Early Women Folk

The early years 1^st thru 5^th grade

The earliest thing I remember about women folks is around the 2^nd grade, probably around seven or eight years old. We lived in base housing on Bunker Hill Air Force Base, Peru, IN. For some reason the Air Force decided that all the houses on our block were to receive new refrigerators. When they delivered them they left behind the cardboard box covers, so all the neighbor kids got together and drug them to my back yard. We built a big fort out of them to play in. Suddenly this little girl and I were crawling through the boxes when we realized we were by ourselves. We were at that age, were we were beginning to realize that there was something different about little boys and little girls, but didn't know quite what it was. I forgot which one asked first, but basically it turned into, you show me yours and I will show you mine. J No touch or anything just looks. We then went home, as it was getting close to suppertime. I thought everything had gone fine till about a week later, when I was getting a spanking for something else. My Dad liked to call out the things he was giving you a spanking for with each lick. On the last swing he said and this is for pulling that little girl pants down. My body went limp as I didn't expect him to know about that and that last one hurt.

Late 3^rd grade: On the base, there was this big field where all the local kids would meet to play baseball or other games. The new girl (Tom Boy type) moved into the neighbor and wanted to play. Somehow she and I got into a wrestling match. This girl was tough and I remember for a period how embarrassed I was going to be if a girl beat me. After at least 5 or 10 minutes of wrestling I was able to finally pin her.

If you were wrestling a boy, it was the norm for you to hold him down until he cries uncle. This means that he understands that you are superior and that he has been beaten. Sometimes it was hard to get them to say it and you had to hold them down awhile. Well as I held this girl pinned down and looked down at her, I felt a little different inside and for some reason I didn't want her to cry uncle, cause I didn't want to let her up. J I think that was the beginning of starting to like girls.

When I was in the 4^th or 5 grade, the school had this outing where by they took the kids to a skating ring in town on the school bus. Toward the end of the night the lights would go down and it was time for couple skating. I remember that there was only one little girl left waiting for someone to ask her and she looked like she was going to cry. I went over and asked her it she wanted to skate; she smiled and said okay. We held hands and skated and I think I feel in love during the time it took for two dances. After that she got back together with the rest of the little girls and I hung with the boys. On the ride back in the bus she was sitting on the back seat with one of her girls friends and I was about 2 seats up. I saw you dancing with Art her friend said. She responded back yeah, I only did it because I felt sorry for him. He is ugly and I don't like him. I was crushed and my heart was broken for the first time. I did okay on the outside, but when I got home my mother asked me how the skating went and I broke down crying. She hugged me and told me everything was going to be alright and that down the road; there would be plenty of little girls that would like me because I was smart and good looking. There must be something wrong with that little girl. That made me feel a little better.

Art Nalley
Redneck Heritage Network
Copyright 2010