you, but… well, first, my name
is Leland Dickerson. I’m the brother of—”
“Willard Dickerson?” Mr. Charlton questioned.
“Yes. But I’m afraid I have some bad news and a
favor to ask.”
“Of course, anything. My name is John, John
Charlton and this is one of my youngins.”
”My brother was headin’ out a few days ago on
horseback and hit a patch of loose rocks and dirt on a hillside trail. Anyway,”
The man breathed deeply, “he took a nasty fall and hit his head. He was a tough
old sort and just got back up on his steed and finished the two day ride. It
turns out that after he got to where he was goin’ he just up and died.”
Feeling the sorrow of death, Mr. Charlton
inquired, “How can we help? We’d be honored to assist your family in any way we
can.”
“Thank you for your kindness and generosity, Mr.
Charlton. All we be needin’ help for is a few days of livestock feedin’. Ain’t much,
just a horse, cow, and a couple of hogs. We’d be mighty obliged if—”
“Not another word. You and yours have a lot to
think about. We’ll take care of the place and its critters until you tell us
otherwise.”
Leland Dickerson appeared instantly relieved and
replied, “I’m beholdin’ to you. All the feed and things are supposed to be in
the barn. Just keep track of anything extra you might find needin’ to be done
or bought from the feed store. I’ll recompense you when I get back here in a
few days to sort through his belongings and all.”
“Ain’t no problem. You just take care of
things,” Mr. Charlton encouraged the man.
The next week proved to be a busy time for the
Charlton clan. Having two farms’ animals to look after was no small effort, but
with Richard’s and Teddy’s help Mr. Charlton managed the compilation of chores
just fine.
Willard Dickerson was a widowed sharecropper who
had kept to himself since the death of his wife. The owner of the farm Willard
was leasing from took over the farmland’s needs with a crew of his own workers,
so Leland Dickerson was able to settle his brother’s affairs quickly.
A short later John Charlton took the Model T and
made a trip to Lokeba with Richard and Rae Ann. They made the trip to purchase
some coffee, flour, sugar and a number of storable items with the money that
Leland Dickerson insisted the family take for their efforts. John Charlton
always received a discount for items he bought in bulk, so the trip to Lokeba
was well worth it. The trio of Charltons stopped along the way home to give
over half of the staples away to numerous struggling families living in their
area.
“It feels real good to be givin’ folks stuff
they need, Pa,” Rae Ann commented. “I just wish we could do more.”
Mr. Charlton looked across the seat and replied
to his daughter, “I wish we could too, honey.”
“Me too, Pa,” Richard interjected.
Mr. Charlton stated one of his strongest
beliefs, “That’s what life is all about… doin’ all we can for God, others, our
family, and our own selves. Sometimes it’s bountiful and sometimes it’s utter
wantonness. But one thing is for sure,” he took a long breath as he shifted
gears, “only the treasures one lays up in heaven ever amount to anything. They
never get lost, stolen, or destroyed. It just gets hard sometimes doin’ that
from our hearts ‘cause we can’t quite see them treasures and we know that we
really don’t deserve any treasure in the first place.”
Rae Ann opened the Bible she brought with her
and read; “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are
commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was
our duty to do.”
Richard observed, “That’s the way I feel
sometimes, Pa. Like bein’ perfect would only be the beginnin’.”
“If it weren’t for our Lord’s sacrifice, I think
bein’ even perfect in every way would still be lackin’.” A man can just never
do enough good,” Mr. Charlton claimed.
“Jesus gave us a good example of servin’ and how
we ought to be helpin’ folks,” Rae Ann stated, as she slid across the seat to
lean and hug her father.
“He sure did, dear, but maybe you ought to be
slidin’ back a bit so we don’t be findin’ ourselves runnin’ off in a ditch or
somethin’.”
“Sure, Pa,” Rae Ann agreed, “sure.”
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