Ellard Sims
The Athens Review
Athens —
It was a long week at the lodge......last week. But everything was real good. Poor Betty Meeks just seemed to be slowin’ down and runnin’ out of juice. She told Froggy that things were getting tough around there. That old mean Owen Musser keeps trying to stir thangs up.
We had a Forginor show up last week. I really didn’t know much about him. He was real goofy lookin’ and actin’ at first. But he came around. I know’d if he started listin’ to me, I could teach him a thang or 2.
Onced I showed him around the house, he knew just about everything. My big sister Catherine took a likin’ to him, I think. We had so many people comin’ and goin’ around the house, my head was just spinnin’. But the funnest thing happened, he beat that Owen Musser down.
Charlie........or Charooooly........that’s that Foreignors name, he is real smart about some things. Once I got him talkin english, he told us all about how to catch those bad guys who were trying to take the lodge from us.
For some reason........people liked to laugh at him. I don’t know why. But just ‘bout every time he looked up or told a story, everybody around him would laugh and laugh and laugh. I didn’t think nothin’ was that funny ‘xcept when he slammed that book down on that table and the spoon full of grits went flyin. Now that was funny. I couldn’t stop laughin’ at that.
Everybody seems to like Froffy. Betty said he’s kind and makes her ashamed sometimes she not more like him. But David, that’s my future brothr-in-law.......he’s just wants all my money. Catherine gave me my inheritance and he keeps trying to take it.
That lodge is real scary sometimes. We have all these animals in the house. I keep waiting for them to jump off the walls on me. I know its going to happan. We have a bear who just lays on the floor. He’s lazy. He won’t get up to eat or play. I kick him but it dont do no good. He just lays there.
We have everthang from fish, to turkey, some kind of mean cat, birds, and a big ole moose in the house. It’s real scary to sit down and eat, ‘cause I know they are going to jump off those walls and want some of my Aigs. We even have this one cat on the floor that just stands there. It won’t move. But I’m sure as soon as I get some chickin, he’s going to pounce on me.
Betty gets mad at me all the time ‘cause she says I spit my food when I talk, but I don’t. I can’t help it if she asks me questions when I eat. It can’t help but fly out when she talks to me while I eat. She don’t like it when I put my apples in the wood bin, but that’s that David that does that, not me.
I do my best to be helpful around the lodge, but I just seem to get in trouble. I don’t mean to, but Miz Meeks just gets on me all the time. I go get her stuff out of the cellar and then she gripes ‘cause i go the wrong way and fall off the laddar.
We’ll all be back at the lodge Thursday. Betty told me to invite company so I want all of you to come over for a visit. We’ll have Aigs and Griss for breakfast and chikin for dinner. Hopfully I won’t spit on you.
So if you can get free, come out to the lodge at the Henderson County Performing Arts Center. We always have a good time and Miz Meeks sayd you will leave with a belly laugh. I’m not sure what kind of food that is but it should be good.
Robby Robet...Ellard Sims is a staff writer/photographer at the Athens Daily Review. he can be reached at rrobertson@athensreview.com
