Page 31 - Contrast1962v6n1

pockets

by lee pastor

ISAT DOWN on a rock in the back corner of my yard in order to dis-

cover just what I had in my pockets. Ordinarily, I wouldn't
bother to look, but an emergency callin' for special action had arisen.
You see, about an hour ago-well, maybe it wasn't quite that+I
wouldn't have thought about my pockets. But then Mrs. Bones-she's
a widow woman who lives across the street and who has unfortunate-
ly taken a liken' to me-It ain't that I really dislike her; I guess it's
~ecause ... well ... I guess kinda ... well ... I guess I don't really
hke her except when she does a lot of bakirr'. She kinda fusses over me
~oo much. Anyway, gettin' back to what I was sayin'-she asked me
~f I had a safety pin. You see, she was workin' in her garden and she
Just sorta tore her ... well, anyway, she asked me for a safety pin.
So, I reached into my pockets to find out, and when this spider came
out on ll).yhand, she almost had a fit. But she held on to herself while
I continued my search, an' ya shoulda seen her face when all I did
was to pull out a IiI' 01' harmless garden snake. Well, I'm tellin' you,
her face took on such a purty colorin' I kinda wished I could see
~ore of it on people's faces. Well, gettin' back to Mrs. Bones-she
kmda let out a big shout an' ran for her house. I followed her to see
what the matter was, but she kept hollerin' and shoutin' for me to get
away from her. Well, I kinda figured that that was not the way for
someone who likes ya to act; so I figured there must be some thin'
wrong. When she got to her house, she ran to her room and locked
t~e door. She yelled for me to leave, but I'm not the kinda man that
will leave a woman alone when she's fellin' so funny. So, I put my
sn~ke down in an empty box she had on a table near her door and
waited for her to come to her senses. I guess she kinda thought I had
left because after a while she called me, and when I didn't answer,
she opened her door. When she saw me srandin' there in front of
her, her eyes kinda like got big, and she looked around as if she ex-
p.ected to see a ghost or somethin'. Well, I asked her if she was all
nght or if she wanted me to call a doctor or somethin'. but all she
did was look around. Finally, she asked me a question, and I must
admit she sounded like she was drawin' her last breath. She asked,
'''Where is IT?" So I kinda asked her where WHAT was. After this,
she just looked at me with a horrible look in her eyes as if she really

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