Guess i'll go eat worms (part one)
I was born Lily Mae on October 5th, 1960 in Appalachia, Tennessee. When i was 4 years old, maybe a week later, i was jostled awake in the middle of the night by my paternal grandmother. She lifted me like a sack of potatoes and slammed my trundle bed back under its mate. She tossed my body into the forbidden linen chest in the great room and slammed the top shut. It was one of those big roomy jobs that was built like one for a pirate's gold.
As i started to doze off, the lid was re-opened and my paternal grandfather pulled me out gently, hands under pits. My head naturally tilted back and i noticed the entire roof was on fire. He carried me to the front door, slid me to the floor and patted my behind to push me out side. The smoke from the fire outside was worse than the inside. i turned to see who was coming to be with me. My grandfather had walked over to the center of the great room to stand with my grandmother, gazing at me sympathetically. I started to walk back towards them. I didn't want to go out there by myself. And as a live-in workman sauntered in from another room and walked towards the couple, the fiery roof caved in on top of them. I blacked out.
I woke up standing in the middle of the grazing area for the town's farm animals. The animals had all been run off or stolen. i missed that part. From the eleven o'clock to one o'clock positions, i could see an old rusty pick up truck...a wagon...a piece of white fence...and a car. i kept thinking about that fence for days after. How dare they rip that fence piece off after it had just been painted.
All of the town children were standing there in the corralled off space, staring blankly at the village where we had lived. Every home was on fire. Our history was being turned to ash in front of us. I gazed at the sky which was as black as i had ever seen it. There were no stars, no moon, no wind...just the light from the flames that replaced my town. I think that these considerations were to drown out the crackling of wood structures falling, not to mention the screams of those trying to escape. All of the adults as far as i know, died that day. If they weren't killed by the fire and tried to escape, a bullet would soon change their plans. And we children couldn't do a thing.
"Psst! Psssst!" I glanced to my left and it was my birth mother and step father. I didn't even understand until that moment that they lived close by. I crept over to them while hearing one of the murderers pacing back and forth claiming that they were getting ready to auction off the kids soon. My temporary parents pulled me over the rusty truck much to my dismay and we ran. I spent most of my waking moments that morning wiping my knees off because it is so hard to get those flecks of rust out of your skin otherwise.
We ran and we ran until it was dawn and i found myself being shaken awake by my mother. I suddenly noticed that my step father was missing. Then i heard the voices. i peaked around the trees and found him standing in very tall grass talking to a man who was as short as he was. They mumbled incoherently for some time until the man shot him. My step father fell back and the man stepped closer and shot him as he lay there on the ground.
My mother grabbed my shoulders and shoved me up against a tree. "Don't make a sound!" She whispered harshly with her index finger to her lips. She backed away from me in slow motion and eventually made her way to the man who had just killed her husband. I could not make out any words but could tell that they were speaking gruffly to one another. I was holding up this large tree with my back up against it for some time until the voices grew louder and then i just had to ….look. The tiny killer had backed my mother up against her own tree and then "Bang!". The red dot in the middle of her chest grew larger as her face turned white and then she fell into a heap on the ground. I blacked out.
(this story in one form or another has been copy righted )
As i started to doze off, the lid was re-opened and my paternal grandfather pulled me out gently, hands under pits. My head naturally tilted back and i noticed the entire roof was on fire. He carried me to the front door, slid me to the floor and patted my behind to push me out side. The smoke from the fire outside was worse than the inside. i turned to see who was coming to be with me. My grandfather had walked over to the center of the great room to stand with my grandmother, gazing at me sympathetically. I started to walk back towards them. I didn't want to go out there by myself. And as a live-in workman sauntered in from another room and walked towards the couple, the fiery roof caved in on top of them. I blacked out.
I woke up standing in the middle of the grazing area for the town's farm animals. The animals had all been run off or stolen. i missed that part. From the eleven o'clock to one o'clock positions, i could see an old rusty pick up truck...a wagon...a piece of white fence...and a car. i kept thinking about that fence for days after. How dare they rip that fence piece off after it had just been painted.
All of the town children were standing there in the corralled off space, staring blankly at the village where we had lived. Every home was on fire. Our history was being turned to ash in front of us. I gazed at the sky which was as black as i had ever seen it. There were no stars, no moon, no wind...just the light from the flames that replaced my town. I think that these considerations were to drown out the crackling of wood structures falling, not to mention the screams of those trying to escape. All of the adults as far as i know, died that day. If they weren't killed by the fire and tried to escape, a bullet would soon change their plans. And we children couldn't do a thing.
"Psst! Psssst!" I glanced to my left and it was my birth mother and step father. I didn't even understand until that moment that they lived close by. I crept over to them while hearing one of the murderers pacing back and forth claiming that they were getting ready to auction off the kids soon. My temporary parents pulled me over the rusty truck much to my dismay and we ran. I spent most of my waking moments that morning wiping my knees off because it is so hard to get those flecks of rust out of your skin otherwise.
We ran and we ran until it was dawn and i found myself being shaken awake by my mother. I suddenly noticed that my step father was missing. Then i heard the voices. i peaked around the trees and found him standing in very tall grass talking to a man who was as short as he was. They mumbled incoherently for some time until the man shot him. My step father fell back and the man stepped closer and shot him as he lay there on the ground.
My mother grabbed my shoulders and shoved me up against a tree. "Don't make a sound!" She whispered harshly with her index finger to her lips. She backed away from me in slow motion and eventually made her way to the man who had just killed her husband. I could not make out any words but could tell that they were speaking gruffly to one another. I was holding up this large tree with my back up against it for some time until the voices grew louder and then i just had to ….look. The tiny killer had backed my mother up against her own tree and then "Bang!". The red dot in the middle of her chest grew larger as her face turned white and then she fell into a heap on the ground. I blacked out.
(this story in one form or another has been copy righted )
