Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 14:58:30 -0500 From: Catherine Berchtold Subject: INT: Hillbilly Haven Daisy Mae and her Momma stayed on the back porch for a good part of the day, tryin to figure out how the miracle wringer washer run. "Momma, she shore is pretty." Daisy grinned, cranked the handle and watched the rollers turn. "Look what I done brung my best girls!" Pa hollered to the women on the porch as he toted a big bucket of sloshin water across the back yard. "Oh, Pa, the folks in town will think we're lazy women if they git a gander of you fetchin our water." "Don't you go worryin 'bout that, little girl. I'll learn 'em a thing or two 'bout how to treat their women folk." Pa teased. He climbed the stairs, dumped the creek water into the wringer washer and dropped the bucket on the wood floor. He took a step back, plunked his hands on his hips and beamed with pride. "You best git busy, woman! I'm tard of you sittin in the lap of lux'ry." Pa swatted Momma on the backside and marched into the house. Daisy spotted the family dawg crawling across the yard, rubbin his jawls on the ground and tryin to dig his eyes out with his toenails. "Momma, what's gotten into Bullet?" "That simple minded dawg keeps goin down to the Sheriff's place and sniffin around. Looks to me like Bullet caught the Sheriff readin the tee-vee guide in his out door library." Momma slapped her palm to her round cheek and chuckled. "You mean down at Sheriff Li'l Brick's place?" Daisy looked at her Momma with wide-eyed innocence. "Daisy Mae, you stay away from that boy. He never had a lick of raisin. He jist grow'd up like a weed. Do you hear what your Momma is sayin?" "Yes, Momma." Daisy mumbled and squashed a big ol' black ant with the tip of her toe.