My family loves to tell stories. Now I’m not talking fiction. I’m talking true blue, dyed in the wool truth, that you just have to shake your head and laugh at the weirdest and silliest things that can happen to a family.
My grandfather was so good at telling his stories people would ask him to repeat some of their favorites over and over. One such story was about his cousin Jim.
One night after working all day on the farm everyone was heading to a dance but Jim decided to stay home. He was too tired and honestly after working all day in the summer heat, he wondered why anyone would want to put themselves like sardines in a dance hall to sweat some more!!!
There had also been a rash of farm robberies over the last few months and the thieves had yet to be caught. Not that Jim thought he was going to be running into them but still…. Always good to have eyes on the house.
Hours later in the night, Jim was relaxing on the porch in the dark. Not a sound was out except a few bugs chirping and an occasional bull frog, when somewhere in the yard a twig snapped. Instantly frozen, Jim looked through the pitch black night. He was looking in vain. Those nights in the Deep South were so dark, you could be standing 10 feet from your mamma and if she didn’t move you would never know she was there.
As he strained his ears for more sound, he heard the rustle of clothing and a shiver rain down his spine. A fleeting thought that maybe one of his brothers might be coming back to play a trick on him passed through his mind. He would know for sure if they missed the trick step on the porch. That darn thing needed to be fixed but they had yet to do it.
As he waited, sure enough the person started climbing the stairs and hit that darn trick step and it let a loud, “ Squeak!!!!!”
Without missing a beat Jim sat up and said, “How can I help you.”
He never did see who it was that let out the scream of surprise but they did see some bits of clothes, flesh and blood left in the briar brushes that said individual ran through to escape.
Police searched the local hospitals and no one ever came in with wounds needing treated that matched what they found at the scene but, oddly enough, after that all the farm robberies stopped.
It’s stories like this and many more that we would spend hours sharing with each other at parties and other gatherings. Oh the legacy we have passed on in these stories!!! I honestly can’t wait for the younger generation to add there stories to the mix.
Steeley Grace 
What a great story!! I would have been scared to death
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Me too!!! Lol
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