The Red Flannel Rag

money. One night I dreamed that I broke into my piggy bank and found nine pennies,

all the money I had. I took the mo ney to Aunt Goldie’s house. She was standing at the

foot of her stairs crying when I put the nine pennies into her hand. I never forgot that

dream.

Aunt Goldie went to work at a silk mill in Harrisonburg but soon discovered that

she couldn’t work and manage the farm. Shortly after Mom’s miscarriage, in 1951, Aunt

Goldie told Dad she couldn’t continue to handle the responsibility of her farm and keep

her job. She asked Mom and Dad if they would rent the farm and take it over. They said

yes, and we mov ed from our first house to Aunt Goldie’s house just across the hill.

We hadn’t lived there long until the Korean War started. I watched Dad listen to

the radio to get the news about the war. The reception wasn’t very good, so he sat in a

stooped position with his ear glued to the speaker. He was so scared he would be called

back into the army. I was scared too. Two young men who were drafted from Hopkins

Gap were killed in Korea.

When we moved to her farm, Aunt Goldie moved into the washhouse that she had

fixed up for her oldest daughter, Ruby, to live in when she got married shortly after

Uncle Rob died. I was ten years old by now and Aunt Goldie offered me a job. She

asked me to feed a pig for her and wash her dishes every day. She paid me a quarter

each week for washing her dishes and, after I fed her pig for two years, she gave me a

five-dollar bill. I had never had a bill that big in my hand so I thought it was wonderful.

While we were living at Aunt Goldie’s farm, Mom got pregnant again. I n

February of 1952 my brother, Warnie, was born. Times had changed by then and Mom

had Warnie in the hospital. She had a very difficult delivery, so the doctor

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