The Bottom Feeders

We moved into the shack on the coldest day of my life.  I was only four years old and you may think memories are not retained at that age but that is not true.  Perhaps it depends on the gravity of the recollection.  It was so cold when we were evicted from our home without warning that morning that I will never forget how it felt, how cold it was and how afraid we all were.  What would happen to us and where would we go?  The landlord told Mama he regretted what he must do but do it he must.  He told her our Uncle Henry had promised to be here this morning to do something with us because he knew the landlord was putting our things out on the front yard, which was the eviction law.  Imagine how cold and deserted we felt sitting out in the yard on a freezing winter day waiting on Uncle Henry to arrive.  Mama kept saying "Thank God it ain't raining today.  I don't think we could stand all this if it was raining too" she told us that as if it would make us a little warmer and she told the landlord the same thing two or three times as I recall as if to make him feel better for what he was doing.  And she prayed to God out loud several times to help us in this day of great need.  Finally, to the great relief of Mama and the landlord as well, Uncle Henry arrived.  He was alone driving his old Ford pick-up truck.  It took him three or four trips as I recall completing our move to the corn shack and he tried to put a good face on it for us all.  He kept saying our Pa would be home soon and the old shack would hold us pretty well until then.  He did not seem nearly as cold as I was and maybe his clothes were warmer.  I did not know why but I just kept thinking how terribly cold it was and I sure hoped there was a fireplace in that shack we were being moved to today.  He loaded up Mama's pots and pans first and our clothes and us kids on the first load so we could get out of the cold wind as soon as possible.  I don't know why the pots and pans and the oil cook stove went first because we had ran out of kerosene, but I guess Mama figured we would get some later.

When we got to the shack and started pushing the corn from one side of the house, I vividly remember the large rats that shared the space with us.  They did not bother us because they had plenty of corn to eat - But they had to worry about the huge snakes that lived under the house.  We could see them through the cracks in the floor.  We would lay on the floor with our eyes close to a crack to get a glimpse of a big rat snake looking for an errant rat. Strangely enough, it seemed that none of this devastated us at all.  Mama kept telling us that life was good and we were all together and God would provide.  Food, water, and heat were problems that had to be solved as if we were engaged in a survival course.