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you who read this will believe it, but it's true. My daddy would say you can have all the milk you can drink but no coffee. So when I was fifteen, one morning I thought to myself, I'm going to fix me a cup of coffee like my father did and see how it tastes, so I poured a cup, put a teaspoon of sugar and some thick cream and stirred and then tasted so I desired the flavor so after that I couldn't get my daddy out to milking soon enough. I doubt if he ever knew he had a daughter for a thief. I don't suppose any of you have ever did tricks like that. At least I hope you haven't.
A middle aged man by the name of Orlopp and his seventeen year old son came over from New Orleans to Napoleon to farm for a man by the name of Adalor and brother to Mr. Johnny Orr, the one that let Willie and I live in his house free of charge. Mr. Orlopp and his son Paul didn't know any more about farming than a billy goat did about a saddle. But anyway they planted corn and it grew to be about three feet high with no ears of corn on and the sweet potatoes made strings, their okra was about a foot and a half high with a pod of okra not over an inch long. And I didn't know how to boil water without burning it. They would come up to our house about twice a week and every Sunday. Mr. Orlopp liked Stella's cooking and especially her buttermilk biscuits. They'd go to church with us and one Sunday I'd have to stay home and cook dinner then the next Sunday would be Stella's. One Sunday I was mad because I had to stay so Mr. Orlopp said Pearlie and I always resented being called Pearlie. So he said I'll let Paul stay and help you so I told him to take his darn Paul with him and he did just that. He was a real nice looking boy and knew every latest song that come out and he had a wonderful voice. And he was good about going to the spring and bringing the water for me as that was my job. He'd dry dishes or sweep for me or do anything I'd ask him to do. I didn't care a rap about him only for just what I could get out of him. I was proud to see him coming on Saturday because that was my day to sweep and clean the yard. And he'd pitch in and help clean the whole thing. Then we had a big rope swing on a oak limb in the back yard and he and I would get in that swing and bounce to the eave of that twenty four foot house and Stella would come out on the gallery and beg us to stop swinging so high. She said if your foot would happen to slip you'd both be killed. I was fifteen and he was sixteen or seventeen. Then one afternoon kinda late a fine looking young man in his early 20's came to the house and wanted to know if there'd be
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