Nothing. In the first place, children in my childhood were more concerned with minding their parents or getting a swift and painful (at least to the psyche) discipline. We were taught to respect God, our parents and every adult human on the face of earth. We were allowed many freedoms children of today are not permitted to indulge due to the change in many things. Streets in my small town of Hamilton, Alabama were SAFE. You did not hear of child molesting, kidnapping, rape, and shootings. Our most newsworthy things that happened were sad things such as an accident that killed someone (or a family), fire with death or the loss of everything, a broken bone, a dog gone rabid that had to be put down or such as that.
All the neighbors ‘watched out’ for all the children. If you played with the Pollard children, Chloe watched out for you and if Joann and Brenda Gail played with you, whoever was caring for you that day, probably Aunt Exar, watched out for them. If Myrtle wasn’t working, she was at home watching out for Billy Joe, me and whoever happened to be playing with us. Billy played with Ray Knight most often. Mavis and Dorothy Jean Jeffers played with (me). When we played board games at someone’s house, we might be 10:00 getting home IF on Friday night. We had to be home by the time the sun went down on school and church nights. Even if you lived next door, you took a flashlight because it got dark and a stumble could hurt. Older siblings looked out for their younger siblings in those days.
After we left Hamilton and moved to Amory, Mississippi, I don’t remember about playing out at night but we DID have street lights at night. We played ball in the vacant lot next door. It was safe in Amory.
In Tuscaloosa, unless Martha Evans and I were doing something together, we were always home after school. Billy and I played with the Davis kids in a park not far from the house. Patsy Davis and I were close. Her big brother, Athen, was my sweetheart. He was my first proposal. I was 13 and he asked me to marry him and I told him I was too young, I had more living to do. Ha. I was allowed to go to Sunday afternoon movies with him IF Patsy, his sister, went also AND if I had gone to church Sunday morning.
We moved to Gordo and life was quiet. Bill played football and I played tenor saxophone & drums. We both had many friends. Billy Ray Junkin was my first beau in Gordo. He and I went to the Saturday night midnight shows after I got off work. He walked me home and hitched a ride hime. I went to a prom with Joe Elmore and wore a borrowed gown. When I was getting out of his truck after the prom, my heel caught in the gown and tore it. Mother repaired it as good as she could but I NEVER borrowed a gown after that. I bought a gown that was second hand until my junior year and we went to Brown’s Bargain Basement and bought me one that was marked down. More about that later if I haven’t already covered it in an earlier story.
When I was sixteen, my friend, S, asked me to go on a double date with her. My date was her beau’s friend. We were to go to the drive-in movie to see “The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing”. We did NOT go to Tuscaloosa to see the movie. We went instead to Columbus, MS. to beer joints. S, & I drank so much 7-UP that night that I still don’t care for it. It was getting late and I thought we should leave and said so. My date said, “You’re the biggest 18 year old baby I’ve ever seen” - I shall never forget that or my response, “Well, in two years when I'm 18, I may not be a big baby”. He literally jerked me out of the chair, almost dragged me to the car with Sabra and her date running to the car. We drove to Alabama in short order!! It was against the law to take a minor across the state line and I found out he was 25. YES, I kept that from my parents!! When Mother lived with me after Thomas died, we were talking one night and having a good time remembering old times. I confessed that to her. I added that after Tim and Tanya were about 4 & 5, Louise Roberts and I took our children to that movie while Thomas and John D. were at work one night.
Another time, S, asked me to double date with her and her date with a boy whose name was similar to a popular comedian. She assured me we would not go to any beer joints and we didn’t. They went and parked and they got out of the car to climb the fire tower, leaving me and my ‘date’ alone. It was not a fun evening! I survived by using my head and went home unscathed but I DID keep it from my parents, telling Mother the same night I told her about the other incident.
I NEVER double dated with S, again although we remained friends. She and her steady were going to the only football game the band did not go to in the four years I was in the band. She asked if I’d like to ride to Gorgus with them. That was to be the car’s occupancy. However, we picked up J.J. who was hitch-hiking to the game. He was a student at UA. Of course, there was room only in the back seat for him. I have not fully identified some of these folks for obvious reasons. I was NEVER on a date with an occupatus like J.J. He had more hands than anyone I’ve ever seen and I was totally disgusted by the time we got home that night from the game. I do not remember much other than we had to share a quilt because the car had no heater and it was frigid that night. I kept that from Mother until we were in one of our remembering talks at night. J.J. was later officially the father of a child to an unwed mother. I was ashamed of him for how he treated my friend L. She had a little boy who looked like his biological daddy but was raised by a wonderful Christian who loved and married L.
I don’t remember any other incidents that were kept from Mother and Daddy. She watched as Ralph Howell was walking me to his car one night when my dress caught on the broken fender of my 39 Hudson and tore. She met me at the door to help me change dresses. She said while she was with me changing, “Well, it looks like he could have kept from tearing your clothes off until he got you in the car”. She was soooo funny!! Another time I was on a date with Ralph when we ran out of gas not far from home. We walked to our house and I woke mother up to get a key to drive Ralph to his home to get a can of gas (farmers kept gas at home for equipment). Mother got up and dressed and drove us for the gas, back to his car, and after he got his car started, I rode home with her. As soon as we drove away from him, Mother said, “I trusted you out with him but I didn’t trust him out with you!”. As previously stated, Ma Myrt had a real good sense of humor.
So...those are the only two things of consequence I kept from my parents growing up. If there were other things, I don’t think they were memorable, at least not after over 65 years.
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