Free Root Jumper by Justine Felix Rutherford Page B

ninety-three years old. The first time I met Willa Mae she and her cousin were visiting my grandmother. She and her cousin were sitting in an outside swing on the front porch. When I saw her, I thought she was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. I was probably about eight years old. I had never seen much make-up, and she was wearing beautiful lipstick. She also had such lovely black hair. She was so friendly and nice to us kids. I think we just mostly sat and stared at her and her cousin.
    People live in a community for years, but we never think about all the good things they do. Willa Mae was always a kind, giving person. She was the only person living in her community who had a car and so she got the job of taxi driver for all the people who needed to go to the doctor. If people had business to do at Milton or Huntington, they just went to see Willa Mae, and she dropped whatever she was doing and took them.
    Willa Mae had an old flat- bed truck (she could drive anything). She would pick-up all the kids in the area and take them to ball games or to see the Christmas lights. Today this would not seem like much, but to kids back then it was a treat. Willa Mae and her husband Orval owned a small grocery store on Barker Ridge. Willa Mae always fixed a lunch for the kids going to school. It was a nice big slice of bologna placed between two slices of white bread. Oh, how good a bologna sandwich tasted to them! She charged only five cents for the sandwich. There was always a gang of kids with their faces pressed up to the candy case. Everyone got a treat. If you had a penny, you could get several pieces of candy. This reminds me of a story a fellow told me about my husband Doyle. He said Doyle stopped at the store when they were kids and got candy. Doyle’s Dad had a job so he was more fortunate about money. He told me that Doyle always had a sack full of candy, but he always shared with everyone until it was gone. My husband was always a kind man. Willa Mae’s store was a meeting place for everyone—they just seemed to gather in the store to visit. I don’t know how Willa Mae ever got her work done.
     

     
    While we were visiting with Willa Mae and talking about everything, we spotted a blue bird nest in the tree just outside the window. We were watching the bird, Leoris, Willa Mae’s daughter, began talking about her father Orval’s pet crows. Orval is now deceased. Leoris said her dad had raised those crows and that they were very smart. He had first made them a bed in the barn in some boxes. He would always go in the morning to let them out. He was afraid that something might happen to them. They followed him wherever he went around the barn and in the fields. She said her dad would talk to them, and they would make their noises back to him.
    Leoris said that after her dad had a heart attack, he couldn’t do much for a while. He would tell the crows to go to the barn when it got dark, and they would obey him. Sometimes he would tell them to get in the tree in the front yard, and they would obey him. She said they would sit around his chair as he talked to them, and they would make their noises back to him.
    We had a lovely visit together that day with Willa Mae and her daughter Leoris. Willa Mae is truly a kind, loving person who always has a friendly word for anyone she meets.
     
     
     
    The Rooster Mutt
    Another friend and sweet lady was Aline Meadows. She lived on Barker Ridge. I would see her out occasionally at the fair and at other different places. She would say that she had to get home to take care of Mutt. I asked her who Mutt was. She said, “Oh, that’s my chicken.” I asked her to tell me about her chicken. I told her I would like to come and see her chicken. She told me to come anytime. Even her neighbors talked about Aline’s chicken. I really planned to go see her, but I didn’t make it. She passed away, but I never forgot about her pet chicken.
     

     
    Aline’s chicken Mutt was a rooster.