I Remember Papa Harold
It was customary in our family, before we sat down to eat, for Papa to always say a prayer and we would join him in saying the "grace". On this particular morning, we were all on our knees listening to Papa pray and wishing that Papa would hurry up so that we could see the new "Chandler" that Uncle Oliver was buying from Greenville. As Papa prayed, we all bowed our heads and we closed one eye in anticipation of catching a glimpse of this "fine" car. Just as Papa got started with his prayer, we saw Ellihue Stevenson driving Uncle Oliver in this pretty car. We looked at each other and we looked at Papa praying. Slowly and without disturbing Papa, one by one, we all snuck out of the house and headed for Uncle Oliver's house.

When Papa finished the prayer, we were supposed to joing him in reciting "The Lord's Prayer". Papa waited and waited. He then looked up to discover that he was the only one in the room. We had all left to see the new car. When we saw Papa coming down Ellis Hill, we knew that we were in trouble. Papa was mad only because wwe didn't tell him aobut the new car. He wanted to see it too.

Every Fall, Papa would assist in the annual ritual of hog slaughtering. Besides providing meat for the family, Papa would prepare and store sausage that he would serve on special occasions. It was common knowledge in the family that Papa kept his sausage in a bucket in his room. The boys would help themselves to some of Papa's sausage. When the grease got hard, no one could tell.

One morning, Papa got up and decided to give the boys a treat by cooking breakfast and using some of his special sausage. He went to his room to retrieve his bucket and to warm it up. He shortly discovered that all of the sausage was gone with only the grease remaining. Before Papa could ask me about the missing sausage, I cofessed to him by saying; "Papa, I know that some of your sausage is missing, but all that I ate was the grease." I could tell that Papa was hurt because he wanted some sausage too. Papa only looked at me and smiled.