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Grandma's presence if Grandma even looked like she thought about consoling or comforting us, Muddear would try to kill us just to spite Grandma. Upon Grandma's relocation to Jenifer, Alabama she met and married Frank Anderson, an itinerant laborer and part-time sharecropper whose idea of wholesome recreation was to disappear with his paycheck on Friday, remain drunk all weekend and stumble home Sunday morning broke and sporting a mean hangover. The only words I ever recall Frank saying to me was "What chew looking at me fer boy?" Sometimes Grandma would become so frustrated over his drunkenness that she would take a switch and whip him like one would whip a child. Of course with him being six feet two, almost 200 pounds and hung over and she standing five feet three and only weighing 110 pounds she only succeeded in making herself tired. This venture usually brought out the worst of Frank's limited curse word vocabulary. However, to the best of my knowledge, he never physically retaliated. Finally God, Frank or either persons unknown decided to end Grandma's frustration. Early one Sunday morning some one found what was left of him after the 7:30 a.m. freight train that ran through Jenifer had cut off both his legs. We never found out for sure whether Frank got drunk and laid down across the tracks as a dare, laid down accidentally, or if someone put him there before or after he was dead. I still feel a little guilty about not being sad during his funeral. One of my most humorous memories of Grandma took place during a visit she and Artway made to Hampton, Virginia while I was stationed at Fort Monroe. Prior to that Grandma had never taken a plane ride and had no intentions of ever doing so. My wife Barbara and I had invited Grandma to come and spend the summer with us. As I waited stiffly in my khaki uniform at the airport arrival gate with my two daughters who were filled with anticipation, this matronly lady in a chesterfield coat and her hat draped crookedly on her head, snuff running down both corners of her mouth, staggered towards us and exclaimed in her loudest voice, "Hey! Is these my grandchilluns?" After directing them through the metal detectors and over to baggage claim I pulled my father aside. "Dad what's with Grandma?" He explained that when they boarded the plane in Alabama Grandma was having a hard time relaxing, so when the stewardess came through the cabin taking orders for beverages he ordered two martinis (martoonies) for each of them. The stewardess explained that there was a limit of two drinks per person. After the stewardess departed to retrieve the drinks, Grandma asked Dad, "What's a martoonie?" He replied, "Awe Mamma, it ain't nothing but a soda pop. They gave it a fancy name so they could charge more for it on the airplane." Neither Dad nor Grandma was aware that the two drinks would be poured into one glass. When the stewardess returned with two glasses my father being ever the southern gentleman gave them both to Grandma and waited for his to be served on the stewardess' next pass through the cabin. Grandma took one glass (which was a double) and chug-a-lugged it, sat the glass down, licked and quietly smacked her lips about five times and immediately chug-a-lugged the second one. As she sat the second glass down she said, "Boy! I believe you done made me drink some licker."" Anyway, it was very evident that Grandma was not feeling any pains when she arrived in Hampton. "It Is Good That a Man Be Found Faithful" Running a close second to the love and affection that Grandma had for family and relatives was the devotion that she exhibited towards Will and Annie Mae Lawson and their family. If the truth be known Will and Annie Mae probably came before some of Grandma's more distant relatives. For almost 49 years, she cooked, washed, ironed, kept house, and cared for three generations of foster children reared by the Lawsons. Annie Mae Lawson was wheel chair bound requiring Grandma's attention 7 days a week. Living just 75 yards away, Grandma rose every morning at 5 a.m. went to the Lawson's, and except to attend church or a meeting, remained there until after 7 p.m. each night. Many times when I was on furlough from the Army, my only visits with Grandma took place in the home of the Lawson's while she watched children or took care of other duties. Although the state reimbursed the Lawson's handsomely for rearing foster children, Grandma's pay consisted of meals and approximately one half of what was being paid to maids |