Louie, Louie

I think it's time to shift gears.  I understand I have some new Followers, so I thought we'd talk about Uncle Louie. Uncle Louie was actually my great-uncle. He was my grandmother's brother. Louie lived just across the Alabama border in Mississippi. All I knew about Louie was hear-say. What I'd been told was that Louie was a "Moonshiner." That is , he made "White Lightning."

This was in the summer of '63. My brothers and I were all sitting around the Sunday table enjoying fresh fried chicken. We'll discuss  later why I called it fresh fried chicken. We had home-grown mashed potatoes and green beans,  with gravy made from the drippings of the fried chicken.  Heart attack, here I come!  Back then, it was delicious. Especially the bacon in the green beans.

Anyway, after Sunday dinner you did one of two things: go fishing or go visiting. That Sunday we went visiting. With my Aunt Mary at the wheel and grandmaw riding shotgun, we proceeded into Mississippi. Once we crossed the state line, grandmaw turned to us and said, "Don't make eye contact with these folks."  Being naive to the reason for this statement, I asked why?  The answer came quick out of grandmaw's mouth. "They'll shoot you, that's why!"  For the rest of the trip, it was eyes forward. Although, I've got to admit, I took a few quick glances out the side windows.

When we arrived at Uncle Louie's house, it was a sight to behold. On the front porch was a refrigerator and a washing machine. You might ask why these appliances were placed here? Okay, back then, and in some places today, displaying your appliances on your front porch is a status symbol. I kid you not! This is the God's honest truth. So the appliances on the porch wasn't all that unusual. But what really caught my attention was all the chicken heads in the front yard.  All those dead chickens' eyes staring up at you. Talk about creepy!

As we exited the car, Uncle Louie came from the back of the house to greet us. Louie was this skinny rail of a man, wearing bib overalls and a pointed hat. Louie seemed very pleased to see his sister and niece. My grandmother greeted her bother and then turned and introduced us, her grandsons, to him. We all smiled and shook his hand. My grandmother then exchanged pleasantries with him.  As she was talking to her brother, I glanced up at the house. There I saw a woman in a bed at the entry of the front door.  This was Louie's wife, Ida Mae. She was bedridden. So that she could see outside, the bed was positioned in the front entryway.  After the shock or realization wore off, I began to talk to uncle Louie.

I think you know the first question I asked him. I said, "Uncle Louie, do you have any moonshine?" Louie let out a high squeal laugh, slapped his knee and did a little jig. He said, "No, boy, I gave that up a long time ago." I saw the twinkle in his eyes that said "that ain't so." Louie had two children. One was a girl, the other a boy. He named them, Girl and Boy. There's a very interesting story about Girl, but that's for a another time.

"Louie, Louie, Louie, Lou Eye!"