Page 16 - Been There… Done That!

Gary Graham
called “Old Man Broaddus.” Silver Joe was not a creature blessed with a friendly disposition. I’ll never forget how every time we wanted to go to the creek we had to look left and right to make sure Silver Joe wasn’t around. Across the creek was a hill where my grandfather’s brother lived and one night my uncle and I had been there and decided to cut across the edge of the field on our way back. It was pitch black that night and as we were walking, I suddenly heard a snort and said, “Oh no, it’s Silver Joe.” Immediately we took off running and I was yelling, “Get in a tree, get in a tree.” So, we climbed a tree and sure enough, it was Silver Joe, not pleased to see us as he started pawing the ground. We stayed in the tree the rest of the night, but as the sun started coming up, we saw that the tree we were in was right next to the fence. All we had to do was climb down on the other side to be safe from the snorting beast.
My grandmother was ready to wail our butts because we had been out all night. Back then anything past dark was out all night and she was a person who went to bed when the sun went down and got up when the sun came up. She will always be in my mind as that person working in the garden who wouldn’t let anybody help her because everything had to be done a certain way. My grandmother would also have my uncle and me out picking any berries we could find. She used some to make pies and then canned the rest.
About my grandfather, there is not a lot to say other than I thought more of him than anybody else in the world. He was a great guy I remember as a hard worker who once was employed building gravel roads at a wage of a dollar a day.
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