August 13, 2007

Dear Jimmy,

There's no way in the world I can thank you boys for having that benefit concert to raise money to install air-conditioning in this old house for your mama.

What did you call it? "The MAKE IT COOL AND SHADY FOR AN OLD LADY BENEFIT CONCERT."

I know you will wonder what in the world is going on with your poor old mama when I say this, but if I greet one more person who says, "Is it hot enough for you?" I'm going off on them. What does that mean, anyway? It's 103 degrees and is it hot enough for me?!

Of course, I'm standing at the front of the store with the air on, but I just work a little in the morning and a little in the evening and I have to get outside to run errands and all, too. I'm over it; I'm just over it. I need to go home and cool off.

I don't remember it being this hot when you were coming along. Ask the other boys what they remember. It was hot, but I don't remember suffering like this. And we didn't have any air-conditioning. Some rich folks had electric fans, but we just sweated during the day and opened the windows at night, because it seems like it used to come up a cloud every evening and that would cool things off.

And you and your cousins would spray each other with the hose-pipe and then go lie in the shade on a quilt under the Formosa tree (Big Jim-mimosa tree) in the front yard. You all sure could get dirty in the summer and have those "sweat beads" around your necks.

Speaking of Reverend Norman, I asked him what he does to cool off in this weather. He told me that he and Polly Sue go climb in the baptistry every evening and pray for mutual relief.

He thinks God is punishing us for something he found in the book of Revelations about a global woman in the end days. What do you think, Jimmy? He might be on to something. I heard this fellow on Oprah talking about how it's getting hotter and we all ought to ride bicycles and such.

One thing hot weather is good for is making homemade ice cream.

I remember we were over at Aunt Mick's house making ice cream and you and your cousins had walked across the field over to the fish pond and we had one of the younger ones sitting on the freezer on some newspapers to keep it steady while your daddy (There'll be no heat waves in Heaven) turned the crank.

Well, we finally decided it was ready; your daddy was about cranked out and that always means the ice cream's ready. So, we hollered at you all to come on back.

You all were so excited coming back across that field. But then, when you got there and tasted it, I could tell something had gone bad wrong when you spit it out and started hollering. We looked at the churn and there was a tiny hole where your cousin Lamar had shot it with a metal tipped arrow and the salty water from the ice had leaked in.

He got an awful whipping for it and Uncle Terrace had to sleep in the guest room for a week for buying for him.

Oh, those were the good old days, Jimmy

Give all the boys my love and thank them again for making me cool (ha ha).

Love,

Mama