Gabe and Sweet Chile--1846 (in, Memories of Old Josh)

Gabe and Sweet Chile—1846
(In a wink of an Eye (in, Memories of Old Josh)
Episode #44, 2-25-2008


Advance: Well, the truth of the matter is, Josh had a wife, believe it or not. And her name was Marinutita Jefferson George, for short, she was called Sweet Chile. Her and her boyfriend, Gabe, visited Josh once (perhaps twice), and to Jordan’s surprise, met his mother. She saw at first her two boys from a distance, then came closer to get a better look, but she wasn’t really there to see the boys, she wanted money from old Josh, she was on her way down to New Orleans, and during that visit, Amos had been picking cotton over at the neighbors plantation, and stopped to see Josh, and got an eye full of Sweet Chile (and that was that), and she even winked at him, so he says. Sweet Chile has a different story of course, and Gabe, he is mad as a disturbed hornets nest. Josh, he don’t care one way or the other, to be honest, he just wants her gone, and the sooner the better. Mr. Charles Hightower, the owner of the plantation, has gone to New Orleans also, he often does, and only God knows what he does down there, but Josh kind of knows, he’s been down there before with him. In any case, he is due back tomorrow, and he’d take a liking to see Sweet Chile around, she can make a scene. So here we are, all in the back by the corral, where old Nelly the cow is, the boy’s are staring at their with wide open white eyes—like eggs, and their mouths open like hungry lions, and Gabe pushing Amos away from Sweet Chile, and Josh saying he hasn’t any money to go on back to where she came from (Silas is thirteen years old, about, and Jordon a few years younger).

(In actuality, Jordon is down in the grocery store in Ozark, in the backroom, where he has a cot, it is the year 1909, and he is in his seventies, he is daydreaming of that day he and his brother met his mother, kind of a sour day, because they really didn’t get to say much, and pa, he was in such a hurry to get rid of her because Gabe and Amos were going to duke it out, but this is how the dialogue went, how Jordon remembers it anyhow.)



Josh: “Sweet Chile, I done thought you flew da cope, you’d be down in New Orlean’ doin’ wuh you do da best, and we all knows wuh dat is?”
Sweet Chile: “Is you callen’ me a whore?”
Josh: “No, cuz my boys is her, but if da not, I’d be so doin’”
Gabe: “No cause for dat now, Mr. Josh, you done married dis woman, so you is not so hot!”
Josh: “I done married a mule, you is too good for her, but you is a fool to say, I is dumb, cuz yous git be dumber dan I, cuz you is still wid her, she done flew da cope long ago, I is da lucky one, you…hummm—still da dumb one!”
Gabe: Dat dare friend of you, Amos, he best keep his eye on da sun or da ground, cuz I is aiming to pluck dem big eye’ out of his head, fer lookin’ at me gal!
Amos: I is ready ole man, cuz I pick cotton, I gits a good right arm, and aiming to punch you in dat dere big snoot of yours, and Sweet Chile, she gits a good man like me, and gits rid of you once an fer all!
Josh: You-al dont know wuh you is saying pal, she is like dat moccasin snake, she kill ya wid one bit.

(Sweet Chile is just looking and laughing, at these men fighting for her, and giving Josh a smirking smile back, kind of saying, ‘Look, I still got what it takes,’ and Josh nodding his head, the boys looking at Josh and their mother.)(What happened after all this was simple, Mr. Hightower came back early, and saw Sweet Chile in the backyard by the cow fence, and when she got a look at him, and he just stood there like a stone statue, she and Gabe took off, because she knew Old Man Hightower from when she was married, he was no one to fool with, he would have called the sheriff, and she had no papers to show she was a free slave, and she wasn’t, Gabe was though, and that usually worked, because he’d show his papers, and say ‘this her is me wife,’ and that would usually work, if not, they’d run like hick into the nearest woods, or down the quicken ally in town to avoid any more trouble.)

