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Little Johnny VI

(Another installation in the Little Johnny series… stories, mostly true, that I tell June based on things from my childhood. This one is very true. I still feel a little sick when I remember it… one of the first of the several times in my life when I came very close to death.)

Little Johnny and the train crossing

Once upon a time, when Little Johnny was a teenager, he was driving around in Daddy’s station wagon after Church one Sunday night with a bunch of his friends and a really scary thing happened.

Johnny and his friends had the radio on loud, and they were all talking and laughing and being loud, which they usually did when they were riding around—which was a favorite thing to do in those small, South Georgia towns where there was really not much to do but ride around, and the radio was truth… but that’s a whole ‘nother story!

This particular night, they were cruising down East Main Street (Highway 280) toward Spring Street, where Johnny lived with his family, so they could stop by and see if Mom had some snacks for them.

Now Spring Street crosses the railroad tracks that run through Claxton right at the point where the tracks come up next to Main Street, with Railroad Street on the other side of the tracks, and just before Spring Street there are several businesses — the Coke Plant and the NeSmith Gas Station — between the highway and the tracks, so nobody in the car saw the train that was running along the tracks beside them heading into town just like they were, and because they were being so loud, nobody heard that train whistle blowing.

So when Johnny got to Spring Street, he just rolled around that left turn that took them across the tracks without even slowing down a whole lot and not even looking to see if there was a train coming — and of course, in those days there was no crossing guard on any of those small town railroad crossings — so they just bounced right up onto the tracks full speed. And then— and then— they heard the whistle and saw that train headlight beaming right in the passenger window!

Johnny jammed on the gas real hard and that old Ford just leaped over those tracks with a big bump and then, zoom, roar, that train flew right by them, just barely missing the tail end of the station wagon as the flew over the tracks and bumped down across Railroad Avenue!

Everybody screamed all at once and then as the crossed the street and Johnny stopped the car, they got real quiet, ‘cuz they all knew they had just almost died that night. They sat there on the side of Spring Street for a few minutes breathing real hard and talking to each other about how lucky they were, and some of them were crying a little bit and Johnny was saying how sorry he was that he didn’t see that train and everybody was saying oh my gosh, how sorry they were for being so loud and it was all very crazy.

And then they drove on down Spring Street to Johnny’s house — it was only a block away — and got out and went really quietly into the house. Somehow they told Johnny’s mom about what had happened, though they tried to make it sound like it wasn’t so bad, but they all knew they were lucky to still be walking around, and they kept looking at each other, like, don’t ever tell anybody else what really happened or we’ll never get out of the house again!

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Little Johnny V

Little Johnny and the bike crash…

—and black holes!

(A new Little Johnny story—to add to the stories I have told to June over the years when she wants to hear “Little Johnny” stories. Mostly they are true stories of things I remember from childhood, tho sometimes the gaps of memory are filled in with things to make it interesting to her. She often remembers stories that I’ve told her that I have forgotten I told her, and it’s sometimes challenging to remember what it was all about from her description, so they are an evolving form! The titles are mostly from what she calls them when she asks to hear them…)

When Little Johnny was in about the fourth grade, he got a big-boy bike for his birthday. He loved that bike, and he even learned how to work on bicycles with it, because it wasn’t exactly new and there was always something he had to be fixing.

One thing he had to fix was a front wheel that got a bit smashed up because Johnny crashed into a concrete post. Now, the story of how he happened to crash into that post is not one he’s very proud to talk about, because it was really a pretty dumb thing he did, as he usually will admit now that he’s not such a little boy anymore. But he did learn a big lesson from this crash!

That lesson was, don’t ride your bicycle with your eyes closed.

Yep, that’s how he crashed into that concrete post and broke his wheel and almost broke his head—he did fly over the handle bars and bang into that post with his head!—one of the many head injuries he got as a kid. Which maybe explains why he’s done so many not-so-smart things in his life!

Now why would Little Johnny be riding his bike with his eyes closed?! That’s a good question.

