|
Fireflies and Ice Cream
July, although a sweltering month, brought fond memories. The crops on
our farm near Ladonia, Texas, were "laid-by," which simply meant that
the last weeds had been hoed, and the cotton crop was completing its
cycle to maturity without having its roots disturbed further. Hay had
been baled, not in the large round bales one sees in the hay meadows
now, but in nice oblong bales with square ends. These were stacked
neatly in the hayloft of the barn. The corn crop which had been gathered
was stored in the barn's corn crib. The stalks had been cut and plowed
under in the field.
Garden produce had been gathered and canned
for the coming winter. Fruit had been either canned or dried. So,
luckily, we had some leisure time from heavy labor for a few weeks
before starting to pick the cotton.
June bugs sang their droning
songs. These, coupled with the heat, made us drowsy and lazy. We began
to think of some activity that would be fun. What better way than to
plan an ice cream supper with our cousin's family: Dorothy Fay, Wanda
Jo, and their parents, "Red" and "B. I." Rucker? Dad went to their
house, which was about a mile away, to invite them. Mom purchased an
extra block of ice from the ice man who delivered to our house twice a
week. The ice was wrapped in an old, clean quilt to keep it from melting
too quickly, then placed in a large wash tub to be used later.
An
hour or so before sundown, the Ruckers arrived. Mom mixed the
ingredients: milk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. She poured this rich
mixture into the tub of the hand-cranked ice cream freezer. Dad cracked
the ice into small pieces with an ice pick and placed layers of it
around the outside of the tub, with layers of ice cream salt in between.
Since we kids wanted to start the cranking, we were allowed to do so. It
didn't take too long for us to tire of that and turn the job over to our
dads. Besides, we wanted to play! We four girls loved to sing, make up
poems and plays, then act out stage shows for our appreciative parents.
Our front porch was the stage. We took turns being the "Announcer," as
well as being the star of the show. To say that our creativity knew no
bounds would be putting it mildly. We did comedy, country and western
singing, opera, preaching, Romeo and Juliet, and even "meller-drammer."
Just before dark, the temperature began to drop. As it became cooler,
fireflies came out of the grass blinking their tail-lights. It seemed as
if they were as numerous as the stars in the sky. They darted here and
there, making flashes of brightness for us to follow. We chased them,
managing to catch a few. Pulling off their flourescent tails, we put
them on our fingers to look like diamond rings, all brilliant and
sparkly.
When the ice cream was ready, so were we! Mom filled our
bowls as many times as we wanted. We laughed and talked as we ate. With
our "diamond" rings on our fingers, we pretended to be high-society
ladies, holding our little fingers out in a snobbish manner. This amused
our parents, stimulating us to create even more outlandish antics.
When nine o'clock came and our guests bid us a fond farewell, we were full,
happy, and ready for a good night's sleep.
Lowell McCormack
Gainesville, Texas
Published:
November 14,
2005
Categories
Related Handbook of Texas Online articles
Other My Texas stories by this author
|
