Trip in the Country

One of my favorite things to do on the weekend was to get in the family car with my parents and go to the country. Many times the trip to the country would lead us to the Scott's Store / Outlaw's Bridge part of eastern North Carolina to see my father's family. Just across the woods from Mount Olive and Seven Springs where my mother's family was from. My father's parents died within a month of each other when he was about 7 years old. So his younger brother Harvey, older sister Callie and him were raised by his spinster Aunt Mattie and her twin sister Addie. Aunt Addie died in the 1940s before I was born so I never got to know here.

The picture shows Aunt Callie in the black dress and Aunt Mattie with the white apron on sitting in the sitting room of Aunt Mattie's home, which is still standing today (07/May/2009). About all I remember about Aunt Mattie was our last visit before she passed away. She was bedridden and near death because of several strokes. That seems to be the way the majority of us Outlaw's leave this world.

As usual I spent a lot of time rumageing around the barn and out buildings to see what a city boy could get into. I had been in the barn a number of times in the past but I was to find something new this time. There were the usual tools, cans of oil, chickens and other things, but I notice there had been a half wall built at one end of the barn. As I got closer I could hear something on the other side of the wall. So I looked for something to stand on and as luck would have it there was an old bench close by. I pulled the bench over and stood on it. It was just high enough for me to grab the top of the wall and pull up and look over the edge. Just as I peered over the wall I heard the most awful squeel and grunt that I had ever heard. Less than a two feet away and no more than a foot below me was the largest hog I have ever seen. That thing was the size of a cow and as ugly and mean looking as any hog I have ever seen. My heart stopped but my feet didn't. When I got to the house one of the adults asked me what was wrong. Not thinking, instead of saying I was scared by a snake or a bear I told them the truth. Everyone got a good laugh but me. I neverwent back in that barn and it is still there and still have no urge to go there.