Well, the answer is also not such a smart thing that Johnny did. He had a girlfriend—well, he wanted her to be his girlfriend anyway—who lived just down the street from them in Adel, and he was not supposed to ride his bicycle down that way because he had to cross a big street to get to it. But he really wanted to ride his bicycle down to Marilyn’s house, so he hit on the idea of closing his eyes and telling his brothers, who were out in the yard watching, that he was gonna show them how he could ride with his eyes closed. Then if he got in trouble for going down Marilyn’s street, he could just saw he didn’t know because he had his eyes closed. Yeah, brilliant plan, huh!

So off he goes, riding down the street in front of their house with his eyes closed, crossing the big street. Somehow, he sorta veered off to the left as he was going, and when he got across the big street, he crashed right into the street sign, which was a square concrete post, bam!

It really hurt and he had to push his bike back home and explain to Mommy how he had banged his head and broken his bike wheel.

She wasn’t happy, but she decided he had probably learned his lesson from the crash, so he didn’t get into too much trouble for it.

But he did promise to never again ride his bicycle with his eyes closed!

…the black hole.

(After I told June this story last night, she started talking about the dangers of riding with eyes closed, and said that you really have to be careful because you could ride into a black hole and that would be really bad because black holes suck everything into them!

At first I wasn’t sure what she was saying but then I realized after I asked her some questions that she actually was talking about Black Holes… the cosmic ones! She said she heard about them on YouTube, and we proceeded to have a long and very interesting conversation about Black Holes.

I tried to assure her that she wasn’t going to encounter any Black Holes in our back yard or on her bike rides, because there aren’t any here on the Earth, they are all way out in space, so that made her feel a little better. I also tried to explain, at a level appropriate for a five-year-old, what Black Holes are, and she was very interested.

At some point in the conversation, she asked me, “Where do things go that fall into a Black Hole?”

After I regained my composure—the question is pretty astonishing coming from a five-year-old!—I told her that a lot of scientists who have been studying Black Holes for a long time would like to have an answer to the question! And basically, I said that nobody knows where things go that fall into a Black Hole. I even told her a little about worm holes and some of the other theories related to the subject, so I probably got a little over her head, but she was very interested and very excited to be talking to me about this subject. Of course, she often gets excited about anything that will allow her to avoid being quiet and going to sleep!

But it was a most interesting bedtime conversation.

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Little Johnny IV

(These are a few more of the Little Johnny stories as I tell them to Anna June. Most of this is true…)

Little Johnny Rides His Bike

Once upon a time, when Little Johnny was about six or seven, he got a new bicycle without training wheels, and he was trying to learn to ride it. It was a little scary, but his Daddy was helping him.

One day they were riding up the dirt road from their house at 400 W. Alden St. in Valdosta, with Daddy holding on and keeping the bike balanced. Johnny was doing pretty good on the way up, and so, on the way back down the road, Daddy turned loose and Johnny was riding along on his own. But then… he got a little nervous and looked back to see if Daddy was still holding the bike, and when he did, he accidentally turned the handlebars a little too much and the bike flipped up and threw him right over the handlebars!

He hit the road right on his forehead, and a nice rock cut his head. Daddy pushed the bike on back to the house as Johnny walked along crying. He was okay; it wasn’t a terrible wound, but he did have a little scar right at his hairline for a long time.

The next day, though, Little Johnny went out and got on that bike and rode it right up the road all by himself! He was so proud and happy, and he rode that bike every day after that.

Little Johnny and the Train Trestle

(This is June’s favorite Little Johnny story.)

One night when Little Johnny was a teenager, he was driving his daddy’s station wagon around the mountain roads near Junaluska, North Carolina, where Johnny and his family were visiting their friends who had a cabin at the lake. He and several of his brothers and his sister Linda and their friend Bunny Anna were all just riding around ‘cuz there wasn’t a lot to do at the lake at night.

They were coming down County Road and everybody was having a nice time, and then Bunny Anna said, “Oh look, here comes the trestle, speed up Johnny!”

So Little Johnny, always hoping to make little Bunny Anna happy, stepped on the gas and the car started speeding along toward the trestle.

“No! No! Slow down! I was just kidding!” Bunny Anna said.

She thought that Johnny knew about the trestle and the curve that was on the other side of it, but he hadn’t done much driving on County Road, so he didn’t remember that curve.

