Our new parsonage was red
outside and in.
It had red shingles on the outside
and red countertops in the kitchen
and in the bathroom.
Neither me nor Mom favored red.
But, like Mom said, you could get used to anything.
We checked for roaches first thing.
Mom flushed the toilet
about 10 times
to make sure it worked.
There were two bedrooms
one in back and one in front
both with real beds
not cots
and a dining-room
that was dark with only one window
and a big kitchen
and a back porch
plus a front porch with a bench to sit on.
It was okay.
That afternoon church ladies started coming
and one brought us a pie-er pie
and we didn't know what that was
until later
when we cut it
and it was a pear pie.
Mom and me laughed about that.
"That's a true Southern drawl"
Mom said
and the two of us went around
putting stuff into drawers
saying
"It's a pie-er pie!"
and laughing to beat the band.
Mom and me finished the business of cleaning
and I went outside
and I heard the boys in the garage
so I went inside
and here was a wind-up victrola
and records to put on it!
The boys got it going
and we listened to a song called
"The Wreck of the C&O"
where a man was murdered upon a railroad
and laid in a lonesome grave.
Next we heard about the "Wreck of the Old 97"
where the engineer was found in the wreck
with his hand on the throttle
scalded to death by the steam.
We all three stood in that dusty hot garage
in Winnsboro
and bawled.
Mom called us in for supper
and devotions
and not a one of us
mentioned the garage
the Victrola
or the sad songs.
It was there for us when we needed to cry.