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| Photo Courtesy of Anita Peppers |
May 26, 1965
Jocie Brooke reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. A very excited Jocie Brooke because in three days – three short days!! – school’s out for the summer. Yay!! It’s not that I don’t like school. At least most of the time, but in May, I hate school!
Nobody should have to spend all of May in a classroom looking out at the sun instead of being in said sun. I mean, it’s time to take off your shoes and feel dandelions between your toes. Maybe find a 4-leaf clover so luck will come your way.
Dad says that’s silly. He says a Christian doesn’t depend on lucky charms. A Christian should depend on the Lord and on his fellow Christians for his or her good fortune. But it’s still sort of neat finding a 4-leaf clover. Or it would be if I could ever find one. Tabitha, my sister, she can step out in the grass, look down and see a lucky clover without moving another step. Right where I was just searching. I think she’s half leprechaun. Don’t tell Dad I said that. He’ll be giving me a lecture about how it’s okay to pretend, but a person shouldn’t get carried away with silly stuff.
But I like making up silly stuff, don’t you? Wait, I’ll tell you a secret if you promise not to tell anybody. I’m going to write a book! Not just a little five page story, but a book with chapters and everything. Do you think you’d like to read it? I might write it on here – if it turns out to be any good. You know, it’s easier to think about doing something rather than actually doing it. Right now, I’m just thinking about it. But I can’t wait to actually get started. I’m going to let a dog be the main character. I think a dog makes a great character. A dog did in The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford. That story was so much fun. My book will be something like that, but I’m not sure how much. I’ve got to think up a lot of things before I can get it written.
One good thing, I’ll be able to write barefoot. I love to lose my shoes when it’s summertime, but in our yard, that’s not always a good idea. Or sometimes even in the house where you’re liable to step on one of Stephen’s metal cars or a stray block. Outside, it’s not all clover and dandelions either. We have a few locust trees. Remember, they’re dad’s favorite because of the sweet smelling flowers. The flowers are okay, but the little thorns on their branches are no fun at all when they step on one. Bits of those branches are always falling off to lay little traps in the grass for unsuspecting feet. But the blooms do smell fantastic. Worth getting a few stuck feet from time to time. I’m just glad we don’t have chickens. You go barefoot out at Miss Sally’s and sometimes you get squishy chicken poop up between your toes. Now that’s no fun at all.
Did you go barefoot when you were a kid? Did you have to always wash your feet before you went to bed? Every night?