Page 52 - Firehouse Pond

My brother and sister didn't have it as bad as me. Dad didn't think I was his.

That would set him off. If you looked at the picture, there was no doubt, but
he didn't accept me. He beat Mom a lot too. But he was a good man sober.

I told myself that when I could pick two hundred pounds of cotton that I
would hang it up and leave home. I could see that cotton-picking machines

were starting to take over, and so you would just clean up behind them and

you could hardly pick one-third of what you could before the machines came
in. Why was it necessary to get to two hundred pounds of cotton before

leaving Missouri? I like to set a goal, and I wanted to match my dad. Another

year I might have matched him; he was three hundred plus a day.

I remember the day I got to two ' hundred pounds plus and left. My sister

happened to come down for the weekend. It was on a Saturday that I hit two
hundred six--might have been just a little dirt and water in there with the
cotton, but not over six pounds. I came home that Saturday afternoon late and

talked it over with my sister and brother- in-law, they said it was okay. My
parents said it was okay. My parents weren't one hundred percent with me
going, but they didn't stop me.

In Coralville, Iowa, I attended junior high and successfully completed the
eighth grade. I liked the school. I got along with everyone. In fact, I was
counted a favorite among some because when they were out playing football,

most wanted me on the team. I was wiry and fast and wasn't afraid to get hit. I
liked the game. My favorite sport, though, was wrestling. I liked the one-on-
one because you don't have to depend on other people.

When I came to Coralville, the first thing I did was do volunteer helping by a
trampoline. The trampoline job gave me something to do and then I also got

to play on the equipment. The few times I jumped I was pretty good, so they
were willing to let me help instruct about flips, etc.

Then I was a non-paid attendant at a big slide in Coralville, again so I could

have fun there too. My first paying job was at a drive-in restaurant, Dog "N"
Suds as a carhop. I later became a manager.