FORBIDDEN VIEW...

FORBIDDEN VIEW...

BY GLORIA FAYE BROWN BATES

Growing up in rural Virginia, Skip always looked forward to the summer months, not just because he was out of school for summer vacation, but also, swimming in the local river which was beautiful and had a white, sandy bottom.

The true highlight of the summer was when the harvest of string beans took place. A group of women would assemble at his grandmother's home to string and snap the green beans.

It was common practice for some of the women to not wear undergarments ( 'drawers' ). They would sit with their legs apart using their dress to hold the green beans they were working on.

Skip would find a seat on the bottom step which gave him a 'good bird's eye view' of what was 'normally concealed'!

One day when the women were snapping green beans, Skip's father drove up from work. He walked up to the porch and stood for a moment looking around.

He said "what are you doing, boy?" Skip said "I'm not doing anything". His dad said to him "don't lie to me, boy! I know exactly what you are doing!"

"Don't you know that the Lord will strike you blind?" his father asked. Skip immediately squinted one eye and said "I'm going to take a chance with this one eye!"

I have laughed over this through the years. Skip has been a mischievious person, and he has the funniest stories. I love to write about them sometimes.

You remember the story about the brownies! I'll be writing more funny things about him, too. They've entertained me so much through the years, I feel like you'll get a laugh, also.

I look forward to writing about some of his 'grandma' stories! Especially ... when she saw ghosts late one evening. Her boyfriend's name was Marley. He would come to 'court' her and they would sit in the parlor. I love how that sounds. So romantic.........

Marley saw some ghosts one night, too! Not only that, he had quite an experience with a rattlesnake! I will write about these stories in the future.

I laughed so much watching Skip as he told the above story... I could 'see' him as a young boy doing that! Curiosity! :)))