Riding the Dam – meet the characters

The book I’ve been working on is about my father’s growing up years.  I hope you’ll enjoy meeting some of the characters in this almost all true story. The setting in San Angelo, Texas in 1952 and the story is told from the perspective of ten-year-old Allan.

My family - Mom, Dad, me, Ellen Ruth, and Booger

Dad at the airstrip

Dad was what you would call a fixer. He could fix anything and  I gave him several projects. Dad worked for the CAA as an air traffic controller. He had taken flying lessons as part of the G.I. bill and he knew a lot about airplanes. In fact, he knew a lot about everything.    Dad was a bargainer, and I don’t think he ever paid anyone their asking price. He believed in a zero-sum world. If someone gained, then someone had to lose. Dad was the kind of person who won every argument, knew how to solve every problem, and was never taken by anybody. Except maybe once.

Mom and me

Mom was the youngest of twelve children. She was part Cherokee. Mom never talked much about her family. I guess the life and family she currently had was too overwhelming to allow her to reminisce much about her former one. Her family settled in Texas by way of Mississippi in the early 1900s. They lost everything in the Civil War and the Reconstruction Period that followed. If Mom had a hate list, Yankees would be at the top.

                                      Me and Raymond (that’s me on the left)

Raymond was my best friend. Mom said we met at church. I was sitting in mom’s lap and Raymond was sitting in the lap of his mom, Virlet Hodge. Story goes, Raymond saw me from across a few pews and let out a little squawk. I returned his hello with a howdy-do of my own. Raymond then blew a long raspberry that was so loud it woke up old Mr. Lewis who was sleeping in the back row of the choir loft. So as not to be outdone, I let out a gas bubble bigger than the state of Texas. Dad always referred to it as the fart heard around the world. Thus began a perfect and enduring friendship.

The Sisters: Grandma Ruth, Aunt Hope, and Aunt Rosemond

My Grandma Ruth had two sisters, Hope, and Rosemond.  Grandma Ruth and Aunt Rosemond owned a beauty parlor and they kept all kinds of potions and other things to make ugly women look less ugly in a huge cabinet. They called it The Beauty Cabinet. I always thought that it would have been better to have a big cabinet full of liquor to give their husbands so they would think their wives looked better. Aunt Hope was different. She taught me how to catch, kill, and fry up chickens and wrangle snakes. Once, Aunt Hope saved me from a bucking bronco.  It wasn’t the last time she came to my rescue.

I hope you enjoyed meeting the characters from Riding the Dam. Let me know what you think.  Thanks for stopping by!