You can tell I did not spend time in the Ellen Bottom like my brothers did as I was growing up. The only memory I have of being there is of a time when David and I were very little, and Hazel was “baby sitting” us on an old quilt by the creek while the rest of the family worked in the corn (I think the crop was corn). I remember it was so hot even in the shade by the water. David and I played with the little fossils we found in the water and I thought they were little rocks that someone had found and drawn pictures of creatures on them.
I thought it was very, very good drawing. On the day I’m remembering, Hazel seemed sort of bored herself. She would talk about the birds she saw, but I couldn’t spot them fast enough to see them, and they didn’t interest me at that time. But David and all the boys had lots of times in the Ellen Bottom.
David said he used to walk across the Ellen Bottom going to Clarice and Aaron’s on Saturday nights when he was in high school. Clarice and Aaron would let David ride with Bob and Carroll in the back of the truck when they went down to the movie. Dad would give David 50 cents and he would spend it on the movie which cost 40 cents and a double dip of ice cream which cost a dime, and he thought he was really living. He would stay for the late show, then walk up to Ernest and Ginny’s house where they lived in Liberty at that time, and the next morning, Ernest would drive David home to the farm. Now wasn’t that a nice thing for a brother to do.
David also remembers being with Cleo in the Ellen Bottom, heading toward the spring on the hillside one day when they smelled something funny in the air. Cleo told David he thought it was the smell of mash, and sure enough it was. They found a still, just as Ronald described in one of the stories about him and Donald finding a still. Dad always knew who was responsible for a still and he let it be known that he didn’t tolerate a still on his property. Of course that infamous person just built another one somewhere else.