Show Q ME oil by HOMER CROY V romer homer croy blinked back teats tears as a he drove along the country road amid the scenes of his childhood an older wiser man he was going home a prodigal son ot of northwest missouri returning to places that revived memories he remembered happy times with the ken gedys newt the kindest man he had ever known mrs kennedy their two daughters ida and lucy their son harlan his childhood playmate As he inspects the kennedy mansion now a dingy and drafty ghost out of his past he recalls the painful welcome home party newt gave tor for the nel del the foreigners who had just purchased the 40 acre farm behind the poor farm CHAPTER III newt grew more and more uneasy plainly he had made a mistake 1 I guess wed better begin he said as it if it were a funeral lucy can you favor us with a selection of course she could that was the very moment she had been waiting for she came out made what we considered a graceful bow and said 1 I will en deaver to recite captain jenks then began im captain jenks of the horse marines I 1 teed feed my horse on corn and beans in a moment we were all laughing for no one knew better than we did what to feed a horse how we clapped when she finished but mr and mrs delinsky sat un smil ing staring straight ahead ahe ad leonard sat motionless still gazing at ida now and then he looked at the floor and swallowed what about music asked newt the musicians took their fiddles out of their pillowcases pillow cases and our guitar player unwrapped his guitar chairs and tables everything cleared out now and the musicians placed near the middle door so the music could be heard in all rooms A place was made for grandpa in corner behind the kitchen stove so now and then he could open the oven door and warm himself the caller out said wed open with miller boy grandpa said we to dance 01 dan tucker heels flew skirts swung this had an amazing effect on the gloomy instead of staring straight ahead they began to watch the dancers back and forth and around and around the dancers flung the floor rocked the house shook then a very strange thing happened mr delinsky began to tap his toot foot A Q newt went over seized mrs de eky eky and said come on the she grabbed her husband as lt if newt was about to harm her mr delinsky said something guttural and mrs delinsky got up obediently the result was pretty bad mrs strange endless skirts swung but always in the wrong way and always she turned in the wrong direction mrs delinsky came finally and said something to her husband he got up slowly pop up the way she did and joined the dancers he swung in the wrong direction too and bumped into people but little by little began to catch on as the beat and rhythm of the dance took hold of hirn him and ot of mrs delinsky and lizzie and soon they were sas haying forward and rowing to their partners tj swing josie said the caller out there ever a tune like 01 dan tucker said grandpa finally delinsky smiled after a while he let out a yip which made everybody laugh we held their arms and we shoved in the right direction id like to say they were good dancers but they were not however they did enjoy it and so did we grandpas eyes shone but in spite of himself his eyes closed and his head gave little jerks each time he would open his eyes and look around guiltily pretty soon his eyes would flutter shut again one of the neighbor men came over and sat down near grandpa grandpa began to talk about prairie days things were better then people enjoyed themselves more when eating time came the de plunged in not bashful now we found they could talk better than we thought when they got stuck lizzy helped them out suddenly without a word or invitation mr and mrs delinsky stood up and began to sing the song had something to do with eating tor for they would say a few words pretend to take a bite of cookie then sing again it was all so new so strange that we clapped and urged them for more but they sat down looking self conscious as if afraid been too bold we were beginning to like them the odor of cookies and cakes filled the house and there was cold fried chicken sage sausage and cider ida and lucy went here and there with dishpan fuls of pop popcorn orn people in every room men sitting on the floor there was lots to eat hm leonard sat gripping his plate eating and silently looking at ida ida tossed her head when it was time to go mrs delinsky went in and got the baby then handed it to delinsky to hold while she put on her overshoes delinsky looked so funny with his beard and with the baby no bigger than a summer squash that everybody smiled delinsky lit his lantern and we followed the to their two wheeled wagon when the wagon pulled out we were all standing there waving and calling to them we came back to the house and when we looked down the road the lantern was getting smaller and smaller postmortem post mortem on the delinsky party after all had gone we sat around talking about the party and how much fun it had been especially about the they were peculiar there was no doubt of that but kind of likable newt was concerned with delinsky as a farmer for newt judged everybody by his farming if you were not a good farmer you were nobody 1 I dont think he can ever make it said newt hell crop out yd you u cant farm with one horse on forty acres maybe hell be able to get another horse and more land said mrs kennedy newt shook his head you were a born farmer or you newt shook down the base burner and poured coal in the top the party had been wonderful it was too bad about the going to crop out the last day of the term was the biggest the most exciting day of the school year f for or it was exercises day the day our parents came to see it if we had learned anything it was exciting for the teacher too for if she pounded anything into our heads she get her job back in the tall fall there is the school house I 1 can see it this minute it still stands the knabb school it still has one room corn comes up on all sides osage hedge grows around it it is white never in my life in this section did I 1 ever see a schoolhouse of any other color I 1 have read of the little red school but I 1 never saw one everybody Is very polite today there was a coal house and there was a cyclone cave and an iron pump the iron pump had a hook made out of baling wire and on this hung the school tin cup we all drank out of that cup that was before we knew about deadly germs and the dreadful things they would do to us but the germs do anything to us it just about shakes a persons faith in science it a teacher had come along and said we ought to have paper cups J wy X he walks up in front agony 0 on n his face and stands a moment gazing out over the scholars shed never have got the school back that fall our directors were not taking any chances with