ZAN
"Granny Stories"mom's book, "I Have A Phobia"
Aug 19, 2014
During teen years, I visited my aunt in Mexia several
times. On one visit, she introduced me to her friend's
daughter. They lived in Grosebeck, a nearby small
town. I was invited to spend a couple days with her.
She thought my presence was a good excuse to have
a party. After the party, on the way back to her home,
we rode in a car with several young people. My
concern was about the driver. He had a cigarette in
his left hand and right arm over his girlfriend's shoulder.
Drunk, he wasn't. No alcohol at the party. When he
puffed his cigarette, both hands were off the steering
wheel, and traveling too fast at that. I thought we were
an accident waiting to happen. I had no way out and
no control. I didn't know these people or where we
were. I couldn't ask to be let out alone at night. As if
that were not helpless enough, we met a group of
people walking toward us on the right shoulder. As soon
as they came into our headlight view, the driver
thought it fwould be fun to scare them. He swerved
toward them just to see them scatter toward the ditch.
It was much too close for comfort, especially if some
of them were to scatter into the road instead of the
ditch, only to be hit if he should turn back on track.
Those "friends" just wern't my kind of people. A life
change in my riding comfort level was made that
night. I'm hardly ever relaxed riding in a car if
someone else is doing the driving.- Yvettah Queen -
Share
Post comment
Like
"Granny Stories"mom's book, Mom's Brother Curlee Pt 1
Jul 14, 2013
In the early thirties my mother delivered a premature
baby girl, Jackie Lou. She weighed over a pound, but
don't remember the ounces. No incubators then, and
she was wrapped tightly in blankets on a regular
hospital bed. Hot water bottles were around her.
Mother almost died. The baby lived 16 days. Dad
took the body in a little casket in his car to Ponder, Tx
for burial with other family memembers at Eaken
Cemetary. While he was gone, I stayed in mother's
room at Bethania Hospital, Wichita Falls. It was near
Christmas. I had been taught Christmas carols at school.
That night I stood by the window looking out at freezing
rain in the street light's glow. Mother had me sing
Christmas carols over and over in the darkness. At
home finally, she grieved for a long time. Doctor
said she shouldn't try another pregnancy which would
endanger her life. She grew depressed, became
reclusive and did a wierd thing. When I was 14yrs
she told me "If you love me you would go to the
Children's Aid Society and adopt a baby for my
birthday." My dad worked for the Traction Co, which
provided free transportation for family members
on busses and streetcars. Being familiar going places
alone, I knew the Children's Aid Society was next
door to the water department. I asked dad if it was
O.K. for me to adopt mother a baby. He said "yeah"
while he was reading the paper. I went into the
Children's Aid Society, and told the woman at the
desk, "I want to adopt a baby for my mama's birthday,
Aug 19th." This was probably June or July. I remember
the expression on her face. She was amused, but
tried to keep a straight face and treat me as a real
client. She asked if my dad knew I was doing this. Yes
I had his permission. She explained there was a list
ahead of me, and she couldn't promise me a baby
by Aug 19th, it might take several weeks, or years. She
gave me application papers and said dad and I could
fill them out. When I showed the papers to dad, he
was shocked to put it mildly, but after a moments
thought he said it was a good idea. We started filling
out the questions. Finally he said, "We're going to
have to tell her about this." Some questions about
family background and names, etc, we couldn't
answer. He said he would handle it. Sometime after
school started in the fall, Sept or Oct, I returned home
from school, and mother met me at the door with a
baby in her arms. He was so cute with curly hair.
Mother's hair was curly, and she thought he looked
like her. She named him Curlee. She had called him
Curlee from the beginning. Curlee came needing extra
care and love, which was one of the reasons mother
was so attracted to him. She had a lot of love to give
him. He was ruptured in the groin, had a hip deformity,
and digestive problems. His rupture healed itself after
a few weeks. His digestive problems had caused him to
cry a lot before he came to us, which had caused the
rupture somehow. We had a cow, even though we lived
in the city. The doctor prescribed milk to be brought to
simmer temperature, cooled, skimmed, and addition
of drops of lactic acid which turned sweet milk into
buttermilk. At last his formula was correct for his
system, and he quit crying. Before we got him he had
been taken to specialist in Dallas, to no avail. Our
family doctor found the answer. What a relief!