When Anna said to slow down, he tried, but it was too late, he was going too fast!

The little Ford station wagon zipped underneath the old railroad trestle and there was the curve, twisting around to the right. Johnny was trying to slow down and putting on the brakes and turning hard to the right, but the curve was too sharp and he was going too fast! The station wagon crossed the left lane—luckily, there were no other cars coming from the other direction!—and was riding on the left shoulder of the road. Down below was a valley with a river and lots of rocks and Johnny was very afraid, but he kept holding the wheels on the road and finally the car slowed down and was able to get back to his side of the road.

Just a little ways further and there was a place to pull over on the right, so Johnny pulled over and stopped.

Suddenly, everybody started laughing and saying silly things because they were so happy they didn’t fall off the mountain into the valley.

But suddenly Johnny’s sister Linda, who was a very sweet and good little girl, yelled out at them all, “Stop your damn laughing!”

Everybody stopped laughing right away and gasped! They were so surprised, because Linda never, ever had said a bad word before! Everybody started saying sorry and feeling really bad for laughing after they almost died, and Little Johnny especially felt terrible about being so foolish and driving too fast. He promised Linda and all the others that he would NEVER do that again!

J

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Little Johnny III

“Little Johnny and the sad Christmas”

Once upon a time when Little Johnny was about six or seven, he had a very sad Christmas.

Johnny and his family had their last Christmas in their house at 400 West Alden Street in Valdosta, because they were moving to Adel so Daddy could buy the newspaper there. They had a really nice Christmas day and Johnny and his brothers and his sister got some nice toys and had a fun day with the family.

Johnny was really happy, because he got the beautiful Golden Trumpet that he had been wanting for a long time from Santa that morning. It was not a real trumpet, it was just a plastic toy, but it looked like a real trumpet and he could play it like a trumpet.

But just a few days after Christmas, the family packed up all their things and started moving to Adel. They moved all the furniture, including the beds, but they left their clothes and most of their toys all packed up in boxes in the house. Since they didn’t have beds, they spent the night with their friends, the Hamils, and they were going to come back to the house the next day and get all the boxes and finish moving to Adel.

But during the night, they got a phone call from the fire department. The house had caught on fire during the night. The fire department came and put out the fire before everything was burned up, but it got really hot and smokey in the house and a lot of their things were ruined.

One of the things that got ruined was Johnny’s new Golden Trumpet. He was walking around in the smokey-smelling blackened house when he found it, in the box all melted and not even golden any more. He was so sad that even though he was a big boy now, he started crying.

He saw that Mommy was crying too, because her favorite two paintings, Pinky and Blue Boy, were all blackened and wrecked by the smoke and the fire.

Most of their clothes were burned or so smokey they couldn’t keep them, so they had move to Adel with no change of clothes. But all the people in the church in Adel were very kind to them and brought clothes so that everyone had more clothes for the next week.

But nothing replaced that sweet little Golden Trumpet for Johnny, and he always remembered how sad it looked, all melted and wrecked that morning after the fire.

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Little Johnny II

Little Johnny Stories — As told to June by her dad (that’s me!)

“Little Johnny and his Magic Daddy”

Once upon a time when Little Johnny was about 5, he had a painful thing happen, but his Daddy helped him get through it.

Johnny was trying to build a little house in the back yard of their new house in Valdosta, so he was finding things around the yard to stack up. He found an old concrete block in some bushes at the back of the yard, so he decided to add that to his stack. It was heavy, but he managed to get his arm through it and pick it up. He was struggling along headed for his little house, but he got tired and it slipped out of his arms and landed, smash!, right on his toe!

Aiiee! He cried out and headed for the back door. By the time he got inside, he was crying, and his Mommy came out of the kitchen asking him what happened.

He told her about the block, and showed her his toe, which was bleeding a little and looking pretty banged up.

“Oh! Poor little boy! I’m so sorry!” Mommy said. “Let’s get that fixed up!”

So Mommy put some medicine on his toe and a nice big bandaid, and gave him some water. He was still crying a little and his toe was really hurting when his Daddy came home from work a few minutes later.

“Oh no!” Daddy said when he heard the story. “I bet I can make that toe stop hurting!”