"Flintlock" (in, Memories of Old Josh)

Flintlock (in, Memories of Old Josh)

(Forth Series, Episode: # 42)(Part one of two))


(1871) Old Josh is playing with his flintlock pistol ( a 1774, revolutionary pistol, smoothbore, iron, 69 Caliber, nine inch barrel, with some weathering to it, and one can tell it has some combat use on it), he is oiling it with axle grease, looking down its barrel, testing its spring, pulling the hammer back and forth, and then to its semi locked potion, semi lock, because there is really no locked position, thus, it is cocked.
He and Silas are down at the creek, Old Josh took the old flintlock out of the closest, where it’s been for ages upon ages, Old Man Hightower gave it to him as a gift one year, a gift Old Josh says, was because he had no more use for it.
Silas shakes his head, nods it back and forth, knows something is going to happen if Josh doesn’t take better care with that pistol, meaning, if he doesn’t stop playing around with it carefree like.
“Pa, be careful you is goin’ to kill me or yourself with dat dere gun!” says Silas in a hesitant voice.
“I is you pa, dont tell me wuh to do, son!” responds Josh, twirling the gun as if he was a shooter, or gunslinger.
“Her Silas, you carry da gun back for me!” Says Josh in a demanding voice…

(It’s a chilly morning in Ozark, Alabama, and Silas has just woken up from a dream, one of those awakening dreams, sits upright on his cot, Jordon, his younger brother has gone down to Ozark, to work in the Grocery store, it is 1907, Josh has been dead going on two years, Silas is remembering the time at the creek with the flintlock, he is starting to laugh out loud, as he puts the pictures of the event back together in his mind.)

Says Silas to Josh, facing the creek, Josh thinking, contemplating if they should head on back, they got a few bullheads in the creek, “Pa, why cant you carry your on gun, it ant mine?”
“Son, you done git lazy like dat dere fish, if he was looking wuh he was a doin’ he’d not be my dinner tonight.” Said Josh is a rustic deep voice, one that he had to dig low to bring up, to show his son he was not happy about totting that heavy gun back to the shanty, looking for a little pity.
Old Josh put his pistol between his wide belt and his stomach, snug as bug, as they say, then all of a sudden Silas got a fanatical face on him, Josh looked, “Wuh you look so strange…?” asked Josh (with a low hum ‘humm’to it).
“A small, moccasin just crawl under your pants legs pa!” ((A deadly snake from the waters of the south.)(See notes: Cottonmouth Water Moccasin))
“You done seen its yell belly son?” asked Josh, not standing still, pulling out his flintlock.
“Sho did pa,” responds Silas.
Then Josh started shaking his leg like crazy and looking for the snake, and his yellow belly, and aiming the pistol ready to shoot, and he fell backwards, caught off balance, and the flintlock went off, and it blew his hat right off his head five feet in the air, and back another ten-feet, and he fell on his butt.
“Pa, dat dere moccasin got so scared he done hightailed into da creek.” Said Silas.

Josh was so happy he scared the moccasin, he talked about it for twenty-fiveg-years, thereafter, the only problem was, and it wasn’t a real problem, but now Silas sitting on his cot, is feeling guilty, a little bit, he never got to tell his pa it was a trick, there was no snake. But his pa bragged his heroism up so much, he couldn’t swallow, or bear to undo it, and tell the truth.


Note: There is only one North American poisonous water snake - the Cottonmouth Water Moccasin! Not to be confused at all with its many nonpoisonous neighbors, this snake is a pit viper in the same general family as the Copperhead and the Rattler. I saw them once in the waters of Alabama, in a group form; written while having coffee at El Parquetto’s Café in Miraflores, 2-23-2008.

