Why To Read This Story Of My Life

As I wrote this book about my life, I thought who is gonna read a book about a normal everyday person. I am not a super star, not a doctor, not a scientist that found a cure for cancer or even the common cold. As I wrote, the more I saw that everyone is special in someway or in someone’s eyes. I had forgotten why I started writing this book. I wanted to find out why I was so depressed over my mother’s death and I needed something to ease my own pain. Through writing this book I have reached into my soul and come up with two things . . .

 

One of the reasons was, we had believed in each other for so long, knowing that when push comes to shove we had each other to relay on and that we could always depend on each other for whatever they needed . . .

Second was, why it was so devastating in my psyche when she died. We both had a very full life of the normal everyday type problems and more than our share of happiness but we also had our share of tragic coincidences of love, hate, moral issues of life . . .

Now as I am coming to the end of my story, I am sure that someone out there will need to read the why and who and what on my way to the end of the road of my life, so they can take heed on the wrongs that I did and not make the same mistakes I did and on the other hand enjoy some of the wonderful things I had happen to me even if I was not worthy of them . . .

There will be some who think I am lying and some who will disown me but that does not matter to me. What matters is that I grew from writing this book. I also wanted my two girls to be able to go to this book after I am gone to look back and know what happened in our life's. I wish I had my mother’s story written down so I could look back on it and answer some of the questions and secrets and history of our family that I don't remember because now I have no one alive to ask what was and when and who. So learn now from your parents what is their life's story before it is too late to carry onto the future of your world . . .

Prologue

Prologue

Happiness Is
Dandelions
 In The Imagination
Of
A Child

The imagination of a child is never realized fully till old age creeps in to get the better of your mind. It’s then, that all the fantasies of your youth in some respects become an unbearable pain to deal with. The truth that you let it dwindle away without one second thought is enough to drive your sanity to the lie of self-destruction as the fantasies themselves become void . . .

Picture this, a little girl in her brothers worn out blue jeans who dances to no music, her jeans become an evening gown and the shadow she dances with becomes her knight in shining armor. The room she dances in, even though so very small, becomes her very own ballroom with many guests to greet . . .

But as the year’s pass her by, the imagination is clouded and her heart demands more than just her day dreaming. Her fantasies were not enough and that caused her much heartache and she soon forgets how to be content within her heart with what she can have or already has. She outgrew her fantasy world and lost her soul to pain and sorrow. Remember this little girl because she becomes the grown up that is called Debbie Clifton . . . 

 I have a lot in common with that little girl. I didn’t pretend that I was in an evening gown and I never danced with shadows. I was a full-fledged tomboy. I didn't ware dresses unless I had to and I liked to do all things that boys like to do. I lived in a small country town on a three hundred acre working farm. I had all the land I wanted to run loose on and act out all my fantasies. The farm had a share cropper who worked the land. His name was Mr. Albert Sullivan his wife was Antilee Sullivan but to me they were Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan. They had eight children one of which was Lula May. She was my age and then there was James Ray he was younger than we were. That is who my play mates were. I spent all my spare time in their house or playing with them on any given site on the farm. I was out of my house from dawn to dusk because my parents were so caught up in life’s worries that I thought that I really didn't matter. That is why I would go be in Mr. Sullivan’s house to lose that feeling that nobody cared where I was because they treated my like family. If I acted out or did anything wrong he would whip me or worse tell momma or daddy and they would ground me for a week or so from going to their house and that was awful cause I felt loved by Mr. And Mrs. Sullivan, I felt the care that I didn't get at home . . .

My home life was far from being a good one, don’t get me wrong, we had it better financially than Mr. Sullivan’s family but I learned at a very young age that money was not always what made a house a home. Needless to say I would rather be at their house than mine. I felt safe there, I also found the love they shared a thing that I would never forget. Oh yeah did I mention that Mr. Sullivan’s family was black? That was in the 1956 when blacks were treated like they were second class citizens . . .  



WHY

 That made no sense to me for they were a very loving and God like family. Back then the had their own drinking fountains and rest rooms and went to their own school. My momma would go get books out of the library in town for Mr. Sullivan because they didn't let blacks check out books at that time. He was a well-respected man in the black community as well as the white . His nick name was Preacher because he was a deacon in his church, so that what momma called him . . .

This is a preview of what this book is about, history events, stories as well as just tall tells and lots of life, things that I saw or things that happened to me in my life. If you don't like one chapter go to the next I know that you can find a few things that you will like . . .

So read on my friends and buckle up and get ready for the most diverse book you've ever will read . . .

Chapter One - Family History



Daddy
&
Uncle Leon

William Dailey who migrated from  North Caroliana and met and married Nellie Pearl Mars in her home town of Lobeville. My father Jack Harry Dailey was born on April 1, 1921. Yes, he was an April fools baby. He had a younger brother named Leon. I was named after him even though I was a girl. Daddy had promised him if I was a boy ( back then they could not tell before you were born what sex you were ) that he would name me after him. Have you heard of a boy named Sue? I am the girl named Leon. I was marked at birth to become a tomboy . . .


My grandfather died when my dad was only five years old from consumption ( you know pneumonia ). My dad had a hard but good life. He helped even as a child with his younger brother. He also worked in a CC camp in the 1936 at fifteen. CC camps was a government run work program that helped people during the hard times of the 30's. He did many odd jobs up to going into the Navy. Lobeville was a very small town and he had aunts and uncles and lots of cousins and so on to help if needed, almost all the town was his kin !



My Hansome Daddy
 In His Navy Uniform

 On July 10, 1942 at the age twenty-one my dad joined the Navy. He was deployed to the Pacific on his way to an island called Midway which was one of the major campains at that time. The ship ported in Hawaii and an order came down that if there was anyone who could type to put them on the next plain back to San Fransisco. Just happened that daddy could type and so he was flown back to California. They needed a payroll clerk so he got a promotion and was given the job and never say a day of action. How lucky could he have been to geta desk job in WWII. Thats a good thing cause he might have been killed and I would have not been born . . .

Now we move forward to my mothers story. She was born Joyce ILeane Schumann and was adopted at seven days old. Mr. Leo and Ida Perrie Smock adopted her on June 1, 1927 and her name was changed to Lois June Smock. Grandpa and grandma also adopted a boy and named him Alger he was a five years younger than momma. Momma always told me that she hated Alger all her life. Momma also told me many times ( when she would drink ) that grandma would treat her like a show piece. She had everything that most kids would just dream of. Nice fine clothes and poneys and sleds toys and such. She was the envy of all the kids which presented a problem. She, momma, seemed to resent that they gave her everything, except the love a small child needs to develope into the person that gives instead of takes . . .
 

