Mr. Halloran gave Mom a hug
took a blue bandanna out of his pocket
wiped the tears off his cheeks
climbed into his pickup truck
hollered that he was looking forward to seeing us all on Sunday
and if we needed anything he was only a mile down the road
waved
and drove away.
We went back into our lovely little house
that had everything we needed
except for a toilet.
Mom and Daddy were opening suitcases and boxes
and Jimmy asked
"What's a thunderpot, Daddy?"
and Daddy said,
"Beats me, I never heard of one before
so why don't you go out to the garage and see
if you can find something
that looks like a thunderpot."
Jimmy brought in two blue pots
that had handles
and he put the baby on one
and danced around
and sang
"Do do the doodoo"
and the baby was kicking his feet and laughing to beat the band
until Mom told Jimmy to quit it
before the baby got hurt.
"Put one pot in each bedroom
just in case," she said.
Mom let us take anything we wanted out of the icebox for supper
so I got myself 4 devilled eggs
and some beans
and a piece of lemon cake.
The two-holer was in the back of all our minds
but it was hard not to be happy in this house!
We were all really tired
and ready to spend our first night here in Grand Bay
so we had devotions right after supper
and Jimmy asked
"Daddy, how come Mr. Halloran called you Brother Jim?"
and Daddy explained that
we were all brothers and sisters in the Lord.
"I hope nobody calls me Brother Wes!"
Wes said
"cause if they do I won't answer them!"
Daddy laughed.
We bowed our heads
and Mom said to the Lord
"Thank you dear Lord for this precious clean little home
that I already love
"
and she took her hankie out of her apron pocket
and wiped her eyes
and Daddy said
"Let me be a good Pastor to this church
where they haven't had a spiritual leader in so long."
and Wes prayed
"Help me not to have to peepee at night"
and me and Jimmy said a loud AMEN to that.
Music Playing: Coming Home
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