So Daddy showed Johnny his “magic jewel” — a pretty red piece of glass that he got down from a shelf. He gave the glass to Johnny to hold, and told Johnny to squeeze it and then give it back to him. Then he told Johnny he was going to make the jewel disappear.

Daddy put the jewel is his hands and moved them around really fast, put them behind his back and then held his hands out in front of Johnny — and there was no jewel! Johnny was amazed. Then Daddy asked him where he thought the jewel was. When Johnny said he didn’t know, Daddy said, “I bet it’s in your ear!”

We’ll, Johnny didn’t believe that, and he laughed, “No!”

But then Daddy held his hand out and reached up to first one ear and then the other, and then he flashed his hand open in front of Johnny and there it was! The jewel was sitting in Daddy’s hand!

“Hey! How’d you do that!” he asked.

“Magic!” Daddy said!

By then, of course, Johnny had forgotten all about his injured toe, and though it still hurt, he felt so much better about the whole situation that he stopped crying, and he and Daddy had a fun time together talking about magic tricks and all kinda of interesting things!

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Little Johnny Stories

Little Johnny Stories – Dad to June…

These are some of the stories I have told to June over the years when she wants to hear “Little Johnny” stories. Mostly they are true stories of things I remember from childhood, tho sometimes the gaps of memory are filled in with things to make it interesting to her. She often remembers stories that I’ve told her that I have forgotten I told her, and it’s sometimes challenging to remember what it was all about from her description, so they are an evolving form! The titles are mostly from what she calls them when she asks to hear them… I will post a few of these along and along as I can get them written up.

“Little Johnny and his Mommy”

Once upon a time when Little Johnny was a very little boy living in a duplex beside the highway in Gray, Georgia, (which Little Johnny always called Georgia Gray) he wandered out to the edge of the highway from the back yard where he was supposed to be playing. His mommy had always told him to stay in the back yard and never, never go out near the highway because it was so dangerous.

But that day, Little Johnny saw the big Army trucks loaded with tanks and big guns and lots of interesting things, so he wanted to get a better look. He wandered across the front yard watching the convoy and even went down into the ditch by the highway. Mommy was watching out the window and she saw that he was leaving the back yard, so she wiped her hands on her apron and headed for the front door.  She saw Johnny just as he was going into the ditch, and she started calling out to him, “Johnny, you get back in this yard! Get away from that highway! Come back here right now!”

But Johnny was really interested in those big green army trucks and the things on them, so he glanced back at his Mommy and said “Okay Mommie!”

But he didn’t come back. He just stood in that ditch watching. He didn’t even notice that Mommy was coming across the front yard now, and she was not happy! She was still calling to him to come back.

When she got to the ditch, she grabbed Johnny by the arm and turned him around and said, “Young man, what are you doing! You know you are not supposed to be out here by this highway!”

“Yes Mommy…” Johnny said. He was not watching the trucks anymore, he was watching Mommy’s  very angry face, and he was worried.

Mommy turned him around and gave him a good spank on his bottom and then started marching him back to their apartment, talking to him the whole time about how bad it was to go out to that highway and how dangerous it was and how he had better never, ever do that again or he would get the spanking of his life when his Daddy got home.

“Yes, Mommy,” Johnny said. He was crying now, and he was very sorry that he had gone out to the highway. “I’ll never do that again, Mommy!” he promised.

“Well, I sure hope not!” Mommy said. She was still mad, but she was starting to calm down now. Stopped and knelt down beside Johnny. “You really scared me, you know! I love you very much, Johnny, and I don’t want you to get hurt, so please remember to do what I tell you to do!”

“Yes, Mommy. I will,” Johnny said.

And he was sure that he would really try to remember that, because he did not like to see his Mommy so mad!

“Little Johnny and the Preacher”

One Sunday not long after Little Johnny had moved to Georgia Gray, where his Granmunnie lived, Johnny’s Mommy and Daddy invited the preacher from their church to come over for dinner after church. Little Johnny’s Grandaddy, who died a long time ago when Johnny’s Daddy was just 19 (he was almost 30 by now), had been a Baptist preacher, so Johnny’s Daddy and Mommy really liked going to church and they wanted to get to know everybody in the church, because most of them had known his Grandaddy. They also wanted to make a good impression on the preacher, so they told Little Johnny to be really nice to him.

