The Bonnets

In the post I wrote earlier I talked about the bonnets that Grannie wore, We all wore them in the summer months. My mom made a lot of them, she liked making things like that. My biggest problem with them was they shaded your face and protected your skin, but they were hot, and every chance I had I left them on the hook. But if Mom saw me going out without one or Leona she would MAKE us come back and put one on our head. One really hot morning I tried to sneak off with out my bonnet. Mom saw me and of course I had to wear it. It was a pretty little bonnet and I grudgingly put it on and tied it under my chin so I could go down the lane to Grannie's. I think I was singing some kind of song and Leona was trailing behind me trying to keep up and singing along. We hadn't gotten very far and I felt something crawling on my ear and before I could get it off my head a scorpion stung me on my ear. Ouch! Did it ever hurt, and Leona was screaming and I was trying to get it off me and screaming also and mom came running and she got it off and killed the scorpion. Needless to say for awhile we didn't wear the bonnets. After that mom always shook them out and I never saw another scorpion until I was grown. The bonnets were good for us though as we all have really good skin now, as we have aged. Too much sun isn't a friend to your skin. However I made a lot of noise and complaints about it and I didn't always have to wear one all the time after that. I loved to play outdoors and I often went to play in Grannie's yard or I would play in the side yard at home. Mom always tried to get us to play under the cedar trees, and then we didn't have to wear the bonnet. There were lots of rocks and we would put the rocks in circles or squares so we could make different rooms for a playhouse. I don't know how we kept from getting bitten by snakes, and I saw a few, but we didn't. My mom always said God watches for old fools and little children, and I think he did. The snakes were in holes in rocks and under them etc. I was scared of the snakes and I often ran in the house if I saw one and wouldn't go back out for awhile. Looking back I wonder how many we missed seeing, makes me shudder to think of it. We had a lot of pit vipers in Texas, there were cotton mouths, rattlers, coral snakes, and copper heads, to name a few. They had a 30 lb. diamond back rattler at the University of Texas for awhile. I mentioned Leona, she is my sister next to me and is four years younger. She always tagged behind me and I let her, I really loved getting a sister. She was born on a hot August day at home and was delivered by an old doctor named Jones, I can see his car going up the lane now as I sat in Grannie's yard, and I wondered about it. It was a light blue Plymouth coupe and I thought it was pretty. I thought for a long time that my sister came in that car and that the doctor brought her. When Sherry was born I knew better but that was two years later and I was about six and a half then. I recognized that mom had something in her tummy and she told me it was a baby, and that was a good enough answer for me at that time. I had no idea how they got her out though.