Momma Age Two

My grandparents were not affectionate but my grandpa is the only person that loved me just the way I was. When we would go to see them in Michigan he would let me ride with him to get whey ( a by-product of milk ) for the cows and pigs He would tell the other farmers that was getting whey too, that I was his new hired hand and put me up on the tanker and showed me how to feel the heat on the sides of the tank and I was to yell at him and tell him that it was close to being full. Boy I loved my grandpa. Me and grandma didn't see eye to eye. She thought that a girl should do girl things like cook and bake and I was a tom-boy and didn't want any part of the cooking or baking. Lee Ann and her got along fine, Lee Ann fit what grandma thought that a girl should be like . . . 



If the phrase "money can’t buy love," is true, it was in my mommas case. My grandpa was a small man in statue but had a big heart and he was hard working and made the dairy farm he worked pay off when times were the hardest. My grandma was very stoic and prim and proper lady. She helped do all the milking in her younger days, and she was not afraid to do hard work. They also had a working farm. He planted crops and had hired hands to harvest the crops. My grandma would work the field and also cook the meals for all the hired hands. She worked hard all her life . . .

 

Grandpa Leo
 Standing
&
Momma
Age 8 Months

Daddy got out of the Navy on October 29, 1945. He served another three years in the reserve and was discharged from reserve in 1948. He and uncle Leon became pipeliners. Pipeliners are people that install water, sewers, gas, drain lines in the small towns. There was not any type of equipment that daddy could not operate. They move around a lot moving from town to town. Momma and daddy met in Clare Michigan on or about August of 1951 while daddy was putting a water line. Momma had been married and divorced from Paul Williams by the time she met daddy. She had one child by that marriage Lee Ann Williams Smock. She had a very long name for a little girl. She was born 6/7/1947. Momma divorced Lee Ann's daddy, grandma and grandpa then adopted her. That's how she got the Smock name . . .

Grandma and Grandpa both showed momma all the love that anyone could have wanted but  from what momma said they were just too strict. Momma use to talk about her childhood how Grandma would dress her up like Shirley temples with the curls like she had. So when I got six or seven momma use to pin curl my hair and I was tender headed. I knew what she meant when she told about the hair do. I am not sure why mother resented Grandma so much and not grandpa. When momma got married she married out of spite. Her real love was a man named Dean Mentner. He broke up with momma and wed another girl so momma said to herself I'll show him and went out a few times with Paul Williams and then conned him into marring her just to spite Dean. That came from her own mouth so I guess it is true. She nevered lied, yea right. Momma was known to tell a few white lies in her day . . . 

Next chapter is why I think my parents married . . .

Chapter Two - Why My Parents Married

Grandma and Grandpa
1969 or 1970

Momma had a big resentment toward her adopted parents. She didn’t know she was adopted or why grandma was so strict on her. She came to find out that she was adopted when she went to the house safe and was stealing some bonds that were in her name so she could cash them in and run away. She was sixteen at the time. There they were, the adaption papers. She felt betrayed and many other thoughts went through her head about her life. All the questions she had ask herself for many years were suddenly answered. Now she knew why she never felt loved or wanted at least that what she let herself believe. I do think they should have told her about it but I don’t think they loved her any less than if she had been flesh and blood. Grandma was hard on momma but from what I heard from momma she needed to be hard on her. Momma figured that grandma might think because she was born out of wed lock that she was gonna be like her real mother. If grandma said no about anything momma wanted to do and momma would do her best to do just the opposite. I don’t know but, I do know that being adopted did torment momma all her life . . .

My thought about momma and daddy’s marriage on October 18, 1951. was that she used daddy to get out of Clare and out of grandmas life so, she could have a life. It lasted fifty years with all kinds of joy, heartache and love, even if it was a strange love. I know momma loved daddy and he loved her if not they had killed each other over the years with some of the things that happened to them and by them, and besides they only had each other at the end of the day. The pipeliner’s crew was on the road again by December 1951 with daddy and momma and Lee Ann in tow. The next stop was Waterbury Connecticut where I was born on 7/12/52 and yes, go ahead and count I have and it just does add up to nine months . . .

Lee Ann & Me
Age Three Months

When I was born, they were almost complete with the job in Waterbury so we left when I was six days old. The next stop that I remember was Morehead Ky. I was about four years old. We had a small apartment over a car dealer ship. I ask Lee Ann if I was dreaming or did I remember Morehead. She told me no that we did live there and told me the rest of the story. Momma by that time had in some respects become disenchanted by her marriage to daddy. She spent a lot of time, doing something other than taking care of us. She would fix us tomato sandwiches and let us sit under the stair well at the apartment . . .  

Me at 8 Months
&
Daddy & Rabbit

I can remember just like it was yesterday, a ditch for water drainage and a small walkway over it and walking across it by myself, just to see this man who was a mechanic at the dealer ship. Why would a four-year-old girl child be left to wonder over to where guys were working unless they are not being watched by the person who is responsible for them? Like I said I don't know if it was my imagination or did it really happen. I don’t remember much but I do remember Lee Ann having an asthma attack and almost dying. We had to look up a preacher that had a Chihuahua dog. That is an old home remedy for asthma to sleep with the Chihuahua dog. We found the preacher who had the dog and she got better by morning. I also remember momma told Lee Ann that they were going to see Jerry Lewis in concert and Lee Ann was so excited and happy. When they went to the concert and Jerry Lee Lewis not Jerry Lewis, the comedian was playing, Lee Ann was so unhappy but on the other hand momma loved it. I really I don't remember that Lee Ann Told me when I ask her about Morehead . . .

Next Chapter is about moving to Hartsville our first real home . . .

Chapter Three - Hartsville, Tennessee

Town Square
Hartsville, Tn.