Now Little Johnny was a sweet-looking little boy, with a head full of reddish curls, and his Mommy sometimes said he looked like a little angel and she sure wished he’d act like one. So Johnny said he would be good.

But, in the duplex where they lived were two little boys a little older than Johnny. Mommy said they were “sawmill kids” because their daddy worked in a sawmill, and she also said that sawmill kids were sometime kinda mean. She was right about these two little boys, because they had been teaching Johnny some kinda mean things. Like bad words to say when people were doing things you didn’t like.

So when the preacher came in and met sweet-looking little Johnny, he started rubbing Johnny’s head and saying what pretty curls he had. Well, Johnny didn’t like that so much, so he looked at the preacher and he said, “Get your damn hand offa me!”

Oh my gosh! Johnny’s Mommy and Daddy were so embarrassed, because, you know, nobody’s supposed to say cus words to a preacher, especially not a sweet-looking little boy, so they apologized and they made Johnny say he was sorry and they tried to explain that he was learning bad words from the little boys next door and they would never let him hear them saying anything like that.

So the preacher just laughed and said, “Oh yes, it’s fine, just being a little boy!”

And they all laughed and tried to forget about it, but it was not quite the perfect after-church dinner that Johnny’s Mommy was hoping for!

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The Children, Spring 23

April 9, 2023

Taylor and the kids have been enjoying church a lot lately. Taylor is getting involved with classes and the kids are going to choir and Awanas.

Anna June is still being a challenge these days — seems like I write that often! She asked me recently to tell her all the Spanish words I know, so I’m trying. She wanted to know how to say ‘I want to go outside’ — which I think is something like Quera vas campo… maybe? I guess I need to break out the old Spanish books.

April 12-13, 2023

Spending the day with Marvin today, as Taylor and Anna June are on the Turtle Center field trip. We’ve had a good day, though Marvin is still sick.

He’s thrown up, had an earache and going to the doctor. Anna June is sneezy and coughing, but seems okay.

She keeps asking me about “patterns” and asking if things are a pattern. She seems to be very good at seeing them. She truly fits the descriptions I see online of “the sensitive child.” Lots of empathy and responsiveness and imagination is part of that personality, they say. She’s that.

The other night as I was sitting on her bed at story time, she noticed me rolling my head uncomfortably against the wall, so she got up and got me a big pillow for my head. So sweet!

We keep talking about homeschooling, as we have since before Marvin even started school. Maybe soon, or maybe next year. Maybe a group thing? Lots of possibilities.

April 14, 2023

The doctor ordered an x-ray of Marvin’s chest. It’s very concerning, so we’re doing the nebulizer treatments and an antibiotic… he seems to feel okay today, but no school.

Turns out it’s pneumonia! So we’re treating them both for that.

April 16, 2023

Kinda returning to health and happiness now… but too sick for school. We are seriously considering not taking them back, since they seem to get sick again every time they go back. And they’ve missed so much school.

April 21-23, 2023

A shooting in the Food Lion parking lot has us worried about taking the kids anywhere! The world is going crazy!

We’re definitely making the move to home school. The kids seem happy to be home, so it’s going well so far.

A great day with the kids yesterday! We played with them a lot and had a fun time inside and out! Working learning into the fun is the main idea of this approach to school.

Marvin spontaneously wrote a big sentence on the sidewalk when we were “chalking.” Then he had a meltdown because June altered one of his letters!

Taylor took a very calm and constructive approach to his fit, and he got over it quickly. I need to work on being more calm in the face of their outbursts.

April 27, 2023

Marvin asked, “What is infinity?” Mom and I both said, “I don’t know.”

Anna June said, “Infinity is forever!”

Astounding! But this homeschooling may be a challenge! Child-directed learning.

May 4-7, 2023

June still wants to resist anything she’s asked to do. Otherwise the homeschooling is going pretty well. We’re trying to do something good every day, and we’re working out a schedule. Lots of exploring so far.