"Moonshine and the Devil" (in, Memories of Old Josh)

Memories of Old Josh, in:
Moonshine and the Devil
((Series Four/Episode #43)(Part two of two))

(1871) Old Josh drank his share of moonshine, but was no drunkard according to him, and right after that flintlock situation he wanted to prove it, matter of fact, he preached against it, believe it or not, one day, at the local church, he said this that Sunday morning:
“Da devil he, takes da fight out of da man, by feedin’ him da moonshine. It da trick he plays ya know, he knows if you is, or is if you is not da man to get drunk ever da. Da devil, he even uses me, says I cant stand her because I done drunk too much moonshine in me da, but da devil is not me boss, so I tells ya, boys and girls not to drink da moonshine, I is an ole timer, I can drink caz I is used to it, but you is not.”
It was a day, Silas and Jordon was proud of their old pa, and they showed it when they got home, they hid the moonshine, and Josh went crazy all night long, until he said the next day, “Please sons, tell me wey you done put my jug?”
Well, Silas and Jordon felt sorry for their pa, and went to the closest, where that there old flintlock was hiding, and pulled the jug out for Josh, and he was as happy as the rat in a hole with a ten-pound block of cheese.


Notes: Written at home, in Lima, Peru, the morning of 2-24-2008; the author is a recovering alcoholic, has not drank for 24-years, and does not promote drinking in anyway, but realizes there are those folks that can drink, perhaps sociably, but often it is not that way (because everybody wants to say that), and hopes people will look at their drinking, if you cannot stop drinking for a year, you got a problem, so the author believes. Also he is a good shooter, has several guns, and was in the Army for a decade. Shooting is a hobby for him, and so he wrote the sketch “Flintlock” again hoping folks take a look at how they use their guns, and to be careful, as well as with their drinking. He believes in the 2nd Amendment, the right to carry arms, totally.

Centeripedes (Memories of Old Josh, #38)

Memories of Old Josh, in:
Centipedes

(Forth Series, Episode: # 38)

(1908) Old Josh used to watch the centipedes with all their legs speed across the wooden floors of his shanty shack; he was amazed at all those legs working in unison. He wasn’t sure exactly how they moved, but they looked as if they moved without thinking, and they’d speed across one side of the hut, to the other, spot him, and try to hide here or there, before he stomped on them barefoot.
Silas his oldest son now is doing just that, just like his pa used to do, watching those centipedes, in particular, this one. Jordon don’t care for them, he’s kind of afraid of such creatures, and avoids them like the plague, along with spiders and other creepy crawlers.

Says Jordon to Silas: “Day sho hav a strange looking body keeps it ‘way from me!”
Silas: “Day move wid greet speed, to bad you ant like dhem!” (and laughs)

Jordon keeps his distance.
Now Silas is following the creature with his eyes and feet, and Jordon is in back of him, looking but keeping a safe distance from the creature; now it starts to zigzag, and Jordon jumps up on a chair (Silas laughs). Then Silas gets a cramp in his leg and falls flat on top of the centipede—with is face under it, and I think Jordon stops breathing for a moment, in disbelief, trying to figure out how he is going to get off the chair and out of the shack, he needs to see where the centipede is before he makes his move—he is not that concerned about Silas at all.
Silas gets up, looks at Jordon, and asks, “Wuh is you up dere brother?”
The centipede is in his mouth, and Silas is a bit fogy, if not down right off balance, the fall made him dizzy. He swallows the centipede when he opens his mouth to take in a big gulp of air (later on he will get diarrhea).
Jordon is happy—he’s got a smile from his upper eye to his lower chin, he gets to get off the chair now, for he knows where the centipede is.
Says Jordon to Silas (Silas now sick as a hog):
“Pa never did eat one of dem critters (with a depraved smile).”


Note: Perhaps this story originates from my childhood. My mother, brother and grandfather all lived together, and when my mother saw a centerlines, she’d scream, and old grandpa would come out from wherever he was, and swear, and step on the creature with his bare feet. And my mother would come out of her frozen state, or trance. I suppose I was the one more amazed at how those legs could coordinate with the mind to work in unison, written at Starbucks, in Circle, 2-19-2008, in Lima Peru.