crackpots the big day came in may usually on the way to school of a morning we whooped and yelped but not on the last day all dressed up today no prisoners base no burn out which was our baseball game in this the player was put out by throwing the ball and hitting him he knew he was out all right I 1 shudder now as I 1 think of how we that ball and knocked the wind out of players we would have thought that tagging a player with the ball was sissy the girls looked awesome rigged out in their dresses and we boys were so stiff and formal and tongue tied in our sunday clothes we could think of hardly anything to say to the girls wed been going to school with all year now and then wed say hello just to show we gone completely daft then the girl would say hello and that would end the conversation wed decorated the schoolroom till it looked awesome too there was a vase of flowers on the teachers desk and there were so many pussy willows and cattails coattails cat tails that an indian could have crept from one end of the room to the other without being seen by a paleface well almost the teacher always kept her switches on two nails over the blackboard but today they came down no one was going to be fool enough today to be licked besides the switches seem to fit into the fine excitement of this last day of school but next year those be back there again on the nails right before our eyes every hour of the day I 1 would like to stop to tell about something that happened to me in connection with those switches but I 1 must press on and not drag out this story too long we sit there stiff and formal now and then a child giggles but we dont encourage him no monkey business today hours pass at least it seems hours dinnertime comes we get down our buckets from the shelves in the rear of the room and sit around politely and eat fried chicken always fried chicken on the last day of school one by one we get up and put the bones in the coal bucket lizzie delinsky gets down her brown parcel we smile superiorly we go out and play as sedately as preachers no base sliding and clothes grabbing today nobody is pasted in the back with the ball no boy tells another he is going to knock his block off the girls go in and out of their little building as as bees in and out of a hive the teacher comes to the door and rings the bell a little sadness here for we know it is for the last time we walk in as solemnly as mourners not one boy tries to trip another not a girl has her hair yanked oh says the teacher we forgot to empty the coal scuttle harlan harlan gets up and takes the bucket and tosses the bones over the fence into mr knabbs pasture then puts the bucket in the coal house everything has to be nice today bertha scott holds up her hand teacher the flag over george washington is crooked wont you please arrange it correctly bertha bertha marches forward and swings the flag into position thank you bertha youre quite welcome im sure ordinarily the teacher would have said fix it please and bertha would have mumbled something that sounded like elcome but not today everybody is tremendously polite arch holds up his hand teacher roan is about to get his bridle off you may go and fix it arch races out and fixes the bridle then pumps himself a drink we hear him throw on the ground with a splash the water he drink we all immediately get thirsty at last we see them coming our fathers and mothers and the school directors coming down the road some walking some driving mrs gerilda knabb in her sidesaddle dressed up too everything grows more terrifying and the worst is yet to come weve got to take part in the exercises somebody is going to just about die and I 1 know who it is we hear their feet on the platform outside they knock as if this were a private house the teacher goes to the door and swings it wide oh how do you do please come right in we were so re pleased to have you were del delighted arent we children yes we peep in a moment our guests are stiffly seated we stare at them as it if they were the northern lights newt is head director and has on his sunday clothes and congress shoes he looks role solemn for he has responsibilities more people come th the people nod to each other it would hardly do to call out to each other any more than it would in church there is a rattling sound and we look out it is the in their two wheeled cart drawn by the horse with the big hames they come in babies and all not knowing parents were not supposed to bring infants to the last day people squeeze over and make room again the sit just as they had at the welcome party they seemed not to have learned anything thin stretched across the room from wall to wall is a mysterious curtain the teacher gets up to deliver her welcome speech ashes just about scared to death too our fathers and mothers study her they are thinking has she made good this year do we want her back she tells what good children we have been we grow popeyed for she has whaled khaled some of us ali ah yes and now the scholars will endeavor to render one of our musical selections she says politely high class words today she steps out in front of us and we begin to hawk and clear our throats she raises her pointer down it comes up go our voices we dont get off quite together she smiles as it it anything again children now we are all off together exactly right pretty soon we get warmed up and make the pussy willows shake the parents clap politely overdo it just because they are our children our parents believe in being foolish over us the puritan influence and now says the teacher the birdies ball we tear into hat the robins hopping around in the yard stare up in into to our windows as if never heard of a birdies ball newts hand goes into his pocket out come some notes can it be possible he is getting nervous newt who to me always seemed so self possessed and sure of him self but for that matter I 1 kno know w that grown people ever felt feli jumpy and unsure of themselves I 1 thought it was just us children who had moments newt kennedy hakes flakes a speech the teacher says and now we are going to be honored by a speech from our head director mr newt kennedy newt gets up to make the head directors speech this has to be done every year to show that the directors take an interest in the school he walks up in front agony on his face and stands a moment gazing out over the scholars there is pain in his eyes I 1 feel sorry for him and in my imagination I 1 suffer with him he puts his hand in his pocket then pulls his hand out and places it behind his back he swallows and I 1 following him so intently so sympathetically swallow too he clears his throat teacher and scholars of knabb school pausing iri g he pulls a raveling out of his p pocket bocket it falls on the floor ho ha continues TO BE CONTINUED |