TWO OLD MEN, TWO OLD TRUCKS, AND A GRAVEYARD

I was probably around ten or eleven years old when I did my first odd Job. There was an old man in our neighborhood who wanted me to help him cut some firewood. Actually, he just wanted me to help him pick it up and put it in the back of his truck. He talked to my grandmother about it and she sent me to help. He had an old white Dodge that had seen better days. Well, I climbed up into his truck and we drove a few miles and he turned off the road and just drove off into the woods.

We got out, and he fired up that old chainsaw and started cutting. He cut the trees into small sections about a foot or two long, so they would fit into a heater. I don’t know if he was cutting it to sell, or for himself. That really didn’t matter to me anyway. I didn’t care what he was doing with it. I just wanted to get his truck loaded and get out of those woods. I helped him for what seemed like all day long, but I only remember loading the truck once, so it was probably only for a few hours.

A few years later, my cousin and I were walking by the house of an old man we had known for years. He had owned the store in that community up until a few years earlier. He called us over and asked if we wanted to make some money. We asked him what we would be doing. He said he needed a little dirt put on a few graves at the graveyard. He said, “It won’t take long, and I’ll give you both Ten dollars.” We said we would do it, and he told us to come back early the next morning when it was cool so we could finish before it got hot.

We arrived early the next morning and knocked on his door. He came out and took us to an old step-side pickup truck that had been sitting in that same spot for years. It was filled with trash that had been there just about as long. We had to clean all that mess out first. That probably took us thirty minutes. That truck was so old the start switch was on the floor, and it didn’t want to start. He had to get some gas and raise the hood to prime it, and all sorts of stuff. It took a while, but it finally started.

Then he drove the truck twenty or thirty feet to his old garden spot that was overgrown with Bermuda grass and handed each of us a shovel. The ground was hard and the grass was thick. It took about an hour to fill up that truck with dirt. I thought he wanted a “little” dirt on a “few” graves. We had enough dirt to completely fill up a couple of graves. We threw the shovels and a wheelbarrow on the truck, then we headed to the graveyard. It was a few miles away and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry. When we got there, it had already been about two hours since we got to his house, and it was getting hot.

We worked in that graveyard for two or three hours, filling up the wheelbarrow, pushing it around from grave to grave, and then back to the truck for more dirt. We were hot and sweaty and soooo tired. As we watched the dirt level drop in the truck we grew more and more anxious. We were ready to go. It wouldn’t be long now.

Finally, the truck bed was empty, and we were working with the last wheelbarrow full of dirt. Just as we finished spreading the last shovel full, the old man said, “I think we need some more dirt.” Ughhhhhhhhhhhh!!! That’s what was going on in my mind.

To make a long story short, we spent the whole day working, until it was almost sundown. When we finally got back to his house, we were ready to get our money and get out of there. We thought we might get paid more than Ten dollars each, since, what we thought would only take a few hours actually took all day, but it was right the opposite. The old man held out a ten-dollar bill and said, “Thank you, boys. Here’s your ten dollars. Y’all will have to get it changed at the store.” Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

All that work, all that heat, all that sweat, and the blisters, and the tired aching body. All, day, long, for five dollars each. When he said he would give us BOTH Ten dollars, he really meant ten dollars for BOTH of us. We said a few mean things about him to each other on the way home, and we both vowed to never work for him again, as long as we lived, and that was one vow we both kept.

Looking back, it really wasn’t that bad of an experience. Since I’ve been an adult, I’ve done harder work for nothing. We did get paid something, and we did get a “Thank You” to go along with it. I learned an important lesson that day and I told my children this on several occasions. To make good decisions, people need all the information available. So when negotiating, always make sure you have all the information available, and always give people all the information you have so they can make good decisions as well. This is very important when making any kind of deal, especially when it involves money and labor. Ask questions until you’re sure you understand what you’re agreeing to, and you won’t be surprised in the end.

The same principle applies to our relationship with God and his holy scriptures. I’ve talked with many Christians over the years who don’t read and study the Bible for themselves. They just get fed once or twice each week by the preacher, and he can only provide a small portion in the few minutes he has each time. These people don’t have all the available information, so it’s harder to make the right decisions for all the problems Satan’s forces throw at us every day.

It’s very important to know what God expects from us. His instructions are in his Holy Book. There are also many promises from God and many encouraging words from his servants to help us every day. We all need to read and study the Bible every day, and of course, we need to stay in constant communication with Jesus, through prayer. Life is tough, and we all have a lot going on, but a close, personal relationship with our Lord Jesus will make it bearable and will fill our hearts with joy.

