OLD BARNS

7-21-08...OLD BARNS

Everyone had a big ol' barn in my neck of the woods when I was growing up. That's where we played and one day that's where we got in a lotta' trouble.
My barn was built out of cross ties off the railroad. We lived right beside the tracks and when The RR CO. put in new ties Daddy drug the ones they took out over using Ol' Dixie, our horse. When there was enough he built the barn. (remind me to tell you some stories about that RR track) But this happened in Brenda's barn. Because it had a loft we played up there. Had lots of things up there to play with, even paper and pencils and cigar boxes of our "secret" stuff. No one ever went up there anymore but there was an old rotten bale of hay that we just loved to sit on.
One day we had been watching my Daddy roll cigarettes with Prince Albert Tobacco out of a red can. We decided we wanted to try that but never could sneak any out of the house. I said Brenda, that tobacco looks just like coffee grounds lets get some coffee and use that. OK she said but what will we use for paper? There was no way to get any of daddy's. I said, lets use paper sack. Yeaw she said. that will work. She got the coffee out of her house and I found a paper sack in the trash and she got a couple of matches. Boy now we were in business. Of course we took our treasures all up to the barn loft.
We sat down on that old bale of hay and proceeded to tear the sack into little strips about the size of cigarette papers. We put the tobacco inside the paper but it wouldn't roll up on the coffee and stay. Well shoot Brenda said, that don't work. I said Brenda Daddy licks the paper so it will stick, that's what we have to do. OK! We each got one ready and started slobbering on the paper. (Remember it came out of the trash?) Something tastes horrible Brenda said as we started spittin' out tobacco and no tellin' what else. Brenda go in the house and ask Auntie for some water to drink and we will wet the paper with that. OK she said. We wet the paper and then poured the coffee in and it rolled up nicely. Now we got it!! We had one match each. Of course I was first, Brenda wouldn't do anything till' she saw me do it. My paper wouldn't light of course. It was too wet and my match went out. Brenda, give me yours and then you can light yours off mine. Which she did!! I held the second match to the coffee cigarette till it burned down to my finger (cigarette still not lit of course) Ouch it's burning I said and dropped the match in the hay that I was sitting on. And that's when the trouble started!!!! The hay caught!! I said brenda take off your dress and beat this out and I did the same. We couldn't make much headway so we took off runnin' for the ladder that would take us out of the loft. Brenda pushed ahead of me. Little smart elec. She always let me go first and she's not gettin' away with this. Why the very idea!!!! I tried to push her back and she fell down the ladder and on the hard floor below. Then she started howlin and moanin'. Brenda shut up someone will hear you. We gotta get outta' here. Brenda's daddy come running in the barn about that time with my Auntie right behind him. He went up the ladder with toe sacks and made short work of thay hay fire. Guess it was only smoldering then. Auntie started to strap our backsides but discovered Brenda was in pain, so she said you get youe butt' home right now and tell your Daddy to bring his car out here. I took off runnin' and she picked Brenda up and took her out to the lane where Daddy picked them up.
Brenda got home later that evening with her arm in a sling. She had a broken collar bone and I had already had my legs stripped with a switch. Brenda was promised the same thing when her arm healed but the little smart elec never got it. I even remineded my Auntie that she was due a licking a couple of times. I'm still mad because she never got her striping. Durn' you Brenda.