THE OLD COWBOY Part Eleven 
(continued)

"She was lookin' for some gingham to make herself a new dress an' maybe a couple of pillow cases. That gal was good with a needle. She could fashion up 'bout anything."

"Grandpa, what's gingham?"

"It's what you call cotton cloth."

"What's cotton."

"Cotton's a plant they grow down south, in the southeast part of these United States. They get the plant to grow until the pods opens up. then they bring the pickers in."

"Now days they use a machine called a 'cotton gin'. Before the cotton gin, they'd hire people to walk along the rows an' pick the cotton balls out 'a them pods. It was sort of an art ta pick that cotton without gettin' hurt to badly. Ya see, ya had ta reach into that open pod an' pull out that material an' seeds an' all, an do it witout touchin' the other parts. Ya touch the edge of the pod, it's like a knife an' cuts deep. Then there's them thorns, whoa now. I thanked Eli Whitney for that machine."

"Grandpa it's gettin' late and I got some chores ta' get done, so' until next time partner' see ya later", I said, and got on 'Ol Tanner' number two, and rode off.

When I got home, I went straight to the kitchen where mom was cookin' dinner. I stuck my finger into the cookie dough an' pulled out a finger full. Just as mom turned I was liking my finger clean. 

"Don't do that again. How's your grandpa today, and what'd you talk about?"

"Well mostly he was telling me about moving to Albuquerque with grandma Martha. Mom have we got any pictures of....


To Be Continued . . . 

THE OLD COWBOY  Copyright © 2001