I had just turned 15, I never had  too many friends at school at one time, because we were always moving from town to town, Dad and Mom wasn't ever satisfied with the previous town we lived in, Mom wanted a place of her own, and Dad wanted it too, but, he wanted in the country where he could have animals, so he found a good deal out in a little town called Little Axe.  It was a small acerage, but larger than the ones on the same street.  Dad soon had over thirty chickens, calves, cows, horses, goats, turkeys, and geese, sometimes at the same time.  Dad, Mom and the boys would make weekly trips to the nearest Auction to purchase animals and sale items.  One time our pickup was broke down, and they brought their pinto to Auction, and they brought back with them a pony in the back of the pinto, Mom could pack anything, and she proved it over the years. 

I found a really good church, Hilltop Baptist, the people were great, they were close knit, all so friendly, and they helped me through the rough times more than they even realized, I met some girls that I also went to school with, we became close friends, the other kids at school was rude, rich snobs, but the six girls I hung out with and went to church with, were somehow in a group of their own.

We all had home-ed class together, that was fun, we made our first dresses, and had our cousins to wear them in the fashion show the school required, the teachers were divided, My English teacher, helped out so much, she saw talent in my writings, though I never had the confidence, she always told me that someday I was going to create a masterpiece and become one of the great writers of all time.  She would buy me tickest to the school assemblies, because she wanted to inspire me in any way she could, her daughter was also in my grade, but she was so stern with her daughter, her daughter reached out to me, trying to be friends, but for some reason, it was fake, she was a cheerleader, and they were stuck ups.

Ladonna, Atha and I would go to Falls Creek together with our church, a religous campground in southeast Oklahoma.  The presense of the Lord was so great there that it replenished our souls, gave us a refreshed sense of life, and gave us the notion that we were put here on earth for a reason, Our character was engraved in stone, us girls were inseparable.  We were just girls.  We wanted the same things the other girls wanted, but we had higher standards than most. 

We would walk arm in arm while chanting, "two, four, six, eight, we are alittle bit crazy" while we bent our knees, while we were together, the outside world didn't exist, we become known as "three muskateers" and we lived up to that name.

We decided to climb a steep incline, for what reason, I don't think either of us knew, the incline was straight up and rocky and was about fifty feet up, as I look back, I think to myself that one false move and either or all of us could have slipped and fallen to an early grave, and often I'm burdened with the thoughts of my own kids trying some of those dangerous stunts me and my friends did back then, and it makes me shiver in fear.

We made it to the top, as we walked around in the trees and the rocks, we came across some cactus', we decided to collect us some to take home, so very carefully, we dug around the base of the small cactus and with a big leaf, we were able to wrap them and put them in our shirt tails and made it back to the campground, where our care-takers were waiting eagerly for us, they were stern with us, they told us of all the dangers that were or could have happened to us, and then handed down punishment, KP duty, we gathered up all the dirty dishes and we started washing them, we had plenty of time to think about what we had done, the thing that bothered me the most was when the lady told me I could have been killed and our parent would have to idenify the body, I thought about how Mom and Dad would re-act, and my two brothers and four sisters, I thought of the hurt they would feel, so after that time, I became more cautious about high places, I became scared of heights.

Then a Friday in early October 1977 came upon us, it was a beautiful, warm fall day, me, Ladonna, Atha, and my sister Margaret had to make a butterscotch pie, we prepared it and at lunch we were to go back and eat it, it was so funny, it was watery, we ended up drinking it, and laughing about it. A few puffy clouds graced the blue sky, we sat on the steps of the home ed building making fun of our pie, and then watching the clouds, watching the weird shapes they became.  To this day, I've never eaten a butterscotch pie.

The next day, our cousin came up and wanted to take us all skating, everyone wanted to go, but me, I felt sad and I didn't know why, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had just lost something close to me, I cried, and I couldn't explain to Mom or Dad, the reason, because I didn't know my self.  Mom and Dad took me to a nearby store, in hopes to make me feel better, I remember buying my favorite pie, coconut cream pie, and I took it home and we shared it, but still, that feeling of loss, haunted me, until my cousin brought my brothers and sisters home from skating.

                                                                                                                   to be continued....