The very next day, being a Saturday, I got up real early and pedal-powered myself to JT's house to tell him about my ideal. I had no ideal that JTs dad had plenty of "gopher wood" lying out back behind the shed. JT said it was gopher wood anyway. He said his dad kept it there for special occasions. After alot of thinking and not much planning, JT decided that the king size box spring mattress on his parents bed would be the best thing for us to use as a boat, and we could use the "gopher...

One year during VBS (vacation bible school), the theme for the week was Noah. Usually they had us do some kind of craft during the week and this particular year we built an Ark out of popcicle sticks. At the end of VBS it was customary for all the parents to come to church and see what all the kids had made and usually eat. Well during this Friday night meeting, with my newly made "ark" in hand, I told my mom I had to go to the bathroom. I went in, pushed in the plug, and filled the sink...

It didnt take long for us to show back up, all dressed up in our dads, or grandpas suits, of course the pants were too long, so we just walked on them. JTs cousin from Mississippi had just got there and JT had him dressed up in some huge dress pants and an over-size jacket about 40 times to large.
Of course it was hot, really, really hot. But we gathered the chickens bodies up anyways with a shovel and layed them eternally into JTs grandmas shoes boxes that she had until that day kept...

The summer of 1982 was a very hot and dry summer in Arkansas. You could see the earth crack in places where the grass had quit growing in the yard and dust just seemed to hang in the air for hours. Even a small dust trail followed behind my bicycle as me, Sam, and my best friend, J.T. peddaled up the hill to J.T's house.
Now J.T. Senior never believed in fixing any of his old cars or trucks, when they broke down, he just tied a tractor on them and dragged them out in the pasture and then...

Ive always wondered why some people say that in their memories everything is black and white. I remember things very vividly and in color. Like how green the water hose was that ran in my grandads garden that grew between our houses. The colors of the honeysuckles that grew in the fence behind the house, and especially the smells. Like rain on a dirt road after a long hot spell, freshcut grass. I realized the other day that somewhere along the way I had gotten too busy, looking months into the future,...