In 1956 daddy got a job at Columbia Gulf Transmission Co. in Harstville, Tennessee. Momma and daddy decided that it was time to land and make a home for us so we didn’t have to move every three to six months. They knew a few of the employees at Columbia Gulf. They had worked with them, George James, Hot Rock Hail, Booger Hodges ( yes Booger his nick name ). My favorite was Hooper. He use to let me stand on his shoes and he would dance with me. They helped get daddy his job. Daddy was a jack of all trades and an owner of none, no pun intended (his name was Jack). He didn’t have a job description he did whatever they needed him to do. He painted flag poles, drove trucks, he could operate a dozier and because he could do anything he became a valued employee. Momma was a stay at home mother and wife ( what time she stayed at home.) She would buy her a six pack of beer and a coke or two and some cheese, bologna and crackers and ride the roads. I went with her most all the time. I was only five so that’s how we began our lifelong friendship and that was because for some reason I understood momma's lack of control and why she was what she was. I never question her motives or her actions. I just loved her no matter what. Sometimes when I should have asked questions I still didn't and that’s why we were still best friends when she passed away on July 27, 2010 . . .

We lived in a small apartment owned by a Mr. Hagen and it was on the same land he lived on too. He was a nice old man but he didn’t like dogs. Momma became friends with the lady across the way Mrs. Harrod was her name. I think she was a bit older than momma. She drank all day and played records. The Great Pretender was her favorite. She had a son Frederick, he was older than I was, he was more Lee Ann's age. I was into marbles at that time and I had  two one gallon jars full and a couple of aggie's. He and I got into a marble game and he said lets play keeps for all the marbles, I didn’t know what keeps was. He won the game and he said ha-ha! you have to give me all your marbles and I started whipping up on him. We rolled around and was trying to kill each other when momma and Mrs. Harrod came and broke it up. Within two days he and I both ended up in the hospital with poison oak so bad we could not put our fingers together. It was so bad that he had to stay in the hospital a couple of days. We did not realize that the place we were rolling around was full of poison oak. That was the end of my marble playing for a while . . .

There also was a lady  named Mamie and she lived across the road from us. She was a very flamboyant platinum  blonde and a very unusual person, a real character. She was a great friend to momma and daddy. She was the towns local beautician. Her and momma struck up a friendship that lasted fifty plus years. I can remember one time she came to our house and they all were drinking heavy ( I was the bartender and I made sure that the beer was shook up so I could drink the foam ). She and daddy started dancing and it became a strip dance. They didn't get all the way undressed but close to it. Daddy and Mamie started rubbing bellies. That's just some of what Lee Ann and I was to see most all our life's. Things that a kid shouldn't see. I loved Mamie she was a friend for along time. She moved to Nashville and opening up a shop and in the later years when momma and daddy moved to Nashville we (momma and I) would get our hair done by her. Later I will tell about sleeping in a car at Mamie's beauty shop in Nashville . . .

Momma fit in well with Mrs. Harrod. They spent a lot of time together. We only lived there a short time. I remember we went to Michigan to visit grandpa and grandma and when we got back the dog I owned had been shot and put in a gunny sack. I cried and cried. I think momma thought that Mr. Hagen did it that was the reason we left there. Momma looked and looked and she came up with an old farm house with five rooms and a fire place for heat and it sat on a three hundred ache farm. Momma’s friends told her not to move there because the man who owned it was a mean drunk and didn’t get along with anyone. He was the owner of the tobacco warehouse and very rich. He had a nice brick home on the same farm. His wife was a well-respected school teacher in the high school. They had a son that was a year or so older than Lee Ann. Mr. Lankford had a drinking problem but that made no difference to momma. She didn’t heed the warnings of her friends and we moved in . . .
 

Not Mr. Sullivan
Stock Photo

The farm also had a share cropper who worked the land. His name was Mr. Albert Sullivan, his wife was Antilee Sullivan but to me they were Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan just because I respected them a lot. Mr. Sullivan could take a pair of mules and work them perfectly. He would say GHEE and HAW to make them go left and right. I was so fascinated by that I would sit on a fence and watch him, seemed like for hours. He was a great man in my eyes. He came over to me one day with a stock from a plant that looked like a corn stock. He took out his pocket knife and started peeling the stock and he said,' here chew on this," I ask," why?" He said, "just give it a try." It was sugar cane and boy it was a treat. It was sweet and you would chew it and then spit out the pulp. That was just one of the small simple good things that he taught me. Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan had ten children, one of which was Lula May. She was my age and then there was James Ray he was younger than we were. That is who my play mates were. I spent all my spare time at their house or playing with them on any given site on the farm. I was out of my house from dawn to dusk because my parents were so caught up in life’s worries that I thought that I really didn’t matter. That is why I would go be in Mr. Sullivan’s house to lose that feeling that nobody cared where I was cause they treated my like family. If I acted out or did anything wrong she would pop my but or worse tell momma or daddy and they would ground me for a week or so from going to their house and that was awful cause I felt loved by Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan. I felt the care that I didn’t get at home . . .

Don’t get me wrong, we might have had it better financially than Mr. Sullivan’s family but I learned at a very young age that money was not always what made a house a home. I would rather be at their house than mine. I felt safe there, by this time momma and daddy were fighting and it could be very violent. I also found the love that the Sullivan family shared a thing that I would never forget. Oh yeah did I mention that Mr. Sullivan’s family was black? That was in the 1956 when blacks were treated like they were second class citizens. That made no sense to me for they were a very loving and God like family. Back then they had their own drinking fountains and rest rooms and went to their own school. My momma would go get books out of the library in town for Mr. Sullivan because they didn’t let blacks check out books at that time. My momma would go get books out of the library in town for Mr. Sullivan because they didn't let blacks check out books at that time. He was a well-respected man in the black community as well as the white . His nick name was Preacher because he was a deacon in his church, so that what momma called him . . .

Lula May and I would play Tarzan ( me being Tarzan of course because I could do the yodel that he does) and Lula May was Jane. We would swing from a grape vine that was in our favorite place to play, the hollow. It had a corn crib down by the creek and a well house at the base of the hill and from that house a pipe ran to where water would come to a troff that the cows would drink from and so would we, I often wonder why we didn’t get mad cow disease or hoof and mouth disease. The water tasted so good and was so cold and we didn’t care that we had to share it with the cows. There were many times that we would be in the hollow that all three of us would be bare footed. It’s a wonder that we didn't get hurt more then what we did . . .

About one year later momma got mad at daddy for something and she decided she was gonna burn the house down. She came and got me at school ( I was in the second grade ) and went and to sit our house on fire and raced to Gallatin to get an excuse so they could not say anything to her about being the reason the house burned down. I remember this because I was scared to death she was driving so fast. The drinking was very bad by now and of course they fought all the time. It was hard for me and Lee Ann. We didn’t know why our home had become so tormented . . .