Marvin was in a play/musical at church this morning, so we had a nice family time! He did great, though he said he hated it. June wanted to be in it too, but not old enough.

She sang Jesus Loves Me for Granny today, and her voice was so beautiful! She was really trying to impress Granny! She gets all the nuances of the melody and the emotion!

She said she wants to be a rock star. And a princess.

Hope I live to see her grow up!

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The Children, Winter ‘23

Winter 2023

November 2022

June was holding a pretend meeting with someone, though it was not clear to me who was involved. She was very serious about it all, and at some point, she said to the imaginary group, shrugging her shoulders, “All the boys are so stoopid! They don’t like their wives!”

I didn’t ask what she meant by that.

December 2022

We have all been sick a lot as the weather cools off. But we’re decorating for Christmas and visited the Live Nativity, which the kids loved, especially the animals.

And Christmas was good! Excited, happy kids all around! A new trampoline was the big gift, and they’re excited about that.

Had a great visit with John at the Sikes family gathering and oyster roast! So good to see him! He even came by on his way home and we had lunch together.

And had a great visit with Gene! We spend about three hours talking about all kinda stuff, reminiscing, talking about the world. We’re both feeling our mortality deeply these days.

January 2023

The kids are ever-challenging! June is not responding to our best efforts to get her to obey without threats of punishment. She just cruises above it all… wide open all the time! Bedtime is usually hard, sometimes impossible. But her potential is still shining through. She’s so engaging and so smart! How to keep her and everyone around her safe and within reasonable limits without crushing her spirit is the challenge.

I’m going through a bunch of old photos of some of the older times with family — not easy task.

February 2023

Another interesting story from June during some phonics activities… the word “backpack” somehow prompted a story of some animal friend of hers named Dory, who’s a tiger she met when she went to the jungle with her “sisters.” When I was shocked at the idea of a tiger, she hugged me and said, “She love everybody!” And she has a sweet tiger family.

Taylor and the kids are going to church pretty much every Sunday now, and they seem to be enjoying it. It’s a bit hard for me with my background with Southern Baptists, but they seem to all be very good folks.

February 17, 2023

June’s prophecy:

Documenting here that last night, June predicted that, in 100 days, Screven would have a “really strong storm” and we’d better make our house strong enough not to get blown down! (That should be about May 27 or 28…)

March 2023

I got to see my dear cousin Marilee and her husband, Bob, recently, and Taylor and the kids met them. Was so great! Family connections!

Then we visited with Linda and John on the way home and that was great too!

Then on Sunday, Stewart and I went to see Gene and Sarah. Really good visit, though he’s still not doing very well.

Marvin and June seem to be doing great in school, liking and getting along well at home most of the time! Though June has been on a stubborn streak all week — nothing terrible, but she just wants to resist everything!

Spring is here, tho cool weather still in store. We’re thinking of adding a deck.

Things are going well with the kids, though Marvin is having some issues with anxiety and various complaints about things physically wrong with him — his gums, his head, etc. He talked to the school counselor about and we’ve talked to her. She seems not overly concerned, but she asked about deaths or other trauma in the family. It could be related. He is still sad about Bob’s death.

June’s just wild! Hard to reign in. And she want us to have another baby.

My health issues continue, so that may not be a possibility!

I do hope we’re raising some strong children, as it seems as though the changes in the world are going to demand much of them. Maybe they will be “the generation” — the one who actually stands up to the authoritarian trends this world is facing.

Children raised to treat all others with kindness and respect is truly how we extend ourselves into the future.

We’ve all been sick a lot lately — seems the kids just keep picking up things at school.

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Bad dreams

It was the Winter Solstice. June was almost asleep, but she looked up at me and said, “Daddy. I been having bad dreams about people getting dead.”

I tried to stay calm. I said sorry, and tried to comfort her, but I was shook. I asked her what people, and she said, “Everybody. Even you.”

Again, I tried to comfort her and stay calm. Then she said quietly and very seriously, “ Did you know that your grave is beside mine?”

I said no, and tried to continue to comfort her.

I remembered that early the day before, she had said something about having a really bad dream. She didn’t say what. I didn’t ask. She’s an old soul whose awareness penetrates the veil in both directions. She remembers past lives and sees our future.