Memories of Old Josh, in: Alligator Moonshine (#37)

Alligator Moonshine
((in: Memories of Old Josh) (forth Series; episode #37))


Silas was remembering when his father Josh had stepped off, and in the process, slipped from the last step of the porch in 1904, a year before his death (it was now 1909; he caught his pants leg onto the an edge of the end, or last wooden step (Old Josh, had made those steps, built those very same steps himself, he had to cut down a tree by the creek to make them, drag it up hill, across the cornfields, through the backwoods, back in the late 1880s, all that to make those stairs; thought Silas, on top of his other thoughts, of Josh falling flat on his face, he had made some homemade moonshine that evening and tried it out, it proved to be as good as ever, ah, he was thought to be dead though, and he was bruised for a week, Silas murmured out loud).
Old Josh liked his moonshine, and used to say, “I tell ya boys, it git da bite like da Alligator,” and so the country folk, all called his moonshine, ‘Josh’s Alligator Moonshine.
Sometimes, especially when Old Josh was broke, he’d have his son Jordon, who worked at the town grocery store in Ozark (Alabama), take a few bottles, and jugs down with him in the morning, sell some of it under the counter, or through the back door, so his boss would not notice, although he bought some of it himself, now and then.
Well, everyone had thought—even Jordon and Silas—Old Josh was dead on that warm dark soil that summer evening, in front of his shanty, in particular Silas. He looked dead as a door nail. Silas even told his brother, “Ole pa, he done git stiff as a frozen carp…go fetch me a priest Jordon!”
Jordon hesitated, thought about that request, then asked, “Wuh, a priest, why not a doc?”
Hesitating, Silas looked in Jordon’s squinty dark eyes, “Da doc he cant do a thing for pa, he’s too old, da priest, he can help pa into da pearl gates, he done talk ‘bout all his life.” Jordon shook his head, but did as his older brother told him to do.

—It was an hour later when the priest showed up, said, “Would you all like me to say a prayer for your pa, before you get the doctor, and sheriff out to witness this death?”
(Silas and Jordon were sitting on the steps and Josh laying flat on his face in the dirt.)
Said Old Josh, with a harsh rustic voice; “Forget da prayer, an’ gits me my moonshine son!” he demanded from Silas, trying to push himself upward.
The white priest said, “Absolutely not, you’re not in any condition to drink.”
Jordon whispered to the priest, “It’s kinda like his petrol.”
“Your pa just overindulged tonight, he’s ok.” Said the priest, and jumped on his horse to ride back down the road a spell to his little church, and pulled out a little bottle of corn whisky, to help him through the long and dusty ride back.

Written 2-19-2008 (Written at Starbucks, in Circle, Lima, Peru, 1:00 to 4:00 PM)

Memories of Old Josh, in: Dugout Canoe (Episode:#36)

Memories of Old Josh, in:
Dugout Canoe
((Episode: 36)(Series Four))

(1909) Old Josh and his neighbor, Toby Jackson, also a neighbor slave by Hightower’s plantation, called: TJ, for short (his mother being Lucy Jackson, born 1810; wife to Hank, born on the plantation, was sixteen-years old when Hank married her, in 1826, had their first child Toby, in 1826 also). In any case, at this time, Josh was 21-years old when Toby was born, but we really talking about the year, 1877, when Toby was 51-years old, and Josh, he was 72-years old. They had went to Hidden Creek (as they often did, when they were allowed to) to smoke some grass, took their dugout canoe they built together, and swung the canoe out into the midstream of the creek, and walked down the creek pulling the canoe by rope and muscle. Once they got into the lake area, they lazily lay back and fished, drank some corn whisky (Silas and Jordon, was remembering this, as they sat listening to the cricks, and the cow in the corral, mow, and a rat and cat fight it out); those were the days, thought Silas, as Jordon as Jordon picks up his banjo and plays it lightly.

Old Josh liked the creek, it led into the big lake, and he got to get his feet wit, cause he always had to tug that canoe down in that shallow water to get to it. They could have used the river, but they both were a tinge afraid they’d tip the canoe over.
This day, in the summer of 1877, they were on the lake, not many signs of life, a few birds crossing over, other than that, it was quiet. A few alligators were spotted off, and near the shoreline, absorbing the sun, reenergizing from the night. They fished for hours and hours, then as it became close to sundown, they had found a gravel bank, and made a fire, cooked the fish they caught, and had a feast.

