A GOOD NAME

1-19-10...A GOOD NAME

In my part of the world 'kin folks' stick together and if someone is lucky enough to be brought in to that circle then it was the same for them. Now we were not like the Hatfields and McCoys by any means but we defended what was ours. Still do. Kin was kin and most times whole neighborhoods fit in to that category.
WE were always very friendly and welcomed new comers but we kept a part of ourselves back in private till we learned we could trust them like 'kin'.
Hardly ever did we have anyone in our midst who didn't belong there but I remember one time when we did. Mamma and Daddy always welcomed anyone to our table and to our humble home. We always had someone in our house staying a spell. Cousins, Aunts ,Sisters etc. One day a young man showed up on our doorstep. He had an Army Uniform on and nothing else. I mean not a dad blamed thing, not even a penny in his pocket. He said he was on leave and that he was one of Daddy's distant cousins' son. I think Daddy knew that there was a rat in the meal but he let him stay. I can't remember his name but I remember him well. He never took a bath or even washed his hands and face. He was getting raunchy with the same clothes on day in and day out. Mamma tried to get him to wear something of Daddy's just long enough for him to take a bath and for her to wash those stinking clothes. You talk about body odor, now that was straight from the body I'm here to tell you.
He refused to take that uniform off and it was rotten right along with the rest of him. He slept in it and at first he slept with Norman but Mamma finally declared her 'Baby' was not going to sleep with a stinking thing like that. Therefore Norman slept on the floor.
Mamma had finally come to her wits end and told him flat out to either take a bath or stay out in the barn. He didn't take a bath and he didn't stay out in the barn because he was picked up that evening and hauled off by the most scary three men I had ever seen in my life. Daddy said, “He's going to the brigs because he was AWOL”.
Come to find out he wasn't a bit of kin to us but he had met someone who told him how welcoming my parents were so when he took off from his base he headed straight for our house.
Later that evening after Mamma got all the stinch out of the house and we were all in the front room Daddy said,”Kids A good name means a lot in this world. You two have a good name and I'm trusting you to keep it that way”. I didn't really understand that then but later I did. To have a complete stranger hear about the Thomas' several hundred miles away and to make a beline to our home when he was in trouble. Now that is something that is not taken lightly. It would have just been nice if the one that came to us for help was not a runaway from the military, and if he would have just not stunk up our house like he did. Nothing worse than odor from a dirty body. NOPE!