Yvettah Queen ------ Zan- Story continues, in "Mom's
Brother Curlee Pt 2 next story. 7/14/13
Share
Post comment
Like
"Granny Stories"mom's book, Mom's Brother Curlee Pt 2
Jul 14, 2013
Back to my brother, Curlee....one side of his hip was
slightly higher than the other, scarcely noticeable as
a baby, but worse with adulthood. As a youngster he
was small for his age which made him cute, doing
things beyond what average children his size were
capable of doing. Mother made the most of that
attention by sending him into the store alone to buy
an item while she sat in the car. Sometimes a store
employee would follow him outside to see where he
was going or came from. It was a game my mother
enjoyed, showing him off. She dressed him in clothes
that fit him like a little man instead of baggy clothes
other children his age wore. After highschool
graduation, he schooled at Texas University at Austin,
but did not graduate. His doctor sent him home to
recuperate after an illness, and he never returned.
While in Austin, he began to appreciate and buy
fine jewelry for himself and gifts for us. He made
friends with the jewelers there, and carried that on
after he returned to Wichita Falls and was working.
He had a natural affection for people who were in
the jewelery business, and they accepted him. His
best friends were Jewish and told Curlee that he was
more "Jew" than himself. Curlee was handsome.
His hair became more African as an adult. Pictures
of him as a teen in bright sunlight brought out
african in his facial features. I came to believe he
came from Jewish-African heritage. His skin was
tanned. In babyhood, doctor prescribed several
hours of sunlight daily to absorb vitimin D for bone
health. His stroller was shaded, but he tanned, and
that color remained. Many people knew Curlee; he
kept in touch whenever he was near a friends office
or home, he dropped in for two minutes. He "got
around" a lot. After his death, someone reported
talking to him curbside at his home on a windy day
as Curlee was preparing to do yard work. Another
person saw him that same day between home and
doctor's office, pulled over being sick. Curlee arrived
at the doctors office, threw his keys on the reception
desk saying, "Take care of my car, I've been poisioned,"
then rushed into the examining area to find the doctor.
Doctor put him on the table, gave a shot, and he
died immediately. That is the way it was told by
witnesses. He was 26yrs old. All this has been a
mystery to us. Autopsy report concerned his deformity,
previous thyroid surgery, and arsenic. About 13yrs
earlier a nurse friend of mine who knew Curlee told
me his deformity was called "Bell-Body" caused by
attempted medical abortion, and people with that
usually did not live long beyond 25yrs. Ironic
prediction. Curlee did not know of that prediction.
The day after Curlee's death, my dad along with
my husband, found in the storage room the unopened
can of weed killer, with a hole in the corner of the lid,
and a screw driver and hammer. The contents under
pressure spewed into his face. There is no evidence
he had gotten to the spraying (in wind which would
have been unwise). He left double indemnity insurance
and many debts. These facts are a mystery to us also.
He caused his own death. Was it an accident or
carelessness or not? It was judged an accident, and
insurance paid double. As Curlee's executor, Dad
paid off the debts with insurance money. Curlee died
March 8th 1961. Arsenic in weed killer is now
outlawed. Arsenic builds up with each exposure to
become lethal. His first exposure put him in the
hospital a few days. That was months earlier. He
was aware of its potential. Curlee is buried in
Riverside Cemetary, Wichita Falls, where my dad
and his second wife and her sons are buried. The
woman behind the dest at the Children's Aid
Society was Mrs. Whitney. Our family became
aquainted with her during the adoption. Later we
attended the First Presbyterian Church with her.
Share
1 comment
Like
"Granny Stories"mom's book,"Short Stories"
Feb 15, 2013
When I was a child, our family had a cow in the back
yard, even though we lived in town. Dad led her to vacant
lots to graze while he was at work, bringing her home for
water on his lunch break. Then he would take her back
again to graze until they returned after work. They were
close friends. Our home was on Miama St. in Wichita
Falls, near Sam Houston school. Our cow was a jersey
with beautiful horns, and named Delia. We had her for
many years. --- Another short story, When I was 9, we
lived on the farm. One evening after dusk, I went to the
barn to check on a setting hen we had there.I had peeked
into her shelter and saw what looked like her and a can
that had been opened partially, and the lid bent up, but
still attached. I started to reach for the can to toss it
away, but I thought something is not right here. I went
for a flashlight, and then saw it was not the hen at all.
What was there was a snake devouring her eggs. WHEW!
And finally, when I was 10, brooms were kept in the
corner of the porch. From my room to the kitchen, I saw
a snake on a broom handle. Mother grabbed his tail as
he went into the hole at the bottom. I held the broom
head on him. She pulled, cut off his head with a butcher
knife. His mouth kept snapping.--
Yvettah Queen--
Share
Post comment
Like
