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Growing up in Missouri, we found many ways of amusing
ourselves. We had to, because we didn??™t have toys, or
bicycles, just our imaginations.
There were always stray dogs that someone dropped off at
our house. They usually wound up getting killed one way or
another. But we played with them when they were around. My
Dad didn??™t know how to treat animals. He was usually very
mean to them. He expected them to do as they were told and
to speak when spoken to, just like kids. That??™s just the way
he was brought up and he thought that was the way to do
things.
I remember one Halloween when my older sister, Vi, wanted
to put sheets on us, to look like ghosts and then hide
outside by the house and scare my younger sister, Dorothy.
However, when my Dad heard about it he wouldn??™t allow us to
do it.
One night, around Halloween, our teacher, Leatha
(probably short for Oleatha) Collins, the only teacher in
our one room school house, came to visit us. She suggested
we take a walk. It was a bright moonlit autumn night and of
course, my two sisters and I were excited to go. We walked
for some distance and then we discovered we were headed in
the direction of the old country cemetery. Well, we were a
little frightened to go to a cemetery at night. You know all
the stories about ghosts and spirits that were told around
Halloween.
But putting on a show of bravado, we wouldn??™t admit we
were afraid. Our teacher, Miss Collins, was only taking us
there as a kind of joke. After we were almost in the gate of
the cemetery, someone yelled in a frightened voice, ???Here
comes the Headless Horseman, Oooohhhh!!!???
You never saw three kids run so fast in your life. Of
course, I??™m sure Vi and Miss Collins, had this all planned.
They ran as fast as Dorothy and I did.
I think they probably scared themselves when one of them
let out that scream of terror. Well, of course, there was no
???Headless Horseman??? but it sure made for some excitement for
a short while. We have laughed about it since then. But we
sure weren??™t laughing then!
?© 2003 by Nell Berry
nmberry@mcmsys.com
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May you be blessed today.
Bob Johnston
Editor / Publisher
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