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Old 03-25-2014, 02:57 AM
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Location: Sarzana,Italy
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Default Sammy and Me

Here is another bit of this story about "The Farm" along with a new painting I am working on.

Sammy and Me
At one time there were five or six other children living on the farm. Sammy was the smallest and would follow me everywhere. He was not smart and could not talk very well.
I was not afraid of Sammy but Sammy was terrified of the big gray gander that Aunt Lillian was raising for Christmas. It was a mean bird and would fly at anyone smaller than it, honking and hissing and beating you with its wings. It had frightened me also and my Aunt told me to hit it with a stick and it would leave me alone, so I got a stick and whacked it. After that it left me alone.
Sammy and I were near the peach trees when the goose saw us. It came running across the barnyard its black beak open hissing at us, its neck extended. Sammy got his self behind me. And together we charged, yelling as loud as we could I hit it with my stick and chased the goose away. That’s how Sammy and I became best friends.
One of our childhood diversions was to gather around the stalls and wait for Dolly or Molly to pee. We would wait for the lifting of her great tail. She would stiffen and a cascade of streaming urine would fall splattering any one too close.
Once the river dried she would pucker her vaginas lips, making us laugh with much glee. In the summer I would take the pair of horses to a spring down the dirt road for water. One day I was leading the horses; I got myself too close to Molly and she accidentally stepped on my bare foot. I limped for a while and discovered that I could obtain a little sympathy from my pain. People would ask why I was limping and I would explain that Molly had stepped on my foot. They would feel sorry for me, so even after it no longer was painful, I continued to limp. I told Eva my secret, and she said, “Joey, you have to stop.”
“Why Eva?” I wanted to know.
She said, “Because you will walk that way for the rest of your life.” So I stopped.
Chickens also provided Sammy and me entertainment. The war was going strong and we heard about bombs, parachutes, airplanes, and snipers. Sammy and I would catch the chickens and tie a rock around their legs, carry them up to the highest point in the barn and drop them with their wings flapping and fluttering. “My parachute just crashed on the battlefields of Holland,” I would scream at Sammy. This lasted until my Aunt found out.
The three-hole toilet also served as a fun house for us kids. We would make small paper boats, drop them down the holes. And then proceed to either drown the Japs in urine, or sink the Germans submarines with our turd bombs.
I had started sneaking into the armory just to admire the model airplanes. I would stay there for long periods of time, holding them in my hand, imagining flying them. There was an old black powder rifle with a big hammer on its side. I would lay it on the cot; cock the hammer and fly my airplane wing under it; pull the trigger and my anti-aircraft gun would shoot down a German Messersmit. I was in there horsing around when I discovered some shells. I found one that sort of fitted, loaded it into the gun’s chamber and lay down on the cot with my sniper rifle at the ready. I pointed it out the window overlooking the backyard. I took aim at the coonhound’s doghouse and waited for a Jap to appear. And when he did, I was going to be ready for him. It was a long wait and nothing moved. Finally I decided on a chicken that was peacefully pecking ants. I took aim, squeezed the trigger. The window glass cracked, a round neat hole appeared in the center. The smell of gunpowder filled the room. The report of the rifle all but deafened me. My Auntie started yelling from down below in the pantry. She came up the stairs and caught me red-handed; grabbed me by my ear and took me down to the kitchen; got out Andrew’s razor strap and laid it on me. It hurt, but I knew I deserved it.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg prelim drawing 001.jpg (62.6 KB, 0 views)
File Type: jpg oil paintings 001.jpg (58.9 KB, 0 views)
File Type: jpg The Glass Cage.jpg (55.7 KB, 0 views)
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