Silas, now with his pipe in his mouth, drew in some smoke, then let it out slowly, put his hands on his stomach, rocked back his chair against the shack wall (Jordon asks Silas):
“How da heck pa ever steer dat dere canoe, half lit up wid dat corn whisky?”
“Dat dere lake ant but five feet deep, pa jes gits out of da boat and pushes it, after he aims it…! says Silas, adding, “and funny dat dere varmint never did get pa either.”


2-19-2008 (Written at Starbucks (at Circle), in Lima Peru)

Memories of Old Josh, in: The Hanging of Amos..." ((Episode: #39)(forth Series))

Memories of Old Josh, in:
The Hanging of Amos, of Stone Bridge
((forth Series) (#39))



The Hanging of Amos Jackson, of Ozark, Alabama,
1883 (From the shantytown of Stone Bridge


Amos was born in Ozark, Alabama, lived in back of the cemetery, he often worked for Silas, Old Josh’s boy, in picking cotton for Mr. Hightower. There was a shantytown of sorts there, where huts, where the main building structures, and Amos’ hut was built right into the side of a hill. There were old dirt roads that lead into the shantytown, one in particular, had an old stone bridge on it, thus, that is how the town got its name, in 1863, “Stone Bridge,” the confederate military had built it, for a quick runaway incase the Union soldiers were chasing them: this way they could lose them in the chase.
Most of the shantytown was built out of sticks and stones, wood thrown away in Ozark, dragged all the way out to Stone Bridge by horse and car, or donkey or cart, or mule or cart, and even some on the back of Negros.
It was the year of 1883; the summer heat was getting to everybody. Wild was Ozark, and its youth.
Most of the folks that lived in the shantytown threw their garbage over into the cemetery, and that was the hideous odor folks talked about, when they rode by the cemetery, sniffing it like dogs, and telling jokes in the saloons in Ozark about it coming from the huts of the Negros, thus creating discontent among the masses.
Hence, it was on a hot evening, prior to dusk, several young white bucks from Ozark, came riding through the shantytown, of Stone Bridge, creating havoc.
You might say, Old Amos, was similar in ways, like Old Josh, but perhaps a less wiser; but he had Josh’s temper if anything, and liked a good argument, no hair as they say, on the tongue—during such times either. And as these young bucks trotted through the shantytown, whisky jugs in one hand, pistols in tucked into their pants, behind their belts, against their stomachs, a reins in the other hand, drunk they were and they all started to make advances towards the back young woman, and Amos say one the white boys, leaning against a hut, with Ashley in his arms tightly around her waist. He had a jug of moonshine in his left hand.
Without any more a due, he walked up to the white boy, grabbed the jug of whiskey from him, splashed it all over his face, getting it into his eyes, thus, he let go of Ashley, and she ran down the road, across Stone Bridge, and that was the last he saw of her for the night. But the boy was upset, and Amos, simply sat down on a huge rock, and laugh, drinking the white boy’s whiskey.
A few minutes must had passed, when Amos got up off that old rock and started to find his way out of the shantytown, it was vacant now, everyone had run across the bridge and were hiding.
There was a gun shot, its blast of energy passed old Amos’ ear, scared him so, he fell flat on his face, right there in the center of the dirt road, in the middle of the shantytown, and when he looked up, there were several white faces, facing him, it was now twilight. (The Bullet had left a tingle in his ear, so he couldn’t hear clearly what the boys were saying.)

That night, the boys tied Amos with a rope around his shoulders, and one around his neck, and hung him on a wooden gallows they had build sometime ago, thus, he did not die fast at all, it was slow. And Josh, daily went down to see him, and on the third day, Josh not able to save him, or watch him die any longer, cut the rope around his shoulders, and as a result, his body fell a half foot, just enough to where the first rope around his neck strangled him to death (his Tombstone read, born 1803, died, 1883). His son, Amos Lee Stonewall Jackson, born 1860, died 1911, was there to take his body down on the forth day.

