A few weeks ago I left three fictitious youngsters in the hayloft of Uncle Ex Newman’s barn as they laid out of school— Clark Mosely, his older brother Hen, and their still older cousin Jay Harvey Tatum.
“It’s hotter’n seven hells in this blamed hayloft,” Jay Harvey said.
“That sun’s a beatin’ on that tin roof. I bet it’s a lot cooler down on the barn’s dirt floor,” Clark said.
“Yeah, and a sight more like to be caught hiding out down there, too,” Hen said. “How long we gonna stay up here, Jay Harvey?”
“’Til time for school to let out, I reckon,” Jay Harvey replied.

Last week’s submission left three fictitious youngsters in the hayloft of Uncle Ex Newman’s barn as they laid out of school—Clark Mosely, his older brother Hen, and their still older cousin Jay Harvey Tatum. We’ll join them in their misadventures once again soon, but inspiration has taken me on another path for this week.

t was March, 1939. John Clark Mosley set out to school that first day of first grade for the second time in two years with his brother (and best friend) Bobby Henry. “Hen”, as everybody in Tatum Holler called him, was for the most part a quiet, reflective child. He was a veteran of White Deer School, having spent two years already in the first grade, once when he was five and again when he turned six.

It’s in the Head!
(or Is It?)

As I write this article, next week will be Thanksgiving. I am thankful, among many things, for opportunities and health to share meals with good friends and coworkers. One of the greatest honors for me is to be invited into someone’s home for a meal or be bought a meal in public. It is also a great honor to be allowed to purchase meals for friends. I have never purchased a meal for anyone that the kindness wasn’t returned many times over.