{"id":274,"date":"2016-02-02T22:40:44","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T03:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=274"},"modified":"2016-02-02T22:40:44","modified_gmt":"2016-02-03T03:40:44","slug":"naked-as-a-jaybird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=274","title":{"rendered":"NAKED AS A JAYBIRD"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_0023\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Faye holding her latest book HALLEY\u00a0 and wearing the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction.<\/p>\n

My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction. Awarded the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction. \u00a0 (see the following web address for more information)\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.newsouthbooks.com\/pages\/2015\/10\/20\/halley-wins-moonbeam-awards-silver-medal\/\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Available at: NewSouth Books:\u00a0www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley and Amazo<\/p>\n

It was in the early spring–or late in the fall–because it was cold enough for my Grandfather Junkins to sleep under several quilts.\u00a0 Dad was reluctant to get out of bed that morning.\u00a0 It had to have been some kind of family gathering, because there were a bunch of of cousins present, all younger than me.<\/p>\n

Maw Junkins was in the kitchen cooking breakfast with the help of my mother and whichever other adult females were present.\u00a0 Maw had sent me to the spring with the milk from this morning\u2019s milking, with orders to bring back the cooled milk from last night\u2019s milking.\u00a0 With my sister\u2019s help, I had carried in stove wood and stacked it by the cast iron stove.\u00a0 And I had been sent three times to call Dad to get up for breakfast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Sam up yet?\u201d Maw asked when I set the basket of eggs I\u2019d gathered on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, he ain\u2019t,\u201d cousin Ralph said before I could answer.\u00a0 He always liked getting others in trouble.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell him I said get up to eat,\u201d Maw ordered, looking at me over her glasses.<\/p>\n

Muttering, I headed toward the front room.\u00a0 Ralph and the rest of the cousins all trailed after me to see how I was going to pull off this feat.\u00a0 Dad delighted in causing trouble.\u00a0 He was probably laughing under the covers at my futile attempts to raise him.\u00a0 I had shaken the bed.\u00a0 I had screamed between cupped hands and I had pounded on the metal foot rail with one shoe.\u00a0 All I\u2019d accomplished was rousing the cat had curled next to Dad\u2019s feet. It was a mangy-looking animal with one ear partly missing.<\/p>\n

This time when I opened the door to the bedroom, I saw that the cat, at\u00a0 least, was up.\u00a0 It was sniffing at Dad\u2019s clothes on the floor.\u00a0 Even as we watched, the cat squatted over one of his shoes.\u00a0 It was trying to use the bathroom in Dad\u2019s shoe!\u00a0 The cousins giggled.\u00a0 I tiptoed over to the bedside table and got Maw\u2019s night time glass of water and threw its contents at the cat.\u00a0 \u201cScat!\u201d I said.\u00a0\u00a0 It skedaddled.\u00a0 \u201cDad!\u201d I yelled.\u00a0 \u201cMaw said get up!\u201d<\/p>\n

All the cousins yelled too.\u00a0 Ralph was loudest of all.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s pull the cover off,\u201d I whispered.\u00a0 I grabbed one corner and Ralph took hold of another and we pulled it to the floor, along with the sheet, and then stared in horror.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s nekked,\u201d Ralph\u2019s sister Rose whispered.<\/p>\n

He was.\u00a0 We were staring at Dad\u2019s naked rear end!\u00a0 He only had on a shirt. For a moment I froze.\u00a0 Then I ran, nearly trampling Ralph getting out of there.\u00a0 The rest of the cousins were\u2019t far behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re in trouble!\u201d Ralph said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo are you,\u201d I said, though I knew that as the eldest and a girl, I would be seen as the main culprit.\u00a0 People in our family didn\u2019t show their nakedness to anybody.\u00a0 And any kid who broke that taboo had to be in for a hickory switching.<\/p>\n

Cursing erupted from the room we\u2019d just left, and I scooted around the corner of the house and pressed myself against the side of the chimney. I decided to stay there until everyone was through eating.<\/p>\n

No such luck.\u00a0 Mama called me and told me to set the table and get a fresh bucket of water from the well.\u00a0 I was right there when Dad walked in and took his seat at the head of the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou going barefoot now?\u201d Maw asked him.<\/p>\n

Instead of answering her, Dad asked his own question.\u00a0 \u201cWhose cat is that with the chewed-off ear?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRalph\u2019s,\u201d said his sister, Rose.\u00a0 \u201cMama told him to leave it home, but he…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to clean out my shoes after breakfast,\u201d Dad said, pointing his fork at Ralph.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you\u2019ll get a switching from me,\u201d said his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, Mama, it was Faye that…\u201d he began.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t try to put the blame on nobody else,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cFool with me, and you\u2019ll get another switching for lying.\u201d<\/p>\n

I kept my eyes on the floor and my mouth shut. When Ralph kicked me under the table, I smiled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Faye holding her latest book HALLEY\u00a0 and wearing the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction. My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction. Awarded the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction. \u00a0 (see … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}