Choppin Cotton

Choppin Cotton

My Sister could pray up a cloud and cause it to rain, I know it's true
I saw her do it. Choppin cotton hard work, and it's hot, you get a pain
like a burn inside your neck and shoulder. That pain lasts until you
get used to choppin everyday, it usually takes about a week before your
head gets used to leaning to one side and looking down.

Mama used to make us wear sun bonnets that tied under your chin,
covered your whole head and made it even hotter. That didn't last long.
I would rather burn up than have that stupid looking thing on my head.
I found me a cowboy hat and wore it with the brim rolled on each side.
She didn't like it, I didn't care, if I had listened to her, worn that
bonnet and long sleves I wouldn't have this beautiful hillbilly tan,
halfway up my arms, and around my neck.

My feet were so tough from going barefoot that I could have walked on a
bed of nails and not felt it. Try walking down a rock road with your
shoes off. Today sand hurts my feet. I always wear shoes even
inside.

We were always listening for tomorrows weather report hopeing for a
down pour, so we could get a break from the cotton patch. It had to
rain a whole lot or we just changed fields, and chopped soybeans. It
won't hurt soybeans if you chop them when it's wet, but it does cotton.
Daddy made us some mud scrapers to stick in our back pockets, for the
bean field. If your hoe got too muddy, you just pulled out your trusty
hoe scraper and cleaned it off.

We would look way over yonder to see if that looked like rain coming
or, was it just heat vapor. I have seen it rain across the road in
another field and stop before it got to us. Guess she didn't pray hard
enough that time.

Mr Sister and me argued a lot when nobody was around, sometimes we
fought if we were the only two choppin together. We were spread thin
two or three choppin here, and a few over in the other field. Daddy
would plow the cotton until it got so tall the tractor wheels would
knock it down just to keep from choppin cotton, said it hurt the sides
of his feet.

He would pass us, give us a wave, and keep plowing that was our cue,
then we would really fight, well mostly I ran with her chasing me, hoe
raised yelling at me, if I catch you I'm killing you no matter what. As
soon as Daddy hit the turn row and started back we were in our places
choppin cotton as usual.

Mama had the best cure ever for fighting, she made my Sister and me
kiss each other full on the mouth, that stopped it forever in her
presence. I would rather have been hit in the head with a hammer than
kiss that heffer. Smart woman my Mom

We were paid for working so hard fifty cents a week every Saturday with
this message attached, don't spend it all in one place. We had plenty
of food, and Mama baked a lot we didn't need money there was nowhere to
spend it anyway. We saved it for school to buy small cokes, and salty
peanuts. We poured these into the coke and tried to drink it before it
all fizzed out.

We talk a lot about growing up, we still disagree on which one of us
was the bull headed one that caused all the problems. She says it was
me. Probably was I said. One thing we both know for sure I was the best
kisser.