When momma burned our house, we moved to down town Hartsville. It was a huge apartment building. I think it was a one room apartment. It was big enough to put three beds and a kitchen table and a couple of chairs. It was beside the hospital and Dr. Bratton had a house on top of the hill behind the hospital. I quickly become friends with his two younger kids. They had a small pony and would let me ride it, boy was I in heaven. One day there was no one at home, I made a some rains with bailing twine and jumped right up on the pony. When they got home, they were really mad that I was riding their pony with them not home. Needless to say, there was no more pony riding for me. When it came to school, it was entirely different. Momma would take me to school and I would beat her home, running all the way. I hated school because  I did not have the ability to get along with people my own age or as far as that goes any age. I got many whippings about running home and getting there before momma would. I think we stayed there for a couple of months so they could clear the land for us to move the trailer there. Uncle Leon co-singed for us to get a house trailer because momma and daddy's credit was so bad due to hospital stays and too much credit at one time they charged themselves almost into bankruptcy but not quite yet . . .

Lee Ann & New Trailer

Lula May was three days younger that I was. I would save up pop bottles, and then trade them in for cash, back when you got a nickle for each one and we would have our birthday party. It consisted of, pop and chips and candy all the sixty or seventy cents would buy. We would go to the hollow and set a table on some big rocks with towels and put summer flowers (more like weeds) on the table and we would sing happy birthday to each other. We started letting James Ray be a part of the banquet. He became our constant companion then. He was about three years younger then we were . . .

There was a garden down by the lake that Mrs. Lankford our landlady would plant each year with melons, sweet tatters and cucumbers and of course tomatoes all things we like to eat and there was other stuff she would plant too. I swipe a steak knife and a salt shaker so we would have it when we would get hungry and we hid it in the hollow. Today I am sure she planted that garden just for us. We would go down there and swipe melons and when melons were all gone we would dig up sweet tatters and eat them and she never said anything to us. Have you ever eaten a raw sweet tater? They are so sweet when they come fresh from the ground. When it was time for dinner at my house I would tell momma that I wasn’t hungry and she would make me eat anyway and I would go to bed stuffed . . .

Mr. Lankford didn’t want momma to go any where so he let them park the trailer where the old house was, he even cleared it and made a concrete porch and they placed the trailer there. We had a brick-o-block walk way, they were spread out about ever 3 ft and Mr. Lankford hated them. One day momma took me to school and when she got back he had Mr. Sullivan and two of his sons digging a trench and they filled it up with rock and concrete so we would have a nice walkway. I remember Mr. Lankford doing a lot for our family. I know we didn’t pay any rent after the house burnt down . . .

 

Mr. Lankford was an old Southern Gentleman. He always wore his Sunday best clothes and his hat off to one side. He took a liking to momma as well she did him. He started bringing her the mail and that’s how they started talking and becoming friends. He began to trust her with secrets and that’s when she really became aware that he had a drinking problem and if there was one think momma understood it was drinking. He would go to his daddy's old home place which he still owned and get drunk about twice a month. Momma would go over there if she didn’t see him for a while and help him get sober. They became soul mates momma said . . .

Toby In His Sunday Best
 And The Brick-O-Block
Stepping Stones He Hated

There was a gas pump on the farm and one day he was putting gas in his truck, he was lighting up a cigarette and BOOM it blew up. The pump was near our house and so momma heard the blast and went running. She found Mr. Lankfords truck on fire and him unconscious on the ground. Momma ran to Mr. Sullivan’s house, about a half mile from where she was. She had no shoes on and in shorts and didn’t even think about Mr. Sullivan was a preacher and that he would not approve of the shorts. Momma and Mr, Sullivan took him to the hospital. He was in bad shape. He stayed in the hospital for weeks and he was on so much pain medicine that he became addicted to morphine. In later years he would house up in a motel in Lebanon and excape into the morphine. The motel owner knew him and momma were friends ( don't ask how he knew ) so he would call her if he didn’t see him for a couple days and she would go and help him get off the stuff. She would take small pieces of hamburger and feed it to him and she took some whisky, Wild Turkey was his brand. ( How do I know what he drank? I will tell you later in this book ).She would give him some to help with the withdrawing off the drugs. She would help him regain his strength enough till he could feed himself and then he would come out of it. Sometimes it might be a week before momma would come home. Daddy never said anything to her about where have you been. He just accepted that she was gonna do what she wanted. That happened several times while we lived there . . .



They Look Happy Right

There were other times momma would come up missing. Once they were at a Christmas party in Nashville at the old night club in Nashville called the Plantation Club. Momma got mad at daddy because he would not dance with her so she was dancing with a friend of theirs and daddy went up to momma and embarrassed her in front of all their friends. She went outside on Murfreesboro Road and hitched a ride with a truck driver. Back then Murfreesboro Rd. was a major highway because the interstate had not been built yet. We didn’t hear from her for three or four days and she called for money to catch a bus home. Talking about clubs there was a beer joint called the Golden Bubble outside of Hartsville. My momma and daddy both went there a lot. I can remember me sitting on a bar stool and playing the pin ball machine and them handing out nickels each time I would run out. They were friends with a guy named W.K. Rush, he was the local mechanic. They did a lot of drinking together over the next six years . . .

Momma & Daddy
 In Yard In Hartsville

Mr. Lankford had a brother-in-law, Mr. Leon. He was an old bachelor who raised his two sisters because their parents both die when they were young. All he did was fish and hunt and one day Mr. Lankford bet momma that she couldn't get Mr. Leon to be friends with her. Mr. Lankford said he was too bashful to even talk to women. The bet was fifty dollars and within a week or so Mr. Leon and momma became friends. So momma made a new friend and Mr. Lankford had to pay momma fifty bucks. He didn’t like it much either. When my momma would get drunk, she would go over to Mr. Leon’s and he would take care of her. Kinda like what she did for Mr. Lankford. Daddy didn’t seem to care where she was, he thought, she is out of my hair. Mr. Leon would ask momma over for dinner and she didn’t even blink before she would say yes. He would fix her steak and have good whiskey for her. Mr. Leon and Mr. Lankford seem to understand each other and never fought about momma being a friend to off them both. Mr. Lankford also bet momma that she could not apostasy a chair that we had, and the bet was on. She bet him another fifty bucks that she could. Momma could do anything she wanted to do so off she went to get tacks and cushion stuffing and material to do the chairs. Yes! He ended up paying her another fifty. It looked as good as a new chair . . .

