Roger had to carry all the coal, wood and water to the house. Portia couldn't and Tony and Donnie were too small. Junior expected Roger to work as hard as he did. He did a man's job at 12 years old. He had to get the cow in the evening for milking. Some times the cow did not come down out of the hill and Roger had to go get her and Tilman & Leona's cow too. Roger, Mom and Dad did all the howing and tending to the garden that was on top of the mountain because that was the only flat place except for behind Tilman's house next to the creek which was his garden area. Roger had to help dad bring all the crops down off the mountain. They would use "Toe sacks" or usually had a mule who would pull the sled. But Junior many times came down from the mountain with corn stalks on his back with the corn still on them. We had two crops of corn, one for our animals and one for us to eat. Daddy got a dog called Flip. He was a hunting dog and he loved Roger. That dog followed him everywhere. Roger got a 12 gague shotgun for his 12th birthday and would take the gun and Flip to the mountains and hunt by himself. I couldn't help but worry until he came home.
Portia missed a lot of school in bad weather. She caught every cold and sore throat that was going around. She also got lice from someone at school. Elmer Presley had a daughter named Maxine. She would come to our house to see Elvis on T.V. She would really get excited. Junior went to Michigan to work and we moved into his uncle Clyde Presley's house where Portia was closer to the road for school. Grandma Drucilla Presley lived close to us. She would make toast and rice for breakfast for the kids. They loved it. Clyde had a chicken lot with chicken wire around a large area with wood on top and corner poles to keep it sturdy. Portia was such a tomboy and usually ended up hurting herself. She was playing with her friend Wanda Graves. Portia climbed up the gate and sat on the top of the cross piece of wood. Wanda went to climb up while Portia's foot was still on the gate for support and Portia fell off and broke her arm. She also fell off my mother's porch and broke the other arm. No one told her that she couldn't keep up with her brothers, cousins or friends. She didn't let her brace or leg keep her from doing anything.
I had to take Portia to Louisville every other year for check ups and her operations. It didn't cost anything, I just had to have the money to get her there. We would either take the bus that ran from Harlan to Dizney or take a cab. One time I had to take her we had a big snow storm. I had told Blacky Sexton to come get us. I dressed Portia and put socks over our shoes to keep us from falling. We started out of the holler to meet Blackie. He took us to Evarts but the bus to Harlan didn't come so I got a ride with someone. The car didn't have any heat and we were freezing by the time we got to the Greyhound Bus Terminal in Harlan. Portia had an operation when she was 8 years old. On the day she was dismissed from the Kosair Hospital in Louisville the hospital was having a big fish fry on the grounds. Portia and I walked around the grounds and got something to eat before we caught the bus. People were giving Portia money as we walked around. I had enough money when we got home to buy her a good warm winter coat. We would take the train sometimes from Louisville. We took the last train to run from Corbin to Harlan. We mostly took the Greyhound bus.
Junior's sister Pauline Grubbs lived in the first house going up stretch neck holler. Her husband Buford loved to tease Donnie whenever he was in for vacation from his job in Michigan. He would pull Donnie's short britches down from behind. One day Buford was carrying two buskets of water when Donnie saw him, Donnie threw a rock and hit Buford on the nose so hard he spilled half of his water. Buford didn't bother Donnie too much after that.
Larry Presley, whos father was Elmer Presley. They lived in the next house down the holler from us. The walk from his house was uphill and Larry would pull his little red wagon up the hill, find him a nice sized rock and crack Roger or Tony in the head with the rock and then jump in his wagon and speed down the hill to his house. Those little wagons did not have breaks.
Times were not all bad we just didn't know that things could be any different.