Thursday, June 16, 2011

Best Friends Forever - Carol and I

I have had a "best friend" for along time now.  I am trying to recall how we met.  I do not remember although we were in the same room one year in elementary school.  She was in the 4th grade and I was in the 3rd grade and both of classes were together in one room.  (Yes, I know, but those were the days in LA Elementary and LA does not stand for Los Angeles).  My friend is also my cousin.  We were together constantly and had so much fun growing up together.  We were often referred to as "Little S...ts" by some.  I have blogged about her Mom, Ruth before and her marvelous chocolate gravy.I don't know how our mother's lived through our years of growing up.  I have so many stories that I could share.  I love her dearly.  In fact, yesterday, I called her on my way home from work.  I kept listening for the ringing sound from my cellphone when suddenly I heard someone say, "hello, hello".  It was my friend.  She was calling me at the same time.  Imagine that.

Growing up, we were always primping and putting on make-up.  We got our summer sun-tans from the cotton field - yes, chopping cotton in short shorts.  It's a wonder that my granddaddy didn't have a conniption fit.  And, if her Mom or mine had caught us leaving home in those shorts it would have been "Katie bar the door."  Sometimes, we would just roll them up to our pantie line. 

My friend ---yes, Carol, you know I am talking about you---was also my "personal" hair dresser back in the days of teased hair.  She "fixed" everyone's hair.  She would nearly pull me ball headed at times.  But, she could put my hair up in the prettiest french twist and she used enough "Aqua-Net" spray that not a hair on my head moved for days.  One time, I recall, I wanted my hair to be blonder.  Carol had a great idea.  We got into Memma's or someones food coloring and she used a bottle of yellow food coloring on my hair.  It looked very nice, yawl, yes indeed it did.  Until about noon that day in class when someone came up to me in school and touched my hair.  They showed me their fingers.  Green.  Yes, indeedy, my hair was green.

One summer, we "borrowed" someones car that lived in LA.  This guy had to have been a little nuts, but heck, Carol could drive anything from a log truck to a tractor (and she did).  We told the poor guy that we were going up to Boxes Cove to see my Grandmother who lived there.  Well, that is exactly where we went.  Coming back; however, we saw a huge rattle snake in the road dead as a doornail.  Carol stopped the car and said, "I bet we could get our picture in the paper with this snake."  We had seen other people proudly displaying a rattle snake that they had killed.  In fact, the paper printed several pictures that summer.  "Why not us," we asked as we scoured around for a big stick.  We scooped the snake up and put it in the floorboard in the back of the car.  We got to Carol's house and went inside to call the Daily Sentinel.  They kindly informed us that they had seen one to many snakes that summer and it wasn't newsworthy.  We took the snake out and threw it under her Mom's rose bushes.  After all, we had to take the car back to the guy who let us borrow it.  We could not take it back with a snake in it.  Well, Carol's Mother came out to work in her yard.  She always had beautiful flowers.  (I have to admit a saw a post on FB by her grandson, Lee, about Ms. Latham's beautiful flowers and was reminded of this story )--so decided to tell it.  Anyway, Ms. Latham (I always called her Ruth as she did not mind and was the best) came out, saw the snake and almost had a heart attack.   Carol and I were walking up in the yard about that time and we ran up to assure her that the snake was dead.  I don't know how she kept from skinning us alive.  And, there are many other stories about the two of us.  Another day, another time.

But a true friend is forever and that is what Carol is to me.  And, now you know, some of the story.

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