 W.K. had an man named Buss Thompson who hung around his shop. He was the town drunk meaning that everyone knew that he was drunk all the time and I became his friend. He had a spider monkey that would sit on his shoulder and I loved that. He would let me hold the monkey and boy was that great. You can bet I liked the monkey better than Buss. He was my first hero that by some coincidence was a drunk . . .

The next chapter is my family history . . .

Chapter Four - All In The Family

Now its time to tell you about my extended family. Most of this chapter is about grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins. Most are here in Tennessee, some in Michigan. We had a very tight family with daddy's kin but because of the distance to Michigan we only went about one or two times a year which made our relationship distant too. We were always going to uncle Leon's house in Linden, Tennessee and when we went to see him we would go see all the other folks that lived there . . .

The Smock's:

Leo Smock married Ida Perrie Allen. The only older folk on the Smock side that I knew was my grandma's sister. Her name was aunt Hazel. When she was very old around 70's or so she came to live with us. She was a charterer and she had Dementia bad. When she would ride in the car with daddy ( who was one of the safest drivers I ever knew ) she would yell if a car was going around us or anything else that she thought was wrong and scares the heck out of us all the time. That must be hereditary cause grandma Perrie use to do that too. Aunt Hazel would laugh and say "Jack, I am old but I am not ready to go to heaven and we would all laugh. Grandpa's mothers name, was grandma Miser. She embarrassed grandma Perrie to the max. Grandma Perrie would tell grandpa that he needed to get his mother to stop all that stuff and grandpa would say to her,"She is too old for me to start now tell her what to do." She was very  small like my grandpa. When I was very young, I almost was as tall as she was. She also drank and smoked and danced and that was why grandma Perrie was embarrass . . .

My grandpa had a cherry tree in his front yard and I would climb it ( like I did the apple trees in our barn yard in Hartsville) and sit and eat cherry's till I would get sick. He also had a raspberry bush and the same goes for them. Something we did that was fun for us was, there was a drive in theater just down the way from grandpa's house. You could see it plain and clear from there. He would get corncobs that had been shucked and build a fire and grandma would pop popcorn and we would sit and watch the movie. You could not hear it, so we used our imagination. That's back when kids did that sort of thing . . .

Momma 9 & Alger 6
White Hair Lady Is
Grammas Sister
Mommas Cousin Dorothy
&
Grandpa Looking Fine
In His Topper In The Back

Remember in the last chapter I told you that grandma Perrie and grandpa adopted a boy and his name was Alger. He married a woman named Barbra and they had four kids. Alger Jr., Julie, Eric and Aaron. My uncle lived on a farm next to grandpa's. Uncle Al worked with grandpa until grandpa got too old. The Barn had a sign on it "Leo Smock and Son," Up north they take great pride in their barns and printed the name of the owner on them. They would get painted before a house would. My grandpa stopped working up in his seventies. Then he more or less gave it to Alger. Uncle Al is what I called him. Grandma Perrie cooked breakfast every day for uncle Al. He was there early ever morning for her to cook for him. He hated momma and I am really sure she hated him. I liked going to Michigan because it SNOWED there enough to play in it, and play we did. Aunt Barb would get me and Lee Ann in snow suits that would keep us warm and we stayed out all day. We would come in long enough to eat and thaw out, then on the road we went . . .

There were not to many people that I knew but Lee Ann had a daddy named Paul Williams and he was a good Christian man. That was probably why momma and he couldn't get along and divorced. Lee Ann had a grandma Rose that was her daddy's momma. I use to ask could I go see grandma Rose when Lee Ann would go. Grandma Perrie would throw a fit and say NO! I didn't understand back then that she was not my grandma too . . .

My grandmas other sister had a kid named Dorothy, she was momma’s cousin and momma said that she was a tattle tail too. If she found out anything on momma, she would tell grandma Perrie. As I sit here trying to remember all the names of my older kin I wish that I had written down the family history before momma died. Tomorrow I will call Lee Ann and get the facts cause she was eight or nine years old when momma married daddy. She had more time there to get to know them cause all I did was go up there once or twice a year. There was an uncle Everett he was grandma Perrie's brother, I remember him because he had a Boston Bull Terrier and when I was little momma would go and see him and I would play with the dog. His wife was an artist and was one of the only kin folk of my mommas that kept in touch after she married daddy as the story goes on you will understand why . . .

My grandpa died in I think 1970 or 1971. When he died, grandma was left alone and aunt Barb was looking in on her once a day or so. She also had Dementia like her sister. She was not in her right mind when uncle Al talked her into signing everything that my grandma owned to him but she adored uncle Al, he could do no wrong so she never thought anything about signing all her belongings over to him. One day aunt Barb went to see about her and she was very confused and look like she was sick. She had her night gown on and her hair was messed up. So aunt Barb told uncle Al he had to get someone to come in every day and make sure she was taking of. Uncle Al said no because he didn't want anyone knowing that she was there alone. Well aunt Barb went again to see about her and she was in her night gown walking down the main road with no shoes on in three or more inches of snow. She stopped and picked her up and told uncle Al to do it or she would. So aunt Barb put her in a nursing home the same one
her sister went in when she came back to Michigan . . .

 My momma went up there because aunt Barb called her and told her about grandma. Momma went to court to make uncle Al ( because he was the power of attorney on her ) and asked the court to put all the farm and stuff back in grandmas name. She even ask if grandma could come and live with us. Uncle Al swore under oath in court that he only put it in his name because he would have to pay for her to go to the nursing home and the government would take it away from her. She had enough money that she could have a nurse 24 / 7 so that didn't convince momma or me. My momma swears that uncle Al bought the judge. The judge just happened to be one of uncle Al's friends that he went to school with. If you are wondering why I go into so much detail, it is because when my grandpa died he had more than $300,000.00 plus in farm and equipment. When grandma died momma tried to get what was rightfully hers. He won again. She only got $20,000.00 and I got $1,000.00 and Lee Ann got $5,000.00 so he got what he wanted everything. All the personal belongs and the house, farm and money. He sold the house to his son and made him sign a note saying he would never sale it. What kind of dad does that unless he is power hungry. Well that's enough ranting and raving about the people in Michigan . . .