Written 2-20-2008/at Starbucks, Lima, Peru

Memories of Josh, in: The Poet (#35 Episode)

Memories of Old Josh
((Born 1805, died 1905) (Series Four))


Index
(New episodes)



Old Joshin, the Poet
Episode: #35

Old Josh in: Alligator Moonshine
Episode: #:36

Old Josh in: The Dugout Canoe
Episode: 37

Old Josh in: Centipedes
Episode: #38

Old Josh, in:
The Hanging of Amos, of Stone Bridge
Episode: #39


—Forward

A while back I wrote three dozen sketches called “Old Josh”, and got a lot of respectful feedback, liking the series. The story takes place in the 1800s Old Josh was born b, up between 1805 to 1810, nobody really knows, because nobody kept records of black folks back then, he died around 1905, so the records say, but still others say it was 1910, we shall go along with 1805 to 1905, for the record here. He had two sons, the youngest is Jordon, 1837 or ’39, was his birth, he died in 1920, and his older brother, Silas, was born around 1833, died I hear in 1913.Everything is conjecture thought, as I mentioned, records were hard kept, and messy.
Old Josh, was taken out of New Orleans, during a great flood, he told his boys he was about seven to nine years old, perhaps even ten, when Mr. Hightower, a white plantation, farmer from him, and took him to Ozark, Alabama, his mother whom had perished in the flood, being the main reason. Thus, he is raised on the plantation, where he lives and dies, and in-between like all of us, has some good and bad times.

The 34-sketches, which started with seven, and went to fourteen, through out the past four years, about ten sketches a year, is turning into a novel of sorts. Now we have in 2008, several more, it should reach 40 to 45 sketches in all; but who knows. In addition, we have three prior series, the first “Old Josh, of Ozark,” then, “Old Josh, in Pure Nigger,” and the third, “Old Josh, in: The Plantation.” Now we have the forth, “Memories of Old Josh.”
In no way are these series trying to insult, or degrade the black race, rather, to introduce to the new generation, and perhaps to some of the old generation, the generation long lost, a if not a language in itself, lost. I learned, and lived in Ozark, Alabama, in the back of shantytown areas, in l977 to 1980, (some 30-years ago). The language is very distinct, and perhaps is embedded in the soil, of long ago, longer than they cared to tell me. It is the English language, adapted here, meaning, a dialect if you don’t mind, but sounds a bit different, or will once you read the stories. Although in this series, the stories will mostly be narrated by me, whereas, it was more of a dialogue in the past series. The second series, “Pure Nigger,” was picked up by over 50-sites, and the first and third series, perhaps by more, or less, I’m not sure, but the first seven was picked up by more internet sites than the other two, perhaps 60-sites, so the Old Josh has been read in the last four years by thousands of readers, I have at present about two-million years a year on all my 2300-writtings, world wide, on about 400-internet sites, about 150,000-readers a month. And Old Josh seems to be ahead or equal with any of my writings.

Back to the language of that area: you may find that several sounds in the same sentence seem familiar, don’t look for rules. If this offends you, then don’t go beyond this; the language is almost a chant here, as I remember it, and took notes on it, in which recently I re-found in my library.
Living in Alabama in the ‘70s, in an area I did, and talking to the folks by the cemetery, they were of an unusually breed, in that, they themselves were of an unusually high type. Some had white and Indian blood in them, you could tell. Here are some new sketches, some done in the same format.


Memories of
Old Josh, in: the Poet
((in: Memories of Old Josh) (forth Series; episode #35))


