Mrs. Polk's Buttermilk

Age 9

We lived at Glen View near Crab Orchard. This day was during the summer, because I was at home and Daddy was still sleeping. Mommy asked me to go to Mrs. Polk’s house and buy a gallon of buttermilk. She gave me fifty cents to pay for it. I could have taken the road up to Mrs. Polk’s house, but I didn’t see any reason to go out of my way. I took the direct route across our back yard and up a pretty steep hill to intersect her driveway near the point that it leveled out at the top of the hill. My path meant I had to walk through some brush and briers that were still wet from a recent morning thundershower. I also had to crawl through a newly constructed barbed wire fence. The fence was so new that there was still some yellow clay dirt around that didn’t get put back into the post holes.

I made the trip to Mrs. Polk’s house without incident and I bought a gallon of buttermilk. It was in a clear glass jug that had originally held vinegar or Coca-Cola syrup. As I made my way back toward home, I didn’t pay attention to where I was walking and I got a big clod of wet yellow clay attached to the sole of my left shoe sole. I think you have probably guessed the rest of the story. Yep. I stepped on a big slick rock that barely stuck out of the ground. The wet clay lubricated my shoe sole and my left foot shot out from under me. I fell on my left thigh. I had the buttermilk in my left hand and it smashed into a thousand pieces when it contacted the rock. At first, I thought I was probably seriously injured. I got up with buttermilk all over my belly, crotch, and left thigh. I didn’t have a scratch on me. I dreaded going home. Mommy must have been feeling pretty good that morning because she didn’t even scold me. She just told me to clean myself up. I can’t remember, but I think Daddy did not get cornbread for lunch that day.