Uncle Al and his wife of many years didn't get along either. Alger was a jerk but not to me. It was hard for me to hear momma talk badly about Alger. He saved my life once and I would bring that up and she would tell me, so what. I didn't understand back then. I was really bad about wondering off when I was at grandmas. There was a large back and front yard. At the end of the back yard there was a fence that separated the barn yard and backyard and beside the gate on the barnyard side had a corn crib that had a place in it to park a tractor. On the barnyard side there was larger gate to drive tractors and trucks through. One day I was watching baby pigs and I decided that I was gonna catch one, YEA RIGHT! I caught one and it started squealing and uncle AL looked to see what was happening to make the piglet squeal. He saw something that I didn't, the momma pig. I am talking a huge eight or nine hundred pound pig running full forces at me. Uncle Al yelled at me to get out of there and oh boy, did I drop that pig when I saw momma pig coming. I never did that again. Uncle All told that a pig has to knock you down to bite you and I only weight twenty-five or thirty pounds so take a guess who would have won that battle. I know that this was gonna be about my kin and not what I did when I went to Michigan but the stories I am telling now lead up to another family dispute . . .

The Dailey's:

My grandpa was William Dailey. The Dailey family migrated from North Carolina to Tennessee where he married Nellie Pearl Marrs. There was Frank Marrs who was a cousin to daddy. I can't remember the first names of daddy's other two cousins I never meet them but their last name was DePreist 's. We had a family reunion once at a little park down in Lobeville on the Duck River. All the cousins and aunts, uncles and such was there. I was very young about six I think. I went exploring and found a baby rattle snake I was so proud I ran to where daddy was holding it by the tail. My daddy knocked it out of my hand and stomp it. I screamed why did you do that, balling. He knew that the bite of a baby rattle snake is as deadly as a grown one. It didn't scare me I went right away and tried to find another snake. I thought if there is one, there has to be more than one. We ate and played all kind of games. We never did that again now everybody is gone except me, Lee Ann and some of the cousin are alive. Aunt Joe is up in her eighty's and we are all old. I think we waited too long . . .

Aunt Edna Chester lived in town in the house that my grandma lived in. That was because when daddy went into the Navy she took care of grandma for him when she got sick. So when grandma died ( form cancer of the uterus) in I think it was 1942 or 1943 he signed it over to her. There was a little restaurant in town and one of my daddy's cousins ran it. I can’t remember her first name, but her last name was Coble. She had a boy named Harry he was named after my daddy. He was about the same age as Lee Ann. Because she was not really his cousin, they had a crush on each other. She and I would run down to the restaurant and see who could get there first and she always beat me. I had a crush on him too. Cousins or not you know kissing cousins lots of that down south, I am kidding of course. One time I remember Harry had shot a raccoon and didn't know she had babies. He took them and hand raised them and so they were tame. WOW I loved that. Harry's mom would always fix us a hamburger or something to eat and whether we were hungry or not, they would not take no for an answer. She did make the best malted milk shakes. I wish I had one now . . .

We went there a lot when I was very young and then it kinda slacked off. We would always go to see uncle Kermit Chester, and he was the barber in Lobeville. He was married to daddy's first cousin aunt Edna and they had two girls also. They were Peggy and Neil Dean. Peggy's husband was Ronnie Reese (he will come up later in my story) There was another first cousin aunt Betty, she was married to uncle D.D. Hester. They had two children both boys, David and Steve. Genie Hester was a cousin of theirs Genie's dad was uncle D.D's brother (really not kin to me but I like him and I adopted him as a cousin). They were my favorite cousins because they lived out in the country on a farm. When we went there, I was let run loose again of course the two cousins were with me. I thought that I was a wild cat, not compared to them. I am nothing, but both of them were all boys. They didn't like it much when their daddy would say to entertain me. We would do things like swim in the Duck River that run through their property and collect little lizards and tadpoles from the creek and well anything they thought that I wouldn't want to do. They found out that I was a tomboy and liked doing things like that. They learned not to challenge me cause there wasn't much I wouldn't do when it came to being outside . . .

There were some very old kin folk that I didn't spend too much time with. They were entirely too southern for me. Aunt Carrie is one she was married to uncle Sweet. Not a nicer man in the world, but she made him live in a shed on the back of their property. She was a die hard, middle of the bible belt, southern Christian and he drank and smoked a little and she condemned him to fire and brimstone. When I say shed, you can take my word for it, It was ten feet by ten feet shed up off the ground with brick-o-blocks. There were no windows and brick-o-blocks as stairs up to the door, to me that was kind of sick HUH? Most of all those folk are my kin by way of grandma Dailey . . .

Uncle Leon worked hard for all he wanted not like our family. Daddy always had to struggle to get what was necessary more or less what we wanted. Uncle Leon started from the same place my daddy did but for some reason he prospered and daddy didn't until later in his life. He was a pipe liner just like daddy and he traveled just like we did. He married into money momma always said. Uncle Leon's  mother-in-law was a nice lady and country. She would say "DA--- Lordy" it made me laugh and she was very nice to me and Lee Ann. She always wanted momma to play the accordion for her. Josephine ( aunt Joe ) was a carbon copy of her except she had an education. Aunt Joe was always dressed to the hilt and wore very expensive cloths like Agner and Caster Knot brand. She was a really down to earth person though, she always welcomed us when we came. She always had a new car and well she was high class. They had two girls, Denice and Angela. They were a little bit younger than I was. They had all kinds of toys and I use to wish I had all the toys they had. They lived in a large three story house. Each girl had their own room. Lee Ann and I had to bunk together in our sixty by ten-trailer and our whole room was only ten feet wide and about fifteen feet long. I guess you could say I was jealous. If you think I was you should have seen mommy. She was always throwing uncle Leon up to daddy and he would just sit and listen . . .

When uncle Leon retired, he suffered like a lot of people do, too much time on his hands. When he retired, he was a stay at home husband. That took lots of patience. Old habits are hard to stop even if you are a Christian. Uncle Leon later in his life ran for town mayor of Linden and won. He had always been on the road with his job. He was an inspector for a Pennsylvania pipe line that was being built and it was all in the news where there was an explosion in the open ditch and he stepped out of the ditch just in time to be clear of the blast but was burnt badly in the back of his body. His hair was burnt off and like to have died. I am going back to him being gone all the time. You know aunt Joe practicality raise two daughters by herself. He was on the road all the time . . .

