THE EARLY YEARS

In Pampa we lived across the street from an elementary or middle school. Neither Luann or I went to school then but we both would watch the kids leave in the afternoon and we would pretend that we were in school. I think Butch lived with us here and attended the school. Both Luann and I wanted to go to school.

One day, we were outside and Luann was on her tricycle. We were playing and talking about going to school so Luann was telling me she was getting ready to go go school. She asked me to cut her hair in the way the girls going to school were cutting theirs. So I got a pair of scissors from the house and proceeded to cut her hair. Not being a trained barber, I cut her hair a little short. Of course, when Mama saw it she got mad at me until I told her Luann asked me to cut it. Luann, the ever faithful younger sister, confirmed my story. Being only five at the time, I was forgiven.

The only other vivid memory of Pampa is learning the song "This Old Man." We were listening to the radio (we did not have a TV here) and heard the Girl Scouts sing the song. For several days after that, I was singing this song all of the time and was making up my own versions.