Halloween Time by Esther

[Editor's note: This story was written by Esther]

Vernon and I finally moved to Baton Rouge and stayed at his parents home in the country. It was a lovely place and his Father raised cattle. The house was set a ways back from the road. It had a long driveway to the house and on both sides were Pecan trees, which were so lovely to drive under with their long limbs reaching over the drive way.

The house area was fenced off to keep the cattle off the lawn, till they needed the space to work on the cattle. The lawn was kept neat and trimmed with a bush hog. The Saint Augustine grass was so thick and the only time it was different, was during the winter, when they planted rye grass to help feed the cattle.

I would watch Vernon with his brothers and Father working the cattle in a coral with a long chute to separate the calves. Vernon would throw a rope and put the calf down, so it could be branded. It was for sure a rodeo and Vernon was a cowboy. The brothers knew their way raising cattle. It was a family working together.

There was BC, the oldest, then came Buddy, Bruce and Vernon. They had three sisters.

One was dating and the man came to the house to meet her parents. As they were in the house, the boys were out side and they picked up the little car the man drove and set over into the flower bed. They'd laugh when that story was told but while their Father was not pleased, he did smile.

Another time the boy’s remembered when their Grandfather had just bought a new Deluxe Buggy to get around to Church and town, and this was close to Halloween time. There must have been a good moon to have enough light to dismantle the four wheel enclosed buggy and to put it on top the two story barn. Vernon did say, it took them two days to dismantle it and get it down and back together again.

Once, not to long ago, while Vernon and I were living at the lake, we were driving down high way 87 to Orange, Texas. It was after Halloween time and someone had spent a lot of time throwing rolls of bathroom tissue over a pine tree. They (or he or she) must have been a good pitcher as they covered that tree every which way. I have no idea how many rolls it had on it and can only imagine the time it took to get the tree covered but it was there most of two years.

The good news: it was a sight to see on the long miles in between towns and Forestry did not make a complaint.

Phaeton: 4 wheeled buggy