I’m talking about an addition to the house. We badly needed more room for seven kids and
two parents.
When there were four of us kids, we finally moved from the Colonial
trailer (much like an Airstream). We
took over three sharecropper’s shacks that our aunt and uncle were living in
until they built a small house across the field. They closed the shacks in to make one
house. However, this was only three
rooms with an outhouse. Even though this
was bare bones living, most of us have our fondest childhood memories during
the years we spent in this house.
I think we lived there a couple of years before our
grandfather drove down from Houston (Mama’s father) to help with the addition
project. I’m sure he wondered how his
only daughter ended up in such a place to start with. He did what he could to give us more room by
adding another section as big as we already had, separating them by a long
hallway. We also got an inside bathroom
at this time. I can remember him nailing
up the sheetrock and taping it ready to paint, however the only thing ever
painted in this section of the house was our parent’s bedroom.
This is the sharecropper's shack we lived in
In fact, the original house was only two by fours and never actually closed in or painted, except for the door, which was sea green.
Bringing his small old suitcase, he stayed a few days and brought
along a charcoal grill that we set up between the structures. The adults stretched a tarp across to block
the wind. We roasted ears of corn and
they were delicious after we peeled away the black shucks to expose the smoky
tasting kernels. This grill impressed
all of us kids because we usually cooked inside in the tiny kitchen.
This was the only time I can remember our mother’s father
spending the night with us. We really
didn’t have any room for company and I wonder now where he slept.
