Page 21 - New Mexico 811 Magazine 2020 Issue 2
P. 21

 
Prastdent
aors Now, loo.
ore than i4 inehes oi ire and tonight." “Go on Auntie," I hravely said. hang. He said. “Dang: it's cold. not as
snow rarely happened in “I'll be ok." choking haek the tears as cold as the hliaaard oi ‘a9 mind you. but
southwest Arkansas. But it she got in the piekup i listened until it it's dang cold!" No doubt about it, he
did in January ioai. “come ivas completely out oi hearing. I went in ivas master oi the ohvious. He poured

on, hoy; i said to my squirrel dog, the house and iilled the wood box in the himseli a eup oi eoiree and sat down
skippy, as i new down the bark steps corner oi the room and threw another- at the kitehen tahle. looked at me and
towai-d the new world dressed in white. stiek oi wood on the are. somehow asked. “whats wrong?"

“This is going to he the best day ever-. huildirig a snowman wasn't on my list oi .

i am going to huild my hrst r-eal live things i wanted to do that day. ' ‘°“ 1'?“ '5 '“‘‘‘'' “S ‘ ""““‘ Am‘ "'9"
mwmm. Sim moving in with my i told him more than i knew. i repeated

. sure enough. later that evening Mrs. what Mrs. Anna laelle said, that unele
unele and Aunt eight years ago, there A B H b .h d M M . k . h h I . h d
had never been enough snow to build ""31 9 jk‘-"_;“°1 Y W‘; k€°° 5'3‘ ‘° 1°“! “. $3 ° " ‘ ""3 "“.“}'a‘ “'3
3 mwmm 0n1“._m“ew ‘mks eat‘.t ie ta e ha otfin ept saying tiat mig t not get to stay wit untie.
earlier. we sang the sting about Frosty "° ° ‘”°'“/ 3 3"‘ ‘"35" '“ F" Y “Shoot boy why do you want to
. sur-e i was worried more when she got . . , , , .
the snowman and now i was going to ‘I h ( lk. lh ‘ b p h believe that,’ ii you insist on believing
make him some alive. l'“:“§  ‘(“€”';' "3'  “ something. believe hes going to he
. . . . 5 3' 9 '. "5 P‘ ' “ - “S 5"” °° '3 alright. You'll see. hell be haek heiore
it was quiet outside. No birds or- eritters as Alva is, who would have thought k , V U . d .
were talking and only a iewears ever something like this eould happen: she Y°“h "°"‘”i".- ' °‘;"“ "’°d“°5°;“’d “'5
drove past our house. And the ones said. “And what won-ies me most is that 5*‘ "5’ °'“5 ‘” 3‘ “E” 5 ‘° 9 ?"'°
, , . so that when he gets hark. he wont

that did we knew hy sound. Maybe your unele might not make it through h h I . d H h h _ ., D.“ _d
that's why the sound oi an uniamiliar the night," said Mrs. Anna Belle. ‘And I9‘ °d"“ ‘:3 ad‘ 9 ‘ °'“‘ ' 3'
pielrup pulling in oui- iront yard caught your Aunliejusl got ovei- that stroke. 5 3 ° ‘°" 9" Y‘

my attention. A stranger in overalls, a shes barely able to keep herseli. i don't so we worked hard all morning

hig hrown eoat and a tap with tie—down how in the world shed he ahle to take getting ehores done. we made time
ilaps over his ears eareiully walked eare oi a ramhunetious hoy like you. in the aiternoon to build the worlds
through the gate and up to the iront We'll jusl have to eross that bridge hestsnowman. Fmsly stood tall ior
door as i peered around the eonier when we get to it." weeks heiore the sun ealled him home.
oithe house. i_heard him say to my Mmfluny‘ S1“ fimm up and mad Dillard stayed with me that night and
Aunt Beulah, Alva is hurt had, He h f_ d _ 51 d d .d kept the fire going. The r-oom was

iell on the ire at the Big stoi-e and is °‘l:;.‘. 9 ]'°“‘ W" '° “"“” 3" 5”‘ toasty and i slept peaeeiully.
unmnscious. They've taken him to the ° '3'“ V’ h h d, h, , h d
hospital in Dequeen." He continued, “Honey: do you want to stay with us W 3; ‘ .".‘5° ' .N°‘ ‘Kg ‘ 3 f"”°
“Mr. Reed told me to see if you needed a tonight?" i replied. “No ma'arn, i‘ve got 39°11’ *‘;'51i"g3 5'?“ ;"“""‘° d’"¥rh
nae to the hnspilal",  to get done early in the morning. O‘-;1:;;_.:“;gl“jn*E £335 'Mr';mf:fi-G 9
My Auntie rertainly needed a ride '1' "° °"' Th“ ‘“"" “'5' ‘''‘’“5’‘ 5"” eame haelr home the HEXI day and told

. meant well. she hurt more than she , .

anywhere. The only vehiele we had was I I d ‘ d h ‘ h ‘ lh _ ‘ me that unele would be in the hospital
a .949 chevy pickup and my unele had £51’; A a:§’s::‘_Ed“‘j}:::sflffE“ “'“’ ior a while longer. hut would be back
it. Beyond that, Auntie wasn't that good ' home beiore too long. He said to tell

a driver even when the sun was shining. i slept iitiully. The sun eould not came his little man to keep up with the

she was one oi the iew people i ever up iast enough the next moi-ning. Cows ehores as best as i eould, so he would
knew that onee got a ticket ior driving to milk, mules to ieed, Chopping holes not he too iar behind when he eame
too slow in the pond so the eritters could drink. home.

she looked at me. and said. ‘Honey. rve 5P1_""“€ '“°'‘* ‘”‘’°'' 3"‘ “f°""E 5°"?! bless your heart. nillardl i sure know

. ior myseli kept me so depressed, i didnt
got to go and check on unele. will you . _ , lots oi iolks who eould use you today. .
. . . even see Dillard walking up the steps
he ok.’ ill stop at Anna Belles and ask . ,
until the door slammed shut with a
her to some hy and eheek on you later
2020 Issue 2 NewM:xl:oE11 . 19



























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