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UNCLES AND AUNTS, TURKEYS AND PEACOCKS

When I was a little boy we would occasionally go visit relatives who lived a long distance from us. When I say a long distance, I mean farther than we could walk in an hour. My grandmother didn’t have a car, so we walked when we would go to the store, or to visit our aunt, or friends in the neighborhood, which was all within about a two or three-mile radius. To go any further than that we depended on our aunt or a taxi cab.

Aunt Lee had an old white Chevrolet car. I should say, it would be old now, but back then it was probably only a few years old. She had that car for as long as I could remember. Once in a while, we would get in that car and go visit those relatives who lived too far away to walk.

We had lots of aunts and uncles. My mom had two sisters, but her brother died when he was only eleven. My dad had two brothers and four sisters. Those were the younger uncles and aunts. We didn’t get to see them much until we were older. My grandmother’s brothers and sisters and their spouses were our great-uncles and aunts. They are the ones we visited the most.

When we would go to their homes, we would usually stay for hours, and many times all day long. Sometimes we would even stay all night. I usually loved going to visit them. They would always hug us, kiss us, and tell us how cute we were, and how much we had grown since the last time they saw us.

I remember going to visit Uncle Wilberth and Aunt Adelia over on Pine Mountain. I think they were actually our great-uncle and aunt. Uncle Howard and Aunt Lorene lived uptown in Corinth for many years. Then, when we were older, they moved up around the Tennessee state line. Uncle B.Y. and Aunt Rachel lived by the highway in Dead Man’s Curve for a while, then they moved a few miles east on the other side of the highway. Then they moved over to the Bethlehem area when we were older. They came to visit us pretty regularly. I think Uncle Marvin and Aunt Ludie lived somewhere on the other side of Lone Oak, and Kossuth. I’m not sure. They both died when we were pretty young, so I don’t know exactly where they lived. From what I can remember, their house was built like the house on the old TV show, “Little House On The Prairie.”

Uncle Elbert and Aunt Effie lived at the bottom of Bethlehem hill. On the hottest days of summer, that was the coolest place to be. They had lots of trees, and a big spring-fed creek running right through their yard. The spring had created a pond that was only a few feet deep with water so clear you could see the bottom, and it was full of Lilly pads. They had made an area where you could walk down to the edge of the creek and get some of the spring water to drink. It was cold and delicious.

I remember going to see Uncle Ervin and Aunt Bonnie. They had a yard full of guineas. They were funny-looking blue and gray colored birds, and they just walked around making the most annoying sound I had ever heard. I only remember seeing Uncle Ervin a few times. He died when I was young but we continued to visit Aunt Bonnie for many years. It happened about the same way with Uncle Willie and Aunt Luola, except I don’t remember him at all. He died before I could get to know him, but when Aunt Luola would talk about him, I knew that she really loved him, and missed him terribly. She had two peacocks running around in her yard and they were so beautiful. We could never get close enough to touch one of them, but every time we visited her, we would find a few peacock feathers in the yard to take home with us.

One morning, Aunt Lee put a wooden box in the car as we were getting ready to go visit Aunt Luola. She wanted to give us a cat. At the end of our visit, the cat was put into the wooden box and the box went back into the car. When we got home, Aunt Lee took the box out and set it on the ground. The second she opened the lid, that cat jumped out and ran across the yard like a scalded dog. It ran across the road and into the woods. We only saw it a time or two after that, and only for a minute or so then, and only from a distance. For months, though, we could hear it at the edge of the woods crying. We took food and left it there for it every day. A few months later, we moved and had to leave the cat behind.

Uncle Roy and Aunt Daisy were our great uncle and aunt. They lived in a beautiful valley called “Horseshoe Bend.” They had cows, mules, and chickens, but what I remember the most were the two big turkeys running free in their yard. The male was huge. He was almost as tall as me and he was mean. He would chase me and my sister sometimes. It would scare us to death. Uncle Roy had to kick the thing two or three times one day to make him leave me alone. Other than having to avoid that killer turkey, I really enjoyed our visits with them.

There’s nothing like childhood memories. I cherish them. They take me back to a much different time than what we live in today. A time when everything seemed simple to me and I had no worries, except for the occasional crazy animal attacking me. Those memories make me think of what the world might have been like before sin entered in and messed everything up. Then I’m reminded that someday, God will return the earth to its original state, and we will be able to see and experience all the beauty and peace that we have missed out on because of the curse of sin. It will be an awesome experience and I don’t want to miss it. I’m looking forward to that day. I hope to see you there.

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© 2017 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
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