I was raised in South Mississippi, Near a town called Ten Mile, a town so small that if you blinked while driving through it, You missed it, literally. We were dirt poor, like most everyone else around, but there was love in abundance. My parents worked as much as they could to feed the 6 kids, I was the next to youngest.
Grandma took care of us during the day, at least those of us not in school anyway. She was the nicest lady you ever met, always smiling and always something good to eat in her house. Paw Paw, the name we called my Grand Dad, worked until late evenings around the farm, sometimes he would let me go out with him to plow the fields, teach me the way to feed a family he said.
Sometimes we would stay the night, Paw Paw would let me chew some tobacco and on a good night, I could smoke his pipe. I usually ended up puking my guts out, but I never stopped trying it. It was at their house when I was introduced to Pornography, they didnât know it of course. And Paw Paw wouldâve whupped me something fierce if he knew I had found his stash of dirty pictures in the barn.
They werenât the kinds of pictures you see now days, they were old black and white ones, some even came from France that he got while in the War. I loved looking at them, all the different sized ladies, some had hairy underarms, and all had hairy privates. They all looked like they enjoyed being naked in them too.
I enjoyed looking at them for years until I come of age and joined the service myself, I ended up going to fight in Korea until I was wounded and shipped back home. But that was after I had experienced what those Korean women had to offer, for a price! I had a girl back home that had let me get some before I left, so I was anxious to get some of what everyone said those Korean women had, and what I was told had been the truth, they could make you feel like you had never felt before, all for less than a good meal back home.
I got back home and settled down to what was expected of me, farming, wasnât a glamorous life, but it was an honest one. Shortly after I got home Paw Paw passed away, it was a sad day for our family, he was the Monarch of our clan, and didnât have one enemy I knew of. Since it was late winter I kept an eye out on Grandma, going by to check up on her everyday, sometimes having supper with her, but mainly making sure she was doing alright.
She had gone through Paw Pawâs old things and asked if there was anything I needed, such as his work clothes and things. I got what I could use and thanked her. Even in her grief, she still wore her smile.
One thing I didnât tell her I wanted, was those old dirty pictures I knew he had in the barn. I went to the barn, climbed up the ladder to the loft and found the old trunk he had up there. Opening it up, I found what I was looking for, the shoe box, filled to near bursting with his old pictures. I was tempted to open it and do what I had spent many an afternoon doing when I was younger, but I could wait.
Getting home I opened the shoe box and sorted the pictures out, starting with my favorites and going down. Not forgetting these pictures were now 15 years older or so since I had found them, but still as exhilarating as the day I first viewed them. I looked through them and was soon touching myself, taking my time, I flipped through them until I found one that I truly liked, them let loose.
Summer was soon on us, and I had been looking over some land I wanted to buy, there was one little spot in it that was a piece of Heaven for me. One Saturday I went to look it over one more time before putting in my offer on it, I liked it because not far from it was a small stream, do some swimming or you could catch a fish or two if you wanted, I did, then went to a pleasant spot and started a little fire, cooked and was fixing to eat one when I heard someone coming up on me near the edge of the woods.
It was a young lady, around 5 years younger than me, long brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a body to die for, Her light dress flowed around her, and it looked as if she was walking on air as she approached me. I stood up and introduced myself to her, she said her name was Alex, short for Alexandria. I told her my name and invited her to some fish, she accepted, we chatted about little things, we had a lot in common I soon found out, one of which was we both loved this place. I told her of my interest in buying it and a frown came across her pretty face.
âOh.â she said sadly.
âWhy the sad face Alex?â
âWell, you being a farmer, I can only guess youââll plow all this up for bottom land.â Her brown eyes saddened at the thought.
âAww, Heck no Alex, Ainât no way Iâd ruin this place for that, if anything, Iâd put a lil cabin over yonder, close to the spring so totinâ water wouldnât be such a chore. But thatâs about all I would change.â
Her face brightened at the thought and said, âI always thought if I had this land thatâs what Iâd do myself. Itâs such a piece of Heaven, ainât no reason to ruin it.
Dang, she used the same term I had about this place, I asked her why we never met before, me living there all my life, I knew most everyone around these parts.
âMy family moved here round about a year or two ago from down south, below New Orleans, I donât know many folks around here, we donât get to town much, and ainât much for Church going.â As she explained this to me, I couldnât keep my eyes off her. We talked a couple of hours or so, then she said she should go, I asked if I could see her sometime again, maybe I could take her to town to a dance or something.
She smiled at me as she walked away, âThat would be right nice of you Walter.â And I watched her hips sway as she left. This was one of the nicest days I could ever remember having in my life, and was totally an unexpected pleasure for me. I eased on towards my Ma and Paws house, Alex was deep on my mind as I did, âWould sure be fine, having a woman like Alex waiting for me at home at nights.â I said out loud to myself . Would be fine, but I donât think a woman as pretty as her would want a dirt poor farmed like me for her man.
The following Monday, I went in to town and saw the banker about that piece a land, banker told me the price and it was in my range. I ended up buying it that day with my Military pay that I had saved up. I walked out of that bank smiling like a Possum in a hen house, a rich man in a poor land, I even had some money left over to build me a small cabin. I couldnât wait to tell Alex about it, I hoped she would be as happy about it as I was.