Advance: Josh was about 27-years old when Silas, the oldest child was born, and old doc, Doctor Benjamin Lee Ssumsky (last name being his family’s name, whom came from Australia in the 1795, he was born 1796), and was the doctor who spanked both Silas and Jordon on the butt, he said “To wake them up” (old doc, Benjamin, died in 1869, so folks say, at the ripe old age of 73).
Jordon a few yeas younger than Silas, neither child ever knew there age, not event Old Josh, he and his brother inherited a plot of land, Mr. Charles Hightower’s land, in the back, where Old Josh raised those kids, they still have the old shack, and Jordon still works down in Ozark, Alabama as a clerk, at the same store, he’s been there ever since he’s been fifteen years old.
The year is 1909; Old Josh has been dead going on four years, come July 1. Silas’ date of birth, on his birth certificate reads 1832, but the ink is smuggled so who can tell, (about 77-years old now), and Jordon’s is 1837 the same smug, from Doctor Benjamin, who had a good hand in writing words, but bad handwriting (about 72-years old now), not sure if that is correct, but the best I can do for you. They have a retired 8not sure from what), and they have four acres of land.
One of the things Old Josh wanted to be was a poet, like Walt Whitman, or Henry W. Longfellow. He couldn’t read much, but he had Silas and Jordon do that.
On another note, Charles Hightower has now been dead for many years, he took Old Josh in when he was a boy, if you read the first series, this will come to light. Old Josh was found in New Orleans, abandoned during a flood. Jordon is perhaps the smarter one of the two boys, but Silas, he is the more down to earth, if not harder worker. Half the time they don’t realize they are old.
I often think, did I use my brother and me when I came up with Josh’s two boys, I really don’t know, it was not planned that way anyway. Now we must get into the story (s). It is 1909, and Old Josh’s name has come up, Jordon is talking to Silas, on the porch, on the plantation where his hut is. The Hightower’s still live in the large front house, similar to a grand house you could say, a mansion of sorts, and Jordon makes his first statement:


Jordon with the Banjo
And Silas by their Shanty



Jordon: Why is you always’ gits to tell me wuh to do, I wants to a poet like pa!
Silas: But pa had da wit an’ wisdom, you is jes a fool boy!
Jordon: Why is you call me boy…dat dhere name, I is no boy da whites folk say when dhay wants to make us beg…!
Silas: you is jes like pa, you gits it in for all da white folks dont ya?
Jordon: I tells you da poem, and you tells me if yu’ all likes it? Ok?

(Silas kicks his feet against the wooden railing on the porch, the back of his chair moves back against the wall of the house, he got a smirk on his face, his eyebrow is up, Jordon moves his banjo)

Silas: Wuh is you all waitin’ for?
Jordon: I is getting tuned up, you knows poems is like songs, so I will sing you da poem, ok?
Silas: Sho’ brother, I knows it from the first I hears you say poem, you is going to pick dat banjo up and sing it (ha..ha…ha, Silas laughs)
Jordon: so now you is like pa ’gain, Lord! Lord! It were a time. You think you knows wuh in me head before I knows it!
Silas: Jes gitten’ on an’ sings da poem brother, ‘fore I finish da corn whisky her off an’ falls to sleep, you talks so much, like pa used to, never could shut him up, unless I done fills his head with moonshine.

Jordon Sings and Plays the Bingo:

I is an ole cowhand
From da rio grand
An’ I likes to eat pig feet
But I can’ afford dat
So I eats black-eyed pea
Pork shanks, and cornbread,
Cuz I is an ole cowhand
From da Hightower plantation!


Silas: You is best stay a clerk now in Ozark, Ha, ha, dats better dhen your rhyme, you ant no cowhand, cuz we only git one ole cow in da corral, and I takes care of him.

2-19-2008 (Written at home, Lima, Peru)


Index to the most common word Dialect

Old= ole gal er (her)
Why=
Where= wey
You=
Ignorant: ign’ant
Darn the varmint=
Because= cuz

About= ‘bout
Busted= bu’sted
That’s= dat’s
Feeling= feelin’
And= an’
What= Wuh
The= de
Difference= heap of differ’ ent
Isn’t or is not= ain’
With= wid
They= Dey
When= Wuh
Just= jes
Rambling=Ramblin’ (for many words, the ‘g’ is removed)
Around= ‘round (in many words, the front ‘a’ is removed)
Something= sump’n
Hollering=hollerin’
Expression: he heart in he mout’ (instead of using his, he is used)
He change he name

Am I= Is I
Sure= sho’
Was= wuss
Near= er
Cause= cus
Rise up= riz up
Before= ‘fore
Poison= pizen
If= ef
Get= git
Leave= leff
Becoming night= getting’ nigher