Living with my uncle Dan was more difficult than it was living with my uncle Johnny, and my uncle Dan is blood kin. I was brow beat, condemned & nothing I did was ever good enough for him. His wife aunt Ida Bell was not a pretty women to look at, but she was beautiful inside. Lucky uncle was away working much of the time & it was just the kids and aunt Ida Bell. I remember she would relate stories to us as she did her house chores, & she could bring the sun inside on a rainy day. When uncle Dan was home she too seemed to become withdrawn.
With 100 acres to play on, when I was outdoors I was in heaven. There was a creek that ran across the land & wooded areas so thick I could play out of site of any house. There was an old rusty windmill, a relic of an era long past that still stood proud, refusing to bow down & relinquish the small piece of ground it had held to for so long. This old windmill seemed to whisper to me beckoning me to scale it's tower, sit upon it's platform & reign over the land. I climbed the tower, higher & higher, my heartbeat & breath laboring heavier & heavier, & not from my effort, but from my fear & and anticipation. I was at last standing upon it's platform & gazing out across the horizon knowing I had not only conquered the windmill, but I had conquered my own fear, for I had slain the dragon. That evening my uncle Dan came home & I'm not sure who told him, but I had been seen atop the windmill, and he blistered my ass for it. Didn't matter, I had still mastered that fear.
My stay this time at my uncle Dans was short lived, & I'm not really sure why, but I was sent to live with my grandparents (My moms parents). I walked to school & home each day, & except for when I was in school there was seldom another kid to play with. I did keep hearing from my grandparents the same resounding theme I had heard from aunts, & uncles "We can't afford to keep you" My grandparents began immediately looking for a place for me to live, & soon they found a place called Buckners Baptist Boys Ranch. We drove & looked it over & when we returned home they berated me about wonderful it would be for me there. That changed to, if I wasn't well behaved & making good grades I would have to go there. I watched my every step, and tried hard so they would keep me. My grade in spelling was poor, & was afraid it would be just the excuse to rid them of me, so I cheated. I wasn't a good cheater & was caught at it my 1st time. The teacher made me come to the front of the room & sit in her lap. I was ashamed & embarrassed, & began to cry as I explained why I had cheated. I didn't want to be sent away, I just wanted a family. When I raised my head the teacher and many of the kids in my room were crying. She didn't tell on me, but within a week I was sent to the Boys Ranch.
To be continued (Next up The Boys Ranch sentenced to hell)
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