Grandpa
My name is Cleve Bishop. I'm the only son born from the union of Walter and Mary
Bishop. Our shack is surrounded by tree laden Kentucky ridges. We grow corn for our living
and like most everyone in these parts of the Muddy Fork community, we're poor folk.
Pa always said being poor is not a shame, but being lazy and not trying to make ends meet is a shameful thing.
Pappy and Mammy can't read a lick, nor can my Grandpa, Mark Bishop. Grandpa lives just a
little ways around the ridge from our shack. He's nigh on seventy-five now, and since
Granny passed on he's become sad and discontented. He's no longer the Grandpa that loved
life so much. It seems since Granny's passing he's lost his will to live. Before, he would
help us some in the cornfields, using a sharp hoe to chop out tough crab grass, but now, on these warm summer days, he just sits on his old porch watching his mules graze in the
nearby pasture. He told me once that he gets a sort of pleasure in watching those
old mules pick grass. He says it seems to calm his nerves some.
I know he could never get rid of those old mules, even though they are too old to pull the plow. He said they had served him so well through the years that he couldn't stand the thought of letting them go.
"No, son, my old mules won't be made into a cake of soap," he declared. "They've earned their keep plowing my corn fields and tending my crops."
I've been awful worried about him lately. It hurts me to see him so sad. Pappy said he was
heartsick for Granny and that there is no cure for that. Usually Pappy is right about
most things. I guess that's what got me so worried. I was afraid he would give up and die like Grandma did.
I'd been staying with him for a spell since he'd been sort of sickly. Pappy said he
needed someone around to look after him. I was glad to stay with him. We both chew
tobacco. It was always a great pleasure to set on the porch after the chores were done and chew tobacco and spit the juice off the porch edge and sometimes we would see who could spit
Impressum
Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
Texte: Stanley Mcqueen
Lektorat: Valerie Byron
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 17.08.2015
ISBN: 978-3-7396-0982-9
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