Turning Points
Life is a journey. It has a beginning and it has an end. All along its path are events, places
and people who are turning points. Here, I relate some of these turning points in my own
journey. Hopefully, the stories will illuminate and maybe entertain some of those who care
enough to read.
Life is a journey. It has a beginning and it has an end. All along its path are events, places
and people who are turning points. Here, I relate some of these turning points in my own
journey. Hopefully, the stories will illuminate and maybe entertain some of those who care
enough to read.
| Wake me up! May 29, 2006 |
Daddy Abell. Their closeness has lasted to the present day as Verna now pushes the century
mark this year.
Usually, when I went up to Lebanon it was on the train and I always seemed to arrive after dark at
the station there. Then alone, I would walk the several dimly lit blocks, always a little uncertain
where to make the turns, until finally reaching the front door on Spalding Avenue. We slept in the
attic, pretty warm in the summer but still exciting as our own house had no upstairs.
Daddy Abell had a garden, a wonderful grape vine and chickens. Hawee ruled the roost around
there in more ways than one. When it was time to fix fried chicken, she grabbed one by the head
and with a sharp twist of her wrist it was flopping all over the ground, headless. Then you dipped it
into a tub of scalding water to loosen the feathers, plucked them out, gutted it and cut it up for the
frying pan.
Lebanon was a city compared to New Haven and they had a regular movie theater, a couple
department stores and traffic lights. Verna worked at the post office; May had a job with the
government in Louisville.
It was a great treat to buy 15 cents worth of lemon drops and watch a Frankenstein movie. I would
cower down behind the last row of seats at the really scary scenes. One dark night after a
particularly frightening movie, the walk home alone seemed endless as every shadow was a
monster lurking behind trees along the way.
Daytimes were spent at Abell’s Liquor Store where Joe Bob and Howard worked behind the
counter while Daddy Abell sat in the large wooden rocker at the rear of the lobby area. Later when
I was a little older, Hugh Louis and I would go up to Lebanon and spend a few days working for
our uncle Buck, spraying for insects on all the streets and alleys downtown. He headed up the
City Sanitation department.
One night, a blaring car horn awakened me and looking out the attic window I watched Joe Bob’s
car burn as an electrical short had started a fire. Did I just dream that?
Another night I awakened to hear Daddy Abell downstairs calling out in a nightmare, “Wake me
up, wake me up!”
mark this year.
Usually, when I went up to Lebanon it was on the train and I always seemed to arrive after dark at
the station there. Then alone, I would walk the several dimly lit blocks, always a little uncertain
where to make the turns, until finally reaching the front door on Spalding Avenue. We slept in the
attic, pretty warm in the summer but still exciting as our own house had no upstairs.
Daddy Abell had a garden, a wonderful grape vine and chickens. Hawee ruled the roost around
there in more ways than one. When it was time to fix fried chicken, she grabbed one by the head
and with a sharp twist of her wrist it was flopping all over the ground, headless. Then you dipped it
into a tub of scalding water to loosen the feathers, plucked them out, gutted it and cut it up for the
frying pan.
Lebanon was a city compared to New Haven and they had a regular movie theater, a couple
department stores and traffic lights. Verna worked at the post office; May had a job with the
government in Louisville.
It was a great treat to buy 15 cents worth of lemon drops and watch a Frankenstein movie. I would
cower down behind the last row of seats at the really scary scenes. One dark night after a
particularly frightening movie, the walk home alone seemed endless as every shadow was a
monster lurking behind trees along the way.
Daytimes were spent at Abell’s Liquor Store where Joe Bob and Howard worked behind the
counter while Daddy Abell sat in the large wooden rocker at the rear of the lobby area. Later when
I was a little older, Hugh Louis and I would go up to Lebanon and spend a few days working for
our uncle Buck, spraying for insects on all the streets and alleys downtown. He headed up the
City Sanitation department.
One night, a blaring car horn awakened me and looking out the attic window I watched Joe Bob’s
car burn as an electrical short had started a fire. Did I just dream that?
Another night I awakened to hear Daddy Abell downstairs calling out in a nightmare, “Wake me
up, wake me up!”
| Copyright © 2005 leoshoemaker.com |
___________________________________________________
| And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 KJV) |
It was really east of New Haven, but somehow
when we made our very frequent and prolonged
visits to our grandparents we always went “up to
Lebanon.”
Butch seemed to live there when he was a little
kid. He was the clear favorite with our aunt Verna
who lived at home with her parents, Hawee and
when we made our very frequent and prolonged
visits to our grandparents we always went “up to
Lebanon.”
Butch seemed to live there when he was a little
kid. He was the clear favorite with our aunt Verna
who lived at home with her parents, Hawee and
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