Like all families there were the people that were the upper class and the black sheep. I guess that I came in the black sheep side. I am somewhat the reason for our distance from uncle Leon and aunt Joe. They stopped inviting us to their house like they use to. I was about six or seven and caused a tragic event to happen between myself and my cousin Denice. I think that I was again mimicking something I had experience in my life. I know that uncle Leon never called me Debbie Nooner ( that was his nick name for me ) again. We stopped going there shortly after that event. I am not ready to tell about the event now. Maybe in my NEXT book I'll tell you about it . . .

Uncle Leon always made it hard for daddy to live up too. He was a deacon in the church and had his own company D.& D. Construction. He had a partner and somewhere down the line his partner ran off with all the capital of the company. Too bad he didn't have daddy as a partner cause daddy was as honest as anybody I ever knew. Any way momma grew to hate uncle Leon cause she believed that he always acted like he was better than daddy. When the two DePriest cousins died, they left daddy $1000.00 and they left uncle Leon $5000.00 and that was because uncle Leon was a church going man and Daddy wasn't. Go figure. My daddy was a great man. He didn't have to go to church to be what he was. Down in the smaller towns in the south whether or not you go to church are what makes the man. Well I know for a fact that uncle Leon and aunt Joe changed their minds about my daddy's worth when they attended my daddy's funeral in 1996 . . .

When it came to my momma and daddy, they were the ones that worked hard to get there what they had. Nothing was ever given to them. If there is one good thing I can say about momma and daddy it is that they worked long hours and worked with the general public and that within its self is hard work.  When Uncle Leon and aunt Joe came to daddy's funeral they were very impressed by the sites they saw. There were six pallbearers, all policeman in full uniform. He had eight young girls with flowers that walked behind the casket. They were all girls that loved my momma and daddy and called him papa Jaco. He had a five-car police escort. There were about seventy-five people that showed up at the funeral home and forty at the grave site. Daddy had more friends than any other person I knew. He was loved dearly by everyone. If there were people that may not have loved him, they always liked him and respected him . . .

Uncle Leon and aunt Joe were Republicans all the way. They campaigned all the time and really they were some die hard Frank Clement followers and went to all the campaign dinners and such. Well when daddy died there was a man there named Jim Hunt. He was a good friend of daddy's. He also was a Republicans. He was approached by aunt Joe and she asks him "did I meet you somewhere I feel like I know you." So they talked for a while and she found out that one of daddy's best friends was a big contributor to the Republican Party. She had met him at a dinner for Governor Clement. She was so impressed. What she didn't know was that he was my daddy's insurance man and had a multimillion dollar business. I am telling you this because when uncle Leon let our trailer be repossessed when daddy had to take bankruptcy, My momma got drunk and swore to both uncle Leon and daddy that both momma and daddy would have diamonds on and a Cadillac before they died and so they did. They also had a home that they owned and as much friendship as any two people I have known in my life. We had lost contact with the Dailey family, I'll tell you later why, onto more of the family . . .

The next chapter is about the horrible events in school for me at Hartsville. So don't go anywhere believe you me that it is a weird tale about a crazy little girl who grew up to be just as crazy as an adult . . .

Chapter Five - First and Second Grade

Howard  "Hoagy"Carmichael   

 (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981)

In January, 1929, Mills Music Company of New York published Carmichael's Stardust, still a wordless instrumental. In May of that year, the piece was published as a song, with lyrics by Mitchell Parrish, a New York lyricist working for Mills. But still the song went nowhere. In May, 1930, bandleader Isham Jones recorded the song, slowing the tempo and now the song began its skyward ascent, as more and more musicians were attracted to its dreamy, romantic qualities. Carmichael was now writing folksy songs that would become jazz standards-notably Rockin' Chair (copyrighted in 1930) and Lazy River (1931). During the five years from 1929 to 1934, Carmichael made 36 recordings for the Victor company-the nation's leading record label. He was rubbing elbows-and recording-with some of the great talents in jazz: Louis Armstrong, Henry "Red" Allen, Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Mildred Bailey, and Jack Teagarden. In 1931, he was admitted to membership in the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), signifying his arrival in the songwriting fraternity . . .

Tormented by her past my momma drank to release whatever demons tortured her. When she drank, she would play songs on the record player. Her favorite was Saint Louis Women and anything by Hoagie Carmichael and of course Hit the Road Jack (daddy's name was Jack). She would turn the volume up so high that Lee Ann and I could hear it when we would get off the bus. We lived on top of a big hill and if I heard music, I would just go to the creek at the bottom of the hill and play. Lee Ann handled momma better than I did she would just go home and do things to keep out of mommas hair. The creek became a refuge for me. What time I wasn't at the creek or Lula Mays I would be in one of three trees I like to climb. I would just sit and wonder what life was like in other peoples home. I wondered if all families had the hell we lived in. I didn't think so because I saw other people with their kids, they were not like ours, they seemed happy . . .

Tobacco
Hanging To Dry

There was always a place for me with Lula May. We would find something to do. During a tobacco season the farm hands would harvest the tobacco and we would be allowing to pick up leaves. We would tie some leaves together and put them on the trailer. On the other hand we were not allowed to go to the barn where they hung the tobacco to dry. The tobacco is hung from the rafters of the barn. One day I went to the barn, Lula May wouldn't go with me because she knew that she'd get a whipping. I was not supposed to either and I knew it but didn't care. I was amazed at them climbing the rafters. I figured I was good at climbing tresses and I thought that I could climb up there too. Well they were busy and I started climbing and sure nuff I fell about fifteen feet down and landed on a hog feeder and cut my leg at the pantie line all the way to the bone. The gash was about four inched long. Mr. Sullivan threw me across his shoulders and ran all the way to my house about a mile and momma was not at home so he took me to Mrs. Lankford and she took me to a hospital. There was blood gushing out I wasn't scared until I would look at it and then I would scream. It took ten stitches to close it up. It took a long time to heal. I didn't get a whipping because of the cut. That was the last of me ever going back to the tobacco field. That was when I was in the first grade. Mrs. Denny was my teacher. She was a kind and gentle soul. She was very patient with me. I now know I was a hand full . . . 　

