reading

Once I had read all the books appropriate for my age, I moved on Zane Grey westerns and various others whose title escape me.

Grandma had a peach tree that I'd climb up in during the summer and read. Every week when they went to town, I went along so I could return my books and find new ones. I knew the librarian personally and she would always hug me when I came in. Her name was Hattie Pittman. The library sat at the corner of the jail and initally it was just one room. Eventually they expanded it to another room.

The jail, courthouse and library sat on a hill and there were steps going down to a gravel parking area with an artesian well in the middle of it. The area around the jail, courthouse and library was paved of course. Grandpa always parked down 'under the hill'. I'd sit on the top step and start reading while they did their town business.

When I had a new book, there was no time to be wasted shopping. I had to read.

I was not a comic book fan in my youth. I did get some sort of little summer magazine. It was only a few pages, and I'd anxiously await the mailman's coming daily, hoping it would arrive.

The mail man's name was Tate Simmons and he always gave me a piece of Juicy Fruit gum when I met him for the mail, which I did almost daily during summer break.