2nd Shot

I was just laying here in this hay wagon thinking. Well, Tommy Wilson, his daddy's place backs up to ours, told me that this year my teacher would be askin me to write down what I did for summer. He's a grade older than me and I guess he knows. I'm here cuz mama said this year I could go huntin'. Daddy said I should stay in the wagon with my .22 in case something came around and spooked the horse. Anyway, I was thinking, what can I write that anybody wants to hear. I did get that new .22 for my birthday this year, but who don't have one of those? And I did get to come this time, even though mama wasn't happy 'bout it. But here I am, laying here looking at the stars through the pine trees. It is a hot night and the air is thick. I hear Mr. Wilson make that sound, granpa said it is called a "rebel yell". He said it scared the pants off them yankee soldiers, but mama said it must not of scared them hardly enough. Them dogs sure answered him though. Granpa said his daddy was in a war where folks was fighting cuz some had blacks working for them for free and some folks didn't want that. Didn't make much sense to me and mama said it didn't make no sense to her neither. Travis was with them too. He finally came home from a war, somewhere called "ovasees". He talked 'bout it sometimes and said things I didn't understand. I asked why a boy would cry and daddy said to mind my own buisness and mama said it was ok and not to worry 'bout it. Mama cried when he left and cried when he came back. Dang, mama cried when my sister June left too. Daddy told her if she was gonna have a baby by that useless Delmar Howard, she could leave and never come back. I missed her, been gone a year or more. How was she gonna have a baby when they wasn't married anyway. James wuz huntin' too. When Tim died, daddy said he didn't have to go to school no more cuz he needed him to help at home. Those Wilson boys wuz there. Mama didn't like them though. She said that he raised way too much corn for them to use and said he musta been making whiskey. They didn't go to church and Tommy hardly ever came to school. Tommy did take me down to a still once and we tried some of that stuff. I never could see how someone would pay to have some of that to drink. We didn't have much money, daddy said we had enough, but we didn't go to a store for much anyway. Well, about all I did this summer was go to the stock pond and swim to cool off. Me and James went some and once I saw him kiss Tommy's sister and she ran off. Why he did that I won't ever know. That is some things I don't ever want to do. I'm glad I don't have to be a mama cuz they cry too much. And I don't ever want to go ovasees, cuz it made Travis act funny and I never want to kiss a girl cuz she ran off and it didn't look like fun anyhow. But I did get to come huntin this time even if I had to stay in the wagon while them dogs of Mr. Wilsons ran through the woods and hollered and everybody chased them around all night. But I still don't know what to write about.