Mrs. Penny (L)
My First Grade Teacher

　

The only friend that I had was Lula May. She was like a sister to me. We would spend hours together talking and playing. Planted behind the barn was a strawberry field. When the strawberries would get ripe, she and I would just lie down in the rolls. She on one side and me on the other and shimmy on our backs down the roll and eat strawberries off the bush talking in between bites. We would talk about the world and what it might be like outside of Hartsville. We would also talk about how different our lives were. She lived in a four-room plain plank house with a porch on it. She had a pie safes and an old refrigerator and ladder back chairs and they drank out of mason jars. They always had good food and I ate there almost every day. I lived in a new trailer and had lots of stuff and nice furniture. I would tell her how much I wish I could live with her and she didn't understand that and neither did I till I grew up and look back on it . . .

What time I wasn't playing at Lula Mays, I would just pretend play by myself. There was a barn in back of our house and there was a line of apple trees in the barnyard and I was forbid to go to the barn yard because there was a bull that stayed in the barn. That didn't scare me. I was young and stupid. The bull and I became good friends I just got some apples and gave them to him. That’s how I got him to like me. I got to where he would let me ride on his back. He acted like he kinda liked that. I would go get some apples and get in the loft and eat them. I almost always fell asleep. I could hear momma yelling for me at dusk and I would go home only because I had to . . .

Hereford Bull
Stock Photo

I was a daredevil, and I would try anything. I once took a twenty two bullet and kept throwing at on rocks till I accomplished what I wanted, it went off. Mr. Sullivan came quickly and boy, did I get a whipping. Lula May and I were in the hollow once and a Canadian goose was down by the corn crib. We decided (well I decided) that we were gonna catch the goose. I went to one side and Lula May went on the other and we cornered it. I jumped and caught it around the body and it flapped its wings but I held onto it. We took it to her daddy and asked him to keep our new pet for us. He took it all right. The next day when I went to see our pet duck I couldn't find it. I ask Mrs. Sullivan where it was and she said "Albert (Mr. Sullivan) dress it." I said "what, why did he put a dress on my duck?" She went on to tell me what dressed was. I screamed I hate you and I stayed mad for a while about that. I could not stay away too long though it was the only place by this time that I had any peace and she treated me more like a mother than momma did so I apologized to Mrs. Sullivan and she hugged me and said "Oh that's all right baby," she almost always was a soft-spoken lady . . .

I didn't have many toys because of the fire. I had a drawer full of toy plastic Indians and horses and tepees and cowboys and my Lincoln logs before the house burnt down. I got dolls after the fire I guess that people thought girl and bought dolls when I would rather have my Lincoln logs back. I had a big imagination and I made lots of things to play with. I'd take a good strong straight stick and some twine and hands make a bow which I became good at making. I would use smaller sticks to make arrows or I would find a stick in the shape of a gun and put it under my belt as a gun and I was set. I played cowboy and Indians, ducking behind trees as if there was someone shooting at me. At one point momma bought me a BB gun and a real bow and arrow . . .

One day momma heard a ping, ping on the trailer and came out to see what was happening, Lee Ann and I were shooting at each other, her with the B.B. gun and me with the bow and arrow. It was so funny. I was behind one tree and Lee Ann was behind another and that was the end of my B. B. gun. Momma took it away and I pouted for a week or so and she finely gave it back to me. I don't remember me and Lee Ann playing together much but there was a time we were playing ball and she was batting and threw the bat and hit me square in the fore head. It cut a big gash and was gushing blood till this day I have a scar on my eye brow. She swears that she didn't do it on purpose . . . 　

Not Always

I would escape into those TV shows that every life problem was solved in thirty minutes or less. Captain Kangaroo, Father Knows Best, Dick VanDyke Show, I Love Lucy or Bonanza and of course Superman and then there was Liberace the piano player. Don't ask me why I just liked his soft and gentle voice, momma liked him too that is one of the things we did together. Once momma and daddy got into a big fight and momma ended up throwing a cast iron skillet at daddy and it hit the TV. I would have rather it hit daddy. It broke the screen of the TV and that was the end of watching TV for a while. I had to live in the real world . . .

By this time in my life I was in the second grade. I had a drill sergeant type teacher her name was Mrs. Martin. I hated her because she was mean to me. I had a talent for making people like me, but it didn't work with her. I can remember that when our house burnt down, she both me a new dress. Most everyone else gave used clothing to me. That was not good for me because the kids would say," look she has my dress on today."The boys would make fun about the shoes I wore. It just gave them more fuel to pick on me. I was in the lunch line one day and said that I hated Mrs. Martin to a kid in line and she was behind me. She yanked me out of line and took me to the principles office. She made the rest of the second grade almost unbearable. I always felt different from the rest of the kids from the first day that I went to school. I wasn't sweet and gentle and cute like all the other girls. The boys hated me because I would try to do all things they did and do them better and faster . . .

Momma played the piano and accordion. That is probably why she liked Liberace. She loved music and she even played at the church she went to, Yes! She went to church. She stopped going because daddy would not go to church with us. A lady of the church made mention that momma was wearing sandals and that was a bad thing because women were not suppose to show their legs at all it was in the bible. So momma quit going to church because she was gonna do what she wanted and not what she was told. That was momma not liking people to tell her what to do kinda like her and grandma, so thats when Lee Ann and I started going to church with Mrs. Lankford. I hated it because I had to ware dresses . . .

Lee Ann Don't
Look To Happy

Back to momma going to church. Daddy refused to go to any formal church. In our town there was a section of town that was called "Black Town ", and we had to go through it to get to town. One day we saw a bunch of cars on the side of the road and we sorta slowed down to see what was happing. Sure nuff there was a revival going on and it was on the friont porch of a black families house. There was a place to park on the side of the road and so we parked and listened. We found out that it was a week long event and we came every night and listened. Early on one of the worshipers came to our car and said why don't you come over and sit with us and maybe you can hear better the word of God. Daddy accepted and well it was something to watch. There was some lots of clapping and hallelujahs. He must have heard something that he liked because he followed her for a couple of months. We even went to the black church one Sunday. They were having an, on the ground dinner. He really enjoyed it and so did we. He would not go to any other church white or black. When my daddy died in 1996 that little black preacher that he met at that revival, spoke at his funeral. That was a life long friendship even when we moved to Nashville we would go and see The Little Preacher as my daddy called her . . .

Next chapter I talk about how hard I had it in school and I tell about something that happened to me in the sixth grade and how it affected me and how hard I had it after that . . .